The Triple Whammy at Bell Sympatico

By Donna J. Jodhan

Talk about a triple whammy! It is not enough that we have to deal with a knowledge gap when it comes to the technical support staff at Bell Sympatico but added to this is the language barrier and their blissful unawareness of accessibility issues. So many mainstream Canadians continue to complain bitterly about the service being provided by the technical support staff at Bell Sympatico but when you are sight impaired it makes matters thrice as difficult.

Shocker or shaker? I am not really sure what it is. Maybe just a very don't care attitude on the part of Bell Sympatico.

First of all, the technical support staff at Bell Sympatico is mainly made up of persons whose first language is not English. Second, their product knowledge leaves much to be desired. Third, when you tell them that you are unable to read the screen or see the lights on the modem because you are either blind or visually impaired, they just do not seem to understand. Bell Sympatico has followed in the footsteps of so many other companies that have found it necessary to relocate their call centers to India in order to cut overhead costs. Good for them but where does this leave their paying customers especially those who need that extra bit of attention? Those who are not technically able, and those sight impaired customers who are unable to read the screen or see the lights on the modem?

Yes, we have screen reader software that more often than not can read the screen but when something out of the ordinary occurs, and the screen reading software shuts down, and we do not have any sighted assistance nearby in the form of a pair of human eyes, what are we supposed to do? So many times I have had to phone Bell Sympatico with a problem and after many minutes of the technician not being able to understand my request because of the language barrier I have had to give up and then either pay a support technician from a nearby company to come in and help me or wait days for sighted assistance in the form of a friend.

I pay my bills on time so why is it so difficult for this company to provide me with service whenever I need it? Why should I along with other sight impaired persons have to put up with second-rate service? Why should we have to pay the price for technicians who do not possess proper language skills and product knowledge? I often wonder if Bell Sympatico has ever looked at the picture in this way: They cater to customers whose first language is primarily English but yet they hire technical support staff whose first language is not English. Somehow, this formula just does not compute.

I think that Bell Sympatico needs a bit of a reality check. First, I am not asking for anything out of the ordinary. What I am asking for is this: The establishment of a special needs department that can aptly handle requests from not only the sight impaired, but from others who are either technically shy and those who need that extra bit of assistance for other various reasons. There are many Canadians out there who did not grow up with technology and as more and more of them become Internet surfers, the demand for special services is only going to grow. Hopefully Bell Sympatico and others will realize this much sooner than later. Note: During the past month I have had the misfortune to interact twice with the Bell Sympatico support staff and on each occasion the experience has been painful, frustrating, and simply hair pulling. On the first occasion their modem died and I had to pay an outside technician to install the new modem because Sympatico could not provide me with a technician within reasonable time. On the second occasion, it took four phone calls plus working with a technical support person in India over an hour before they finally relized that there was no service to the Internet because of a glitch on their side. On this occasion, I again had to pay a technician to come in and interact with technicians at Sympatico who had difficulty communicating in English. How much of this is fair? I ask How much longer am I going to subject myself to this kind of treatment before I finally decide to take my business elsewhere?

I have pleaded with this company to allow me to speak to a marketing manager to discuss how Bell Sympatico could benefit from providing better support services to consumers with special needs but to date, no one has had the courtesy to phone me. Bell Sympatico needs to be given a lightning shock and I would like readers to think about this. This company just does not get it! Their bread and butter consumers of tomorrow are going to be those with special needs, those who did not grow up in the age of technology, and seniors. Keep on this route and you will soon find yourselves facing a picture of droves of consumers leaving you for better services elsewhere.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your freelance writer and reporter wishing you a terrific day.

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