1171 replies to this topic

[sebberry]

I've had terrible luck after recently switching to Shaw with their customer service, had to wait upwards or two hours to talk to technical support the last couple of times, was never as bad on telus, living in Vancouver I had telus TV since 2007, though not the new Optik. I appreciate the lower prices at Shaw though, and internet seems quite a bit faster for the price. Hope I don't have to wait for customer support any time soon again though.

It can definately be hit or miss, but they have the handy call-back option. You give them your phone number and it is held in queue just as if you were on the phone.

In the last 10 years I have had a total of 3 days of internet down time or something, 2 of which was because a connection was loose in the electrical room in my building.

I've dealt with my fair share of internet related support calls (fixing people's computers) and by far Shaw seems to be the better service.

[Sue Woods]

I got the same promotion from Telus. With secretly little intention of switching, I called Shaw about the offer and now my bill is about half of what it was before. I use their phone, cable and internet.

Can I ask what your Shaw bill was before and the deal you have now - because I'm going to try to do the same on Monday.

BTW I spoke to Telus at length (they were not quickly forthcoming) about what their prices will be 'after' the promotion period ends - and the fees will actually be quite similiar to Shaws.

[Mike K.]

My Shaw bill, with HST, is $110/month for internet and cable.

The requirement to purchase basic cable before purchasing specialty packages is an outdated policy and if it doesn't change soon I will likely move over exclusively to a service like Netflix.

[dirtydeeds]

I don't want a 12 month deal. I've been a customer for 10 years, I want a forever deal. .

Yes hopefully Telus will have another promotion in 12 months and you will need to renogotiate then. Its a pain in the a$$, but for a savings of about $50 a month I thought it was worth the talk with Shaw?
Sue, I went from $139 to $85 with 3 months of movies and hbo channels

[ptolomeus]

Prices and service of Internet My bill in old Germany was 30 Euros as a flat-rate (all included) - that´s approx $ 40 including taxes
* fees and taxes,
* 18000 kBits/s really high speed internet,
* telephone service,
* the "Fritzbox" with WiFi, 4 plug-ins for laptops / PC´s, 3 plug-ins for telephones (each with it´s own phone number)
Imagine my shock when I had to pay twice as much with Shaw for just the Internet and that for much less "high speed", limited download volume and no phone service included. The shaw "box" was really primitive with just one plug-in and no WiFi
But we can all be pretty happy compared to the poor guys in the country side though (in old or new world)

[Bingo]

In 1957 we got our first black and white televison that got two channels with the standard "folding V" antenna on the roof. Both channels came through as snow most of the time.

The only laptop I had was the cat.

[rjag]

Shaw is offering their hd digital tv (hd plus), high speed internet and phone (free ld) for $85 dollars a month if you phone talk to their "loyalty plan" guy and complain about getting a better deal with telus. It is for 12 months and they threw in the movie channels and HBO for 3 months too. Beats the $139 I was paying before!
What are you doing on the computer, go phone NOW!

Interesting my wife is on the phone right now dropping a bunch of services and reconfiguring our bill as its currently $230, for phone, cable and internet.

She asked about the $85 loyalty plan and they said they have no idea what we are asking about......

[Sue Woods]

Interesting my wife is on the phone right now dropping a bunch of services and reconfiguring our bill as its currently $230, for phone, cable and internet.

She asked about the $85 loyalty plan and they said they have no idea what we are asking about......

Maybe your wife will have better luck if she calls billing dept on weekdays. I'll try that tomorrow and post what I find out too.

[Sue Woods]

[quote name='Bingo']In 1957 we got our first black and white televison that got two channels with the standard "folding V" antenna on the roof. Both channels came through as snow most of the time. quote]

My job - being the compliant middle child - was to sit on the floor and 'ground' the rabbit ears by balancing them on my lap and holding the antenna in my hands. (I hated Hockey Night in Canada because it went on so long lol)

[dirtydeeds]

Interesting my wife is on the phone right now dropping a bunch of services and reconfiguring our bill as its currently $230, for phone, cable and internet.

She asked about the $85 loyalty plan and they said they have no idea what we are asking about......

Try during the week, I phoned last monday and said I was thinking of switching to Telus, Good Luck

[Bob Fugger]

Interesting my wife is on the phone right now dropping a bunch of services and reconfiguring our bill as its currently $230, for phone, cable and internet.

She asked about the $85 loyalty plan and they said they have no idea what we are asking about......

There is definitely and art to getting loyalty discounts. Simply announcing that I want THE DISCOUNT, gives all of the power to the seller, and you got the expected answer of "I don't know what you're talking about." You need to convince them that you're ready to pull up stakes and take your custom to another service provider. It's just like poker: don't let them know that you're bluffing.

Also keep in mind that the ally of bartering is information: that is, make a logical, informed case. I called and told Shaw that I paid too much. Then I told them that Telus was available in my area and I could get their product for way less than what I was paying for Shaw's. They countered by telling me that their's was an introductory rate and it would go back up. I told them that then I would at least be saving in the interim and would be no worse off than I am now once the promotion was up - and I could always switch back to Shaw and likely qualify for a new customer promotion. How do you fight that logic?

[rjag]

Good points, We'll give that a try later in the week. cheers

[sebberry]

^What he said.

There's no "Loyalty plan" per se. There is a department (or group of customer service reps) who are given the ability to modify packages and prices to compete with offers from other providers.

Generally speaking, the standard customer service reps don't have access in the system to modify the prices of the services.

It's like cell plans. You want a better deal at the end of your contract so you call them up to cancel Their client retentions department will offer you a better plan and rate to kee you as a customer. If you can convince them that another provider is offering a better rate, they'll match or beat it.

The only "loyalty plan" there is is the one that they give their long-term, loyal customers.. full price.

[bluefox]

Just a heads up about "Optik" TV. Don't let the name mislead you... it's not fibre-optic yet. Telus is running it as an IPTV service but it's still based on ADSL technology, much slower than fibre-optics. We'll have to wait until at least later next year.

Telus is just trying to get a jump on its competition. They know that Shaw is beefing up its satellite offerings through Shaw Direct as well as investing in fibre-optic lines, and Bell is going to roll out Fibe TV, its answer to Optik, sometime next year (and it will actually be fibre-optic).

[dirtydeeds]

I also heard Shaw is no longer offering customers a $85 one year loyaty program and are saying if you think you can do better switch! I guess they must have been flooded with calls thanks to social media and word of mouth. Glad I was able to get in at $85 but wonder what the rates will be in a yaer?

[Barra]

I've bundled my cable, internet and telephone with Telus.
Formerly I was paying $114 to Telus for phone and internet plus $70 to Shaw for cable (2 tvs, basic service plus 'second tier' channels).

The first call that I got from Telus - a guy in Mumbai - took a long time to get through the options and didn't seem to be saving a whole lot. The second time I got a call the guy was clearer in explaining the options, removed a redundant phone feature, and got the whole package down to $104.

New options that I have are: radio stations on the TV, and a recording feature. An interesting bonus is call display on the TV (if you are watching). It precedes the ringing of the phone by a few seconds, giving you more time to decide if you want to answer!

[LJ]

I've tried to go through the bundle thing time and again, but there is always something missing that costs extra so that the costs wind up being very similar, in my experience.

[G-Man]

I got the loyalty deal 2 weeks ago. I guess I got in under the wire. The free XBox was pretty tempting though.

[maniac78]

I used to doubt the horror stories about Telus as just being fringe occurances or constant complainer types and what not but trust me on this you do not want to deal with this company. Sure Shaw's customer service isn't great by any standards but at least you can go down to their store and solve your problems in the worst case. With Telus you are dealing with some nameless person who will lie to you and yes I had MANY telus employees LIE to me. I wouldn't touch their services if they paid me to try them.

[sebberry]

I was this close (Holds thumb and index finger close together) to ordering Optik TV today, but you need to have either Telus internet or home phone service. I have the phone service but am thinking of cancelling it because I have a cell phone too.

Oh well.