贝尔不能如此对待客户

有一天我下班回到家时，突然发现家里断了网。我的（联网）智能电视屏幕上弹出的提示信息称，由于欠贝尔月费，互联网服务已被切断。

I came back home from work one day and found that the internet connection was down. A pop up appeared on the screen of my smart TV (which connects to the internet) indicating that Bell had cut off its internet service due to an unpaid balance.

“这是在搞什么鬼？”惊诧之余，我不禁试图回想贝尔是否曾发出过任何付款通知。

“What the heck has happened?” I was dumbfounded as I was trying hard to remember any notice of past due payments from Bell.

但我什么也没有想起来。

Nothing.

于是我用家里的座机拨打屏幕上显示的贝尔联系号码，但却连拨号音都没有。

I picked up the landline home phone, trying to call them with the number given on the screen, but there was no dial tone.

很显然，座机也已经被切断了。

Apparently, the landline had been cut too.

我之所以保留家里的座机，完全是为了方便82岁高龄的老母在紧急情况下可以打电话求助，因有了这部电话，我才得以安心无虞地工作。

I’ve kept this landline solely for my 82-year old mother, in case she needs help for an emergency situation.  It gives me a peace of mind while I am at work

我赶紧拿起只剩下一格电的手机联系对方。

I scrambled for my cell phone, which had only one bar left.

在经过了解后，我才知道原来是因为我们贝尔账户的信用卡未有及时更新。在我用新卡进行支付后，贝尔的一名客服告诉我她会重新连接我家的上网服务。

It turned out that the credit card kept on file with Bell’s account wasn’t updated. After I made a payment on the new card, a Bell agent told me that she will start to reconnect the service for me.

她称：“重新连接服务可能需要花费2至24个小时。”

“It will take anywhere from 2 to 24 hours to reconnect the service.”

在这个科技主宰的网络时代，我们的日常生活越来越依赖互联网。如果需要等上24小时才能恢复互联网服务，那我12年级的女儿在当天晚上就没法上网，但她在第二天要参加好几门学校考试，而这些考试成绩对她的大学申请至关重要。同时，这也意味着我的老母将无法观看电视娱乐节目，以消遣其夜晚时光。此外我和我的丈夫也将无法用微信联系国外的朋友和亲戚。

 As technology dominates the world, our daily life increasingly relies on the internet service. If the service takes 24 hours to reconnect, my grade 12 daughter won’t have internet that night.  She will have several school tests in a row the next day that play a big part in her university applications. It also means my mother won’t be able to view her TV shows –her favourite pastime. My husband and I will be unable to connect with our friends and relatives on the other part of the world either – through Wechat.

没有了WiFi，我们的生活似乎陷入了停滞。

It seems our life ended without WiFi.

但是贝尔的客服根本不在乎我们所处的“绝望”困境，她只是简单地重复称：“很遗憾我们对此无能为力，需要2至24小时才能重新恢复你的服务。”

“Unfortunately there is nothing we can do, Ma’am. It takes 2 to 24 hours to reconnect your service.” She simply repeated that message again and didn’t care about the ‘desperate’ situation we were in.

我深感作为一个弱小的客户，我遭到一个傲慢的电信巨头的欺凌。作为提供网络服务的贝尔，怎么能够在没有任何通知的情况下就好像抛弃一件旧家具一样切断客户服务？

I felt that I was bullied by this arrogant telecom giant. How could they cut off a customer without giving any advanced warning—just like they would dump a piece of used furniture?

我对此深感气愤不满。我向客服表示, 这么做会导致非常严重的后果，因为母亲一旦身患重病，她将无法及时和我联系。

I was pushed to the edge. I told the agent that how much damage it could have incurred, had my mother suffered a serious illness but unable to reach me.

但客服称：“我们在白天曾打几次电话，但你的母亲说她不会说英语，然后就挂断了电话。”

“We called several times during the day, and your mother said that she doesn’t speak English and hung up.”

但光凭这一点根本就不成借口。在当今时代，他们还可以通过其他许多方式和我们联系，包括在晚上或周末打电话给我们，因为在这些时段贝尔的促销电话总是没完没了。

This could hardly be considered as an excuse. In this day and age, there were many other ways that they could contact us, including calling us at night or during the weekend – when the number of promotion calls from Bell reach its peak.

客服对此进行了道歉，于是我要求立即重新连接服务。

The agent offered an apology and I demanded an immediate reconnection.

但她仍然只是重复道：“重新连接需要花费2至24个小时。”

“It takes 2 to 24 hours to reconnect,” she says repeatedly.

眼看和客服的谈话不会有任何结果，我决定不再继续和她纠缠下去。但在我挂断电话之前，我告诉她我会向加拿大电信服务投诉专员(CCTS)投诉。

Seeing the conversation leading to nowhere, I decided to end it. But before I hung up the phone, I told her that I will have my concerns escalated to the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS).

根据CCTS提供的信息，在过去两年里，贝尔的客户投诉量一直高居榜首，其共被客户投诉3,912次，其中有11%的投诉涉及服务中断。

According to information from CCTS,Bell tops the list for consumer complaints for the past two years, with 3,912 complaints filed against the wireless player. Loss of service accounted for 11% of all complaints against the company.

他们大概不希望冗长的投诉清单上再加上一条。

 They probably just don’t want one more complaint to be added to that long list.

出人意料的是，在我和客户的谈话结束几分钟后，固定电话和互联网服务就全部恢复了正常。

Surprisingly, only a few minutes after our conversation, the full service came back – including the landline and the internet.

看来，设置市场监管机构保护消费者利益绝对是必要之举。

It seems that the market does need a watchdog to protect consumers’ interest.