Did you know that, as a Bell Telephone customer, you could have a password put on your account?  Why, you ask, would this be necessary?  Consider this nightmare scenario experienced by a local senior.  While she was in London having surgery, an unknown person phoned Bell and changed her residential service to a business service in the name of a large local corporation.  She discovered the change after friends noticed the name of the corporation coming up on their call display, and after she received several calls for the corporation.  One caller said he had got the number from the Bell operator.

When she phoned Bell to restore her service and get an explanation for the changes, she was put on hold for a total of eight hours.  She was also told it would cost $50 to restore the residential service, and her account was debited $131 for the change that had already been made.  Getting no satisfaction from Bell, she contacted the OPP who suggested she call a local politician.  Finally, a letter from Roger Gallaway led to Bell crediting back the amounts she had been charged.  However, she has as yet received no apology or explanation.  At the end of her long marathon with Bell Customer Service, an operator mentioned the account password protection. 

This whole incident, as you can imagine, caused the senior a great deal of trouble and distress, and she contacted Lambton Seniors Association to help ensure that no other senior has to endure something similar.  Since the episode, she has also heard of other utility accounts, such as Hydro, being changed by phone with no verification for malicious reasons.

To protect your Bell Telephone account, call the phone number on your bill (Sarnia area toll-free 310-BELL (2355).  You can read more about it on page 26 of the Sarnia and Area Bell Directory, in the section “Sharing information among the Bell companies to identify customers’ needs”.