Activating a phone with the 'Big Three'? Here's a must-read first.

[Kirkus]

Hey there folks- after going through a bureaucratic hell with my Mobile Telecom and finally making some progress now, I figured it would be appropriate to send along a disclaimer to you! This concerns anyone who plans on activating a phone on contract with Telus, Rogers, or Bell- of course Canada's big three telecoms for Mobile devices. Over the last couple of years, Telus (special mention) as well as the others have given their independent dealers a lot of leeway with policy; these include all dealers from the Mall booths to the independent businesses that sell/activate mobile products like Andre's Electronic (Telus) or The Source (Bell). These dealers are contrasted to Corporate Stores and Official Stores, which must always follow the policies of the company they're representing and only distribute their own products. In most cases, this contrast is irrelevant because the independent dealer will honour most- if not all- of the policies of their Telecom.

However, when I activated a phone with an independent dealer about a month ago, an unfortunate circumstance happened where the phone died within the first couple weeks of getting it: it's known as a DOA when brought into the store, or Dead-on-Arrival. Telus is typically very good with honouring DOA devices and I imagine the other two are quite similar; within the first month of busting a new phone, they will quickly inspect it in-store to confirm it's busted, then do an instant exchange with another device they have there and you get to walk out with a brand-new phone hassle-free. If your phone busted a month after activating the contract, but is still on warranty, they will send it into Telus for a warranty-based repair, and give you a loaner phone for a 40$/150$ deposit depending on whether you're getting a phone or smartphone.

My independent dealer (INNOVATIVE TELECOM, Kingsway and in North Vancouver) did NOT honour that policy, nor does their 3-page receipt and storefront display that their policies are different from Telus's. For this branch, their policy was to send the phone in for repairs rather than exchange, which takes about 3 weeks when you're outside a major city (I literally just got the phone two weeks prior). I also don't live in Vancouver right now, and was told to pay 80$ in shipping through Purolator to get it shipped to my hometown. Because Telus makes you work through the dealer you purchased the phone from, this was the only circumstance I could get my phone exchanged through Telus, was through this dealer. Lastly, and to boot, they don't even honour Telus's loaner phone deposits: if I wanted a smartphone while waiting, I would've had to pay a 250$ deposit, and THEN ship it back to Vancouver for another 80$. Since this incident, my phone was shipped to MobileTechVideos down in Texas so their tech can repair it instead (he's a bit of a miracleworker through the XDA forums) as this was cheaper than the 80$ shipping.

From here on out for my contract, I'm stuck doing business with this independent dealer. This is my lesson passed on to you folks: DON'T ACTIVATE YOUR PRODUCT THROUGH AN INDEPENDENT DEALER. If this is Telus you're activating a phone with, then ask if they honour Telus's policies ahead of time, or make sure that the branch is listed as a certified Telus Store through their website. Below are the messages that @TelusSupport sent to me through Twitter after this all took place; independent dealers give this ISP a bad name.


DM With TelusSupport: "Hi, when you were in the store did you try escalating with the manager on duty to see if an exception can be made? Unfortunately these(cont) independent dealers set the policy. I think your best bet would be to talk to the manager."

"TELUS Support ‏@TELUSsupport
@TalesofKirkus I really am sorry to hear that they wouldn't budge. Their terms do sound unusual. I've never heard of a place demanding $250 (cont) for the deposit. Let us know how you make out with the independent location. In your circumstance actually sounds like (cont) the best move. At least that way you know you get your same(ie brand new) phone back."

[Ravenwood]

Ouch.

Yet another reason why I refuse to do contracts.

[dreki]

That sucks. My recent experience with Telus customer support was really good. They told me to take my phone to any telus store and have it looked at (I'd gotten it off of craigslist with no receipt), and they still fixed it. I guess like any of the telecom companies it's pretty hit/miss. Sometimes they're good, other times they are not.

[Kirkus]

That sucks. My recent experience with Telus customer support was really good. They told me to take my phone to any telus store and have it looked at (I'd gotten it off of craigslist with no receipt), and they still fixed it. I guess like any of the telecom companies it's pretty hit/miss. Sometimes they're good, other times they are not.

Hehe yeah I've been with Telus for a good 5 years now and they've always treated me so great. Technically these guys aren't really Telus representatives, but just lackeys who were activating products on their behalf. Oh well, things are on the up-and-up now and my faith in Telus certainly hasn't been broken :)