Living in Aurora, Town of Aurora, Ontario » Customer Service

What’s With Bell, Someone Is Using My Internet and I Am Paying For It, Called Stealing BTW

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:37:54 +0000

Finally I have something for my Wacky Aurora Hub category to post – sorry no pictures this time. The Bell story is worth posting to make you aware what sometimes can happen with your Internet usage, but I can also assure you that you will never find the answers either.

Let me tell you. No matter how tight you are, there is no such a thing as the Internet security, absolutely nothing is secured. My websites have been hacked, my personal email been accessed by someone in Russia and just recently someone was using our home Internet and we were paying for it.

I received e-bill from Bell. What? This is a third time I went over my bandwidth of 25 Gb. I paid two dollars per each gig over. The third bill payment from Bell became suspicious. Because of the first two over payments on the Internet usage, Matthew was not allowed to use my computer anymore. We thought it was the youtube cartoons. We used less, still we were over.

To reinforce my suspicion I did not use Internet for two days, and still 2 Gb was consumed per day. Aha … something was definitely wrong.

How can it be? We don’t have wireless live because it is never secured. With sophisticated equipment hackers can hack your wirelees in no time.

We called Bell first time. They were clueless. Suggested to change the password. I did not.

My husband took over the calls. He got lucky to talk to someone that knew something, but not the difference between the upload and download terms, dahh. It was possible that someone was using our account and did not know, he not very confidently concluded. We changed the password on the account on the second call.

We have decided not to use Internet for another day or so. Next day we logged into our account, believe or not 2 Gb was consumed the day before and with the changed password. What is going on? We were definitely up to something.

We called Bell. They put watch on our account and said that they will call us back in 24-48 hours to let us know what happened. Bell technical support person credited our account in the meantime.

We continued to use very little Internet. We checked next day, the Internet usage stopped. Bell never called us back to explain but we called back to find out what was that all about.

Bell technical support was not able to find any record of monitoring of our Internet usage. No explanation what happened. Just this and that to brush us off.

Same day we received survey to complete to rate their customer service performance. I failed them miserably.

In conclusion, I can only assume the following:

1) Bell land line got crossed or someone did cross them to steal our Internet bandwidth.

2) Bell billing error which they do not want to admit.

3) May be Bell was running low sales, and they had to pass the buck to someone one – and that someone was us.

Was that wacky or what?.

Excellent Customer Service Does Not Go Unappreciated

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 21:02:37 +0000

Last week I finally got my letter out to Mayor acknowledging Ivy (Accessibility Adviser then) for the excellent customer service regarding concern I had how the pedestrians, especially parents with children, walked to and from Superstore along the Earl Stewart Drive. She recognized the need and took action immediately.

The sidewalk is on its way according to Ivy. I will be following up with the Works Department on the progress shortly. I am not letting it go as I continue to see parents strolling on the road especially when coming back from the Superstore. They are going with the traffic, and they cannot see what is behind them. The sidewalk is a must.

To me customer service is not about what result you get but how your issue was handled. I was fortunate to receive both.

So that is that, however, I have one more thing I appreciate from the Town of Aurora.

We did not get the second vehicle until late summer. Guess what, I was walking everywhere as far as 3-4 km away from home. Nothing like being outside.

Grass Grooming

Many times during the summer we passed by when grass was being cut. I was pleased how the Town of Aurora staff always would stop their equipment or move away great distance from us so we could pass by and continue with our walk in a clear path.

Cutting grass can make lot of dust, so I was really pleased with their way handling passing by pedestrians. Another great plus for the Town of Aurora staff.

Thanksgiving is about giving thanks, and here is mine. Happy belated one.

Not Lost Credit Cards, But Forgotten Credit Cards, Wrist Strap Necessary

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 03:14:06 +0000

Just before lunch we dropped by the Superstore in Aurora. We found the Superman costume for my boy, and two bottles of bubble soap. The bubble soap was on sale half price. I was waiting for the price drop and eventually it came.

At the register I scanned everything, I reached for my wallet and …. no credit card. Where did I put it? How did I loose it? Questions were pounding through my head. I paid cash for everything and drove home. I looked at home everywhere. No sign of my credit card.

Then I remembered. I used it last at Store X on Friday night. Before I call and report on lost credit card I decided to check with Store X. I called and yes they had it. I was little embarrassed. I forgot and left it in the credit card terminal. I let her know I will be there tonight to pick it up.

Later today we went to pick up my credit card at the Store X. Thinking of the embarrassment again and having anyone from Store X reminding me not to forget it again I was surprised to see this.

I came to the register desk and explained the situation. The lady at the information desk asked on what day I lost my card. She opened the drawer and picked up a stash of credit cards wrapped in the elastic band. Must have been at least 10. ‘Oh, sorry this is today only‘ – she replied. I was very surprised to see that many. Today only?

She turned around and reached out for a plastic container size of the shoe box. This is when I was really surprised. The box was almost full filled with credit cards and debit cards. Just an estimation. Being in bundles of 10, there were probably 15 bundles or more.

‘Oh that is just August alone and we will have to cut it up soon‘ – she added. ‘Here is Sepetmber 9 pile, which one‘ – she said.

That was a good ending.

I picked little something and paid for it at the register. I used my credit card. Inserted into the terminal and punched the code. I took the receipt and the bag.

‘Thank you for the sticker‘ – Matthew waved goodbye.

‘Oh and here don’t forget your credit card‘ – clerk waved the card at me.

I did it again.

Lost Credit Cards

This issue seems with the chip technology credit and debit cards. It is a secure feature with embedded chip inside the card that stores all the information as opposed to the black magnetic strip. The problem is that in the old days cards were swiped and card never left your hand or was passed on from the clerk directly to you.

There is still an option to slide the card, but that is if you don’t have the chip yet. If you have the chip you have to insert the card into the terminal. Another option is and probably better than the above is tapping a credit card on the terminal. Using tapping the card does not leave your hand. Card can have the extended life too as the black strip had a life span.

Well, it seems like the chip technology makes consumers to forget credit cards and debit cards in the terminal. The new credit/debit card chip technology compared to the Wii controller needs a wrist or wallet strap.

Lady was very nice and friendly at the information desk at the Store X. I took my second credit card with my signature and started to show her. She waved at me it was okay.

As much as it was nice to have that kind of trusting customer service. This is a big NO. With so little security anyone can claim the lost credit card.

Oh Summer Is Almost Over, Fall Accents, Town’s Chaotic Communication

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 05:05:21 +0000

Climatologist say that we are for a nice warm fall, and I am glad. I picked up some little accents of fall the other day walking Nokiidaa Trail boardwalk, and here they are.

Chaotic communication – what is that? Something that I think is worth writing about. Read on.

Yellow Leaves, Nokiidaa Trail Link

Fine Grass, Nokiidaa Trail Link

Ripe Berries, Nokiidaa Trail Link

I am not sure if Chickadees are fall birds. I see them through the summer but I do see more of them in the fall. I thought may be because they are so small and do not stand out that much among other birds during summer. Chickadees do stay with us for the winter.

Chickadees, Nokiidaa Trail Link

Chaotic communication. Few months ago Town of Aurora introduced social networks such Blogger, Twitter, Flickr and Facebook to further communicate with the residents of Aurora. I cannot even be nice about this idea. It wasn’t the brightest idea on the world.

Let me do some dissection here.

Blogger. To maintain blog on the regular basis requires dedication, time and resources. To date blogging (last post on May 16th, 2011) and the Blogger logo from the town’s website were phased out. I must give a credit to the writer or whoever was maintaining the blog. It was well written and professional, however, some posts were just repeats of something we know and too long. But there was some good substance there.

Town of Aurora Twitter Account

Twitter. Ouch! I have no idea why Twitter is such a success, I just don’t understand it – may be because it is so simple. Now by looking at our town’s twitter account – I see chaos. If my tax money is paying people to tweet anything and everything – I say take it down, or put some order to it. I really don’t need to get a tweet about the Earthquake on top all other media telling us the same. No substance here.

Town of Aurora Facebook Account

Facebook. I don’t know, just seems overkill. Another place to visit to find out more about Aurora events, such as Nokiidaa Trail opening in Aurora Ontario (Sept. 7, 2011) which was only for the town officials. I guess they made it happen and got it to work, they deserve the ceremony. Just an idea though, wouldn’t be nice to involve Aurora residents. After all Aurora is one big team – what happened to celebrating together?

Going back to Facebook, I am trying to understand the purpose of the Facebook, and I cannot. The information again is random.

Flickr. Someone gave up on it on June 8th, 2011. No comment.

Not to forget there is also town’s Newsletter and the website.

More thoughts …

Four social networks (one out, the Blogger; one not active, the Flickr), a newsletter and town’s website – and all feeding just random information. Do I have that much time to visit all? No. Blog is capable to accommodate all, the news, the photos, the videos and anything else that can be categorized accordingly. But blogging is hard to do, so town of Aurora chooses an easy way out – tweeting, facebooking and flickring. The big question is who is maintaining all this nuisance? The current communication scheme has no added value for the residents of Aurora. Even with that many platforms, there is still lack of communication and professionalism.

So here, just little more thoughts …

The Aurora communication department can set up a single blog on their website. Assign simple categories such news, upcoming events, notices, and other useful categories. The process must be carefully planned out to ensure effective flow of information and proper categorization of information. The information must also be in line with the information posted in the Banner and the Newsletter. Residents will benefit by accessing one source. They can easily subscribe to blog Feeds.

Reporting on activities in our town should be left to the local media such as The Auroran or The Banner. Let them do the talking and keep them in business by attracting more readers. The social networking platforms are not for the Town of Aurora, and it does not add value to our taxed dollar.

The solo opening of the Nokiidaa Trail link by the town of Aurora officials sparked all above thoughts about the whole communication scheme in the town. I would like to thank Evelyn Buck for providing informative answer (It Was Not A Grand Opening) on the comment I made on her blog with regards to the openning on September 7th, 2011.

Communication must have purpose, and if there is none then there will be chaos.