Bell Mobility

Where do I start? There are so many issues, I'll just highlight a few. Just to note, I was an eleven year customer of Bell Mobility prior to this post.

• Sometime last year, a representative from Bell called to ask whether I'd like to bundle my services. I agreed and the bundling took place. Three months later, on my bill, I noticed that the services were unbundled. When I called to find out what the reason was, I was told that I didn't qualify for the bundle.
• The last phone I had from them, the Samsung N400 was an awful piece of crap. I don't know whether it was Bell's network or the phone, although I suspect the latter. Anyone I spoke to using this phone had a difficult time hearing me. The signal quality was also poor.
• Their selection of phones is poor. This may have something to do with their technology (CDMA), but other CDMA carriers in the States have a much wider selection. Bell Mobility will not let you know what new phones they have coming up.
• To cancel a two year contract, $199 is charged (one year contract, $99) -- non pro-rated.

Agincourt Nissan

Someone has pointed out that the dealership is now under new management, so my comments below may no longer apply. Unfortunately, I no longer drive a Nissan, but if you go here, feel free to comment on your experiences.

Although Nissan makes some fine cars, their dealerships, or more specifically, Agincourt Nissan, leaves a lot to be desired.

Avoid this dealership at all costs (for service -- can't comment on their sales because I've never purchased from them, but with my service experiences from them, I never will!) The mechanics don't know what they're doing and the service manager is a self serving, pompous ass. Email me for further details on this dealership

I recently went to another dealership, which I highly recommend -- Ajax Nissan. When I got there, I realized that the service advisor once worked at Agincourt. Through conversation, I learned that the managers at Agincourt shafted this (older) gentleman. He needed some time to go out of country to visit his dying father. He asked the manager whether he could get some time off. The manager said he will get back to him. He repeatedly asked the manager and got the same answer. Finally when it was time to go, the manager told him he cannot have the time off. These are the kind of creeps that own/manage Agincourt Nissan.

Compu-Silv Computers

Although I've never purchased anything from these "people", I can tell by a visit to their (Markham) store and by posts to various Toronto newsgroups (Usenet) that they're not a reputable business.

One day while browsing through the Toronto Star's High Tech section, I noticed an ad from Compu-Silv. This ad caught my eye because I was in the market for memory and their prices were the lowest I could find. I decided to pay them a visit at their Markham location.

When I got there the store was packed---it's a small store! There was a guy who had some questions about memory. He asked one of the salespeople, "What if I take the memory home and it doesn't work?" The salesperson replied, "It will work!" The customer repeated the question several times and received the same answer each time. In other words what they were saying is "If you buy memory from us and it doesn't work, you're out of luck!" The customer also inquired about installation. They said they were too busy and couldn't do it. They told him he would have to wait a few days then pay $29.95 for the installation. Anyone need memory installed? Contact me, I'll come to your house and do it for $20.00 (if it's not too far!)

Dean Myers (Dufferin) Sales

Although their service department is pretty good, their sales staff isn't! Dean Myers is the largest Chevy/Olds dealership in the Toronto area (by sales), but this isn't because of their friendly sales staff! Let me give an example.

One day I was having some routine maintenance performed on my car. As I waited for it to be completed, I thought I'd browse around in the showroom. As I was walking through, I noticed a few people gathered around a mini-van (it was Chevy's new Venture, a blatant Chrysler wanna-be). I was waiting or a salesperson to approach me because I had wanted to ask some questions. I waited and waited. No one came.
I decided to approach one of the salespeople and asked a few questions about a vehicle I was interested in. He had no information on it. He said that he was going to get me a brochure on the vehicle. Again, I waited. Five minutes went by, ten minutes ... As I looked around, I see him chatting away with someone else. Ahh, what excellent customer service.

Parkway Plymouth

A few years ago my car died at work. I called up a few dealers which I had found in the yellow pages looking for one that would be close to my place of work. I found one named Parkway Plymouth. And this is the beginning of my troubles.

I spoke to a service advisor and described my problem to him. He said that they would send a tow truck for my car. Sure enough, the tow truck arrived as promised and my car was on its way to rip-off city.

An hour later, I received a call from Parkway stating that my timing belt had snapped. I inquired, "How could this have happened?" I was puzzled because the belt was changed less than a year ago. I explained this fact to them, but they insisted that this was the reason for my car's "death". I said fine. I asked what the cost would be and was quoted a figure. A day later, I was called and told that my car was ready.

When I got there, I handed out several hundreds of dollars and got into the car. As soon as I started the car, I knew something just wasn't right. The car vibrated annoyingly at idle, on the streets, and on the highway. I took the car back and they said it was always like that. It was my word against theirs, but stupidly again, I said, fix it. Another hundred dollars later, the problem was still there ... and it went on like this for weeks. Finally I gave up with them and said screw it. I was getting nowhere and I didn't have the time to spend in small claims court to get my money back.

By posting this here, I hope people who read this will think twice before taking their cars there for service. Their service department is full off inept people. If you're looking for a good Chrysler dealership, I highly recommend Downsview Chrysler.