82-year-old Sandra Ferguson from Waterloo, Ontario, claims that an installer from Bell cut up her carpet when he came over to her apartment to put in fibre optic internet almost two years ago — reports The Record.
Ferguson told the publication that the Bell contractor, whom she described as a “very pleasant young man,” was at her apartment in May 2021 to install fibre optic internet and remove the cord she previously had running from the wall to her TV. The cord was running across the carpet, so she bought a rug to cover it up.
During the installation, the contractor asked if he could cut the cord for her since there was no longer any use for it. Ferguson agreed, and the contractor cut the cord — that’s when she claims he also slashed a 60 cm (23.6 inches) long gash into the carpet underneath, before covering it back up with the rug.
According to Ferguson, she didn’t even notice the carpet had been mutilated until February of this year when she pulled up the rug while moving some furniture around.
“I lifted up the rug and just thought, ‘What the heck is this?'” said Ferguson. “Oh, you better believe I was angry.”
Ferguson, who has been a Bell customer since 1959, decided to contact the company and see if they could fix the damage. While a Bell representative initially told her the company could help, her claim was later denied.
“So I called them and at first I spoke to this lovely woman. Some people just have a way of putting you at ease, you know? She assured me they would be able to help. But when I got sent to talk to someone else, they told me quite frankly that, ‘We don’t do business two years after.'”
Bell told Ferguson that there was nothing they could do about the damage now. The company didn’t even send someone over to look at the damage, said Ferguson.
After The Record picked up Ferguson’s story and sent Bell some questions, however, the company called her and has been in contact with her since Friday.
“We have been in touch with the customer to discuss the concern,” said a spokesperson for Bell. “In the course of our investigation we have not been able to confirm when the damage occurred or what caused it. We have asked for photos of the damage so that we can further investigate the matter, and we will be pleased to continue looking into this once we receive photos.”
Ferguson, however, isn’t particularly comfortable with using tech and instead wants Bell to send someone to her apartment to take a look at the damage in person. “It’s upsetting,” she said. “How would you feel if someone came into your home to do some work, and a year or so later you realize what happened?”
Back in January, Bell subsidiary Bell Aliant was found to be overcharging a senior in Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia, for local calls due to a “programming error.” The company also had a similar incident back in 2019, where it overcharged a New Brunswick customer by about $3,100 and then offered her a partial refund of only $816 in credit.
