Another Shaw Cable Rip-Off

Location: Alberta, Red Deer County
Industry: Telecom
Company: Shaw Cable

I just finished reading the complaints about Shaw Cable and decided to add my two cents worth.

I had been a customer of Shaw Cable in Calgary for a number of years, so when I relocated to the outskirts of Red Deer on July 1st. I decided to continue their service. I called them in mid-June to give them my new address so it would be ready when I moved in. They informed me that there was no such address on their records and could I give them more information. I tracked down the county lot number and range number and passed it on. Same result...does not exist. I gave them the name of the previous owner as well as his son's name. (The elderly gent had been moved to a health care facility) Again no luck. I chased down his daughter's name in Vancouver. (Many, many phone calls.) Voila! This one produced results. The customer service person thought it was hilarious. Everyone had been looking for the street name as one word instead of two. She thought it was a great joke.
I get told that there was no problem...service would be in by July 1st. I called the next day to confirm and was again told it was taken care of. You already know the result...no service. I call again this time on my cell phone because I had been using Vonage on VOIP. I was informed there was no record of any such order and therefore I could not get the installation until the 5th. Now relocating requires a lot of telephone work and it was all done on my cell at the prepaid rates.
On the 5th. Shaw arrives and the installation goes ahead. The installer tries to sell me on Shaw's VOIP service. It is twice the cost of Vonage with far less services. No thanks, Shaw. he then tells me my modem is out of date and I will need a new one. (I own the modem) After he leaves I reconnect my Vonage router and am glad I can get off the high phone charges. Wrong again. Shaw's modem will not accept the Vonage router. It keeps shutting down my internet connection whenever it is plugged in. I talk to Vonage and they spend an hour trying to get it up and running...no luck. They inform me this is a typical scam by the big telecom companies to shut out other VOIP providers. Shaw, of course, denies this. I purchase a DLink router to try getting in that way. No luck. Another hour on the phone with Dlink and they eventually tell me the only way I can get this thing to work with Shaw is to change all my port settings...a long, complicated procedure. They agree with Vonage about denial of service.
I then called Shaw and told them I wanted my old modem back. (It had a dual jack system) I basically get told to 'suck eggs'. If I want it back I will have to get in touch with their salvage centre in Edmonton and, if it has not been destroyed, I have to provider a serial number and pay for shipping.
I eventually have to sign up with that other gang of thugs (Telus) for a land line and give up the best telephone service I have ever had.
I can't get wireless service here (although I can throw a stone across the Red Deer city limits) but it is expanding and just as soon as it is available I will be switching.
P.S. I tried switching to Telus high speed but they are even worse. Their system is not coampatible with Windows Vista but they don't tell you that until after installation. Also, when I cancelled Shaw I was informed that I could have gotten a different modem if only I had made them aware of the problem!!!!! iHate Shaw and Telus and I hope they get nailed before the CRTC where they are being charged by a host of VOIP providers. I don't hold out much hope though...Shaw and Telus can pay more to the regulators.