CityWest pulls plug on mobile serices; Telus opening in PR

A bit of an update. Citywest will apparently be pulling the plug on their CDMA cell phone customers on March 1. Those that have not paid for upgrades to Telus phones by then will have phones that no longer work, and since those phones don’t have sim cards they will be virtually useless it would seem.

Another twist to the story is that the announcement was made in an advert in Northern View but not on Citywest’s web site, which seems a bit odd for a cutting edge communications company. Perhaps Black Press will provide an update in the news section of their viewpaper, citing the classified section as their source. The end of the era for Citywest cell phone service has to be at least as newsworthy as the fender-benders they’ve been reporting lately.

northcoastreview.blogspot.ca/201 … e-for.html

What I smell is financial trouble…

Everyone I am sure got the letter from CityWest that said they will be taking 2 payments in March. One for the past month and one for the current.

They say it is to be on par with other industries but I smell a need a for CASH.

just my opinion…

[quote=“katray”]What I smell is financial trouble…

Everyone I am sure got the letter from CityWest that said they will be taking 2 payments in March. One for the past month and one for the current.

They say it is to be on par with other industries but I smell a need a for CASH.

just my opinion…[/quote]

That is a very interesting opinion. Does anyone know if CityWest is in dire circumstances?

They are switching billing from past billing to current billing. It sucks to get two bills at once, but I don’t think they’re doing it to raise funds. Also… if you’re switching your citywest phone to Telus, I suggest you do it sooner than later. It took over an hour for me to go through the process and that’s going to get worse when everyone shows up at the last minute.

It is industry standard, Telus does it.
And, I dont’ see what the big deal about switching over is, you don’t have to pay anything for it, you get a brand new phone, what’s the problem. Telus has better customer service than Rogers I’ve noticed. I have had no complaints what so ever, and I have had more than my fair share of problems with my phone. I don’t see the problem, although, I left citywest two years ago.

I left citywest about 4-5 years ago. I’m very happy with Rogers. I’ve had excellent customer service with Rogers. What didn’t you like about using Rogers(just curious)?
Good to hear that Telus is a viable option. My contract is up in August with Rogers.

That is a very interesting opinion. Does anyone know if CityWest is in dire circumstances?/quote

I don’t think it will makes much difference for those of us with bundled services, as just extra phone features are billed under “telephone company” … Billing for current month’s service instead of the past month already exists for cable internet/ tv. Shaw bills in this fashion and has for many years for land services as I believe telus does as well. In fact with Shaw you are paying in advance for services. A bill due say on the 13th of a month, covers services from the 14th of that month for a month. With city west the current month is not due until the end of the current month Billing for current months telephone service makes sense from a business prospective although i have to laugh when the letter read something to the effect that the customer will benefit in the long run. I think benefit with shaw was that when I ended my services with them everything was more up to date as i did not owe anything from previous month. As far as cost wise I can honestly say that my cable, internet and land line bundle is a better value here than I got with Shaw being that I get far more channels on my cable here. The land line service through conventional phone wiring instead of a cable box is far better and Quantum 20 internet is just as good as Shaw 20 service I had. All in All it’s not a bad deal with Citywest happy they got out of the cell business they should of done that years ago…

Well that was fun…stood in line for 1.5 hours. After getting the phone, cancelling account, getting a case for the new phone (didn’t have the one I needed at the Telus Shop) I had spent 3 hours of my time. Make sure to book off time to do this people, it’s a long event. However there was coffee and donuts! And in the end I got a new phone! We can keep our old phone numbers, I just need to tote around two phones for the rest of the month because text’s don’t call forward…

I didn’t like all of the customer service reviews I got about Rogers. Everyone I know has had issues with them.

Yup. I guess your mileage will vary with any telecom. So far, I’ve been lucky with Rogers. I don’t really have loyalty to any one company. I will also check out Telus and see what’s good.

I believe that CityWest has just upgraded/changed their accounting software, therefore the necessity to change their billing system. Just a guess.

I have heard that the CityWest Board of Directors is going to be meeting next week with City Council and telling Council that CityWest has recently identified a strategic opportunity in door-to-door mail delivery.

Sorry just kidding, but seriously, I think that the sooner the City sells CityWest the better off we will all be. Who knows, perhaps there will be a profit on the sale and the money can be used to upgrade needed infrastructure!

Thanks for your patience, sunflowergurl. I’m glad the coffee and donuts helped a little :smile:

We’re super pleased with the response we’re getting from the community. Everyone’s been so welcoming and patient!

It was a great idea coming early and I wanted to thank you for sharing your feedback and let you know that we’re taking action to make the experience as smooth as possible, including:

  • Adding more team members - our team in Prince Rupert has just recently more than doubled in size, and we’re adding one more team member later this week.

  • Opening extended hours to help with the rush of customers - including Monday to Friday until 6pm, and Saturdays 9:30-4:30. We also plan to be open on Sunday, February 23 and are working on confirming exact hours.

Hopefully your transition to TELUS goes smoothy and if there’s anything we can do to make it better, we’re listening and we’re he’re to help. Feel free to drop by the store if you have any questions, for another donut, or just to say hi… and stay tuned for news regarding our permanent location opening in downtown Prince Rupert this spring!

Thanks again :smile:

Christian

Hi bubbasteve735.

You’re right. The new store will open sometime this spring and will see an existing building in downtown Prince Rupert spruced up and reopened as Andres. Andres is a long-time TELUS authorized dealer with stores across BC and they are hiring new team members in Prince Rupert.

The new store is going to be pretty cool and soon after opening it will feature the popular TELUS Learning Centre - where customers can get a free, completely personalized learning session on how to get the most out of their new smartphone.

Hope you’ll come by and say hi after we cut the ribbon!

Christian

Thanks for sharing the great feedback, jesus and bubbasteve735! Glad to hear you’re getting a good network experience. We’re looking forward to making it even better later in 2014 when we plan to introduce super-fast 4G/LTE to Prince Rupert.

Meanwhile, if you do ever encounter any network issues (such as dropped calls, no signal, poor voice quality or slow data), we’d love to hear about it. To make it as easy as possible for you to conveniently and confidentially report any network issues, we’ve built a free application called TELUS Network Experience.

This free app will let our technical teams know exactly when and where the issue was reported, with the tap of a button (no need to take time from your busy day to call us to report an issue). It works even in areas with no signal (it will send the report to us later when you get back into the coverage area) and there are no data charges when you use the app.

I’ve added the free download links below:
iPhone: itunes.apple.com/ph/app/telus-n … 61109?mt=8
Android: play.google.com/store/apps/deta … lus.tneapp
Blackberry:http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/23276874/?countrycode=CA

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions, or drop by the store.

Christian

I don’t live in rupert but the service sucks at my house… I hear it’s being worked on though :wink: hopefully they will be rolling out LTE here as well and maybe then the service will be upgraded. I live a bit out of town though so I’m not expecting much.

Feel free to PM me your address and I can take a closer look for you, jesus. And definitely download the free TELUS Network Experience app I mentioned and let us know if there are any other trouble spots you encounter. We’re always listening.

done and done.

Here is a link for you all out there.

To be completely honest, we have it quite good in Prince Rupert. Compared to major centers.