eXTReMe Tracker Canadian BullBLOG: 06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006

Friday, June 30, 2006

For whom the Bell tolls

I sent the following email to Bell Canada today in frustration. The name has been X'ed out to protect the innocent.... well, me, actually.


Attention: Office of the Manager

My name is XXXXXXXX and I have been a Bell Canada customer for almost 15
years. I am very close to ending this relationship.

Although some, if not all, of this information may be on your files, I thought
it may be helpful to document my experiences. I moved to an apartment building
on Monday, June 26th (my new phone number is XXXXXXXXXX) and did not have
service when I moved in. I called 310-BELL to follow up on this, and was told it
would be rectified within the next 48 hours. I explained to them at this time I
needed phone service by Thursday evening, because I need to plug my office
computer into that phone line for work purposes.

On Wednesday, June 28th, I received a call from a Bell technician at my office
asking why I wasn't at home. I explained that no appointment had ever been made, and that I was at work. The technician said he looked at the apartment
building's phone box and needed access to my suite to fix the problem. He asked
me to call Bell Canada to "reschedule" the appointment, which I did. I set up an
appointment for between 12:30 and 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 29th. I also took
the day off work specifically to let the technician into my suite. I should also
point out that I called 310-BELL again on Wednesday evening to confirm my
appointment.

On Thursday, June 30th, I spent the entire day at home for naught. I called
310-BELL at least four times between 12 and 6 to check on the status of my
appointment. At 5:30, I spoke to an operator who promised me that the technician
would show up by 6 p.m. I have since learned that she could not guarantee me
that; however, this is what she told me. Each time I called, I received a
different (and sometimes contradictory) story: the technician was sick, they had
already been at the building, they had referred my situation to Bell's business office, etc. When I called after 6 p.m., a Bell operator suggested that they
would definitely be there by 9 p.m. to look at my line. So I waited home another
three hours, again for nothing.

According to a senior agent I spoke to at approximately 8 p.m. (I had asked
three separate times to speak to a supervisor, and my request was REFUSED by
your operators twice), a technician was in my building at 7:20 p.m., had tried
to call me (doubtful, because my cellphone never rang, and that's the only
telephone that works in my suite), and had left after checking the apartment
building's box. Why they would check the exact same thing twice, I'm not sure.
In any event, I was told by the senior agent that it was too late in the day to
re-send a technician, and that Bell has a backlog because of a busy holiday
weekend. Of course, had this problem been dealt with on Monday, we would not
have to worry about the holiday weekend. I am now unable to take off anymore
days of work, and again, I need telephone service for the weekend for my computer.

Not once during this entire situation did I receive a call from anyone at Bell
updating me on the status of my order; I had to call each time to receive
updates. The operators I spoke to were all very friendly and patient, but their
contradictory messages are simply unacceptable. Regardless, no one has been able
to solve my problem, which is not having a working telephone.

Also, I should point out that I realize my accounts here may seem farfetched. I
understand that your company records its calls for quality assurance, so please
feel free to go back and listen to the almost dozen conversations I have had
with Bell operators.

After almost 15 years as a customer, I would expect better from Bell Canada. All
I am asking for is to have telephone service. I don't understand why this is such a difficult procedure. I am not asking at this point for reimbursement of
my day off work, my cellular phone calls or anything. I simply want phone
service.

As I have mentioned to your senior agents, if this situation is not resolved by
the time I am home from work this evening, I will be looking at alternate
telephone service. Please contact me today if you have any questions, or if
Bell Canada cares about losing one of its clients. Sincerely,

XXXXXXXXX




And I mean it. If I arrive home tonight with no phone service, I'm switching. Any other Canucks in my shoes that have switched to "alternate" phone services? I realize that my business isn't a huge deal to anyone, but I've just had enough with the b.s.

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Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Latest "Breaking News"

TNA Resurrects SEX As A Separate Brand

Just to give you a little insight on how my demented mind works: I had no intentions of writing a column for WWI this week. I was in the middle of moving homes yesterday when the inspiration hit (I must have been thinking about the WWE-ECW spinoff at the time). Nostalgia sellz ticketz, baby!

Within twenty minutes, I had the complete story down on paper (well, computer). It's weird because sometimes, it takes me forever to finish a column, and sometimes, I can get it all done like this. Anyways, I'm happy with the end result, especially for a column that wasn't even supposed to be...

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Blog Plug (Try saying THAT five times fast!)

Be sure to check out our old friend Dave Hillhouse at his new blog, aka The Total Face Pain Grab. Among other things, Dave runs the fantastic movie database over at Slam! Wrestling. Definitely stuff worth reading.....

Friday, June 23, 2006

This is what I call a "shoot interview"



(And in case the link freezes after 24 hours, try this link.

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Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Latest "Breaking News"

NBC to Launch "Who Wants To Pin Rey Mysterio?" Reality Show

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Sunday, June 18, 2006

Programming Notes, etc.

I just wanted to address a couple of quick things while I have a few minutes here. It's actually scary how many emails I've received about this in the last three, four days; kind of flattering, too.

As The Rick has mentioned, yes, I'm taking some time off from my regular column duties, but really, I doubt it will be too long a hiatus. A lot of changes going on in my life right now (and essentially, those of you who know ALREADY KNOW what I'm talking about; if you don't, don't worry about it), and I've just got to focus on the tasks at hand, thus the columns are going to be secondary.

That said, I already have a WWI column set up for this Tuesday, and I'm scrambling to finish a new ITR as well. The week after that? Who knows? My point being, it will just be a little more sporadic than normal. "And that's all I got tah say about that!"

Quick, very late in the day, Happy Father's Day to everyone out there. My son surprised me this morning with a card he made in school and a comic book he had drawn for me... I'm a sucker for sentimental stuff like that....

Finally, I just wanted to add that I'm watching my first TNA PPV in some time tonight (essentially, since the Wednesday PPV era). I wasn't planning on ordering it until I saw Impact! last night and they did one helluva hard sell for the event.

AJ/Daniels vs AMW was fantastic, with tons of false finishes. Nash vs Sabin was fun, though predictable. The X division match was spotty, but still worth watching. Samoa Joe vs Scott Steiner was probably the best I've seen Steiner look in YEARS. He was used pretty much perfectly in this instance, building up Joe while masking his own reputation in recent years of being a roided-up joke. Cornette gave a great little promo. I'm still watching the main event (and haven't seen the Rhino or Team 3-D matches yet, but so far the King of the Mountain match is nothing to sneer at.

In short, I never thought I'd enjoy a show with Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, Sting and Kevin Nash so much, but it's been well worth the money thus far...

That's about it. Have a good night.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Me, Responding To Junk E-Mail

Haven't done this in a while (or at least, shared it publicly....)

----- Original Message -----
From: Julia
At: 6/14 10:19:01

Just listen, has ur age been keeping u from doing the activites you used to
love,or even worse, you energy levels been at all time low's.

Funny b/c mine was, at least that was until http://lllx.stormnlyar.org/ja/.
a of includes only

wide all forms supports variety the of andfinallys transitional
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Julia,

Thanks for the compliment. You know, I wasn't planning on keeping up the good
work. I was planning on lowering my level of good work during the busy June -
September season, but now that you're encouraging me, anything is possible.

And my age (68) HAS been keeping me from doing the activities I used to love.
Which would suggest that I'm doing less than my best work, but whatever. My
energy level is NOT at an all-time low, as you suggest; however, it reached a
lower level on Dec. 14, when it fell 4.1 percent.

I checked out the website you suggested, but it's only for U.S. customers. What
about me? I'm just some poor Canadian shlub, so I don't count, right? Is that
what you're implying? Am I just some backwater moron to you people? Maybe if I
was the 3rd-biggest by market value in the U.S., and not just in Ontario, that
would give you reason to pay attention to ME, wouldn't it? But no, you're all about the U.S., aren't you? Well, thanks a lot, Julia -- thanks for nothing.

Bitch.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No response yet....

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Latest WWI Column

Breaking News: Wrestling's Hulk Hogan Took Steroids

I shit you not. Investigative journalism in action!!!

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Catching Up (Again)

Gah! Been another busy week for your friendly neighborhood Bulldog. There WILL be a column on WWI later today; probably nothing for OO, though. Reason being: I wrote the WWI one a while ago but haven't had time to write something more timely for the 'Slaught. Could be a few more weeks of this.

In brief...

- Caught The Da Vinci Code on Friday, and was really unimpressed. Essentially, I loved the book and the film was quite faithful to the book. Unfortunately, the book just didn't seem to translate well to the big screen. Too many flashbacks, too much talking, and add to the fact that I was watching this until almost 1 a.m. Definitely not something I would recommend rushing out to see.

- Loved the ECW One Night Stand PPV. Sure, it's really a WWE show with a different look to it. So what? It's different, it's fun, we're getting some old and new names there -- what's the problem? I wish I got the Sci-Fi show here, but I guess that's what YouTube is for. Foley/Edge vs Dreamer/Funk was a work of art, and all of the other matches were just unique enough to work. I'll reserve judgment on what's happening with the title for now...

- Picked up "The World's Greatest Wrestling Managers" DVD. Haven't watched it the whole way through yet, but digging it so far. Another fun retro-release, with a lot of old clips mixed in with newer interviews. I'm sure I'll have a DVD review of it up.... at some point.

Yeah, I think that's it for now. And apologies in advance for the lack of updates -- after my latest round of shit is settled, hopefully by mid-July, things will be back to normal.

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Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Latest TWS

Behold, The True Wrestling Story of Wrestling and Religion.

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Catching Up....

A few things/random observations that I thought I'd mention, now that I've neglected this blog for yet another week (save for some cheap column plugs):


-- Thanks again to everyone for reading the ol' BullBLOG again last month. ANOTHER record for unique page views in May, which is kind of exciting.

-- Caught part of a Battle of the Bands on Friday night, featuring the group I came to see, The Short & Curlies. I would definitely recommend checking them out. In my totally unbiased opinion (okay, okay, I know one of the band members), they are awesome, and the fact that they advanced to the second round of this thing just confirms it for me.

-- Spent the rest of this past weekend in Niagara Falls with my son. I wrote about it my experiences there in a past column on OO, and essentially things haven't changed much since last year. My son had a blast, though, even in the pouring rain on Saturday. As far as the WWE stores goes, they've updated their merch.... slightly. There were new shirts for Boogeyman, Triple H and the "recent" tandem of Hurricane, Rosey and Stacy Keibler, as well as a SWEET Kamala action figure that I would have picked up, except I don't really collect WWE action figures anymore. So I went with a retro "Hot Rod" shirt, which I don't believe I've ever had before. Anyways, the trip was awesome, because I'm still very much a child a heart.

-- I'm really excited about the ECW show this weekend, even if it IS another version of WWE employees vs. other WWE employees. I'm excited to see where they take this brand, and if they can genuinely create a bit of a buzz. Which is what's sorely needed in wrestling right now.

-- To the person who wrote me (I want to say "Larry"), YES, I will happily autograph my book for you. Unfortunately, because I'm a moron, I accidentally erased your email before I had a chance to respond. I can't believe I did that. Anyways, Larry or Jerry or Barry or whomever you are, please try me again at canadian_bulldog@hotmail.com. I won't lose your contact info this time, I swear.

-- Should have some decent columns up this week, including my latest True Wrestling Story today. There, we're back to making the cheap plugs again, so I'm going to run....

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Friday, June 02, 2006

Latest Wrestling With Literature

Reviewed: The Death Of WCW, One Ring Circus, Hardcore History, Sex, Lies and Headlocks, and World Wrestling Insanity.

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