I’m working on my book, 99 Ways to Fight Back: How to Hang On To Your Money and Protect Yourself from Corporate Trickery. It’s to be published early next year by Wiley.

I’ll be dealing with 10 topic areas: Banks, insurance, credit bureaus, financial advisers, telecommunications, travel, cars and major appliances, home renovations, fitness clubs and online fraud. (Have I missed anything you’d like to see there?)

Today, I want to talk about getting consumer justice from Canada’s big telecom firms, which are notorious for treating customers badly.

Here’s the story of Linda M, who wanted a refund from Bell for a high-speed Internet service she had paid for but hadn’t received. She eventually found someone to help her — but it took much time and trouble to get there.

Linda’s Internet service went down on March 25 of this year. Bell’s technical support couldn’t fix the problem and sent a technician to her home to install a new modem.

After connecting the new modem, the technician said her Internet was extremely slow. After he tested it, he said she was paying for high-speed Internet (Fibe 16) and receiving a fraction of what she should have had (0.5).

She finally pieced together what happened. Four days after receiving her high-speed Internet service on Nov. 18, 2010, she called to report a problem. Bell downgraded her high-speed Internet temporarily to try and resolve the problem, but never upgraded it again.

Naturally, Bell blamed her for everything. She was offered only a token refund after she paid for high-speed Internet for 16 months.

Since I had never called to complain about the speed, the only thing Bell could do was give me credit for one month’s free Internet service.

How could I complain my Internet was slow when I only had it for four days? I assumed this was what Bell considered to be high-speed.

When I did call technical support, I mentioned that my Internet was slow. But all they wanted to do was sell me more services for more fees. They didn’t offer to check to see if I was receiving what I was paying for.

Linda spent more than a month calling and leaving messages, speaking to the wrong people in the wrong departments, before getting Bell’s executive office to investigate and agree to a refund. By that time, she was getting ready to go to small claims court.

Her long and winding road to get action required the persistence of a marathon runner.

The first person who called me was a commercial Internet contact. He transferred me to a residential Internet contact, who wasn’t terribly helpful.

I spoke to her supervisor, who transferred me me to Terry, who transferred me to Todd in the executive office.

Todd was the correct person, but it took us three weeks to connect. He only seemed anxious to get hold of me when I left my last message, saying I would be taking my complaint to Bell CEO George Cope.

Dealing with Bell was like dealing with the government, but in the end I got a satisfactory result.

Bell isn’t alone n being hard to reach. Some Rogers customers also spend hours, weeks, months, on their arduous journey to get resolution and retribution. (You’ll find a story posted below about trying to unlock a Rogers cellphone after ending a contract.)

Are there any short cuts to getting attention? Does Twitter help? How about Facebook? How about YouTube? Have you managed to embarrass a company online?

Please send me your tips on how to jump the queue and reduce the tedium of escalating a complaint at Canada’s big telecom firms.

Karen Somerville heads a non-profit housing organization that receives more complaints about faulty heating and cooling system than any other issue. Here’s her guest post.

Far too many homeowners from different parts of Ontario are freezing and sweating in their newly built homes! Clearly, this is unacceptable.

The problems have been highlighted by the media (Toronto Star, W-Five on CTV and Holmes on Homes on HGTV). Yet, the problems persist.

Government officials often don’t help consumers – their accountabilities seem vague or non-existent. Different levels of government point at each other as the source of the problem, leaving homeowners to fend for themselves.

There are good builders and when mistakes happen, good builders take responsibility and fix them properly and promptly.

But there are also poor and marginal builders who may not respond appropriately to consumers’ complaints. Worse, consumers have no reliable, objective way of distinguishing between good builders and the others.

Can you knock on doors in a housing development to ask current owners if they’re satisfied? If there are construction defects, some owners may reveal them. But often they won’t, for fear of lowering their property value. Some fear litigation from the builder.

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) defects can be very expensive to fix. You may have to tear out walls and ceilings, which usually requires that you relocate. These repairs often range from $40,000 to more than $100,000 and are very stressful for the families involved.

So, if you’re considering buying a newly built home, what can you do to try to protect yourself? Here are some tips:

* Take your time and do not rush into a deal. Do your due diligence.

* Make sure you know what warranties come with your home and that you understand them. Often these warranties are quite limited. Read the fine print.

* investigate the HVAC system to be installed and see if there are any media/consumer reports with concerns about the HVAC system.

* Before signing your purchase and sale agreement, review it with your own qualified lawyer.

* Include a clause indicating that you want the right to have the HVAC inspected (and tested if necessary) by your own independent HVAC expert, before the drywall is put up, and if you are not satisfied with the HVAC, you can get out of the deal.

* Include a clause for an extended warranty on the HVAC system.

* Beware of clauses about leasing HVAC equipment. This can be problematic.

* Follow through with finding and retaining the services of a qualified HVAC expert.

* If the builder will not include such clauses in the agreement, think twice about proceeding.

If you’re looking at buying a recently built home on the real estate market, here are some tips:

* Again, take your time – do not rush into a purchase. Before you submit an offer, review all claims submitted to the warranty company, and figure out if there is a warranty remaining on reported HVAC issues.

* Determine if there is leased HVAC equipment and the implications.

* Include a clause indicating the right to have the HVAC inspected (and tested if necessary) by your own HVAC expert, and specify that if you are not satisfied with the HVAC, you can get out of the deal.

* Find and retain the services of a qualified HVAC expert.

It may be difficult to find qualified HVAC experts. Many home inspectors are not qualified for HVAC. One place to look is the Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Institute.

A home is the largest purchase most of us will ever make. A home with HVAC construction defects can consume your life – and drain your bank account – as you try to get it properly repaired. So do your homework when purchasing a home.

Dr. Karen Somerville is president of Canadians for Properly Built Homes (CPBH), a national, not for profit corporation dedicated to healthy, safe, durable, energy efficient residential housing for Canadians.

CPBH receives no government funding and relies on donations from consumers to cover its operating expenses. To send an email, write to info@canadiansfor properlybuilthomes.com.

Today’s guest post is from Bob Lepp, a consultant who examines your telecom and utility bills and finds ways to reduce your costs, either with the same supplier or by changing suppliers.

He’s saved almost $15,000 for his first 28 clients. He takes one third of the first year’s savings as his compensation. A similar service, Cut My Costs, takes 40 per cent of the first year’s savings.

Bob’s email address is 2thirds4u@gmail.com. Check out his views below.

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Look closely at your Bell phone bill every month. If you have bought an ‘Anytime Block of Time’, or any long distance, eliminate it right away.

Bell’s design hides what you bought and for how much, thus falsifying the savings. Let me explain.

1) You cannot determine what you bought. There is no size of the “block” you bought. It may be 100 or 1,500, the bill never tells you. The “per minute” rate is buried in the usage chart.

2) There’s no total plan price. There’s a block price, but you pay more. You will see “1 Network Charge $6.95”, the second plan component. When questioned, Bell says “Everyone pays that standard charge.” It is really just Bell-speak for “extra profit”.

3) Check the usage on every call. Date, time, place, number, duration, cost. But there’s no total of minutes used. That space is empty in the chart. Given the total, you’d divide it into the sum of Block plus Network for a minute rate. And that is why Bell does not add it up.

4) Check “Savings and/or Discounts” columns, you’ll see the old mileage-based rates, 10 cents close by, 79 cents to BC. These are rates no one should pay, but Bell chooses high rates for comparison. They need “savings” so badly they do it by the minute in the usage, then total up and state it FOUR times under “Usage-Summary”. But no “total minutes used” OR “unused” from your expensive plan.

5) Bell does NOT add in the plan and Network Charge as costs when calculating savings. Nope, they’re ignored. First, they charge an inflated .79 cent rate, now they leave out fees REQUIRED for the deal. EVERY invoice says savings were made. Every one. Because every plan is “free” of costs, according to Bell.

Bell forbids us from calculating savings, since if we did we’d cancel the plans immediately.

Why? Rates used for comparison are not applicable to anyone, unless that person failed to say: “I want your no-charge ‘no plan’ long distance plan”.

Smart customers making few calls remove ALL long distance plans, asking instead for the free one, charging ONLY for making calls.

No calls? Pay nothing. Make calls, pay 25 cents a minute anywhere in North America, not 79 cents. Bell charges $2.50, once for that entire month, regardless of minutes used. No ‘Network Charge’ applies.

Next month, start all over, make no calls, pay nothing. Florida for 5 months? No fees. The most you should pay Bell is 25 cents, plus $2.50 across all minutes that month. They won’t tell you that, unless asked.

We contacted Bell President George Cope at: executive.office@bell.ca, suggesting the formula needs correction. The bill should total the minutes purchased, total our usage, and suggest better plans based on usage.

The reply? Chris, employee MYCVAS, called with bad news. Nothing will change, the calculations are identical for everyone, ours is no different.

Would they fix the calculations? No, he said there’s nothing Bell can do, because “our systems are so old only 3 people can change them. Changes cost lots, millions, for even the smallest change.”

How can customers find out the true savings on their plans? Chris expects customers will call about an unclear or wrong bill. Then, a better plan is suggested.

Regular readers know you speak to Loyalty about cancelling and then they throw money to retain you. That’s their job and they’re rated on how many customers they retain with better deals.

Every Loyalty agent wants to keep customers after mentioning “cancel”. But Bell cannot automate the real savings suggestions onto the bill itself.

Call Bell today, question every charge, every line item, document each, what it covers, start date and end dates for contracts. Ask for lower fees. You are paying too much, you want to pay less.

They welcome your call and will give discounts just for asking. “I’d like to know I am paying the least before I decide to cancel” is a good opener.

Bottom line: No Bell LD package is good unless you can calculate your true minute cost easily. Then, get direct dial LD for 3 cents with Rapidtel Easyvoice.

Get off the Bell ‘regulated’ line. Go ‘unregulated’. Get basic Home Phone Lite for $14.95, INCLUDING Touch Tone and 911.

Get those missing bundle savings for TV and cellphone services that ‘regulated’ lines don’t get. (Get $5 off phone for TV, for cell, for internet, again for an LD plan over $5. It’s all there for the asking.)

Savings are for 12 months, so call back just before to renew your deal. Otherwise, your discounts end and you pay full fare.

Claudine didn’t know that Scotiabank had a free chequing account for customers age 59 and up. By the time she heard of it, she was 69 years old.

Do you think she deserved a refund of 10 years’ worth of service charges ? If not, what would be a fair settlement?

Claudine had renewed her mortgage two years ago and seven years ago. The bank staff could see her birth date and didn’t mention anything about the free account (Scotia Plus Program for Seniors).

“The banks do everything they can to bring in money, as if they don’t make enough. But when it comes to money-saving options for their clients, there is nothing done, no information disbursed,” she told me.

When she called the president’s office, she was offered a refund of two years’ worth of service charges. She thought that wasn’t enough.

“I didn’t feel I was responsible, since no one had made me aware of their seniors’ policy. How can I be held responsible for something I have no knowledge of?” she asked.

When I ran this complaint by Scotiabank’s media people, they boosted Claudine’s refund to $295.55 — up $173.95 from the previous amount.

This was still only partial reimbursement, but she was happy with the offer.

CBC Marketplace did a short item about seniors’ discounts on bank fees in last week’s show (the Busted edition).

Marketplace also had a great chart, showing the discounts at the Big Five Canadian banks. It said the rebates are not automatically applied when customers become eligible.

Two banks (BMO and RBC) add seniors’ discounts automatically. CIBC does not add discounts, but gives full refunds to those who miss out. Only Scotiabank and TD Canada Trust fail to add discounts and fail to pay full refunds to those who miss out.

I often hear from customers who didn’t get the best deals because they didn’t ask the right questions. They trusted that company staff would give them the information they needed.

Forget it. As Claudine’s example shows, you have to ask. You’re held to be partially responsible if you don’t ask.

“Are there any discounts or money-saving options I can qualify for?” That’s a good question. You can also try: “Is that the best you do? Can you do any better?”

You don’t know what you don’t know, so you have to reach out to the companies you deal with. Don’t be afraid to ask open-ended questions. You may just get results.

Companies save money by going to electronic billing. Too bad they don’t share the savings with their customers.

Telus switched to paperless billing in 2010, creating a big debate at my blog and at Moneyville. Royal Bank also went paperless, which I wrote about here.

Now Bell Canada has made its intentions clear. Internet customers must opt in to electronic billing by June 1 and stop receiving paper bills. Otherwise, they’ll have to pay $2 a month for mailed invoices.

Bell talks about being environmentally friendly and giving more timely access to billing information. But the big driver of this change — cutting corporate costs — is not mentioned.

Is paperless practical for all Canadians? I don’t think so, at least not yet.

Some Bell landline customers, even if they have home computers or smartphones, don’t feel comfortable monitoring their accounts online. It seems unfair to add $24 a year to their costs, especially if they’re older or on fixed incomes.

As for me, I pay more attention to bills I get in the mail. I open up the envelope and read the contents. I make sure to pay on time.

With electronic bills, there are more steps. First, I get an email, telling me to click a link. Then, I put in my user name and password. Then, I lcheck my statement on the screen. Then, I push print if I want a copy (assuming I have enough paper in my printer).

My advice: Ask Bell for concessions. Talk about your loyalty. Threaten to leave if you can’t get what you want. I know some people have already won the right to keep getting paper bills at no cost.

It’s a competitive market and some rival firms haven’t switched to e-billing. If Bell is smart, it will make accommodations to hold onto long-time customers.

I’m getting ready to teach my course at the University of Toronto, The Facts of Life about Your Finances. All I need is a reading list.

Here’s the problem: I can’t find many current books by Canadian authors that cover the landscape in an authoritative and engaging way.

I love The Wealthy Barber Returns by David Chilton, but it’s far from comprehensive. I think of it as a funny rant about credit and investing, told in Dave’s distinctive voice, with lots of personal anecdotes thrown in.

I also like The Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam, but it has a narrow focus on low-cost investing with index funds. Ditto for Alison Griffiths’ new book, Count on Yourself.

I end up picking three books that complement each other:

– 397 Ways to Save Money by Kerry Taylor. In my view, saving money is the key to building your net worth. Most personal finance authors skim over this part of the equation, while Taylor dives into it in depth — and with great enthusiasm. (Check out her frugal living website, Squawkfox)

– Never Too Late: Take Control of Your Retirement and Your Future by Gail Vaz-Oxlade. The R word (retirement) can be a turnoff, but Vaz-Oxlade’s passionate and colloquial writing style makes even younger readers sit up and take notice. I also like Gordon Pape’s book, Retirement’s Harsh New Realities, but it’s not for novices.

– Your Money Milestones by Moshe Milevsky. He’s a finance professor who often takes a contrarian stance on money matters. I like the way he examines the major decisions you make during a lifetime. His upcoming book looks fascinating, but alas, it won’t be published in time for my course.

Books go out of date quickly, but luckily, we have a wealth of great online resources in Canada. Gail Vaz-Oxlade gets a huge response to her blog, where she writes about things like coupons and emergency funds.

Moneysense magazine puts all its articles online, which is really helpful. It also has a bunch of bloggers who will grab your attention.

Finally, I can’t avoid recommending Moneyville, my new home at the Toronto Star. You might enjoy visiting the blogs of some contributors, such as Boomer and Echo, Give Me Back My Five Bucks and Marc Saltzman’s Sync blog.

Where are the best places to go for personal finance tips, advice and strategies? Name your favourites. Tell me what I missed. Let’s expand the list.

When I started this blog five years ago, one of my first posts was on bank fees. Yes, banks were hitting you with more fees then and they’re still doing it now.

Your best defense is to shop around, says a background paper by the Canadian Bankers Association, adding that bank fees are low (about $16.20 a month per household) and not a big contributor to total bank revenues (only 5.6 per cent).

But things are changing for banks, I believe, forcing them to wring more revenue from consumer transactions. Low interest rates are squeezing their profit margins and new international rules will force them to hold more capital.

Bank shares won’t be yielding double-digit returns as in the past, says a Canadian Business cover story. That will hurt everyone who owns a balanced mutual fund in their retirement accounts

So, banks are asking retail customers to pay more for the services they use. They’re also cutting back on free services they offered in the past.

After I wrote about TD Canada Trust eliminating a free chequing account for older clients, I heard from many people who felt “nickeled and dimed” by service charges. Even some bank employees joined the chorus.

Here are a few examples (below) of things that upset people about bank fees. Please add any charges they missed.

I often hear stories about online coupon deals that don’t live up to buyers’ expectations. How often do struggling businesses use deeply discounted vouchers, which are paid for in advance, to get an inflow of cash and shore up their finances?

I’ve written a few times about the Toronto butcher who continues to turn away coupon customers away since last spring. Two daily deal websites (Webpiggy and Buytopia) are no longer giving refunds, while Dealfind is still giving refunds.

I mentioned this case again here, along with a few others that have generated complaints. For more about those $85 Google Android tablets from Dealfind, check here.

In Ottawa, another butcher called Aubrey’s Meats had to suspend coupon redemptions until May 2012 because of financial troubles. It’s a similar story.

Groupon, Dealfind and Teambuy gave refunds, but Kahoot did not, according to Ottawa blogger Bob LeDrew and Open File Ottawa.

I think all deal websites should offer refunds if a product or service isn’t delivered in a timely way. A 30-day limit isn’t enough. Problems often take longer to appear.

Consumers hate being asked to pay in advance and waiting up to a year or two to get what they paid for. They shouldn’t be expected to finance a failing business.

Here’s my prediction: Online coupon vendors must reform their refund policies or face government intervention. This business won’t last unless it develops higher standards.

Do you think new rules are needed for group buying promotions? Have you had troubles trying to cash in any coupons you bought? Please pass along your experiences.

I was tied up yesterday and missed the announcement. But I knew DE would have to stop forcing customers to accept contract changes they didn’t want.

The protest was too loud. I’ve seen nothing like it since the revulsion against Rogers’ negative option marketing of cable TV channels in the 1990s.

Canadians aren’t as vocal about consumer abuses as Americans are. But they can be pushed only so far. When they’ve had enough, they scream.

Direct Energy said it made the decision to drop the new contract. I don’t believe it. I’m sure the Ontario and federal governments had a role in forcing DE to back off.

Ontario outlawed negative option sales in 2005. What good is a law if it’s not enforced?

Meanwhile, Ottawa just announced that financial institutions would have to stop providing new features (like credit card balance insurance) and making customers call to opt out.

Rob Comstock, senior vice-president, was on TV last night, talking about the service enhancements the company hoped would offset the cancellation charges.

This strategy of sugar coating a bitter pill almost worked — until the media got involved. We warned people to read those letters carefully to the end, since DE was hiding the truth.

The company obviously didn’t do any research on consumers’ reaction to negative option marketing. If it had, it wouldn’t have made such dumb mistakes in this misguided campaign.

DE is now run by British and U.S. executives who don’t understand the Canadian mentality. Even the PR spokeswoman is in Houston, Texas.

It’s a victory for consumers in Canada, who finally found their voices and rose up. This DE story will be used in business courses as a case study in what not to do.

I normally get lots of email, but I’ve never seen anything like this. I had about 1,000 Direct Energy emails and phone calls in the past week. I couldn’t keep up.

I still find it hard to believe that DE could write to 500,000 customers, giving them a tight deadline and only one phone number to call.

When people couldn’t get through to the company, they asked the media to help — and we told them to fight back.

Luckily, they did fight back. And DE was forced into a humiliating apology.

After a storm of protest by its rental customers, Direct Energy said it would wait until May 1 (instead of April 2) to impose new contract terms on them.

This gives people more time to opt out, but doesn’t deal with the ethics of this campaign.

The British-owned company may be breaking Ontario’s law against negative option billing. I heard from several hundreds of readers today — much more than usual — about how they hated being pushed into a corner.

The company may think extending the deadline will relieve the pressure. This may be a misperception.

Many readers said they had written to the Ontario Premier. I hope the government steps in and makes a public statement about how DE is treating its loyal customers.