Hell’s Bell
I read Kristian Gravenor’s column in the Mirror [“Bell secrets,” Jan. 17], and it was so nice of him to find a source like Mr. Sylvain Gagné to tell all the Bell customers about the facts of what exactly goes on inside that company.
I complained many times to Bell Canada about a service that I never used but paid for. I began my contract with the company in Sept. 2001 and I was paying around $23 each month. When my telephone line was activated I received many junk calls and fax machine sounds when I answered my phone. I complained to Bell for about three months until it stopped.
After a while, Bell came up with a new increase in the monthly bill for $26.90. I asked the company why but their answer wasn’t clear. They said the increase is because the company that supplies Bell with telephone machines increased its prices.
Then last month I found a new increase for the telephone bill to $28.90 and I called Bell again after I paid it. I was surprised when the representative said to me, “This increase is because you use an international call service,” a feature which I never used from this company. I use prepaid phone cards that I buy from regular stores.
I can’t convince anyone in this company because they are well-trained to answer any question from customers. I thought of canceling my phone many times, but I go and think again and ask myself, “Is it possible for someone nowadays to live without a phone?”
I appreciate that you wrote about something that is really going on in that company. You uncovered the company in easy and quite-so sentences that every one can understand. You showed their misdeeds through their former employee Mr. Sylvain Gagné, which I do feel when I see increases in my bill without any
reason.
—Ahmed Youssef Elkaied
Concordia student

In Mr. Gravenor’s column I learned some very useful information about my telephone bill. However, the closing paragraph (in which Gravenor states “... it’s Bell, not its employees that sucks”) did leave me with a question: Who is Bell if not its employees?
Given that Bell’s managers and officers are also employees, and Bell’s owners are the ordinary shareholders of the most widely held company in Canada, I’m perplexed as to who but the employees I can turn to when I want to talk to Bell.
Perhaps your newspaper could address this question in a future column, or in a larger article about corporate responsibility.
—David Hsan

Corpulent kitties
I could not get my hands on a copy of the Mirror with the article on “Fat Cats” [“Is it art?” Jan 10]. I was hoping that you could give me the toll-free number listed in the article so that I can get in touch with a professional.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
—Lisa
[Ed’s note: The Iams’ Pet Professionals can be reached at 1-800-863- 4267]

Rink rat rant
As if the outdoor hockey season wasn’t bad enough this year, what with the warm weather, last week NDG decides to take down the boards at the Loyola Park rink [“NDG rink rats lose boards,” Jan. 17]. This because a bunch of idiot vandals keep knocking them down.
By all means teach the punks a lesson, but why punish people who want to use the rink? Why not put a surveillance cop on the site and catch the vandals in action?
Hockey should be sacred in Montreal.
—Roger Levar

Porker disrespect
I read with interest the little story about the 400 pound pig named Pugsley who tried to mate with the much-smaller family pet pot-belly pig Charlotte [Man Bites Dog, “Born to rut,” Jan 17]. But I was horrified to learn that the police remedied the situation by shooting the poor pig (Pugsley) to death! Surely there must have been another solution.
To make matters worse, the way your writer Scott Saxon worded the story “…deputies showed up and gunned the fucker down” showed a blatant disregard for the life of this pig as well as the gravity of the situation.
—Alex Lindsay