I live in Montreal, Quebec. On November 27, 2006, I received a bill from Bell Canada for $208. These were current charges that had only been accumulated within the past month. The bill did not involve an old debt. On December 1, 2006, I paid $200 over the phone via the Royal Bank of Canada and was given a confirmation number.

On December 4, 2006, my phone was suddenly cut off. When I called Bell Canada, I was given the runaround and eventually told that bank payments weren't processed immediately, that they didn't want my confirmation number and that I not only had to get my boss to pay the $200 (again) with his credit card but that there would be a $150 reconnection fee.

In the past, a bank confirmation number has always been sufficient to prove payment. This is Bell's error and a reconnection charge certainly isn't justified, on top of all the inconvenience of running back and forth to phone booths for a day until my phone was reconnected.