Shi**y Bell and the Source

This was broadcasted on CBC's The National last night.

85-year-old with Alzheimer's a victim of unethical sale at The Source, says son
Ross Miller, an 85-year-old with Alzheimer’s disease, went to The Source in Toronto to buy a TV. Instead, a salesperson sold him much more than he intended to buy, he said. An insider with The Source says constant pressure to hit unrealistic sales targets is forcing employees to make unethical sales.

This is not surprising. The only reason why Bell cancelled and refunded was cause it turned out to be a PR nightmare.

The Source solely exists these days because the direction that was set by the Bell execs was to have it aggressively push for subscriptions, contracts, and extended warranty. That’s their main revenue source; not so much on traditional retail products.

Could Bell just, you know, try not to be evil for once. Even their "nice thing," Bell Let's Talk, is nothing more than a big advertising campaign and none of the money actually goes anywhere useful.

I HATE SHOPPING AT THE SOURCE. I literally sweat if I know I have to go there for whatever reason because I need something they sell and it's close by and Walmart doesn't have it. Every time I go to The Source, I get borderline harassed as to who my service provider is, how much I'm paying, what I'm getting, etc. Their aggressiveness is something else. Anybody whose gone into The Source should not be surprised by this article. A friend of mine says she's told her parents they should not be going to The Source as they're elderly and she's afraid the same thing will happen to them.

There was a time where it's predecessor Radio Shack was a decent place to shop and had knowledgeable staff. Now it's all about profits, Profits, PROFITS!

Not going to comment on what the source or bell did but if the man has such a serious illness where was his family or care taker? I think that should be the real story here.

BernardRyder wrote: ↑ You must have frequented a good one. The Radio Craps I always seemed to walk in to were overpriced, full of bored commission drone employees, and had shoddy service. The Source is a bit better in some ways, but obviously a lot worse in others.

Radio Shack was awesome. 20-packs of assorted LEDs and electrolytic capacitors, little strong magnets, shortwave radios, and the free battery of the month club. Anyone else get the complete set of 8 Engineer’s Mini Notebooks by Forrest M. Mims III, including the elusive Communication Projects only sold in the US?

I have only stepped into a The Source store once in the last 20 years, to pick up the scratch & dent special TV I ordered online. Lucked out with that one, zero hours on the clock and half MSRP.

BernardRyder wrote: ↑ Free battery of the month club? I must know more about this.
I'm envisioning a spec sheet with important dimensions and background information, and a centrefold picture.

It was a little card that they’d punch or stamp. You got a free Radio Shack brand zinc-carbon battery every month. Choice of 9V, D, C, AA, and possibly AAA. Speaking of which, are C cells still a thing? They used to be super common, but I haven’t had a device that uses them in decades, and I can’t recall even seeing them for sale for years. But maybe I’m just not looking.

I remember being at The Source one time and they were asking me about my current Cable/Internet/Phone costs and when I told them they thought I was making it up. I think they were upset they couldn't pitch me anything because what they were offering was worse and cost more.

WMPCOT wrote: ↑ Not going to comment on what the source or bell did but if the man has such a serious illness where was his family or care taker? I think that should be the real story here.

+1. Couldn't his son help him buy a tv or order one online for him. Seems like his family has given up on him. Sad

iverson wrote: ↑ Your text to link here...

85-year-old with Alzheimer's sold Bell products and services he can't use after visit to The Source

Quite a few years ago a Mazda dealer did much worse to an elderly woman, sold her a $30,000 car for around $65,000 I think it was.

Kiraly wrote: ↑
It was a little card that they’d punch or stamp. You got a free Radio Shack brand zinc-carbon battery every month. Choice of 9V, D, C, AA, and possibly AAA. Speaking of which, are C cells still a thing? They used to be super common, but I haven’t had a device that uses them in decades, and I can’t recall even seeing them for sale for years. But maybe I’m just not looking.

Kid's toys still use Cs.

I too remember the free battery.

Kiraly wrote: ↑
It was a little card that they’d punch or stamp. You got a free Radio Shack brand zinc-carbon battery every month. Choice of 9V, D, C, AA, and possibly AAA. Speaking of which, are C cells still a thing? They used to be super common, but I haven’t had a device that uses them in decades, and I can’t recall even seeing them for sale for years. But maybe I’m just not looking.

I’ve seen some kids toys still use C cells But Ds seem to be more common lately out of the larger batteries

WMPCOT wrote: ↑ Not going to comment on what the source or bell did but if the man has such a serious illness where was his family or care taker? I think that should be the real story here.

Alzheimer's is not a black and white thing. It's not like one day you don't have it and the next day you need a caregiver. It can be a very long slow progression. Going out and shopping for a TV, as well as living alone, are well within the realm of what people with early onset Alzheimer's can do. Family might even have known he was TV shopping and didn't count on some scammy sales rep taking advantage of him like this.

Terrible. These things happen more often than you think and it's one reason why I lost faith in the human race.

I don't believe that it's just a very small percentage of people who do terrible things. There's a long list of reprobates... from murderers to rapists to scammers of all types. How many different types of scams are there? I've lost count. There's never a shortage of terrible people willing to do terrible things to others.

I've been in The Source and have been hounded by high pressure sales staff. Reminds me of years ago with Future Shop pushing their Extended Warranties that made them money and they refused your item when it needed warranty work.

I'm not surprised at this story, some greasy salesman wanted some commish.