Residents report struggle getting Bell to move its stuff
Bell Canadasays it doesn’t occupy private property without permission, but you wouldn’t know it by the way it ignores the owners.
We’re still getting complaints about Bell after our recent columns about a Mississauga homeowner who was told he’d have to pay Bell $250,000 to move its equipment box from his property.
Bell backed down after we wrote about it and agreed to move it at no cost to the homeowner. It has not been as accommodating with others.
Nick Shcherban emailed to say he first asked Bell to remove a pole from the backyard of a rental property he owns on Gainsborough Rd. a year ago.
And Loretta DiFrancesco sent us a note about Bell’s refusal to move an old equipment box from the grounds of a condo building she lives in at 2511 Bloor St. W. The common denominator in both complaints is that Bell has given them the runaround by making half-hearted commitments to do something about it but has not followed through.
Shcherban sent us photos of a pole that is pushing up against a shed, noting that the weight of tree limbs pushing down on wires in a nearby backyard is causing the pole to lean at a 26-degree angle.
“Communications with Bell have been fruitless as we were told it would be fixed before the start of winter 2014,” he said. “Now in the spring, nothing has been done, and Bell is not communicating with us.”
DiFrancesco sent us details of a twoyear struggle to get Bell to remove the decommissioned box from the city rightof-way next to their property.
“Even though (the old box) is on city property, it is within a foot of our beautifully landscaped garden, and we maintain the landscaping and upkeep of the entire west lawn at a significant cost.” Status: Jason Laszlo, who deals with media for Bell, emailed to say it would look into both problems and get back to us. Once the sunny light of media shines on Bell, we’ve found it has no trouble doing the right thing. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. To contact us, go to thestar.com/yourtoronto/the_fixer or call us at 416-8694823 email jlakey@thestar.ca. To read our blog, go to thestar.com/news/the_fixer. Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.