Bell Canada, which apparently has lots of money to spare, has decided to buy up The Source, the overpriced electronics retailer which used to be Radio Shack and whose parent company went bankrupt in November.
Coverage from, well, everyone: Globe, Star, CBC, Forbes, WSJ, Reuters, Digital Home
Bell says it plans to use the outlets to hawk Bell merchandise like Bell Mobility cellphones (once the exclusivity contract with Rogers ends this year) and Bell TV satellite service.
The deal seems to make perfect sense, as both companies offer crappy product, have horrible customer service, charge way too much and yet survive because people who don’t know any better recognize the brand.
Any bets on whether Bell will fix the many fundamental problems with The Source’s business model?
I bought something from them today for work! Other stores charged waayyyy too much for shipping to here, and they charged only 5$! So yep, we’ll see how it goes with the actual handling of my order.. :P
“The deal seems to make perfect sense, as both companies offer crappy product, have horrible customer service, charge way too much and yet survive because people who don’t know any better recognize the brand.”
Touché!
If only I had a buck for every time I heard someone complain or vent their anger at Bell I would be a hundredaire! I’ve had enough with them one day so I did some research and went with smaller companies like link2voip for my phone service and teksavvy for my internet connection. There are choices out there – but like you said, people recognize the brand and go with what they are familiar with. Wondering where all that money you give them is going? Remember seeing the Bell logo on your way home today?