Landing Experience - Calgary Alberta

[scorpion_ca]

Bank of Alberta offer free bank acc for 1 year to all customer (in promotion last week )

Bank of montreal offer free 1 year banking to new immigrant.

RBC offer 1000$ CC and free 6 month banking and free small locker safety box for 1 year to new immigrant who within landed 3 year - welcome to ca account .

Scotia bank offer free 1 year banking , free safety locker and 1000 $ CC etc to new immigrent who landed in last 3 year , also offer car finance and mortage .
(Account name - startright)
(I have already mention these things couple of months ago in this thread when i open my own bank account )

Where did you find Bank of Alberta in Calgary?

 

[Aquib]

Where did you find Bank of Alberta in Calgary?

Its called ATB

http://www.atb.com/personal-banking/bank/Pages/unlimited-account.aspx

When i went there last time , they having promotion of free 1 year banking .
That i been told in bank . One branch is near Rundle ( opp sunridge mall ) at NE .

 

[amikety]

Hi amieky ,
I need home broadband
Which will be best - i looking for unlimited data (min 500 GB a month- as i download lot of things , netflix and online movies , lots of apps download ) speed anything over 30 mbbs .

Not intrested much in home phone and tv package (unless real cheap )
Any suggestion ?? Please post me link of any deals you know ?

Budgt in mind 25$ a month. Lets see how much it will cost me

I don't know of anyone that will provide 500GB for that little. We're on 200GB and it costs $75 with Shaw. GBs are expensive in Canada.

Telus does have a promotion for $25/month for 6 months with 500 GB: http://www.telus.com/content/internet/optik/compare-optik-plans.jsp

I find Telus is cheaper than Shaw. Shaw claims their internet is faster, but none of my friends can see a difference.

 

[scorpion_ca]

Hi amieky ,
I need home broadband
Which will be best - i looking for unlimited data (min 500 GB a month- as i download lot of things , netflix and online movies , lots of apps download ) speed anything over 30 mbbs .

Not intrested much in home phone and tv package (unless real cheap )
Any suggestion ?? Please post me link of any deals you know ?

Budgt in mind 25$ a month. Lets see how much it will cost me

500 GB a month.....What do you download?.....Por ;D

Too much downloading is illegal in Canada.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/company-tracks-illegal-downloading-of-1-million-canadians-1.1057091

 

[scorpion_ca]

Its called ATB

http://www.atb.com/personal-banking/bank/Pages/unlimited-account.aspx

When i went there last time , they having promotion of free 1 year banking .
That i been told in bank . One branch is near Rundle ( opp sunridge mall ) at NE .

I know it's called Alberta Treasury Branches (ATB) but not Bank of Alberta..... ;D

 

[amikety]

Its called ATB

http://www.atb.com/personal-banking/bank/Pages/unlimited-account.aspx

When i went there last time , they having promotion of free 1 year banking .
That i been told in bank . One branch is near Rundle ( opp sunridge mall ) at NE .

We happened to head into Superstore tonight, so I grabbed a phamplet about their President's Financial Banking.

They offer "no fee" banking that also allows you to earn PC points you can redeem at the store. You get:

- Free checking and checks
- Free Interac Direct Payment transcations
- Free transactions online, by phone, and at over 3000 President's Choice Finacial and CIBC bank machines (ATM).
- Free withdraws
- Free bill payments
- Free transfers to your other accounts (Doesn't say if this is only within their bank or other Canadian banks, but definitely won't include international banks)

You also earn 5PC points for every dollar spent on your bank card.

20,000 PC points - $20 in free groceries

If you sign up for direct deposit with your job, you can earn 10,000 points on the first deposit.

If you maintain a balance of 1000 - 4,999 you earn 250 points per month. 5,000 and above, you earn 1,000 points per month.

I know a lot of people that use PC and love the bank because there's no fees. They also offer a credit card and insurance services. (I didn't grab those phamphets, but saw them in the store.)

Of course, if you don't like Superstore (it's usually very crowded, a lot of people, huge big box store instead of dedicated grocery), you might not like this idea.

As I stated earlier, I signed up with BMO's Sobey's free account. I get the same free benefits as the PC account, except I don't earn Sobey's points. I did get 3,500 or so points as a reward when I signed up. I also get special Sobey's coupons emailed to me.

 

[scorpion_ca]

I had a bank account with TD Canada Trust, BMO, Scotia and PC financial. I closed all accounts except PC financial because it's free, interest rate is higher for savings account compare to other big five banks and unlimited cheque.

Some of the banks may give one year free account but after a year there is a monthly fees....little drop makes a sea.....you could save $100 - $200 yearly by using PC Financial or Ing Direct.

 

[Aquib]

I don't know of anyone that will provide 500GB for that little. We're on 200GB and it costs $75 with Shaw. GBs are expensive in Canada.

Telus does have a promotion for $25/month for 6 months with 500 GB: http://www.telus.com/content/internet/optik/compare-optik-plans.jsp

I find Telus is cheaper than Shaw. Shaw claims their internet is faster, but none of my friends can see a difference.

Thanks , i too thinking of getting telus but that 25 offer is only with bundle that means its 30 $ approx without bundle .
http://telus.com/content/internet/high-speed/compare-high-speed-plans.jsp


Hope 500 GB will be ok as we watch too much netflix , application and softwares.

I think only iphone/macs app are over 20-30 GB on update every month on various devices .

Netflix , movies on apple tv etc use approx 1GB data* for each hour , if we using on multiple devices few hours daily its not hard to reach over 10GB a day .

If you download 1 blue ray movie it will be 10 GB approx alone .
Softwares are also in GB .

Skype , voip calls also use good data .

30$ for 6 month sounds ok. Hope its not fix term and i can cancel it in promotional period end .

 

[amikety]

After six months of internet, look at your monthly usage. You may be surprised. My husband and I download a lot of stuff, play internet games, and we're online all the time, yet we never used more than 30GB. Once you can look at your pattern, you may be able to determine you can use a cheaper plan and downgrade to that to save some money.

I'm not an internet expert, but I would make sure any internet service has enough speed for you. Sometimes the really cheap services are slooooooooooow. It would be awful if it took 3 hours to download a movie! (On the plus side, it would force you to plan ahead?)

On that note, if you decide to buy another gaming console and use their online accounts, use a credit card with a very low limit. Sony's PSN has been hacked more than once and I believe Microsoft has had hacking issues with Xbox Live as well. You can get Netflix on both, plus on the PSN, you can download and store old games that are no longer manufacteured. Good for boredom killing. Xbox might be the same way... I'm not sure as I've never owned one.

 

[Aquib]

Hi ,
I did apply for PC mastercard last week when shopping in superstore and got 5 $ voucher .
That time I dont know about PC bank account . Thanks for telling about that , its good free banking , though currently i feel bank with physical bank like RBC , ATB , Scotia is preferable as they can be approached if needed instead of fully online bank where we just need to depend on calling or emailing them .

I saying this as for me as a new immigrent these banks are free till 1 year. May be if standard bank start charging me fees then i will too look for virtual banks like PC or ing .
Plus free creditcard , free safe deposit box etc for a year also counts .

If we had some relationship with bank like mortage , saving account etc , then we can get fees waived off too .
K
If you could maintain $1500 balance then ATB account is good option , it will be free for life .
Open joint account with your spouse. So you both can have own card and access bank account free of cost .

But PC financial sounds definately good option for free banking with cheques . Thanks amikey for telling us about it .

Now come SUPERSTORE ):
I shop 3 time there
First shop 260 and 265 and got 2 voucher of 25 each .( bought car seat , baby clothes , halal meat and groc etc )
Second time when I went and shop for $310 i came to know that they no more got 25$ promotion on 250$ shopping and today got orange box promotion on 150+ shopping , i ask lady to make me 2 bills of 150 and 160 approx each. But later when i went to customer service for taking 2 orange box , that lady got problem that why i got 2 receipt and i replied him that its not your problem just give my oranges box (one for each 150+ $ receipt) and she say they finish with orange stock and can only give apple (though they got oranges on stock for regular sale ) and she told if i dont want apple then i can go without them (so rude ) .
She say to pick about under 4.99 $ apple and i took 2 packet of gala apple of $7 each and get them after argument telling that i just eat these (i love to be rude with rudes) . Later i got tired eating them freaking over 5 kg apples. Tryed half of apple recepies found on youtube still cant finish them .

Third time i gone last week , to change one jacket which i bought for my newborn for $49 that day ,
Its 16 day (i got receipt ) and lady told me she cant refund as its over 14 days , i say ok then change me size (i bought 3-6 month by mistake instead of 0-3 ) and she say she dont have smaller size in stock , then i bought 3 other cloths for my baby for approx 52$ and went to till to pay $2 diffrence and shock when ask to pay $17, I been told that after i bought for $49 originally , now its on sale for 30% less $35 approx so they can just replace it on that price .
I got shock and again end up in arguement , called store manager , again i was rude and arguing. I told them that just give me smaller size. Call them from any fkkking canadian store. From vancouver or from northern teretorry, i wont accept penny less then what i pay , either replace me for similer value or give me same thing.

After 5 min they agree to replace me it for $ 49 cloths and i end up paying $2.40 diffrance .
Things sucks as they didnt even agree to pay me any voucher so that i can buy clothes on later date . Its like just replace now or take jacket back and come later to exchange and i ask what u mean by later ? Suppose i dont want to buy cloths for 6 months then ???? And she cant reply but didnt get ready to give voucher .

Then i did some shopping and i saw one 908 gm cashew box (salted for $9.5 and unsalted for $ 11.88) i took 2 box of salted cashew .
When i went to till , I notice they charged 11.88 for them, i ask them that its should be 9.5 and lady phone there attendent for price check. In 2 min later she got call back telling its 9.50 and ask her to enter plu directly.
Again its 11.88 and she called again , this time got reply that its 11.88 correct price.
I went to shelf to check and found that these cashew was on promotion last week for 9.50 and they forget to change pricetag from salted and other unsalted varity got new pricetag. But after call from till lady for price enquire , they remove old pricetag and put new one one both cashew.
I just pay 11.88 for 1 box at end but think which come in mind that if its was any other shop then it would given me 2 boxes of cashew on display price before changing it as its there fault and i pick those just due to promotion .

I never face such worst service with walmart , safeway , co op, even no frills .

In past I have return 1 kg cereals after opening packet in co op. when i dont like taste ,
I bought some lunch pack (plastics bags) but later realise those are just bags and not worth $5 for 25 pcs , i return it to safeway without questions ask .
Walmart - i bought £70 snow shoes. Next day went zellers. Saw shoe on 40% sale. I bought 2 pairs from there and go straight to walmart and return shoe which i already wore them 1 day.
In western country you can return most of items if you got receipt unless it is not returnable item and they are happy , walmart got 90 days refund policy. Zellers got 30. But superstore got just 14 (which they have to have by law) .

If you check then you will notice superstore is real cheap in promotional item, in others 50% he is cheap or compentative but it is expensive then other store in remaning 50%.

I feel to shop only veg. And promotional item (yello priced item) from superstore and remaining from other places like co op and walmart .
May be its just i was unluckey who not happy with SS services but beleave me my other store shoping experience was happy and satisfied .

Did anyone got costco membership. Is it really worth spending $50 in its membership as i been told its real cheap things if you buying in quantity.

 

[Aquib]

After six months of internet, look at your monthly usage. You may be surprised. My husband and I download a lot of stuff, play internet games, and we're online all the time, yet we never used more than 30GB. Once you can look at your pattern, you may be able to determine you can use a cheaper plan and downgrade to that to save some money.

I'm not an internet expert, but I would make sure any internet service has enough speed for you. Sometimes the really cheap services are slooooooooooow. It would be awful if it took 3 hours to download a movie! (On the plus side, it would force you to plan ahead?)

On that note, if you decide to buy another gaming console and use their online accounts, use a credit card with a very low limit. Sony's PSN has been hacked more than once and I believe Microsoft has had hacking issues with Xbox Live as well. You can get Netflix on both, plus on the PSN, you can download and store old games that are no longer manufacteured. Good for boredom killing. Xbox might be the same way... I'm not sure as I've never owned one.

Thanks again amikey, To be honest , i was with Virgin Broadband in UK for 7 years. On unlimited downloads contract. But i could never figure out how much i use.
Only know that HD tv if you use you tube , netflix etc its use upto 1-2 GB every hour.
1 tv and 1 mac if you watch 150 hours of movies / youtube a monththen that too over 250 GB a month .
Iphone apps / games of 1.5 GB if you update it use 1.5 GB.
Of if you upload picture in Facebook, picasa etc then 10-12MB each picture. 100 pic over 1 GB.
Facetime , skype and other Voip also use lot of data .
Wife watch youtube on ipad a hour or 2 daily. (Boaring flimfare and bollywood gossips ) .
Daughter spend half of time at home on youtube or netflix. From cartoons to educational prog.
I dont keep / want to had TV services. Instead i used my smart TV connected with my home cinema blue ray and apple TV which allow me to use various apps for movies ,tv shows , news , internet and gaming .

May be i used less data then i claiming but I dont know so will be going for 500 GB package .

 

[amikety]

The bad part about Superstore is they pay very little to their employees so no one cares about customer service. That's why I go to Sobey's. The employees are so nice there.

PC Bank isn't a virtual bank. They have offices inside Superstore. It's usually in the front near customer service.

Personally, I shop at Superstore 2-3 times a year. Yeah, they have cheap stuff, but the lines are always so long and a lot of their clothing and housewares is junk. I bought a set of sheets there in January - the pillow cases shrink in the wash and don't fit on the pillows. (I washed them according to instructions!) I also bought a quilt and it's so thin, we cannot use it. My friends buy kids' clothing there and it stretches and doesn't fit the kids very good. The collars in t-shirts seems to be especially bad. You know when dressing a small child, you need the collar to be stretchy so you can fit the kid's head and your hands into the collar without hurting the child....... no stretch at all. You can find cheaper clothes with the same quality other places.

If you're living in Rundle, have you checked out Target Apparel? It's near Sunridge, up near the Lowe's. I've only shopped there a few times, but I really enjoyed everything I bought. My winter coat is from there and it's great. (Be careful, though, my husband's coat wasn't as good quality, so take time to inspect the items.)

They've also opened up a few new "No Frills" in that area. It's a lower-end store, but perfect if you need something inexpensive. We actually bought some silverware there because we needed a few extra pieces. Not as nice as my regular set, but for $1, it's a bargain.

 

[amikety]

To be honest , i was with Virgin Broadband in UK for 7 years. On unlimited downloads contract. But i could never figure out how much i use.
Only know that HD tv if you use you tube , netflix etc its use upto 1-2 GB every hour.
1 tv and 1 mac if you watch 150 hours of movies / youtube a monththen that too over 250 GB a month .
Iphone apps / games of 1.5 GB if you update it use 1.5 GB.
Of if you upload picture in Facebook, picasa etc then 10-12MB each picture. 100 pic over 1 GB.
Facetime , skype and other Voip also use lot of data .
I dont keep / want to had TV services. Instead i used my smart TV connected with my home cinema blue ray and apple TV which allow me to use various apps for movies ,tv shows , news , internet and gaming .

May be i used less data then i claiming but I dont know so will be going for 500 GB package .

You're a very intelligent man! If silly Amikety can figure it out, you can too!

If all else fails, PM me after some time and I'll ask my husband. He checked out usage out a few days ago and cut back out service to 100BG. We saved $25/month.

 

[Aquib]

The bad part about Superstore is they pay very little to their employees so no one cares about customer service. That's why I go to Sobey's. The employees are so nice there.

PC Bank isn't a virtual bank. They have offices inside Superstore. It's usually in the front near customer service.

Personally, I shop at Superstore 2-3 times a year. Yeah, they have cheap stuff, but the lines are always so long and a lot of their clothing and housewares is junk. I bought a set of sheets there in January - the pillow cases shrink in the wash and don't fit on the pillows. (I washed them according to instructions!) I also bought a quilt and it's so thin, we cannot use it. My friends buy kids' clothing there and it stretches and doesn't fit the kids very good. The collars in t-shirts seems to be especially bad. You know when dressing a small child, you need the collar to be stretchy so you can fit the kid's head and your hands into the collar without hurting the child....... no stretch at all. You can find cheaper clothes with the same quality other places.

If you're living in Rundle, have you checked out Target Apparel? It's near Sunridge, up near the Lowe's. I've only shopped there a few times, but I really enjoyed everything I bought. My winter coat is from there and it's great. (Be careful, though, my husband's coat wasn't as good quality, so take time to inspect the items.)

They've also opened up a few new "No Frills" in that area. It's a lower-end store, but perfect if you need something inexpensive. We actually bought some silverware there because we needed a few extra pieces. Not as nice as my regular set, but for $1, it's a bargain.

Yes No frills is good. One near Temple just 5 min drive. I shopped twice from there I like it.
Best place i like is Dollerama, cheap stuff sometime you really get what u looking for in fraction of price. Its non refundable nor exchangable but that mention on receipt .

I have one bad habit . I shop like mad , bought things even i dont need then return them many time in a week or 2 .

I remember ' Next' in UK. We use to shop on boxing day sale. Normally 2000-2500£ shopping then got a month to think what too keep what to return and always end up returning approx 40-50% items in 2-3 weeks.
That we done for many years in UK. And lots of people do same though some buy more some buy less but they return things later .

Plz share your experience with Costco .

 

[amikety]

I've never been to Costco.

I have a friend that loves Costco. If you live in the south (I know you personally don't) it's sometimes better to go to the Costco in Okotoks.

If possible, go during the middle of the day during the week when most people are at work.