Big Telecom customer mistreatment is still running rampant

Big Telecom customer mistreatment is still running rampant, as official report confirms 11,340 complaints in just 12 months

CCTS Annual Report reveals sharp 74% rise in complaints about misleading wireless contracts. Bell and its subsidiaries accounted for over 40% of all telecom complaints.

November 4, 2014 – Mistreatment of Canadian telecom customers is still running rampant, according to official figures released today by the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS). The CCTS Annual Report revealed that unhappy Canadians complained 11,340 times last year about their telecom service, the 2nd highest total of the past five years.

The Big Three - Bell, Rogers, and Telus, along with their subsidiaries - accounted for 77% of all complaints, with Bell accounting for over 40% of the total. Independent providers received considerably fewer complaints - the largest, Wind Mobile, accounted for just 4.5% of all complaints.

“It’s ridiculous that Canadians are still at the receiving end of such appalling mistreatment from the telecom giants,” said OpenMedia.ca Executive Director Steve Anderson. “This report makes clear that despite our sky high prices, Canadians are still experiencing some of the worst wireless service in the industrialized world.”

Anderson continued: “The Big Three are the subject of the vast majority of complaints, and we’ve also seen a huge increase in complaints about their misleading tactics. The best way to get the number of complaints down is to improve choice and make sure every Canadian has an independent alternative to the Big Three.”

The CCTS report reveals that:

• 60.8% of all telecom complaints related to wireless services. (page 10)

• The number of complaints relating to misleading wireless contracts soared by 74% since last year. (page 12)

• There were 762 alleged breaches of the CRTC’s new Wireless Code between December 2013 and July 2014. Bell and its subsidiary Virgin Mobile accounted for 63% of confirmed Wireless Code breaches. (page 17-18)

• Bell (and its subsidiaries Virgin Mobile and Bell Aliant) accounted for 40.8% of all telecom complaints. Rogers and its subsidiary Fido accounted for 28.9%, with Telus and its subsidiary Koodo accounting for 7.3%. (page 25).

•The CCTS resolved 77% of all complaints within 40 days and 89% within 60 days.

OpenMedia.ca is leading a sustained, 70,000-strong campaign for greater choice and lower prices for Canadian wireless customers. The organization recently made a detailed policy submission to decision-makers at the CRTC, urging them to open the networks to prevent the Big Three blocking Canadians from more affordable providers like Wind Mobile and Ting.

OpenMedia has also produced a toolkit for negotiating with Big Telecom customer service departments, and produced a crowd-sourced policy plan based on submissions from mistreated Canadian telecom customers.

Canadians are calling on Industry Minister James Moore to rein in the Big Three and stop them acting as gatekeepers to essential services at https://openmedia.ca/gatekeeper

ENDS

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