Wireless code still a hurdle for carriers: CCTS

Some carriers are having more difficulty than others adjusting to life under the CRTC’s wireless code, according to the latest annual report from the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS). Of the 30 occasions the CCTS confirmed a breach of the wireless code between when it came into effect on Dec.2 last year and the end of July, 20 of them involved BCE Inc., according to the report released Tuesday. The report said Bell brand was responsible for 12 breaches of the code, its Virgin Mobile Canada brand had seven and NorthernTel, a division of BCE-controlled Bell Aliant, was responsible for one violation. Rogers Communications Inc. was responsible for three breaches under its main brand and a single violation under its Fido brand, while Telus Corp. was responsible for two from its main brand, the report said. The commission said in the report that administering the wireless code, which put new regulations on wireless providers such as ending three-year binding contracts and mandating new standard charge summaries for telecom bills, was not “without its unique challenges.” “It's like any piece of legislation that comes out of government,” CCTS commissioner Howard Maker said in an interview on Monday. “You get situations that aren't anticipated, issues that come that you haven't seen before, and those are the ones that usually wind up in front of us.” The CCTS investigated 51 of an alleged 762 breaches of the wireless code between Dec. 2 and July 31, of which 30 were confirmed. The CCTS said it accepted 11,340 consumer complaints in total in the 12 months ending July 31, down from 17 per cent 13,692 in 2012-13, making this the first year-on-year decline in complaints in the seven-year history of the commission. Of the 16,717 issues raised by the complaints — a single complain might raise several issues — 60.8 per cent were for wireless services, 20 per cent were for Internet access and 16.5 per cent were for local-phone services. The number of complaints regarding "non-disclosure and misleading contract terms and conditions" jumped by nearly 75 per cent to 1,686. Of these, 1,220 were for wireless services, 235 for Internet access and 188 for home-phone services. In the previous year’s report, the number of complaints in this category jumped by 73 per cent. In the report, the CCTS said it was “quite surprised” by the big increase in these complaints for the second year running, after the commission had raised it with service providers and the CRTC’s wireless code, which came into effect Dec. 2, 2013, added a requirement for a standard summary of wireless charges to the bills of all new and some existing wireless customers. “We hoped that this would help to reduce the number of issues relating to disclosure,” the CCTS said in the report. “Since was launched less than eight months before the end of the fiscal year for which this report is prepared, it is too early to tell whether it will help reduce the number of times this issue is experienced by customers but we are hopeful that it will have that effect.” Maker said Monday: “We're always very sympathetic to consumers who look at a 30-page terms of service that's dense legalese and small print, that's really a challenge." He pointed out that the changes in the wireless code had made contracts much easier to read for the average consumer. “My view is contracts haven’t gotten worse,” he said. “It's difficult to understand why these complaints are increasing other than enhanced consumer awareness.” The most popular complaint, accounting for 11.1 per cent of the total, was for an incorrect charge appearing on a telecom bill. Misleading contracts were second, followed by quality of service concerns at 7.5 per cent of the total complaints. The commissioner noted in the report that telecom companies are making efforts to be more responsive to the CCTS when it asks for follow-up. “Our management team engages in regular communications with many providers and we have seen from a number of them a focus on improving their customer complaint-handling,” Maker said in the report. “We have noted a similar effort from service providers trying to work more cooperatively and effectively with CCTS when their customers do file complaints with us.” The proportion of complaints escalated to investigations because the provider did not provide a “proper or timely” response fell from 41 per cent to 19 per cent, the report said. Bell had the highest number of complaints about telecom services, accounting for just less than a third of the total with 3,651 overall, 34 per cent of which were escalated to an investigation by the commission. Bell's complaints were down 6.6 per cent from a year earlier. Bell’s wireless flanker brand, Virgin Mobile Canada, was fourth with 815 complaints, just more than seven per cent of the total, with a 43.2 per cent being upgraded to an investigation. Its complaints were up five per cent for the year. Rogers had the second-highest number of complaints at 2,379, or just less than 21 per cent of the total, of which 16.7 per cent were escalated to an investigation. Rogers had 37.4 per cent fewer complaints than 2012-13. Rogers’ flanker wireless brand Fido was third overall with 905 complaints, nearly eight per cent of the overall total, of which 14.2 per cent were escalated. Fido's complaints were down 9.3 per cent for the year. Telus came in fifth overall in terms of complaints with 653, nearly 5.8 per cent of the total. Of those, 23.8 per cent were escalated. It had a 26 per cent reduction in complaints from a year earlier. One of Telus’ flanker brands, Koodo, came in ninth overall with 172 complaints, or 1.5 per cent of the total, of which 19.3 per cent were escalated. Its complaint total was down 13.6 per cent for the year. Wind Mobile came in sixth with 510 complaints, 4.5 per cent of the total. Wind’s escalation rate was the highest among all providers at 54.9 per cent. The average escalation rate was 28 per cent. Wind's complaint total fell 19.7 per cent from the previous year. Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron came in seventh with 294 complaints, up one per cent for the year and about 2.6 per cent of the total, of which 19.8 per cent were escalated. — With reporting by Peter Henderson phenderson@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma dabma@thewirereport.ca

Wireless code still a hurdle for carriers: CCTS

News | November 3, 2014

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Wireless code still a hurdle for carriers: CCTS

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