Bell, Rogers defend sales practices to CRTC

GATINEAU –– BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. defended their sales tactics Friday after a week of CRTC hearings on aggressive and misleading sales practices, where numerous witnesses and smaller carriers pointed fingers at the big players for creating a problem. Commissioners probed deeply into sales practices and quizzed flanks of company officials on a spate of proposals to curb instances of bad customer interactions and allegations of bad sales behaviour, following an intense period of negative media coverage about industry sales practices. Question after question, some of which were about specific complaints lodged in CRTC interventions by customers and former employees, corporate officials from Canada’s biggest telecom providers said what's on the record isn't reflective of their treatment of customers. David Watt, Rogers' senior vice-president of regulatory, told the commission that selling customers things they don't want is "just bad business" and his company "does not tolerate aggressive or misleading sales practices. Officials from both companies also defended to the media that their frontline sales staff aren’t under too much pressure to make sales, after former employees had complained about industry practices in their CRTC submissions. The issue first came to light in a CBC Go Public investigation. Bell's senior vice-president of regulatory affairs, Robert Malcolmson, told the commission misleading and aggressive sales practices are "not tolerated" at the company, although the hearing record shows more can be done to "strengthen confidence” and consumer trust within the industry. "When you look at the total number of customer interactions...relative to the number of complaints that have been on the record of this proceeding, there's not a pervasive problem," he told reporters after the hearings. "If there is a problem, it's in communicating offers to customers." Bell proposed five recommendations, which included industry-wide measures enforcing providers to have do-not-knock lists, setting up whistleblower policies and offering a 30-day 'buyer's remorse' option to cancel out of a contract without an early termination fee – although the proposals would not all necessarily be new policies across all providers. Other companies this week, such as Quebecor Inc., and Bragg Communications Inc.'s Eastlink, had said they weren't the source of consumer frustration in the industry, leaving the blame at the feet of Canada's largest companies. "There were very few allegations against smaller service providers such as Eastlink," Natalie MacDonald, vice-president of regulatory at Eastlink, told the commission Wednesday in reference to CBC reports of unsavoury sales behaviour. "The vast majority of the consumer interventions filed in this proceeding concern the practices of only three companies primarily." "More than 60 per cent of the interventions" are only related to one provider, Quebecor's Peggy Tabet said in French Thursday, largely dumping the problem on Bell. "It's not a systematic problem. It's a problem with only one provider who is delinquent." Malcolmson responded Friday that it's “easy for other service providers to point fingers, we chose to focus on solutions." Friday was the last day of a week-long stretch of hearings on aggressive and misleading sales practices where consumers unloaded on providers, largely Canada’s biggest ones. It was a rocky week for telecom companies in Gatineau, Que., with hearings that started with a warning from CRTC Chairman Ian Scott that the commission is "concerned" that consumers’ interests may not be being respected, and Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains musing about a new code of conduct. Tuesday, some witnesses made heated charges about sketchy sales practices constituting elder abuse and price gouging. Consumer groups and others demanding action on sales practices proposed, one after another, a new industry-wide code of conduct, which sparked cost concerns among some telecom companies during the hearings. On Parliament Hill Friday, opposition MPs weighed-in on the last day of the hearings, but chose their words carefully. Conservative MP Luc Berthold said he doesn't know if a new code of conduct or new rules are necessary but there "must be better answers from the telecommunication companies." "Effectively, there is a problem," he said in French, noting he gets complaints every week from Quebecers. "We hear, regularly, problems with these big companies." NDP MP Robert Aubin said in French that his party will wait for the outcome of the hearings, but it "all points in the same direction." He said there's room to tighten the rules, but he said he expects the Liberals to sit on the matter until after the next election. Meanwhile Bloc MP Monique Pauzé called for a code of conduct under the federal government that would lead to fines for those in breach of it. But companies told the regulator Friday there’s not an industry-wide problem warranting one. "We remain convinced that there is no systemic problem that would warrant such a code," Watt said of proposals for a new code of conduct, although he added the company is ready to come to the table to help develop one with stakeholders if that's the route the commission chooses. He said that's because the Wireless Code introduced a "terrible" ban on three-year contracts, something that wasn't discussed at length in the hearings. "If there's going to be a code," he said, "we want to be at the table to make sure that it's a good code." Bell and Rogers – the last companies to testify this week – added to a chorus of other telecom providers who criticized an Ipsos survey commissioned for the CRTC ahead of the hearings that suggested 40 per cent of Canadians experienced aggressive or misleading sales – implying a wide-spread industry problem. Officials from both companies pointed out that few respondents mentioning aggressive or misleading sales without first being prompted. Another criticized the order of questions. "It forms an important part of the record," Malcolmson said when asked of what the poll says about the telecom industry. "It indicates we can do better as an industry," he said, but "I don't think you should take from it that four in 10 Canadians are dissatisfied." Shaw Communication Inc.'s team, however, proposed Friday morning that the survey, and anecdotal consumer stories entered onto the record, suggests there should be a ban on third-party door-to-door sales and that the industry should emphasize digital interactions with customers where they seek out an interaction with the telecom provider. That came a day after Telus Corp. officials defended the importance of door-to-door sales to their company. Later Friday, Watt disagreed with Shaw’s assessment, saying it's not Rogers' experience that third-party door sales are particularly bad, while in-house door knocking sales are all good. "We do not see door-to-door as a big particular problem," he said. The CRTC's report on the hearings is due by end of February next year. — With reporting by Kyle Duggan at kduggan@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Bell, Rogers defend sales practices to CRTC

News | October 26, 2018

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Bell, Rogers defend sales practices to CRTC

News | October 26, 2018

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