$10 fees on customer service tasks don’t violate Wireless Code: Bell, Telus

BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp., and Shaw Communications Inc. have responded to the CRTC’s questions about $10 fees they charge for some customer service tasks. Telecom companies were asked to respond to CRTC questions following media reports that telecoms were charging customers to complete some tasks through a customer service representative that they could otherwise do themselves online. All four companies told the CRTC they have such fees in place for at least some of their brands. Most of the fees are in the $2 to $10 range. Bell said that it believes “our practice of charging one-time fees in respect of the account changes or customer service representative-assisted service requests listed in the Attachment complies with both the letter and the spirit of the Wireless Code,” the company wrote. It didn’t elaborate on its reasoning for that argument. The company also submitted to the CRTC how many times customers have complained about one-time fees across its various brands in the last year, but those numbers are redacted in the submission of the report available to the public. Telus said in its response to the CRTC that such “transaction fees are fully permitted under the … regulatory framework,” because “all wireless service fees are forborne from CRTC regulation. Rogers told the CRTC that its decision to begin charging these types of fees to customers of two of its flanker brands was due to the increasing competition from online-focused brands like Quebecor Inc.’s Fizz, Telus’s Koodo, and Bell’s Lucky Mobile -- all brands geared toward younger consumers who generally eschew traditional phone-based customer service. “Market dynamics necessitate Fido’s recent decisions,” Rogers wrote in its submission. Rogers wants users to use its app, and the charges on Chatr, and soon on Fido, are “designed to incent that behavior.” Execulink Telecom, TBayTel Inc., Xplornet Communications Inc., Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp., Quebecor, Sogetel Inc., and Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative Ltd., Iristel Inc., and Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink all reported that they don’t charge these types of one time fees.

$10 fees on customer service tasks don’t violate Wireless Code: Bell, Telus

Brief | May 3, 2019

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$10 fees on customer service tasks don’t violate Wireless Code: Bell, Telus

Brief | May 3, 2019

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