Telecoms find silver lining in unprecedented number of CCTS complaints

Despite improvements in customer service that have lowered customer defections, the country’s telecom complaints watchdog said it still accepted 35 per cent more issues from subscribers over the year — but the telecoms are pointing to improved figures. Two common shared complaints identified in the latest complaints report released by The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) on Thursday were incorrect charge and disclosure issues, an area that was supposed to be rectified by improvements to the Wireless Code in 2017. Billing issues were, overall, the top complaint for wireless, internet and TV issues. This year’s annual report included the highest number of accepted complaints ever recorded in a single year, at 19,287. It’s also the first report with a full year of accepted TV complaints since the watchdog took that segment under its wing, which resulted in a TV complaint increase of three times compared to the previous year’s accounting. This report is also the first since the announcement of the Internet Code, will come into play in January and will see CCTS also accept internet service-related complaints. The CCTS, which accepted complaints from August 1, 2018 to July 31, 2019, concluded 19,371 complaints; there were more concluded complaints than those accepted because the watchdog resolved issues from the previous year. Wireless, however, continued its run as the most-complained about segment, followed by internet and TV. Confirmed breaches in the wireless segment compared to the previous year dealt with issues that were intended to be rectified in the Wireless Code but persist: contracts and related documents (52 breaches) were up 85.7 per cent, changes to contracts (five breaches) were up 150 per cent, critical information summaries (14 breaches) were up 1300 per cent, and notices before disconnection (41 breaches) were up 193 per cent. All in, customers are not getting getting what they’re expecting, they are seeing errors on their bills, and promotional prices are not applied properly or are not described as time-limited, the CCTS said. While the headlines will show an increase in complaints, the telecoms are pushing the narrative that, comparatively, they have been seeing relative improvements to their numbers. BCE Inc. took top spot for accepted complaints with 5,879, but its share of complaints has declined from 33 per cent last year to 30 per cent, worth about 5,900 complaints. Still, complaints against the company this year increased by 24.2 per cent. “While CCTS complaints were up for all national carriers, Bell’s share of the total continued to decline for the 4th year in a row, with the smallest increase in the number of complaints among our major competitors,” Bell spokesman Marc Choma said in an emailed statement. Rogers Communications Inc., which came second in complaint share, also saw a decline in complaints to 1,833, or a one per cent drop to nine per cent compared to last year, but complaints against it increased by 26.5 per cent. The company’s head Joe Natale has, on numerous occasions, pointed to his company’s focus on customer service to keep customers with the company, which has contributed to its improved churn rate. “We’re on a multi-year journey to improve our customer experience and customer feedback is so important to us,” Eric Agius, Rogers’ senior vice-president of customer care, said in an emailed statement. “While one complaint is one too many, we have started to see progress on our plan -- we have the fewest complaints per subscriber of any national carrier and we are the only one with a drop in complaints over the last seven years.” Telus Corp. came in third overall, but its share of complaints increased by 1.5 per cent and complaints against the company jumped 71 per cent to 1,610 this year. That did not deter executive vice-president and chief customer officer Tony Geheran. “Telus continues to lead the industry, as we have since 2011, with the fewest complaints amongst the national carriers. Since 2014, we have enjoyed world leading customer loyalty as demonstrated by our low customer churn," he said in a statement. “We recognize that complaints across the industry have increased and we are listening,” he continued . “At Telus, we review every complaint with a focus on resolving it quickly and creating operational improvements to benefit all of our customers.” Geheran said his company saw an increase in complaints following a price increase to bring-your-own-device wireless plans, which he said elicited frustration that the contracts were difficult to understand. He said they’ve since simplified their contract language to “make it more transparent,” jumped in with no-overage data plans to eliminate data bill shock, and “dramatically cut-down the time it takes to connect with our customer service teams.” Regional carrier and emerging fourth wireless player Shaw Communications Inc. had 1,147 complaints against it this year, up 32.9 per cent this year for a total share of 5.9 per cent against the others. Among one of the company’s top complaints is network issues, as it continues to deploy spectrum to improve its network. A Shaw spokesperson said in an emailed statement on Thursday that the company appreciates the feedback it gets through the CCTS reports and will improve on customer service as a result. "While most customer complaints are managed to a satisfactory resolution by our customer care teams," Shaw said, "we are disappointed that we have not met the expectations of a relatively small number of customers and we look forward to the opportunity to build their trust and earn their business." The CCTS said it is “cautiously optimistic” about the slight decrease in complaints for some of the larger players. “In our 12+ years of existence, the trend seems to point to an increasing number of complaints year after year,” Monette Gauvreau, communications officer for the CCTS, said in an email. “Service providers can do better to make sure customers fully understand what they are getting,” she said. “For example, making sure the documents sent to their customers are clear, written in plain language and easy to understand and make sure their sales agents are providing the right information to customers,” she said, adding they should “try to resolve issues as early as possible before the complaint is escalated with us.” The CRTC has commissioned a mystery shopper investigation to find out, for itself, issues that consumers face, including poor sales practices. It has already released a report in September finding wireless service provider customer service reps don’t have adequate knowledge of accessibility protocol. Cogeco Inc. has complained about technical issues with upgrades to its systems over the period covered by the CCTS report, which led to internet service delivery issues. This year, there was a 90 per cent increase in complaints over the previous year, spanning several issues. The CCTS said the company “failed to provide a proper reply to 41% of its complaints that the CCTS had to investigate,” adding the company is working to rectify the ongoing issues. Gabriel Beausejour, spokesman for Cogeco, said in an emailed statement that the upgrade issues, which are now resolved, “generated spikes in the number of direct calls received and consequently delays in resolving some customer problems which further extended our resolution time. “However, over the last 6 months, Cogeco Connexion has returned to its normal high standards of customer service and is now responding to all of the complaints filed,” he added. The CCTS said it’s set to take on more as it gears up for the implementation of the Internet Code. Currently, under the new Internet Code, providers will not be able to disconnect customers unless they are both owing more than $50 on their bill and have been in that kind of debt for more than two months. Xplornet Communications Inc. filed a complaint last month with the CRTC to change that rule to be either one of those two criteria, not both. But still more issues could come out of the Wireless Code. Since the introduction of device financing plans, which allow customers to pay for their devices over a period of three years, complaints have been filed to the CRTC to investigate whether those offers violate the Wireless Code’s ban on cancellation fees after two year contracts. — With reporting by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Telecoms find silver lining in unprecedented number of CCTS complaints

News | November 28, 2019

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Telecoms find silver lining in unprecedented number of CCTS complaints

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