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According to the annual report released on Tuesday, the number of complaints filed against Canadian telecommunications companies has increased significantly.
The 14,272 complaints received by Canadian telecommunications and television customers over the 2017-2018 period represent a 57% increase over the previous year, while the total number of issues that they raised by 67%, to reach 30,734 (Commission for the Complaint Handling of Telecommunications Services). said in his report for the 12 months from August 1, 2017 to July 31, 2018.
"With the addition of television complaints to our mandate in September 2017, we were expecting an increase – but not the 57% we received," said CCTS commissioner Howard Maker in the report. .
But Maker added that less than five percent of the complaints concerned only television.
"The increase was about the same kinds of issues that Canadians have complained about in the past: sales transactions that go wrong, service that does not work as expected, and billing issues."
In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Maker explained that the growing number of complaints was mainly related to the CCTS's knowledge of carriers' notices, the media attention to consumer complaints and regulatory procedures such as Recent hearings on sales and marketing practices of Canada's largest companies. wireless and Internet access providers.
"I think all of this helps to make the CCTS better known," said Maker.
Previously, this dispute resolution body was responsible for ensuring compliance with the Canadian Code of Wireless Services, which was updated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission as of December 1, 2017.
Wireless services continued to have the largest number of problems identified by far, with 12,757 in 2017-2018, 49% more than the previous year.
But Internet service problems grew even faster, reaching 8,987, up 56 percent.
Billing and contract disputes are still the two main issues identified in the CCTS report, regardless of the type of service.
For the entire reference year 2017-18, the largest category of code violations out of the 111 listed by the CCTS concerned the lack of notice to account holders when it occurred. one or more devices from a shared account reached their monthly data allocation.
Maker said the CCTS has been pushing for account-level notifications since 2013, when the original code came into effect, and said the CRTC has adopted this approach in the revised code.
He added that the CRTC had also noticed a trend towards increasing the number of complaints regarding Internet services and was currently considering the possibility of a separate code of conduct for the Internet, in addition to its wireless and television codes.
But Maker warned against just looking at the raw numbers in the CCTS annual report.
It is important to look at a supplier's performance relative to the sector as a whole this year, its performance over time and its ability to resolve disputes before they reach the CCTS, he said.
"And what is the size of their clientele? Because if you have 30% of complaints and 50% of customers, it may not be so bad. But if you have 10% of the customers, then maybe that's a problem. "
As in recent years, Bell Canada has continued to receive the largest number of complaints, 4,734 or 33.2% of the total – not counting the 847 that concern its flanker subsidiary Virgin Mobile or its regional subsidiaries Bell Aliant (229). ) and Bell MTS (135). .
Bell noted that it is by far Canada's largest communications provider, with more than 22 million customer connections, so it is not surprising that it has received the most complaints ( 33.2% of the total).
"It is important to note that Bell's share of the total has continued to decline for the third year in a row and is declining faster than our major competitors," BCE's subsidiary said in a statement.
Rogers received the second largest number of complaints, 1,449 (10.2%), followed by Telus (# 3) with 944 (or 6.6% of the total), not counting its complementary brands.
Rogers stated that its share of complaints was well below market share and that year-over-year growth was below industry average.
"We are committed to being clear, simple and fair to our clients, and while our complaints have dropped more than 60% in the last five years, one complaint is one too many," Rogers said in a statement. .
Telus continued to receive the fewest complaints from the three major national wireless carriers, although this number increased 49.6%, faster than Bell (45.8%) or Rogers (34.4%). ).
"For the seventh consecutive year, we have led the industry with the least complaints from all national companies, which makes us do better," Telus said in a statement.
For the first time since its inception, Freedom Mobile – which only has networks in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia – is ranked fourth in the CCTS annual count, after the number of complaints increased by 185.3% to 850.
The parent company of Freedom, Shaw, also saw its complaints multiply by more than two, from 33.9% to 337, or 2.4% of the total.
Other companies with at least double the number of complaints included Videotron – Quebecor's telecom division, which operates cable, Internet and wireless services in Quebec – and Internet TV providers Cogeco Connexion, Eastlink and TekSavvy .
The CCTS reports that 10,214 complaints, or 71.6%, were resolved without having to move to a higher level of intervention including an investigation. After the investigation, 1,935 complaints were resolved and 1,068 complaints were closed with or without investigation for various reasons.
In 32.5% of the closed complaints, the CCTS decided that further investigation was not warranted and 30.1% were closed because the client did not cooperate. 18.8% were closed because the CCTS decided that the service provider's offer was reasonable.
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