Executive Summary
About the Numbers
- Complaints are up 6%
- Almost 9 out of 10 complaints resolved (often within 30 days)
- Customers raised more internet-related issues since the start of the COVID pandemic, such as poor service quality and complete loss of service.
- Bell accounts for 20.3% of all complaints accepted, followed by Rogers at 13.2%, Fido at 10.3%, TELUS at 7.1% and Freedom Mobile at 6.5%.
About Our Activities
- The CCTS issued two Decisions: the first was regarding Bell Canada failing to honour a “lifetime guaranteed” price on a package for multiple services, and the second was regarding Comwave blocking the porting of numbers, suspending services without consent, applying an Early Cancellation Fee and continuing to bill following suspension.
- The CCTS terminated the participation of Cinco Telecom, Suntel Networks and Roam Mobility for no longer offering services that fall within the scope of the CCTS.
All comparisons are to Mid-Year Report 2019-20 unless otherwise specified.
9,121
Complaints accepted
8,541
Complaints concluded
88%
Complaints resolved
28
Confirmed Wireless Code breaches
5
Confirmed Television Service Provider Code breaches
4
Confirmed Internet Code breaches
1
Confirmed Deposit and Disconnection Code breach
Operational Statistics
Complaints by Service Provider
All statistics are as at February 1, 2021 and are subject to audit. See Appendix A for complaints accepted for all service providers.
Issues Raised in Complaints
There were no issues raised regarding white page directories.
There were no issues raised regarding white page directories.
Customers can raise issues that fall outside of the CCTS’ mandate. This table identifies the top 5 issues.
Code of Conduct Reporting
The CCTS does not investigate every alleged breach of a Code. Complaints that are resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the customer and service provider do not receive additional analysis to determine whether a breach of the Code has occurred. These are described as “not requiring investigation” in the figures in this section.
The CCTS publishes an Annotated Guide to the Wireless Code and an Annotated Guide to the Deposit & Disconnection Code.
Terminology
Alleged breach: When a customer claims that the service provider failed to perform an obligation under any of the CRTC’s codes of conduct, or when a CCTS staff member identifies a potential code breach based on the details of a complaint. Each breach references an individual section of the Code. Thus, more than one alleged breach may be recorded in a complaint.
Confirmed breach: When the CCTS can confirm, based on its investigation, that a provision of any CRTC code of conduct has been breached.
No breach: When the CCTS has investigated an alleged breach and concluded that the service provider did not breach any CRTC code of conduct.
This report includes only those Code-related issues that arose in complaints which have been concluded and for which breaches have been confirmed in the reporting period.
The Wireless Code
Section of Code | Total breaches |
---|---|
B.1 Paper or electronic copy of the contract was not provided to the customer; contract did not include all the information listed in the Wireless Code. | 10 |
C.1 Critical Information Summary | 6 |
E.2 Service provider did not suspend roaming data overage charges once they reached $100 | 3 |
G.1 Early cancellation fees – general | 2 |
I.2 Service provider did not give reasonable notice to the customer at least 14 calendar days or/and 24 hours before disconnection and the notice did not contain all relevant information | 2 |
E.3 Service provider did not suspend data overage charges once they reached $50 | 1 |
G.5 Cancellation date | 1 |
E.4 Charges for device/service not purchased | 1 |
F.3 Lost or stolen devices – service provider did not suspend customer’s service | 1 |
A.1 Plain language | 1 |
Total | 28 |
See Appendix B for a breakdown of the confirmed Wireless Code breaches by section.
Television Service Provider Code
Section of Code | Total breaches |
---|---|
X.2 Service provider did not inform customers if they could return to their previous programming options and if the same rates would apply during changes to programming options initiated by the customer; service provider did not offer to send to the customer a written summary of changes to programming options initiated by the customer | 2 |
XI.1 TVSP changed customer’s contract without notice | 3 |
Total | 5 |
Internet Code
Section of Code | Total breaches |
---|---|
A.4 Charges for device/service not purchased. | 1 |
B.1-5 Paper or electronic copy of the contract was not provided to the customer; contract did not include all the information listed in the Internet Code. | 1 |
D.1 Changes to key contract terms during the commitment period. | 1 |
I.2 Service provider did not give reasonable notice to the customer at least 14 calendar days or/and 24 hours before disconnection and the notice did not contain all relevant information. | 1 |
Total | 4 |
Deposit and Disconnection Code
The only confirmed breach for the D&D Code was related to section 3.2, Service provider did not give reasonable notice to the customer at least 14 calendar days before disconnection or the notice did not contain all relevant information.
Appendix A – Complaints by Service Provider
August 1, 2020 – January 31, 2021
This list includes service providers that received at least one complaint during the reporting period. Overall, 408 service providers and brands participated in the CCTS during this reporting period (including 11 service providers that joined during this period). No complaints were received about 260 Participating Service Providers.
Appendix B – Confirmed Wireless Code Breaches by Section
August 1, 2020 – January 31, 2021