2021-2022 Mid-Year Report

Executive Summary

About the Numbers

Complaints are down 26%
Almost 9 out of 10 complaints resolved (often within 30 days)
Almost half of all issues raised by consumers were about wireless (mobile) services. Internet issues were the second biggest irritant for consumers, representing almost a third of all issues raised.
Bell accounts for 17.7% of all complaints accepted by the CCTS, followed by Rogers at 15.0%, Fido at 11.3%, TELUS at 8.0% and Virgin Plus at 7.6%.

About Our Activities

The CCTS welcomed 14 new Participating Service Providers.
The CCTS consulted multiple stakeholders in its ongoing efforts to review and modernize CCTS’ complaint-handling process.

All comparisons are to Mid-Year Report 2020-21 unless otherwise specified.

6,682

Complaints accepted

6,655

Complaints concluded

88%

Complaints resolved

Confirmed Wireless Code breaches

Confirmed Internet Code breaches

Confirmed Television Service Provider Code breaches

Confirmed Deposit and Disconnection Code breaches

Operational Statistics

Figure 1: Summary of key statistics

There were 6,682 complaints accepted, with 6,655 being concluded. Out of the concluded complaints, 5,857 were resolved, 797 were closed, 1 Recommendation was accepted and 0 Decisions were issued. 4,558 complaints were resolved at the pre-investigation level, 1,299 complaints were resolved at the investigation level. 417 complaints were closed at the pre-investigation level, 380 complaints were closed at the investigation level.

Complaints by Service Provider

Table 1: Top 5 Participating Services Providers by complaints accepted

wdt_ID	Participating Service Provider	Mid-Year Report 2021‑22	Mid-Year Report 2020‑21	Change
1	Bell	1,182	1,849	-36.1%
2	Rogers	1,003	1,201	-16.5%
3	Fido	753	940	-19.9%
4	TELUS	535	644	-16.9%
5	Virgin Plus	511	567	-9.9%

All statistics are as at February 1, 2022 and are subject to audit. See Appendix A for complaints accepted for all service providers.

Issues Raised in Complaints

Table 2: Number of issues by service[FOOTNOTE]Complaints can raise more than one issue. The complaints concluded between August 1, 2021 and January 31, 2022 raised 15,577 issues.[/FOOTNOTE]

wdt_ID	Service	Issues	% of all issues	Change in number of issues
1	Wireless	7,683	49.3%	-9.4%
2	Internet	4,312	27.7%	-35.9%
3	TV	1,782	11.4%	-24.4%
4	Local Phone	1,694	10.9%	-36.4%
5	Other	106	0.7%	-55.8%
6	Total	15,577	100%	-23.9%

There were no issues raised regarding white page directories.

Table 3: Top 10 issues raised in complaints

wdt_ID	Issue	Wireless	Internet	TV	Local phone	Long distance	Total issues	% of all issues
1	Disclosure Issues	1,168	475	244	176	7	2,070	13.3%
2	Incorrect Charge	1021	535	253	230	22	2,061	13.2%
3	Intermittent/Inadequate quality of service	645	803	219	178	7	1,852	11.9%
4	Breach of Contract	500	225	62	65	3	855	5.5%
5	Credit/refund not received	392	214	95	68	2	771	4.9%
6	Amount of ETF + Legitimacy of ETF	258	223	75	103	2	661	4.2%
7	Credit reporting	342	145	69	59	4	619	4.0%
8	Complete loss of service	140	193	71	95	6	505	3.2%
9	Equipment charges	121	159	87	27	0	394	2.5%
10	Install/activate due date not kept/delayed	135	115	30	42	2	324	2.1%

Table 4: Breakdown of disclosure issues

wdt_ID	Issue	Wireless	Internet	TV	Local phone	Long distance	Total issues	% of all issues
1	Contract conflicts with agreement	908	370	188	145	7	1,618	10.4%
2	Details of promotion not fully disclosed	134	46	25	15	0	220	1.4%
3	Service provider’s right to make unilateral changes	60	35	24	15	0	134	0.9%
4	Contract not provided in format requested (paper, electronic or accessible) at no charge	19	17	5	0	0	41	0.3%
5	Plan eligibility requirements not properly disclosed	31	4	1	1	0	37	0.2%
6	Changes requested during trial period not implemented	16	3	1	0	0	20	0.1%

Table 5: Top 5 out-of-mandate issues

Customers may raise issues that fall outside of the CCTS’ mandate. This table identifies the top 5 issues. If a complaint raises issues that fall outside of the CCTS’ mandate, the CCTS may direct the customer to other agencies that are better able to assist.

wdt_ID	Issue	Number	% of total out-of-mandate issues
1	Customer service (e.g. wait times, rude representative, etc.)	2,537	31.8%
2	Service provider general operating practices and policies (e.g.the contents of plans and packages, the terms of fair use policies, etc.)	2,188	27.4%
3	Pricing (e.g. prices set by service providers)	454	5.7%
4	Plant/poles/towers	452	5.7%
5	Privacy issues	418	5.2%

Code of Conduct Reporting

In this section, we present statistical reports on breaches of four CRTC codes of conduct. When we accept a customer complaint, we record and track all of the issues raised in the complaint. Some complaints raise questions about whether a provider has complied with a code of conduct. We call these an “alleged breach.”

The vast majority of complaints are resolved to the satisfaction of the customer and the provider at an early stage of our process. When complaints are resolved, there is no need for us to investigate the underlying issues, including to determine if there have been any violations of a code of conduct. Therefore, these issues remain characterized as “alleged breaches” and are categorized as “not requiring investigation” in the following charts.

In the cases that we do investigate, we can determine whether there has been a violation. We categorize proven violations as a “confirmed breach.” When we investigate and determine that there has not been a violation, we categorize this as “no breach.”

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 we have 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

Figure 2: Summary of Wireless Code breaches

There were 1,083 alleged breaches. 982 did not require investigation. 101 breaches were investigated. 24 were confirmed as breaches and 77 were verified as not a breach.

Table 6: Top Wireless Code breaches by section[FOOTNOTE]See the CRTC’s Wireless Code for full text of appropriate sections.[/FOOTNOTE]

Section of Code	Total breaches
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	9
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.	4
C.1. Critical Information Summary	3
A.1. Plain language	2
G.4. Trial period	2
D.1. Changes to key contract terms	2
G.5. Cancellation date	1
D.2. Changes to other contract terms and conditions	1
Total	24

See Appendix B for a breakdown of the confirmed Wireless Code breaches by section.

Internet Code

Table 7: Internet Code breaches[FOOTNOTE]See the CRTC’s Internet Code for full text of appropriate sections.[/FOOTNOTE]

Section of Code	Total breaches
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.	2
C.1. Critical Information Summary.	1
A.1. Clear communication.	1
A.4. Charges for device/service not purchased.	1
Total	5

Figure 3: Summary of Internet Code breaches

There were 393 alleged breaches. 371 did not require investigation. 22 breaches were investigated. 5 were confirmed as breaches and 17 were verified as not a breach.

Television Service Provider Code

Figure 4: Summary of Television Service Provider Code breaches

There were 72 alleged breaches. 64 did not require investigation. 8 breaches were investigated. 2 were confirmed as breaches and 6 were verified as not a breach.

Table 8: Television Service Provider Code breaches[FOOTNOTE]See the CRTC’s Television Service Provider Code for full text of appropriate sections.[/FOOTNOTE]

Section of Code	Total breaches
II.1. Promotion – Clarity of offers	1
IX. Critical Information Summary	1
Total	2

Deposit and Disconnection Code

Figure 5: Summary of D&D Code breaches

There were 20 alleged breaches. 10 did not require investigation. 10 breaches were investigated. 0 were confirmed as a breach and 10 were verified as not a breach.

Appendix A – Complaints by Service Provider

August 1, 2021 – January 31, 2022

This list includes service providers that received at least one complaint during the reporting period. Overall, 422 service providers and brands participated in the CCTS during this reporting period (including 14 service providers that joined during this period). No complaints were received about 270 Participating Service Providers.

wdt_ID	Rank	Participating Service Provider	Mid-Year Report 2021‑22	Proportion of all complaints accepted Mid-Year Report 2021‑22	Proportion of all complaints accepted Mid-Year Report 2020‑21	Change in proportion
1	1	Bell Canada	1182	17.7%	20.3%	-5
2	2	Rogers Communications	1003	15.0%	13.2%	2
3	3	Fido	753	11.3%	10.3%	1
4	4	TELUS Communications Inc.	535	8.0%	7.1%	2
5	5	Virgin Mobile/Virgin Plus	511	7.6%	6.2%	0
6	6	Freedom Mobile Inc.	434	6.5%	6.5%	0
7	7	Koodo	383	5.7%	4.2%	1
8	8	Vidéotron ltée/Videotron Ltd	339	5.1%	6.2%	0
9	9	Shaw Communications	327	4.9%	5.2%	0
10	10	Xplornet Communications Inc.	109	1.6%	3.2%	-6

Appendix B – Confirmed Wireless Code Breaches by Section

August 1, 2021 – January 31, 2022

wdt_ID	Breached Code section	Confirmed breaches Mid-Year Report 2021‑22	Proportion of all confirmed breaches Mid-Year Report 2021‑22	Proportion of all confirmed breaches Mid-Year Report 2020‑21
1	A. Clarity	2	8.3%	3.6%
2	A.1. Plain language	2	8.3%	3.6%
3	A.3. Unlimited services	0	0.0%	0.0%
4	B. Contracts and related documents	4	16.7%	35.7%
5	B.1.(i-ii). Permanent copy of the contract and related documents	0	0.0%	17.9%
6	B.1.(iii). a-e Key contract terms and conditions	3	12.5%	17.9%
7	B.1.(iii). f-m Other aspects of the contract	1	4.2%	0.0%
8	C. Critical Information Summary	3	12.5%	21.4%
9	C.1. Critical Information Summary	3	12.5%	21.4%
10	C.1.(iii)a. Services not included	0	0.0%	0.0%

Mid-Year Report

August 1, 2021 – January 31, 2022

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

About the Numbers

About Our Activities

Operational Statistics

Complaints by Service Provider

Issues Raised in Complaints

Code of Conduct Reporting

Terminology

The Wireless Code

Internet Code

Television Service Provider Code

Deposit and Disconnection Code

Appendix A – Complaints by Service Provider

August 1, 2021 – January 31, 2022

Appendix B – Confirmed Wireless Code Breaches by Section

August 1, 2021 – January 31, 2022