Working with Customers
Annual Report
August 1, 2022 – July 31, 2023
Our role has never been more vital than it is today. Technology, consumer expectations, and industry dynamics are constantly changing. Our role is to ensure that customers who have to navigate this complex environment are treated fairly.
This Working with Customers section shows what we have done, with the help of our stakeholders, to shape a more influential and impactful future for the CCTS.
Customer feedback
We ask for feedback from customers who use our service. This helps us to understand how they see our work. Their input guides our continuing efforts to improve our service. It also helps us to assess the effectiveness of the public awareness initiatives we require Participating Service Providers (PSPs) to implement.
In this past year, we collected more than 2,500 responses from our customers. We are proud to report that the results show exceptional levels of customer satisfaction with our service.
Numbers may be rounded.
What customers said about the CCTS
We asked our customers for the following information:
Is it important to have an independent organization to deal with telecom and TV complaints that has the authority to provide customers with compensation?
Was it easy to file your complaint with the CCTS?
Feedback on whether the service you received from CCTS representatives met customer expectations.
Feedback on whether the service you received from our complaint resolution officers met your expectations.
Feedback on overall satisfaction with various aspects of our process.
Timelines: Did we complete our work in a reasonable amount of time?
Professionalism: Were we professional, knowledgeable and courteous?
Impartiality: Did we act without favouritism to either you or your service provider?
“As soon as I contacted the CCTS, the process was very easy and helpful.”
What customers said about service provider public awareness activities
How did you first find out about the CCTS?
Service providers agreed to notify customers about the CCTS during their internal complaint-handling process. We asked our customers:
Did your service provider tell you about the CCTS during your efforts to resolve the problem?
Service providers are required to print a prescribed message about the CCTS on customer bills four times a year. We asked our customers:
Have you ever seen the notice on any of your bills?
Service providers have agreed to place a prescribed notice about the CCTS in a reasonably prominent place on their websites and to include a link to the CCTS website. We asked our customers:
Have you seen this information on the service provider website?
What customers said about their attempts to resolve complaints with service providers
We asked customers about their interactions with service providers before the CCTS became involved.
How long did you try to resolve your problem directly with your service provider before bringing your complaint to the CCTS?
How many levels of escalation (front line customer service, supervisor, manager, etc.) did your complaint go through with the service provider before you filed a complaint with the CCTS?
Public awareness of the CCTS
We are deeply committed to increasing the public’s awareness of the CCTS and the service we offer. This past year, to commemorate our 15th anniversary, we ran our first digital marketing campaign. We invested in optimizing search results and amplifying social media ads to reach a broader audience. These activities reached a wide audience and directed more traffic and unique visitors to our website. Social media and search engine marketing campaigns with video performed the best, with more engagement and driving significantly more traffic to our website.
We are acutely aware of our ongoing responsibility to ensure that the public knows about the service we provide. With the help of communications experts, we have developed a robust strategy and new initiatives to continue building public awareness about the CCTS. The strategy, set to launch in 2023-24, will introduce new ways to reach more Canadian consumers, including those who may be more vulnerable. We will measure how well each initiative succeeds in increasing public awareness about our organization and service and adjust future activities accordingly.
In addition to these increased efforts, we will continue to work with civil society groups, consumer groups, and consumer protection agencies. These partnerships help us by:
- broadening our reach,
- providing meaningful input, and,
- serving as valuable channels for spreading the word about the CCTS and our service.
Together with our stakeholders, we are working to improve Canadians’ understanding of the CCTS and our role as a dispute-resolution resource.
Commitment to accessibility
Ensuring all Canadians have easy access to our services is one of our core values. Our commitment reflects the principles of the Accessible Canada Act and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (our head office is located in Ontario). These two laws guide us in upholding these values:
- independence,
- dignity,
- integration, and,
- equality of opportunity.
We also consult with groups representing Canadians with disabilities every year. In 2022 and 2023, we held a forum with representatives from nine accessibility groups. We discussed how to improve awareness of the CCTS within the accessibility community.
During our consultation, we learned about the difficulties people with accessibility needs face. We learned that it is important to offer different ways to file a complaint. We recognize that inclusion and representation are crucial. We will continue to seek feedback from under-represented and under-served communities so we can better serve all telecom and television customers in Canada.
Our website is another way we make our service accessible to all. It plays a crucial role in communicating who we are and what we do for Canadians. We work continuously to ensure that it aligns with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. This past year, we updated our complaint intake form to make it more customer friendly and accessible. Participants from the Accessibility Consultation reported that it is now much easier to use. We provide the option of closed captioning on all videos, and we provide versions in both American Sign Language (ASL) and langue des signes québécoise (LSQ). Our publications are in an accessible HTML format. These include our Annual, Mid-Year and Compliance Monitoring Reports.
While we strive to ensure that our services to customers are accessible, it is the CRTC which sets the industry standards and requirements related to accessibility in telecommunications and television services. Nonetheless, we continue to monitor accessibility-related issues raised in customer complaints. We refer complaints about accessibility to the CRTC if the customer wants us to. This ensures a smoother process for the customer.
Find out more about our accessibility policies and guidelines on our Accessibility web page and in our Accessibility Plan.
“We appreciate the CCTS listening to us and wanting to make changes… we would like ongoing engagement and partnership!”
Gaining insights into customer experiences
Understanding the diverse needs and challenges of consumers across the country remains a cornerstone of our commitment to serving people in Canada. Twice in 2022-23, we met with the Consumer Advisory Panel, a group of representatives from different Canadian consumer advocacy groups. This panel serves as a place for dialogue so we can identify opportunities to work together to broaden our outreach to customers, and to improve how well people understand our mandate, operations and reporting.
This past year, we brought together representatives from nine groups who, together, represented vulnerable and hard-to-reach customers, and customers from geographically diverse regions.
During these sessions, we dug into issues that affect the lives of Canadians. The panel told us that we need more public awareness activities so that Canadians know about the CCTS. They also urged us to extend our efforts to vulnerable customers. We will consider these ideas and suggestions as part of our planned new public awareness initiatives in 2023, 2024 and beyond.
This ongoing dialogue helps us to:
- identify emerging trends in the consumer landscape,
- explore collaborative opportunities for wide community engagement,
- and strengthen awareness of the CCTS and the service we provide.
We look forward to future discussions with consumer advocacy groups to help us improve our understanding of the customer experience and the unique needs of vulnerable consumers.