GATINEAU – Telus has been ordered by the CRTC to provide rebates to customers who paid a $2.95 per month access fee but didn’t make any long-distance calls during the month. Telus however is not required to rebate customers who made long-distance telephone calls during the same month.
Local service rates are regulated by the CRTC and have to be either pre-approved by the commission or, in larger areas where it has stopped regulating rates are subject to a price ceiling. Long distance service, however, is not regulated. Telus had contended it did not need pre-approval or to abide by the ceiling as the fee was a long-distance charge. But the commission disagreed.
“When applied to customers who did not make any long-distance calls, the monthly fee was equivalent to an unauthorized increase to the residential local service rate,” said Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the CRTC.
“We will use our powers whenever necessary to uphold the interests of consumers of telecommunications services, particularly in instances when companies impose unauthorized charges.”
Shawn Hall, spokesperson for Telus said the company is very disappointed with the ruling. "We don’t agree with the logic that was applied and we dispute the fundamental premise of the CRTC’s reasoning. Therefore, we are studying the decision in detail with an eye to all of our options including a potential appeal.
"It’s important to understand that this fee has been applied for a tangible and highly-valued service: the use of our long distance network system. This is very straightforward, we charge our customers for a service they value and they have the option to pay or not pay. Every customer was advised in advance of the charge and had the option to decline paying the fee."
More than 500,000 customers in Alberta and British Columbia were affected by the fee and the CRTC received more than 1,100 complaints and comments from Telus customers after the fee was introduced in November. The fee was applied to customers who had not signed up for a long-distance plan, either with Telus or another company, and the charge applied even if they did not make long-distance calls or if they made long-distance calls using only dial-around long-distance services.
Yak Communications (Canada) Corp., the Consumers Association of Canada, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the National Anti-Poverty Organization filed applications with the CRTC to have Telus drop the fee and reimburse customers who have paid it.
Customers could have avoided paying the network-access fee by subscribing to Telus’’ toll-restriction service, also known as Call Guardian in certain areas, which permits only local or toll-free calls. While there is no initial charge associated with this service for residential customers, there is a $10.00 cancellation fee. The commission has directed Telus to waive this cancellation fee during the next three months if a residential customer subscribed to the toll-restriction service after October 2007 and now wishes to cancel it.
