“A once-in-a-lifetime chance to change the buyer-beware culture”
OTTAWA – The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) is making it easier for both consumers as well as current and former employees of telecom companies to share their tales of telecom sales practices with the CRTC.
With less than two weeks until the Commission’s August 30 deadline for comments, the consumer organization released two 'how-to’ documents – one entitled What Consumers Need to Know and the other called What Telecommunication Company Employees Need To Know – to help ease the process.
“In our lengthy experience with Canada’s telecommunications market, we believe the CRTC has rarely focused on the consumer experience with telecommunications sales”, reads a statement by PIAC. “This inquiry is your first real chance to comment on how these essential services are sold to you. And this opportunity likely won’t happen again for a long time.”
John Lawford, executive director and general counsel at PIAC, called the consultations “a once-in-a-lifetime chance to change the buyer-beware culture of internet, phone and TV sales in Canada.”
“We hope that a public airing of grievances will give the CRTC enough information to understand the scope and scale of this problem and give it the regulatory attention it deserves,” added Lawford, in the statement. “We hope that the Report to the government will result in clear ‘rules of the road’ for sales, but above all, this inquiry and report is a chance to change the culture of, and rebuild public trust in, this industry.”
The CRTC kicked off a public inquiry last month into whether high-pressure and unsavoury sales tactics are used by Canada’s large telecommunications service providers after receiving an Order in Council from the federal government in June calling for a report on the issue due by February 28, 2019.
The Commission said it wants to hear from consumers – including those who are vulnerable due to their age, a disability, or a language barrier, as well as current and former employees of the telcos, who may apply for confidentiality.
Comments and interventions are due by August 30 and the CRTC pledged to stage a public hearing at its headquarters in Gatineau beginning October 22, 2018.
