OTTAWA – Bell Canada has petitioned the CRTC to act quickly on a file it says threatens competition in the local phone market.
The incumbent telco has accused local voice newcomers, specifically Primus, of “slamming”. Slamming is the term used for switching a customer from one phone provider to another without their permission.
In its December 12th submission to the CRTC, Bell said its front-line customer service reps began to record a spike in the number of calls from customers who say they weren’t aware they were no longer Bell customers and wanted to switch back in September of this year.
“As the number of customers claiming to have been slammed grew, the Company was increasingly concerned and decided to investigate further,” reads the submission.
Between November 24 and December 3 a market research firm hired by Bell interviewed 142 customers who switched back to Bell while saying they had not authorized their change in phone companies in the first place.
Of those 142, the researcher told Bell that 72 of them felt they had been switched without permission, or slammed. “Of the 72 customers who had been slammed, the service provider with the most instances was Primus, with 35 slamming complaints,” says Bell.
“The comments received… from respondents to the questionnaire indicate that Primus representatives frequently did not clearly identify themselves as being from Primus and led customers to believe that the contact was being made by Bell Canada,” adds the Bell letter. “In addition, the Primus representatives did not clearly indicate that the customer’s local service would be transferred from Bell Canada to Primus. Most customers indicated that they only found out they had been transferred away from Bell Canada when they received their first bill from the new LSP.”
CRTC regs say that service providers must get explicit authorization from customers before a phone number can be transferred to a new company.
“The Company submits that slamming of Bell Canada customers by Primus is a serious issue that is harmful to consumers, the Company and ultimately the competitive process.,” says the Bell complaint. “The Company is also concerned that the frequency of slamming is growing and that a number of competitors engage in slamming. Consequently, it is important that the Commission take decisive action to clearly indicate to the industry and consumers that slamming of local service will not be tolerated.”
Bell has requested an expedited hearing on the matter and is demanding:
* Primus be required, either directly or as a condition of receiving services from any LEC, to implement measures to eliminate slamming conduct by its employees and agents, including but not limited to: mandatory training of personnel on the requirements for proper local service transfers; tracking of authorizations provided by customers transferring local service to Primus; and mandatory scripts to obtain authorizations and order confirmations
* Primus be required to obtain customer authorizations to transfer local service pursuant to the methods set out in Decision 2005-15, retain the authorization records and produce them upon reasonable request by a LEC or other party
* Primus be required to report to the Commission quarterly on the measures taken to eliminate slamming activity by its employees and the effectiveness of the measures
* Primus be required to provide evidence of a valid authorization or order confirmation with any Local Service Request to transfer local service from another LSP.
The CRTC has yet to respond.
While one company’s “slamming” may be another’s “aggressive sale tactics”, a call placed to Primus president Ted Chislett on Monday for comment on the Primus side of the story was not returned.
– Greg O’Brien
