The CRTC is asking Rogers to explain how the recent increase of its service set-up fee from $60 to $70 on Rogers and Fido plans is consistent with the federal government’s recent amendments to the Telecommunications Act introduced this spring in Budget 2024.
Division 37 of Bill C-69, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 16, 2024, which received royal assent on June 20, contains a prohibition stating, “A telecommunications service provider must not charge a fee to a subscriber that is related to the activation or modification of a telecommunications service plan, or any other fee whose main purpose is, in the opinion of the Commission, to discourage subscribers from modifying their service plan or cancelling their contract for telecommunications services.”
It goes on to say the Commission must specify the types of fees to be included in the prohibition.
“It appears that you recently increased your service set-up fee from $60 to $70 for customers who elect to not use self-serve mechanisms on Rogers.com or Fido.ca,” says a commission letter to Rogers on Friday.
The CRTC is asking Rogers to respond by July 26 to explain how the fee change would be consistent with the amendments to the Telecommunication Act, saying it wants Rogers to address this for every brand it operates.
The commission says responses to its request for information will be added to the record of any relevant proceeding the CRTC may launch in future.
Currently on the “Mobile Plans” section of Rogers’s website, under “See full details”, it says “A Setup Service Fee of $70 applies to setup your device and related services. The Setup Service Fee is waived through self-serve on rogers.com (but not through Live Chat and Customer Service). If you require device setup in-store thereafter, a $70 Setup Service Fee will apply. Taxes extra.”
Similarly, the Fido website says “A Setup Service Fee of $70 applies to set up your device and related services. The Setup Service Fee is waived through self-serve on fido.ca (but not through Live Chat and Customer Service). If you require device setup in-store thereafter, a $70 Setup Service Fee will apply. Taxes extra.”
It’s unclear how the commission became aware of Rogers’s service set-up fee increase, but MobileSyrup reported on the issue last Thursday.
