For the first time in the 15-year history of the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS), Rogers has surpassed Bell in consumer complaints about telecom and TV services, according to the CCTS’s 2022-23 annual report, released Tuesday.
Between Aug. 1, 2022, and July 31, 2023, the CCTS accepted a total of 14,617 consumer complaints, representing a 14 per cent increase over the previous year, the report says, noting these complaints included increases in issues about quality of service, roaming charges, and contract disclosure issues.
Of the total complaints accepted by the CCTS, Rogers accounts for approximately 20 per cent, making it the most complained-about service provider in 2022-23.
“Disclosure issues, billing errors and complaints about promised credits or refunds not being applied are the top issues raised by Rogers’ customers,” a CCTS press release says. “Rogers’ customers also raised more issues about the quality of their telecom services and complete loss of their telecom services.”
It’s worth noting the beginning of the CCTS report’s complaint timeframe immediately followed Rogers’s nationwide network outage in July 2022.
The next two most complained-about service providers are Bell and Telus, accounting for approximately 16 per cent and 12 per cent of all complaints accepted by the CCTS, respectively. Rogers flanker brand Fido, Telus’s Koodo and Bell’s Virgin Plus respectively accounted for about 12 per cent, 7 per cent and 6 per cent of the total accepted complaints. Freedom Mobile generated approximately 6 per cent of all accepted complaints, while Videotron and Shaw each accounted for about 3 per cent.
Looking at the most complained-about issues with telecom and TV services, quality of service remains a top concern for customers, the CCTS says.
“Notably, complaints from customers experiencing a complete loss of service increased — with 93% more issues reported by wireless customers and 48% more issues from Internet customers,” the press release says.
Customers also continue to raise concerns about the clarity of information provided by service providers in their contracts, promotions and related documents. “Each year, telecom and TV customers raise issues about ‘mismatches’ between what they expect to receive and what’s received, not being aware of contract details or promotion details and providing consent to account changes.”
The CCTS also reported that complaints about roaming charges doubled for the second consecutive year, reflecting “instances where customers report incorrect charges from their service provider for use of wireless services outside of a defined local coverage area.”
An emerging trend noted by the CCTS is that of customers raising more issues with leaving or switching their service providers “because they were unable to cancel their wireless or internet services or unable to port (transfer) their phone services to another provider. In some cases, this was due to the provider’s refusal, or because of system errors,” the release says.
