CCTS Annual Report shows troubling trends
OTTAWA – Just over a month after the telecom industry was raked over the coals for their sales practices by the CRTC, the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) released its annual report showing such complaints about wireless, broadband, telecom and TV carriers are on the rise.
Today, the CCTS reported a 57% increase in the number of complaints received during its 2017-18 year (ended July 31st) from Canadian telecom and TV customers, following an 11% increase the prior year. Canadians complained most often about non-disclosure of information, which accounts for almost 15% of all issues raised across all service types.
Of course, the total number of complaints dealt with by the CCTS’ 60-plus staffers (14,272) in 12-months pales in comparison to the tens of millions of subscriber accounts – likely a theme we’ll hear from the carriers today – but that does not mean this isn’t a problem. Expect the mainstream consumer media to take the industry in back of the woodshed with these numbers today.
The CCTS also reported a 29% increase in the number of Wireless Code breaches. The most common Code violations involved the failure to properly apply data overage caps, provide contractual documents and disclose key contract terms, and to provide proper notice before disconnection, says the report.
However, also worth noting is that the rising profile of the CCTS may be contributing to the rising level of official complaints. With the much-publicized telecom sales practices hearing and the many media stories which led up to it, more Canadians know the agency exists and know where to go to lodge a complaint against their service provider.
While it’s hard to quantify that observation, CCTS commissioner Howard Maker told Cartt.ca it’s likely a contributing factor. “There are a number of factors that contribute to (the level of complaints) and certainly I think we're quite comfortable saying this year that there was an increase in awareness that did contribute to this number,” he said. “The CRTC public opinion polling that came out as part of the sales practices review made it pretty clear that over the last two years, awareness (of CCTS) is up by 50% among the public, so we do think that's an important factor to consider as part of the increase, for sure.”
As of July 31, 2018, 242 service providers (operating 360 brands) participate in the CCTS. Bell, Rogers and Telus together accounted for half of all the complaints the CCTS accepted in 2017-18; that proportion rises to approximately 68% of all complaints when their “flanker brands” and other related service providers are included.
Complaints about internet service have really taken off, rising 170% over the last five years, “a level of growth that is outpacing the growth in complaints about other services,” reads the report.
“The pattern of increasing complaints about internet is cause for concern,” added Maker (Ed note: And perhaps fodder for the CRTC’s recent call for comments into a proposed ISP code of conduct, something that rose from the telecom sales practices hearing).
We've got to figure out how to get to no surprises for customers.” – Howard Maker, CCTS
Despite the significant increase in complaints, the CCTS reports that 92% of complaints were successfully resolved to the satisfaction of the customer and the service provider. Over 80% of customers who responded to the CCTS survey disclosed their satisfaction with the CCTS timeliness in handling their complaint and over 90% were happy with the professionalism and the impartiality of the CCTS staff.
While “wireless tends to generate the most complaints, internet complaints have gone up 170% over five years,” noted Maker. “We think that's a red flag, for sure. We need to address that and actually, the Commission in its internet code notice talked about the stats from our last annual report and so I'm sure they'll jump on this as well to say that perhaps they're barking up the right tree.
“We continue to be concerned about the fact that this basket of non-disclosure issues and the mismatch issues that we talked about at length at the (CRTC sales practices) hearing all tends to find its way into the bill. So these issues remain front and center this year, again, although in larger numbers. That's the message. We've got to figure out how to get to no surprises for customers.”
When it comes to the individual carriers and their complaints, each have their flaws, some big, some small, depending on how you look at the data. Click here for the full report, and click below to enlarge images of some of the data within the report.
