OTTAWA – Canadian consumer complaints made to the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) are down 26%, according to CCTS’s mid-year report, which covers the timeframe between Aug. 1, 2021, and Jan. 31, 2022.
During this period there were 6,682 complaints accepted and 6,655 complaints concluded, according to the report. Of the complaints concluded, 797 were closed, 5,857 were resolved and 1 recommendation was accepted.
“We continue to observe problems with service providers failing to disclose important information to their customers when signing up for a new phone, internet or TV service,” said CCTS Commissioner and CEO, Howard Maker, in a press release. “This can lead to complaints if bills or services don’t meet the customer’s expectation.”
In total, wireless had 7,683 complaints (49.3% of all complaints), Internet had 4,312 complaints (27.7%), TV had 1,782 complains (11.4%), local phone had 1,694 complains (10.9%), and there were 106 other complaints (0.7%).
The report shows there were 24 confirmed breaches of the Wireless Code during the reporting period (out of 1,083 alleged breaches of which 101 were investigated), five confirmed Internet Code breaches (out of 393 alleged breaches, 22 of which were investigated), two confirmed Television Service Provider Code breaches (out of 72 alleged breaches, eight of which were investigated) and no confirmed Deposit and Disconnection Code breaches (out of 20 alleged breaches, 10 of which were investigated), according to the report.
Looking at individual service providers, the report shows Bell again had the highest number of complaints. “Bell accounts for 17.7% of all complaints accepted by the CCTS, followed by Rogers at 15.0%, Fido at 11.3%, Telus at 8.0% and Virgin Plus at 7.6%,” the report says. (Please see chart below.)
Each of these service providers did see a decrease in the number of complaints received this reporting period compared to the same period the previous year.
From Aug. 1, 2021, to Jan. 31, 2022, Bell received 1,182 complaints which is a 36.1% decrease from the previous year’s mid-year report. Rogers received 1,003 complaints, down 16.5%, Fido received 753 complaints, down 19.9%, Telus received 535 complains, down 16.9% and Virgin Plus received 511 complaints, down 9.9%.
For the full report, please click here.
