OTTAWA – In light of the recent Federal Court of Appeal decision to uphold the applicability deadline of the Wireless Code, the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) today clarified its position on three year contracts.
“Three-year contracts do not expire,” said CCTS commissioner and CEO Howard Maker in a statement. “That particular word does not appear in the Wireless Code. What has been at issue is the Code’s applicability. The Court has upheld the June 3, 2015, deadline for applicability to all wireless contracts. The question of whether customers who cancel their three-year contracts will have to pay early cancellation fees, and the manner in which those fees may be calculated, will be based on the relevant provisions of the Code.”
Essentially, three-year contracts which have run for more than 24 months can be cancelled without payment of cancellation fees, as the Code requires such fees to be reduced to zero within 24 months. Cancellation of three-year contracts in which the customer received a device subsidy but which have not yet run for 24 months (those entered into between June 3 and December 2, 2013) may still require payment of a cancellation fee. A formula for determining the amount of those fees is available on the CCTS web site.
“Most customers on three-year contracts will not be required to pay cancellation fees, and if they do, the amount they will have to pay has been limited by the Code,” Maker added.
