OTTAWA – Alberta-based telecom service provider VOIS is continuing to ignore its obligations to its customers, the CRTC, and the Commissioner of Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS), says the CCTS.
In October 2015, CCTS announced that VOIS had failed to refund $640 in fees it had improperly charged to a customer. CCTS had instructed VOIS to refund this money following an investigation of the customer’s complaint.
The CCTS then issued a decision in the investigation of another complaint from a VOIS customer in November. In that case, the customer was contacted by a collections agency demanding payment of $208 allegedly owing to VOIS. The customer denied owing any money, but paid the sum to avoid the possibility of a negative report on his credit bureau file, and thereafter filed a complaint with CCTS. Upon investigation, VOIS was unable to demonstrate that the customer owed it any money, and the CCTS decision required VOIS to refund $208 to the customer and correct any negative credit reporting that may have been made. VOIS has not done so.
“Service providers that participate in CCTS, like VOIS, are required to implement CCTS Decisions”, reads a CCTS statement issued Monday. “CCTS has reached out to VOIS many times to remind it of this requirement and to encourage it to provide the refunds owing to both customers, yet VOIS has failed to do so, in violation of its legal and regulatory obligations. As the telecom industry ombudsman, CCTS has a duty to bring to public attention the identities of service providers that are failing to meet their responsibilities.”
