OTTAWA, Nov. 4, 2011 /CNW/ - Canada's Commissioner for Complaints for
Telecommunications Services (CCTS) reports an increase in telecom
consumer complaints for the fourth straight year. "Our Annual Report -
Restoring Connections, released today, reports that 8,007 consumer
complaints were filed with CCTS in 2010-11, an increase of 114 percent
over last year," said Commissioner Howard Maker.
Highlighted in the report is the significant CRTC ruling that now allows
for customers of all Canadian telecommunications service providers to
go to CCTS. "Canadians have identified that an independent agency like
CCTS is essential in a market where competition is growing by the day.
Through public awareness and a renewed mandate from the CRTC, our
number of contacts with the public is expected to increase in the
coming years from the over 70,000 we received in 2010-11," said
Commissioner Maker.
With over twenty-five million wireless subscriptions in Canada,
complaints about wireless services continue to cause the most
frustration and confusion for consumers. Over 62 percent of the
complaints filed in 2010-11 were about wireless services, up from 51
percent in the preceding year. Almost 80 percent of all complaints were
either about billing errors (45 percent) or contract disputes (34
percent). "Competition in this sector can bring innovative products,
better service and lower costs, but it can also cause confusion in
billing, data usage, service, and contracts. This is a trend we have
now seen for four years, and it shows no sign of subsiding,"
Commissioner Maker added.
The report highlights complaints resulting from charges billed for data
usage. CCTS heard from displeased consumers who did not understand how
their devices use data, who were not aware of the amount of data
available in their monthly plan, or who had no idea how much they had
used. Many consumers questioned the accuracy of their service
provider's measurement of their data use. The report notes that it can
be challenging for consumers to confirm data usage with precision, even
with the use of third party data measurement tools, making suspected
errors very difficult to confirm. "CCTS believes it is not appropriate
that customers should have to simply accept a provider's assertion
about the amount of data used," said Commissioner Maker. "CCTS
therefore encourages the industry to increase consumer confidence in
the accuracy of its data measurements."
Contract issues presented the second largest source of aggravation and
complaint from consumers. As in previous years, many of the contract
disputes resulted from early termination fees charged to consumers with
fixed term contracts. CCTS investigated these complaints by evaluating
the contracts to ensure that customers had indeed agreed to service
under a clearly written contract. "As much as customers must be
diligent in reviewing the terms of their contract before committing,"
Commissioner Maker said, "Service provider contracts must be clearly
understandable."
Annual Report: http://www.ccts-cprst.ca/en/documents/annual-reports/2010-2011
About the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS)
CCTS is an independent organization dedicated to working with consumer
and small business customers and participating Canadian
telecommunication service providers to resolve complaints relating to
most deregulated retail telecommunications services. Since July 2007,
CCTS has provided consumers with an independent mechanism for
resolution of complaints about deregulated local and long distance
telephone services, as well as wireless service and internet access.
This includes billing errors, compliance with contract terms and
commitments, service delivery, credit management and collections
issues. www.ccts-cprst.ca
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