Another day and another telecom price increase in Canada. This time it’s from Telus and it’s impacting an iPhone in Canada reader on a small business account.
What’s the deal this time? A new $20 “price adjustment” has been tacked onto a wireless line, because the account has too many discounts and now doesn’t meet the minimum monthly charge for services, says Telus in the bill statement’s fine print, seen by iPhone in Canada.
The cellphone plan is the Telus Unlimited 20 5G+ for Business, which costs $60 per month and includes 20GB of talk, text and data in Canada and the U.S. According to the bill, there’s small and medium business discounts of $24, on top of a multi-line discount of $25 (for having 10 lines on business accounts), taking the bill down to $11 per month. This business account has nearly 20 lines. There are four lines showing the new $20/month fee adjustment, meaning a total of $80 more per month.
One of the 20% discounts was for signing a three-year contract for business Wi-Fi service, while the other 20% discount was a promotion for RBC customers.
But surprisingly, this Telus customer said the $20 charge appeared out of nowhere, taking the final bill charge to $31 ($20 + $11). Instead of removing the discounts, Telus added the “price adjustment”. Only lines that were not on contracts did not see the added fee, as those are on fixed terms.
“Telus is now adding a random charge to people’s accounts if they think their plan is too cheap based on the discounts that Telus gave them. I don’t know what their definition of too cheap is at this point. I think you should make Canadians aware of this scam as this company’s greed is getting continuously worse,” stated this customer in an email to iPhone in Canada.
The Telus billing statement details new changes to monthly payment charges, saying due to discounts and credits applied, the account doesn’t meet the minimum charge for services, which is why a $20 price adjustment per month is being added to impact lines. You can’t make this stuff up, folks.
We’ve reached out to Telus for comment and will update this story accordingly.
Update Oct. 3, 2:30pm PT: A Telus spokesperson sent iPhone in Canada the following statement, saying, “We regularly review accounts to ensure accuracy in pricing. Recently, we discovered that a very small number of business customers received ineligible or duplicate credits. These impacted customers were given approximately 60 days notice that we would be making a price adjustment to bring their account in line with our minimum monthly service charges. After these adjustments, this small cohort of customers will continue to benefit from extremely competitive rates which remain below current market pricing.”
The recent price adjustment made by Telus Business impacted a very small portion of its customers—those who had previously received duplicate or ineligible credits that significantly lowered their monthly charges. According to Telus, these customers were notified well in advance of the change and are still paying a competitive rate per line, which remains below typical market prices for similar business plans.
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That's crazy and should be illegal (if it isn't already).
Only country where companies can get away with unethical practices like this!
No, the states are pretty bad too
Time to start charging executives criminally for sketchy business practises like this.
If you’re in construction, you can be held criminally responsible for your actions at work in regards to safety and security.
Apparently if you’re a big white collar executive, different rules apply.
Maybe they should contact the CCTS.
CRTC hard at work again making sure we as consumers lose.
Rogers added a $25 shipping fee for new devices. Now this. What's next?
The crtc doesn't regulate rates other than wholesale that companies charge to resellers
This shouldn’t be allowed. Telus has to give at least 3 months written notice before any rate hikes, even if you’re not on contract. That’s totally bogus.
That being said, cell phone rates are way down over the past number of years. Most people now have Canada and US talk/text and data plans, whereas before we would get roaming charges of $7-10 extra per day. And before that, it was even worse!
$7-10??? I wish. More like $15 per day!
Haha yeah I think I’m getting old. It was $7-10 at one point but it kept going up up up.
"Most people now have Canada and US talk/text and data plans" That's surprising to me. Source?
I also got this "adjustment" for my lines – some lines got a $20 increase, some lines increased by $15, and most of the lines increased by $10 – my monthly bill was increased by ~25%, and the cost per line was ~$55 after discounts. After calling Telus, a customer rep told me Telus doesn't have profit from my account and needs to charge me more for the next 24 months. Thank you, Telus; I have started migrating my lines to Bell.