Telus Took B.C.’s Watchdog to Court Over a $1,400 Cancellation Fee

Telus is in B.C. Supreme Court trying to toss a Consumer Protection B.C. fine that started with a mistaken $1,435.65 contract cancellation fee, Jason Proctor reported for CBC News on September 2.

The watchdog opened a probe after a customer got a Christmas Eve 2024 cancellation notice plus that fee, then accused Telus of stonewalling inspector Jason McColl and feeding him misleading information about complaint records.

Telus first said the records did not exist, then said thousands of complaint files were too many to sift through and offered to search 200 of them.

The company treated the first complaint as an isolated incident, cancelled the fee, and blamed human error by an agent, then bristled when McColl used a Coquitlam complaint as a test of those searches.

Telus lawyer Julia Won argued that telecom is federally regulated, called the inspection a fishing expedition, and said the company does not impose penalties, only an early cancellation fee allowed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

Because Telus is headquartered in B.C., Consumer Protection B.C. says all Telus contracts, not only ones sold in the province, have to comply with B.C.’s Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act.

A June decision hit Telus with $19,000 in fines and $22,000 in inspection costs, about $40,000 with legal fees, plus an order to write policies for responding to inspection orders, and Telus asked for judicial review last month so the fines sit in limbo while the carrier says it “fundamentally disagrees” and looks forward to court, and the watchdog will not comment while the case is before the courts.

That provincial fight sits next to Telus still answering the CRTC over new junk fees Quebecor says it already killed, and the switching-fee comments that closed August 31.