Telus Wants to Make It Harder for Canadians to File Telecom Complaints

Telus wants Canada’s telecom complaints watchdog to reject complaints from customers who can’t prove they took their issue to a higher level of support at their carrier first.

According to an October 7 intervention obtained by iPhone in Canada, Telus has asked the CRTC to order the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) to “refuse to accept or register” complaints unless customers provide “verifiable documentary evidence” that they escalated their issue to their carrier’s second-level support team.

Complaints without that proof “must be automatically screened out at the portal entry stage,” Telus said. In other words, customers without the right paperwork wouldn’t even get through the complaint form.

The request is part of a CRTC review of how Canadians are told about the CCTS, an independent, industry-funded organization that deals with unresolved telecom and TV complaints. The deadline for replies is November 13.

Telus Wants Written Proof Before Complaints Are Accepted

Telus says the CCTS currently takes customers at their word when they say they’ve already tried to resolve a problem with their provider.

That leaves carriers having to prove a customer never properly escalated their complaint, which Telus argues is an unreasonable burden. The company wants customers to provide written proof that they went through second-level support before the CCTS will accept their case.

Telus has also dropped an earlier proposal to make customers wait a set amount of time before contacting the CCTS. It said some complaints are urgent and tracking waiting periods would create additional costs.

Bell, Rogers and Other Carriers Have Another Proposal

The Canadian Telecommunications Association (CTA), whose members include Bell, Rogers, Eastlink, Cogeco, Québecor, SaskTel, Tbaytel, Vidéotron and Xplore, filed its own proposal on October 7.

The association isn’t asking for the same automatic rejection rule. Instead, it wants carriers to send customers written information about the CCTS within two business days of their complaint reaching second-level support, even if the issue has already been resolved.

That notice could also serve as proof that the customer gave their provider a chance to fix the problem.

The CTA also wants the CCTS to “meaningfully assess” whether a carrier had a reasonable opportunity to resolve a complaint before accepting it.

However, the association says bigger changes to how complaints are accepted should wait until a full review of the CCTS mandate. It also wants carriers to have 12 months to comply with any new rules.

Both Telus and the CTA oppose the CRTC’s suggestion that customers should be told about the CCTS earlier, such as when a carrier offers a solution or when someone complains about how long their issue is taking.

Most Canadians Have Never Heard of the CCTS

The debate comes as many Canadians still don’t know the CCTS exists, even when they’re having problems with their telecom provider.

A Nanos survey commissioned by the CRTC found just 2.1% of customers with unresolved complaints said their provider referred them to the CCTS. Another 96.3% said they weren’t referred. Nearly two-thirds of people who never brought their complaint to the watchdog said they simply didn’t know about it. Overall, only 18.3% of Canadians surveyed had heard of the CCTS.

The numbers came from CRTC research that cost taxpayers $113,000.

Customers Already Have to Contact Their Carrier First

Under the existing rules, customers are already supposed to give their carrier a chance to fix a problem before bringing it to the CCTS.

The CCTS procedural code says customers must raise the issue with their provider and give it “a reasonable opportunity to investigate and resolve the matter.”

However, customers currently don’t have to complete every step of their carrier’s internal escalation process before contacting the watchdog.

That’s where Telus wants to change things. Its proposal would require customers to formally reach second-level support and have the documents to prove it before their complaint could be accepted.

Someone who has called their carrier several times, spoken to different agents and still hasn’t received a solution could therefore be turned away by the CCTS if they can’t provide the required proof.

The CRTC hasn’t made a decision on the proposals. Parties have until November 13 to file their replies.

Should Canadians need written proof that they’ve escalated a complaint before the CCTS will look into it?