Canada’s Big Telcos Fight Back Against Allegations of Shady Sales Practices

According to a report by CBC News, Canada’s leading telecom companies including Bell, Rogers, Telus, and Shaw are fighting back against allegations of shady sales practices, and have all defended their sales practices and claimed their customers are well served in their recent submissions to CRTC.

After launching an inquiry in July into allegations of misleading and aggressive sales practices, CRTC had requested information from the telcos. “Our customers are treated in a fair and respectful manner when purchasing the services we offer,” Rogers said in a submission to the broadcast regulator.

While acknowledging the numerous complaints submitted by consumers to the CRTC, Bell said that if systemic issues are identified, it “would be pleased” to help implement industry-wide solutions.

Rogers says it has a number of measures in place to ensure customers are protected, including mystery shoppers who monitor sales staff and its own internal ombudsman who it says provides an impartial review of customer complaints.

Rather than unscrupulous sales practices, Rogers says complaints may be the result of “miscommunications or misunderstandings” that arise out of Canada’s complex and competitive telecom industry that offers numerous different products and plans.

Telus says that it’s so focused on the customer, it has invested billions of dollars in The Customer First program, started in 2008. Like Rogers, Telus believes new rules are unnecessary because misleading sales practices are already unlawful according to existing regulations.

Similarly, Shaw said that it welcomes the CRTC inquiry to further examine industry practices, but says the best way to prevent misleading sales tactics is to “ensure robust competition” which gives customers more choice.