Bell will face class action on door-to-door sales practices, court rules

A class action against telecom giant Bell on the company’s sale practices will continue forward, Québec’s Court of Appeal has ruled.

On July 4th, 2023, Québec’s Superior Court approved a filing from a Québec resident alleging the company took part in door-to-door sales practice that went against the province’s Consumer Protection Act.

Resident Marie-Josee Langlois-Vinet alleged a sales representative from the company arrived at her door to sell services in February 2019. However, she wasn’t provided with a contract for the services, which were later hashed out over the phone with a different representative. In her suit, Langlois-Vinet argues the move violated the act as the salesperson who came to her door didn’t have a permit to sell her the services.

Bell appealed the decision, partly arguing there wasn’t enough evidence for the class action to continue. The company also stated Judge Lukasz Granosik made several mistakes in the July ruling related to “unjustified causes of action” based on the act.

However, Québec’s Court of Appeal has ruled that Bell’s arguments didn’t have a leg to stand on.

“Given the simple filtering role of the request for authorization and the even more restricted role of the judge responsible for authorizing appeals of judgments authorizing collective action, the applicant does not convince that the judge has, on the face of its judgment, erred in a manifest and decisive manner or committed a simple error of law,” the court’s ruling states.

The class action represents Québec residents who bought services from Bell starting on July 23rd, 2018.

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Source: Société québécoise d’information juridique Via: Cartt