The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS) saw an uptake of complaints from Rogers in the 2022-23 year.
Rogers received nearly 2,900 complaints, a 44 percent increase year-over-year. This is the first time the commission responsible for resolving complaints related to wireless, internet, TV and home phone services received the most complaints about Rogers, surpassing a position Bell has held for 15 years.
The commission accepted 14,617 complaints between August 1, 2022 and July 31, 2023. This marked a 14 percent increase from the year prior; 86 percent of the complaints involved ten service providers. The report includes 221 brands from 315 service providers.
Image credit: CCTS
Issues in Rogers’ wireless business increased by 35 percent over the last year and account for 45 percent of all of the company’s reported issues. Internet issues increased by 32 percent over the last year.
Across all services, the leading issue for Rogers was disclosure. This issue arises when customers believe a company isn’t providing information clearly.
A complete loss of services saw a 138 percent increase. Canadians across the country were impacted by an outage on July 8th that impacted cellphone, internet and home phone services.
However, the outage doesn’t seem to have contributed to the complaints process.
Howard Maker, the commissioner of the CCTS, told The Globe the outage led to roughly 180 complaints. “That number of complaints is not sufficient to really account for the increase in Rogers complaints this year.”
In a statement, Rogers said its commitment to offer customers the best experience is “stronger than ever.”
“One complaint is one too many and we’re working hard to make sure every interaction we have with millions of Canadians every month is seamless. We’re committed to investing in our networks and our customer experience to ensure our dedicated frontline team has the tools to provide the best service possible.”
Bell received 2,355 complaints over the last year, a 7 percent increase. The CCTS lists disclosure issues as the top complaint for Bell, followed by issues related to incorrect monthly price plan charges.
Telus received 1,798 complaints, a 43 percent increase year over year. Issues related to wireless services increased by 48 percent.
Top overall issue
Issues relating to disclosure weren’t reserved for the big three alone — Freedom Mobile, Vidéotron, and Eastlink were some of the other providers that saw the issue.
Across all service types, customers raised disclosure issues 4,222 times, accounting for 15 percent of all issues.
“The top disclosure issue is no consent or contract conflicts with agreement, which occurs when a customer is not made aware that they were entering into an agreement with a provider, or there is a conflict or mismatch between what a customer has agreed to purchase and what their contract indicates,” the report states (emphasis theirs).
Customers raised this type of disclosure issue 3,295 times. Among the big three, the issue was raised 681 times with Rogers, 535 times with Bell and 499 times with Telus.
Image credit: CCTS
Wireless code
The CCTS uses four codes from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Service (CRTC) to measure the conduct of service providers. This includes the wireless code, which focuses on informing voice and data customers of the rights and obligations in their contracts.
The CCTS received 891 alleged breaches of the wireless code. The commission investigated 108 of these alleged breaches, resulting in 48 confirmed breaches.
A majority of the breaches involved disconnections. Under the wireless code, customers must be made “sufficiently aware” that their service will be disconnected or suspended, according to the CRTC.
“Almost all the confirmed breaches are because the service provider did not give the required amount of notice or provide all the required information in the notice,” the report states.
Virgin Plus had the most wireless code breaches at 13, an 18 percent increase from the year prior. Shaw had eight, a 60 percent increase.
The CCTS closed 13,847 complaints over the last year.
Updated January 16, 2023, 2:43PM ET: The article has been updated to correct the number of complaints CCTS commissioner Howard Maker said were tied to the Rogers outage.
Header image credit: Shutterstock
Source: CCTS
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