A semi-annual report on complaints about Canada’s phone, internet and television services shows that the two biggest headaches for consumers continue to be billing mistakes and contract terms that are either misleading or not disclosed.
Incorrect billing charges accounted for 16.5 per cent of all issues raised in 9,831 complaints over a six-month period and was the top issue for almost every type of service, including internet, television and phone service.
The top irritant for wireless services was misleading and undisclosed contract terms, which was the second most common sore point for the other categories of service.
Wireless services accounted for 37.1 per cent of all issues handled by the CCTS over the six months ended Jan. 31 while 27.8 per cent of the issues related to internet service and 18.2 per cent of the issues were about TV.
The tally is published by the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services, an industry-funded body that gets its mandate from the federal government’s Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
The CCTS says about 60 per cent of the complaints covered by the report were about five service providers — Bell, Rogers, Cogeco, Telus and Freedom Mobile, the wireless service from Shaw Communications.
The Canadian Press
