Canada’s telecommunications and television complaints watchdog says many telecommunications providers don’t follow the rules in the complaints section on their websites, and it is particularly concerned about some repeat offenders.
The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services of Canada (CCTS) released its annual compliance report on Thursday. The report found that just over half of the 51 communications providers audited did not have an easily accessible complaints section on their website.
Only 35% of providers were fully compliant with requirements to inform their customers about the CCTS on their respective websites in both official languages.
However, the watchdog described this result as “positive”, as it is an increase from just 14% of companies fully compliant in 2019, and compared to a historical average of around 20 %.
The report measures the sector’s performance in monitoring the watchdog’s complaints process and informing customers about its services. It also indicates whether service providers are meeting their obligations to pay CCTS fees and share financial information with the commission.
“The good news is that every year that we conduct these audits, most providers work with us to fully resolve their compliance issues,” said Janet Lo, CCTS Assistant Commissioner of Legal, Regulatory and Stakeholder Affairs, in interview.
“We’d like to see that improve and we’d like to see that number continue to rise, but it’s an improvement over historical rates. »
Concerns about repeat offenders
The report found that 29% of companies audited were completely non-compliant and contained no CCTS information on their websites.
The commission requires search functions to direct visitors to information about the CCTS dispute resolution process when they search for relevant keywords. Mme Lo said this information should be “easy to find,” which the commission defines as being within two clicks of a website’s home page.
Despite annual reminders of these rules, the report says Rogers Communications and Telus failed to comply with the search function requirements in four of the last five years.
“The main problem for these two (providers) was that a search on their website did not turn up the CCTS information that is required to be provided. Another problem was the absence of certain keywords in French and English on websites aimed at residential customers,” the report said.
“Overall, this situation is concerning given that Rogers and Telus have been audited for compliance with the public awareness plan since 2017 and are well aware of this requirement. »
In a statement, Telus said it fixed the issue last November, attributing it to website updates that intermittently affected the CCTS search function.
“As an organization that puts our customers first, we are committed to continually improving our processes,” said Telus spokesperson Brandi Merker.
“We have now implemented weekly checks to test the functionality of the website to not only ensure compliance with the CCTS guidelines, but also to provide a more seamless customer experience in the future,” a- she added.
Rogers spokesperson Cam Gordon said the company also fixed the issues and was “continually improving our processes during routine updates to our website pages.”
Mme Lo said publicly naming companies that break the rules is a tool the commission has to enforce obligations if there are recurring compliance issues.
In more serious cases, such as a supplier’s refusal to implement a resolution ordered by the supervisory body following a complaint, Mme Lo said the CCTS would consider expelling the company from its membership. This would prompt the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to get involved, opening the door to financial sanctions.
“We generally reserve these cases for very rare and egregious instances of non-compliance,” she explained.
“It’s really reserved for cases where providers have denied their customers access to the CCTS, or, through complaints, they have denied them a right of appeal or recourse to seek relief. »
Last month, a commission report found that complaints about telephone, internet and television services increased by 43% in the middle of the reporting year. He highlighted an “alarming” increase in customer complaints related to overcharging on invoices, calling the trend “a cause for concern”.
Its latest report on non-compliance indicates having identified a dozen providers “who did not promptly implement remedies agreed with customers or mandated by the CCTS after an investigation” in 2023.