Consumer demand for the services of the industry’s independent, impartial telecom complaints-handling body remained steady in the first half of this fiscal year, according to the second annual Mid-Year Report released today by the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services.
On March 17 the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission announced that effective September 1, 2024, CCTS would also begin to accept consumer complaints about television services, concurrent with CCTS beginning to administer the CRTC’s Television Service Provider Code of Conduct. The Mid-Year Report highlights increasing consumer demand for the addition of television service complaints to CCTS’ mandate. CCTS recorded over 4,650 consumer issues related to television services in the first six months of 2024-16, as compared to 7,294 in all of 2024-15.
“This will allow us to address the demand that exists among consumers for independent handling of their complaints about billing, service delivery, and contractual issues related to their TV services,” said CCTS Commissioner and CEO Howard Maker. “Given that many Canadians receive their television and telecom services from the same service provider, often bundled together, it makes sense for them to be able to bring all of their complaints about those services to the same organization.”
The Mid-Year Report lists the number of complaints received from the customers of all Participating Service Providers, and shows a substantial decrease in the proportion of complaints received from customers of Rogers. “Although Rogers still had the second-most complaints, it generated 65% fewer complaints in the first half of this year than in the same period last year. We applaud Rogers for the time and effort it has invested in working with CCTS to reduce the number of customer interactions that require recourse to CCTS, thus improving the customer experience for its subscribers. We encourage all of our Participating Service Providers to make similar efforts,” said Maker.
CCTS notes proudly that over 90% of the complaints it concluded in the period were resolved informally to the satisfaction of the customer and the service provider.