Bell overcharging party line subscribers for phone rentals, PIAC maintains

A consumers' rights group suggests Bell Canada is overbilling its party line customers and providing its own customer service representatives with shoddy information. The ILEC doesn't admit wrongdoing, but doesn't deny it, either. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) has filed a Part VII application with the CRTC, charging Bell with gouging clients on the rental of party line equipment. Those customers still on party lines are required to rent phone sets, unlike single line users who can purchase the equipment. The current tariff for those party line rentals is $2.95, which has been in effect since 1996. But PIAC was contacted earlier this year by a customer who was billed $5.30 for leasing a rotary dial telephone set. The Ottawa-based group contacted the telco and was amazed by the response from the company. "We phoned Bell on her behalf and complained," PIAC counsel Philippa Lawson recounts to Network Letter, "and said, 'look, what is this charge, $5.30, you've got to be kidding, for an old rotary dial phone. You've got to be kidding, surely the CRTC didn't approve that!' 'Oh, yes, yes, yes, it's all approved, that's the correct rate and everything.' We made the mistake of taking Bell's word for it." Lawson speculates that Bell has been charging party line subscribers the forborne rate for single-line rentals, boosting the levels even though no tariff application was made. In supporting documents filed with the commission, PIAC researcher Michael Nesbitt says a customer service representative told him the $5.30 rate was brought in this March, replacing a previous charge of $4.55. Bell is examining the filing. It vows to make things right if it has been acting improperly. "We're looking into it at the present time and it's not an overnight affair to look into it," Bell executive counsel Bernard Courtois tells Network Letter. "Obviously, to the extent that we made a mistake, we'll correct it. At the moment we need to just get the facts." Lawson notes that the commission would be unaware of the problem unless somebody complained. The CRTC does not monitor customer bills. "You can't expect an ordinary consumer to even understand what a general tariff is, let alone do the research that we're having trouble doing as experts, dig it up and second-guess the company," she states. "There's more than one problem here. There's a problem that companies are violating their tariff. There's a problem that there's too much of an onus placed on the consumers to notice the errors. There's a problem that even when consumers ask about it, they are given the wrong answer." Two calls placed PIAC had placed calls to two different divisions of the telco seeking information. Nesbitt initially phoned 310-BELL, the main customer information number, asking about the discrepancy in the tariff rates. The representative he spoke with suggested he call the company's executive office of customer relations. That agent agreed the subscriber had been overcharged and said the bill would be credited with the overpayment. But PIAC was unable to determine if other customers had been similarly misled. Its Part VII filing says Bell does not indicate that it intends to reimburse all affected subscribers. The ILEC's terms of service require the user to dispute excessive charges and the right to a refund disappears after one year. "This whole experience highlighted for me how bad the customer service is. We talked with several people on the Bell customer service line," Lawson maintains. "We got all these conflicting answers. Most of them really didn't know." Courtois agrees with Lawson. Bell is reviewing its instructions to its customer representatives to ensure they know fact from fiction. That's difficult when telcos are offering different products and various packages. "We just have to make sure we look into our instructions to employees to make sure that we've prepared them properly" he says. "But that's something in as complex a business as ours, with millions of customer contacts daily, you have to keep working at that." PIAC questions whether this is an isolated issue or if concerns can be raised in other service areas. "What else is Bell doing that they shouldn't be?" Lawson wonders. "This to me highlights a problem with partial deregulation. You start getting into these confusing areas. Companies themselves make mistakes where some rental sets are regulated and others aren't. Same on toll services; some toll service rates are regulated, some aren't." Adding to the difficulty is that the customer service representatives do not have the resources to do their jobs properly. Lawson reports that the agent she spoke with did not have a manual with the correct answers handy. The representative was forced to spend several minutes searching the corporate database for keywords. "They could not find the tariff item. It was so bad," the lawyer asserts. "That to me highlights we're going to have to do more with customer service. It is just not working." The PIAC application accuses the representatives of defending invalid rates when presented with contrary evidence. Lawson provides further illustration of how dire the situation is. "Even when we challenged them and said we were experts and happened to know that they were wrong, they would disagree with us. They said everything they do is regulated and has to be approved by the CRTC, every rate they charge," she says. "And I said, 'I happen to know that some of your services are deregulated now, they're forborne, for example discount toll service'. 'Oh, no, everything, every long distance rate we charge, everything it's on the competitors.' I said, 'look, can I speak with your supervisor because that's just not right'. 'Oh no, it's the supervisor who told us this. I was just at the training session.' This is the kind of thing we're getting. Just totally incorrect and very often misleading information." Other telcos targetted The Part VII requests that Bell rebate all overpayments, with interest. PIAC also wants the CRTC to investigate if customers of other telcos have been equally mistreated. "I'm not saying Bell is alone here. We're finding problems with customer service with every company we call," Lawson reports. "To the point where it's becoming clear to us that the name of the game in competition is just to confuse the customer. And that seems to be how companies manage to make more money." The specific issue of party line rental will eventually become moot. The CRTC has ordered all telephone companies to upgrade subscribers to single-line service (NL, Nov. 1/99). Canada already has one of the highest connectivity rates in the world; the commission wants to eliminate underserved areas within the next few years. Courtois says when Bell began its most recent two-year improvement program, it had 50,000 party lines in use. That number has fallen drastically, although he does not have specific figures. Subscribers have been given the choice of switching to single line service. Some have refused, preferring the party line option.

Bell overcharging party line subscribers for phone rentals, PIAC maintains

News | 08/27/2002 4:00 am EDT

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