Telus says Shaw ‘creating confusion with customers,’ files CRTC complaint

Telus Corp. has filed an undue preference complaint with the CRTC, accusing competitor Shaw Communications Inc. of delaying the cancellation of service for customers switching from Shaw cable to Telus’ Optik TV. Telus wrote in a complaint to the commission, dated May 6, that it is “experiencing material direct harm” from customers remaining with Shaw due to long transfer delays. Telus said it is refunding customers who were double-billed because Shaw delayed or refused to process cancellation orders and that it is facing losses from damage to Telus’ brand. “Shaw continues to abuse its position as the dominant provider of television service in Western Canada by trying to thwart competition in this sector,” Telus’ senior vice-president of regulatory and government affairs, Michael Hennessy, wrote in the May 6 letter to the CRTC. Hennessy asked that the commission direct Shaw to immediately process all outstanding cancellation orders and all future orders within two business days and notify Telus when the orders have been processed. But the complaint is just “an irritant and a way of regulatory gamesmanship,” Shaw president Peter Bissonnette said in an interview. “It’s almost like reading the Dead Sea scrolls because I’ve read it before. I’ve read it again,” Bissonnette said. “These issues have all been in front of the commission.” The CRTC announced new rules last March to allow customers to switch carriers with a single phone call, requiring the provider to make transfer arrangements after receiving consent. The new rules call for the transfer to be completed within two business days. Telus made a similar complaint to the commission during that proceeding. At the heart of the issue is “win backs,” customers who threaten or seek to leave one provider for another but are then “won back” with special offers. Telus and Shaw are locked in a heated battle in the West for television customers as Telus continues to roll out its fibre Internet and IPTV services and cut into Shaw's customer base. In the May 6 letter, Hennessy asked that Shaw not make contact with customers until a cancellation has been processed. It also asked that Shaw be ordered to reimburse Telus the amount that Telus has refunded customers who were double-billed as a result of delays. But Bissonnette said Shaw treats Telus more favorably than other competitors, such as Bell Canada, MTS Allstream Inc. and SaskTel—companies which he said don’t complain. He said Telus provides Shaw with a list of customers who want to switch, and Shaw stops billing them. “Their suggestion that somehow people are getting double-billed is not the case,” he said. But Hennessy wrote that Shaw is delaying the processing of cancellations until it can reach the customers, at which point it tries to retain them. “In some cases, Telus’ customers have been kept on the line for close to an hour or have been contacted numerous times, forced to listen to the numerous retention efforts of Shaw because these are cloaked as ‘confirmation of cancellation’ of service,” Hennessy wrote. “These are not ‘win back’ attempts which would be entirely appropriate once the cancellation of service has been processed; rather, by contacting and harassing new Telus customers prior to giving effect to cancellation orders, Shaw is giving itself an undue advantage by creating confusion with customers.” The situation irritates new customers who do not know whether fault lies with the new or old provider, Hennessy added. But Bissonnette said such a strategy would only damage to his own company. “We do what we can to make sure that there’s no inconvenience to customers who have made a choice to go to Telus,” he said. “It doesn’t serve our benefit to do that because those customers could be coming back to us. In fact many are. That’s going to be the nature of our relationship.” The two companies initially communicated cancellation requests and their status on a daily basis, but Hennessy wrote that Shaw stopped returning reports last month, leading Telus to conclude that there is a “systemic strategy to increasingly delay cancellations and that there are continuing delays in transferring customers (if they are transferred at all).” The commission will accept written interventions on the complaint until June 15. Bissonnette said Shaw intends to file one. Telus was not available to comment for this article. mburgess@thewirereport.ca

Telus says Shaw ‘creating confusion with customers,’ files CRTC complaint

News | 05/18/2011 5:59 pm EDT

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