Quebec’s consumer watchdog fines Bell $3.28m, other telcos warned

Quebec’s consumer protection office (OPC), an agency of the provincial government, fined BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Mobility $3.28 million for breaching the provincial Consumer Protection Act, and warned other telecommunications companies they could be next. The OPC said in a release Friday it was fining Bell—operating under its Virgin Mobile brand—for 305 infractions of the consumer protection law, including rules related to contract renewal, unilateral modifications of a contract, contract cancellation fees and other aspects. It also said it had launched a program to monitor other telecommunications companies operating in Quebec, and it might take similar actions against them in the near future. “We’re looking at all the players in that industry, ” OPC spokesman Jean Jacques Préaux said in a telephone interview. He added that the OPC will focus on other telecommunications services beyond the wireless sector as well. He said the OPC’s mandate includes monitoring the application of the consumer protection law, which sometimes means focusing on a specific industry, and that the OPC is currently undertaking a program focusing on telecommunications. He added the OPC has focused on other industries in the same way, such as vehicle rentals, though the total amount of fines levied has never been as high as in this case. “Fines were lower, but so was the number of infractions,” he said. Préaux said Bell can choose to plead guilty and pay the fine, or plead not guilty to the infractions and take the case to court; it has 30 days to do so. The breaches in question took place between November 2011 and April 2012, OPC said. Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act began applying to telecommunications services in 2010, Préaux said. About a year ago, the OPC told Bell in writing “that they were not respecting the law, they have to change their way of doing business, and it doesn’t seem the notice sent to them was , and that’s why we’re passing to the second stage,” he said. When asked about the fines in Quebec, Bell spokeswoman Jacqueline Michelis said in an emailed statement that "all of Bell’s service contracts comply with all applicable laws." She did not respond to follow-up questions about whether the company will fight the charges in court and whether Bell considers the Consumer Protection Act applicable to its wireless services in the province. The OPC’s website also contains complaints levied by consumers against various divisions of other companies that provide telecom services in Quebec, including Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp. and Quebecor Inc. subsidiary Videotron, though the website does not show that the OPC levied any fines against those companies in this year. Jean-Francois Mezei, a telecom consultant with Montreal’s Vaxination Informatique, said in a phone interview Monday that during the CRTC’s wireless code hearings, wireless companies wanted the CRTC to put out a single national code. Companies like Rogers and Telus told the CRTC in 2012 that a single set of national regulations, as opposed to a patchwork of provincial laws, would be easier to understand for consumers and carriers. CRTC’s wireless code regulations, which were introduced in June, come into effect Dec. 2. Mezei said that before escalating to the stage of levying a fine against a company, the OPC generally tries to work out consumer complaints directly. “When they escalate to , it’s really because the company has not been cooperating,” he said. Mezei said that Bell could use this case an opportunity challenge the provincial code. “This OPC … action might be a trigger for Bell seeking to have provincial laws invalidated,” he said. —With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Quebec’s consumer watchdog fines Bell $3.28m, other telcos warned

News | 11/25/2013 9:43 pm EST

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