40% of Canadians experienced ‘aggressive’ telecom tactics: poll

Four in 10 Canadians say they've been at the receiving end of “aggressive” or “misleading” sales practices by Canadian telecommunications companies, according to an Ipsos Public Affairs poll commissioned for the CRTC. Roughly eight in 10 respondents said they would support responses including monetary penalties, a mandatory industry code of conduct, and publishing a public report detailing complaints about telecom sales practices as responses to the problem. "Support is very strong among Canadians for each of proposed remedies," said the public opinion research report. The Ipsos report said the "vast majority of Canadians" – roughly three quarters – agree that "all levels of government need to work together to stop companies from engaging in aggressive or misleading sales tactics" and that the CRTC should do more to address Canadians' concerns. The report – which details results from an online panel survey, responses to the CRTC's own public survey from its website, and a series of focus groups done across Canada of groups considered to be vulnerable to such sales tactics – was released late Tuesday, dropping a trove of public opinion data a week ahead of the commission's public hearings on sales practices, ordered by the Liberal government. The third-party public opinion research project was contracted Aug. 8 this year and delivered to the regulator on Sept. 27, and according to a CRTC spokesperson cost $185,000, including taxes. Focus group respondents said financial penalties would be the "most effective and concrete means to truly hold telecommunications providers accountable," but many worried companies would eventually pass the costs on to customers through higher prices. The Ipsos survey sampled 1,809 Canadians over 18 years old in an online panel survey from Aug. 27 to Sept. 9. Because the polling was done online and not considered a probability poll, it does not come with a margin of error. It said Rogers Communications Inc. customers polled were most likely to say they experienced aggressive or misleading sales practices, at 45 per cent, followed by Telus Corp. subscribers at 42 per cent, BCE Inc.’s customers at 39, Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron at 37 over all, and other providers at 39. A majority of those who said they've dealt with pushy or misleading sales pitches said those experiences happened in the past year, while Videotron, Bell and Rogers customers were “more likely to indicate their experience took place within the past 12 months.” Across Canada, Ontarians were most likely to report experiencing the sales tactics while those in Saskatchewan and Manitoba reported such experiences the least. Rural Canadians were less likely to report unsavoury sales practices. Canadians with a disability were more likely to be aware of the issue and report having personally experienced such practices, while the report said seniors over the age of 65 were less likely to have personally experienced the problem compared to the general population. While sales practices were the main research focus, out of the eight issues raised with respondents, the most pressing concern was actually cost of services at 76 per cent, followed by 60 per cent saying they’re worried about the privacy of their personal information. In comparison, 58 per cent were concerned by misleading sales practices. Although 44 per cent said they have heard about unfair telecom sales practices, unaided awareness of the issue was very low before Ipsos raised the issue for discussion. Before being prompted, only two per cent of respondents said unfair sales tactics was an issue on their radar while 10 per cent had heard negative things about prices. Roughly half said they had not heard anything about telecommunications sector at all in the past year. Half of survey respondents said they bring their unsavory sales practices experiences up with friends and family, while 39 per cent complained to their providers, but “few have taken significant steps to address the issue” beyond that. There was low awareness for the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS) in general, with just under a third of respondents saying they have heard of it. Of those who reported experiencing dodgy sales tactics, a mere eight per cent lodged complaints with the CCTS. “Awareness of the CCTS is universally low and hearing of the organization’s existence and mandate was of great interest,” the report said of the focus groups. “Knowing that they have a course of action in the event of a dispute was appealing and relevant to hear for many. For a few, they saw filing a complaint with CCTS as being mostly for very serious disputes, and not smaller complaints.” The report said focus groups showed a “feeling of among many, who believe there is limited accountability amongst telecommunications providers and that they as consumers have little recourse beyond speaking to friends or family about their experiences." Focus group participants complained telecom companies engage in “unfair” pricing or “gouging,” pricing that’s “wildly uneven and inconsistent” across providers, and said “many had experienced” unsavoury or frustrating sales practices. “I just find that sometimes, you know, one rep will tell you one thing and then another rep, if you call back, will tell you another thing, so it’s very frustrating,” a Montreal resident said. “That to me is the most frustrating, is when they don’t really know their packages themselves or, you know, they try and ... you feel like you’re being tricked.” “I really think it’s unfair that somebody with the same Bell plan can pay more or less depending on just what they’re willing to pay,” a Toronto resident said. “You know, Rogers and Bell they go back and forth on their pricing and I feel like that’s really unfair.” Most said they don’t want to be rude so they’ll tolerate frustrating hard-sell interactions, but a few said they’d get angry and slam the door or hang up. The report detailed similar stories taken from open-ended survey questions. “A rep. tried to sell me a bundle for a reasonable price but when it came to actually sign the papers, the price was twice as much,” one person said. “When I signed up for my internet they made the plan sound much better than it was. They didn't really mention that it would go up in price halfway through the contract,” said another. The CRTC also hosted and promoted a voluntary public survey through its website, not intended to be representative of the general population, which received 7,075 responses – of which, 80 per cent said they've personally experienced the aggressive or misleading sales tactics. Those survey respondents were more likely to express a "high-level of concern” with the telecommunications sector across all areas than the online panel polling and were "much more likely to support action to be taken to address the issue." A significantly larger amount from the voluntary survey said they were concerned with the amount of competition in the telecom sector compared to the panel survey, at 59 per cent compared to 19 per cent, respectively. It was a similar story with concerns about cost of services, at 83 per cent vs. 48 per cent, and misleading sales practices, at 59 per cent compared to 30 per cent. The CRTC is meanwhile encouraging Canadians to participate in public hearings by tweeting on the hashtag #CRTCforum. Those tweets will be added to the public record and may be included in the final report to the government, which is due Feb. 28, 2019. — With reporting by Kyle Duggan at kduggan@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

40% of Canadians experienced ‘aggressive’ telecom tactics: poll

News | 10/17/2018 2:31 pm EDT

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