Bell leads telecom complaints

Bell Canada had more than double the number of customer complaints than rival Telus last year, according to the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS).

Bell racked up 1,428 complaints compared to 657 for Telus and 540 for Rogers. Rogers has Canada's largest wireless network with 8.6 million subscribers, compared with seven million for Bell, and 6.5 million for Telus.

The commissioner received a total of 3,747 complaints. That's about 500 more than were filed in 2008-09.

The complaints commission was set up in 2007 to resolve complaints about deregulated local and long- distance phone service, as well as wireless and internet access.

Wireless accounted for more than half of the complaints.

Commissioner Howard Maker points out that should come as no surprise.

'The wireless business has the highest rate of growth, the greatest pace of change, and the greatest degree of complexity. —Howard Maker, Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services

"The wireless business has the highest rate of growth, the greatest pace of change and the greatest degree of complexity, at least at the retail level," he said.

Of those complaints, 44 per cent related to billing errors, 35 per cent were contract disputes, 18 per cent related to service delivery issues such as installation, repair and maintenance, and the remaining three per cent were over the unauthorized transfer of service.

CCTS managed to process 94 per cent of the complaints it received.

"Of those 84 per cent were resolved to the satisfaction of both the consumer and the service provider," said Maker. "The parties had been unable to resolve these complaints until they brought their issues to CCTS. We are pleased with the willingness of consumers and service providers to work collaboratively with our staff."