CBC Marketplace aired “Canada’s Worst Cellphone Bill: The Sequel“ last night. This is where they asked Canadians for feedback on who has the worst bill. At first it seemed they were only looking for 60 bills from Rogers, Bell and TELUS but stated they heard “complaints from all the major companies”… only logos from SaskTel, Solo, Rogers, Fido, WIND, Bell, Koodo, TELUS, Virgin were showed. Missing from the list are Mobilicity, Public Mobile, Chatr, MTS and Videotron.
CBC states that they are “once again on a mission to find Canada’s Worst Cellphone Bill. We revist Canada’s cellphone industry and uncover more horror stories… including a woman being asked to pay a cancellation fee even though she’s being deported, and an octogenarian war veteran who’s out of pocket because his minutes expired.”
With wireless complaints at an all time high the report said it’s just not about bill size but about how a customer was treated. 3 individuals made the final cut this year: War vet Al Nelman with Virgin Mobile who forgot to top up his $15 prepay account. Bell customer Perry Franz was given the wrong info from customer service and racked up a $17k with his iPhone visiting Moscow. Finally, Rogers customer Mary Reynolds who is being deported by the Government and also being charged $800 for canceling 2 cellphone contracts.
In the end it was Bell that was given the title as being “Canada’s Worst Cellphone Bill”. They took home the same title last year too. However, the $17k bill is nothing compared to the recent $37,000 TELUS bill that a Vancouver resident racked up in roaming charges while visiting Egypt.
Check out the full episode here at the CBC
