The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) saw a 35 percent increase in the number of complaints it received, according to its annual report.

The CCTS is an independent organization in Canada that is dedicated to resolving complaints regarding telecommunications and TV services.

The annual report, which was released on November 28th, says the CCTS accepted 19,287 complaints between August 1, 2018 and July 31, 2019.

Of the Big Three, Bell accounted for the most complaints with Rogers and Telus ranking second and third respectively. It should be noted that the complaints are not proportionate with the subscriber count of each national carrier.

For instance, Rogers has 10,838,000 total wireless subscribers, Bell has 9,834,380 wireless subscribers and Telus has 8.7 million mobile phone subscribers. Telus also reports 1.4 million connected device subscribers, but it does not reflect the purpose of this reporting from CCTS.

The report also looks at the number of Wireless Code breaches that service providers had. The Wireless Code is in place by the CRTC to ensure that Canadians are able to understand their contracts and be able to switch providers.

Bell

Montreal-based national carrier, Bell, experienced a 24.4 percent increase in complaints and accounted for 5,879 accepted complaints. It made up 30.5 percent of all accepted complaints, which is a decrease from last year’s 33.3 percent.

The top complaints regarding Bell were about incorrect charges, disclosure issues and breach of contract. Of the complaints, 3,002 were about incorrect charges, while 2,163 were regarding disclosure issues and 997 were about breaches of contract.

Of the complaints, 3,601 were resolved at pre-investigation, 1,754 were resolved at investigation while 622 remain unresolved or closed.

The carrier has 46 Wireless Code breaches and accounted for 29.1 percent of all Wireless Code breaches.

“While CCTS complaints were up for all national carriers, Bell’s share of the total continued to decline for the fourth year in a row, with the smallest increase in the number of complaints among our major competitors,” the carrier told MobileSyrup in an emailed statement.

Rogers

Toronto-based regional carrier Rogers accounted for 1,833 accepted complaints, an increase of 26.5 percent. Its complaints make up 9.5 percent of all accepted complaints, which is a slight decrease from last year’s 10.2 percent.

Of the complaints, 682 were related to issues regarding incorrect charges, while 546 were about disclosure issues. Further, 336 of the issues were related to intermittent/inadequate quality of service.

Of the complaints, 1,290 were resolved at pre-investigation, 273 were resolved at investigation and 199 remain closed or unresolved.

The carrier faced 31 Wireless Code breaches and accounted for 19.6 percent of all Wireless Code breaches.

Rogers says it’s on a multi-year journey to improve its customer experience and says that it has started to see progress in its plan, according to its senior vice-president of customer care, Eric Aigus.

“We have the fewest complaints per subscriber of any national carrier and we are the only with a drop in complaints over the last seven years,” he said in an emailed statement.

Telus

Vancouver-based carrier Telus accounted for 1,610 accepted complaints, an increase of 70 percent. The carrier made up 8.3 percent of all accepted complaints, which is an increase from the 6.6 percent reported last year.

The top issues regarding complaints that the carrier received were about disclosure issues, incorrect charges and material contract changes. Of the complaints, 404 were about disclosure issues, while 363 were about incorrect charges and 361 dealt with material contract changes.

The CCTS was able to conclude 1,568 complaints with 1,153 resolved at pre-investigation. Further, 280 were solved at investigation and 134 remain unresolved or closed.

The carrier was responsible for 31 Wireless Code breaches and accounted for 19.6 percent of all Wireless Code breaches.

“We’re still the lowest of the national carriers by a rate of complaints in our services, but we’re not satisfied with that by any means,” Tony Geheran, Telus’ chief customer officer, said in an interview with MobileSyrup.

Geheran says Telus is already addressing the issue and has simplified its contract language and has seen an improvement and believes it is back on the right trajectory.

“Our customers have my commitment that we will always listen, and will continue to improve based upon their feedback,” he said.

Other carriers

Bell’s flanker-brand Virgin Mobile received 1,253 of accepted complaints and accounted for 6.5 percent of all complaints. Next, Shaw Communications’ Freedom Mobile had 1,147 accepted complaints and accounted for 5.9 percent of all complaints.

Cogeco received 1,039 accepted complaints and made up 5.4 percent of all accepted complaints. Additionally, Rogers’ flanker-brand Fido accounted for 917 accepted complaints and made up 4.8 percent all accepted complaints.

More information about other regional carriers can be found here.