A Bell store on Queen St. in Toronto on March 25, 2020.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
About one-fifth of the secret shoppers enlisted by Canada’s telecom regulator to shop for wireless services may have experienced misleading or aggressive sales practices, according to a new report.
Vulnerable segments of the population, such as those with disabilities or whose first language is neither English nor French, reported higher rates of these sales tactics.
The research was conducted by Forum Research Inc. on behalf of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in early 2020, and involved 422 secret shoppers. These individuals were paid to shop for wireless services from the six largest telecoms – BCE Inc.'s Bell Canada, Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp., Shaw Communications Inc.'s Freedom Mobile, Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron Ltd. and Sasktel.
The majority of the sales interactions were positive, according to the report. However, more than a quarter of the shoppers – 26 per cent – felt the product or service recommended to them was not suitable, while 11 per cent thought they had faced aggressive sales practices.
Overall satisfaction rates across key metrics measured in the study – such as the appropriateness of sales recommendations and whether salespeople pressured customers to sign up – were about 80 per cent.
“While we are encouraged by the results, more needs to be done to stop misleading and aggressive sales practices," CRTC chairperson and chief executive Ian Scott said in a statement. “We look forward to using this information to promote the fair treatment of consumers.”
The research followed a public consultation conducted by the CRTC from June, 2018, to February, 2019, on aggressive sales tactics by Canada’s large telecoms.
The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, which represents the telecom industry, said in a statement it is “pleased to see that the overwhelming majority of shoppers reported positive interactions with sales staff.”
However, consumer advocates said they would like to see more done to protect the users of wireless services.
“There need to be financial penalties for the companies, because they’re taking financial advantage of customers and they need to pay for it," said Laura Tribe, executive director of OpenMedia, an organization advocating for widespread inexpensive internet access. “We need to take away the financial incentive for this.”
John Lawford, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), called the study’s methodology inadequate and said it involved secret shoppers who had only minimal training.
“A proper regulatory response would have had very well-trained inspectors go in and look for particular scams – upselling, looking at whether the sales representatives purposely avoided topics or hid things,” Mr. Lawford said.
Bell spokesperson Marc Choma said the study shows the wireless industry is delivering positive customer experiences over all. “There’s always room to improve, so we’ll be taking a close look at the study’s results,” Mr. Choma said in an e-mail.
Rogers noted the “vast majority” of secret shoppers had positive experiences. “We continue to strive to deliver the best possible experience to our customers and are committed to being clear, simple and fair in every interaction we have,” spokesperson Andrew Garas said in a statement.
Sasktel said it is currently analyzing the report, adding that the company does not condone the use of misleading or aggressive sales practices. “SaskTel is, and has always been, firmly committed to providing the best possible experience to all of our customers in every facet of our business,” the company said in a statement.
Videotron declined to comment on the report, while Shaw said it is still reviewing the data.
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