Mandate

We are able to assist you with a wide range of complaints about products and services offered in the telecommunications sector including:

• Home Telephone;
• Long Distance telephone services (including prepaid calling cards);
• Wireless phone services (including voice, data, and text);
• Wired and wireless Internet access services; and,
• White page directories, Directory assistance, and Operator services.
• Other forborne (unregulated) retail telecommunications services (other than those listed in our list of exclusions below)

We are able to assist with most types of problems that can arise between you and your service provider, including:

• Compliance with contract terms and commitments (but not the contract terms themselves). This can include many situations such as when your provider is not living up to its commitments in your contact, when material changes to the agreement with your provider occur, and when misunderstandings about the duration of your contract occur;
• Billing disputes and errors (but not the price of the service itself). Some examples of billing disputes are when you agree to one price and you are then invoiced for a different price, when your are being overcharged due to either a billing system error or a price that is different than what was advertised elsewhere, and when you are billed for per-use services that you never in fact used;
• The delivery of your providers’ service, including installations, repairs, and disconnections. You may have this type of complaint when your provider is unable to properly install, disconnect or transfer your services, when your provider invoices you for any services you do not receive or you did not agree to, when the quality of your service is sub-standard and the provider is unable to correct the problem, and when there are otherwise unreasonable interruptions to your service;
• Credit management complaints may include problems relating to security deposits, payment arrangements and collections treatment of your account; and,
• Unauthorized transfer of service (“slamming”) may happen to you when one provider transfers your account from your current provider without your express consent, which can result in being charged for your service at a price you did not agree to as well as complications with your original provider including termination charges and re-connection fees.

Exclusions

While we are able to assist with the issues above there are certain services and issues that are frequently associated with the telecommunications industry which we will be unable to assist. Please visit our links to other resources page for more information on where to submit your complaint relating to these matters.

These services include television and radio broadcasting services, complaints relating to yellow page directories, security services such as alarm monitoring, internet content and software-based applications, and services that CRTC has not forborne for social or economic reasons (for example, payphones, 900/976 premium services, and accessibility services such as teletypewriter).

Examples of matters which we will be unable to assist you with are complaints about telemarketing or unsolicited messages, claims of false or misleading advertising, the pricing of services, privacy and confidentiality violations, contract terms or terms on service agreements and related documents (other than compliance with your provider’s contract or service terms), and complaints that have been, currently are, or should be before another organisation or tribunal that has the authority to compensate a customer for losses arising from the occurrence at issue.