Provider fails to honour promised promotion

Mr. C called his service provider to inquire about available loyalty promotions related to his wireless service. He was informed that a promotion would be available to him the following month, in which he would receive 10 GB of data for $60/month. The agent provided Mr. C with a code to use when he called back the following month. When the customer called back, he was told that no such promotion existed and that there was no record of his previous call. Mr. C filed a complaint with the CCTS, seeking to have the offer honoured.

Key Messages

• Service providers are expected to honour their commitments to customers.
• Service providers’ sales agents should have access to current promotional information when offering products and services to customers.

Summary of the Complaint

Mr. C called his service provider to inquire about available loyalty promotions related to his wireless service. He was informed that a promotion would be available to him the following month, in which he would receive 10 GB of data for $60/month. The agent provided Mr. C with a code to use when he called back the following month. When the customer called back, he was told that no such promotion existed and that there was no record of his previous call. Mr. C filed a complaint with the CCTS, seeking to have the offer honoured.

What did the CCTS do?

The service provider told the CCTS that there was no plan offering 10 GB of data for $60 per month, adding that the code the customer received was from an older promotion from a few years earlier. The provider also indicated that no record of a call about this promotion existed. The CCTS persisted in its demand for the call recording, and the provider did eventually locate it. The recording corroborated Mr. C’s account of the events, with the agent clearly offering a loyalty plan that included 10 GB of data for $60 per month.

Outcome

It was clear that the service provider had made this offer to the customer. However, the provider was unable to provide the customer with the promised promotion for system reasons. In order to respect the commitment made to Mr. C., the provider offered to make a payment to him as compensation.  Mr. C. accepted the offer and the file was closed.