Consumers of telephone services get a bill of rights from federal regulator

Well it is about time that we the consumers get some ammunition against the giants!

By Jennifer Ditchburn

OTTAWA (CP) - Did you know that you're legally not supposed to get calls from telemarketers hawking their goods and services with automated recordings?

Or that your phone service can't be cut off if you agree to a repayment plan for your overdue bill and stick with it? Or that you can have outgoing long-distance calls blocked from your home phone free of charge? The federal telecommunications regulator wants to make sure you do know your rights when it comes to local telephone service.

So Tuesday it released a consumer bill of rights that will find its way onto the websites of the traditional phone companies and into the next edition of the white pages of phone books.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission three years ago asked consumer groups and telephone companies to come up with suggestions for the bill of rights, feeling that the confusing tangle of rules and regulations were hard for the common person to understand or even find.

The phone companies had argued to the CRTC that it didn't need to duplicate information that was already available to consumers in white pages and in their "terms of service" - the small print that comes when signing on to any phone company.

But in the end the commission went with a new set of 16 rights, covering everything from the right to privacy when calling out to the rights of the disabled to phone service.

John Lawford of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre says it's a welcome development.

"The impetus was to make it clear all in one place and understandable for consumers so they could state their rights properly when they had a dispute with the company, and theoretically it should be making everyone happier," Lawford said.

Two of the main areas include rights regarding deposits for service, and when the phone company wants to cut off service - things that cause much consternation among consumers.

Where deposits are concerned, the regulator underlines that the phone company may only ask you for a deposit when you don't have a credit history with them and you don't have a satisfactory credit rating.

The phone company must explain to you why you're being asked to pay the deposit, and offer other options - such as getting a letter of credit from a financial institution. If all else fails, the deposit can't exceed the total of three months of service.

Where cutting off service is concerned, the phone company has to take a series of steps before it cuts off the line. For example, it must offer you the option of entering into a payment plan. And the company cannot cut off your service because you haven't paid your cell phone or Internet bill.

The catch is the bill of rights does not apply to the growing number of competitors for local phone service - Rogers or Primus, for example - only the so-called incumbent firms such as Bell, Telus or SaskTel.

It also doesn't apply to cellphones or long distance.

CRTC commissioner Barbara Cram said the hope is that consumers will be better armed now when they go shopping for local service, asking different companies whether their rights are protected.

"I think people will be able to take their own commercial relationship with their telephone companies into their own hands to a greater extent," Cram said.

The CRTC is encouraging the new players in local phone markets to jump on board with their own voluntary bill of rights, moving towards industry self-regulation. It warns, however, that if the industry can't get it together, it might have to step in with further regulations.

For more about the new CRTC bill of rights, see the following web address:

www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/dt2006-52.htm