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In early January 2026, Vicki Sloot was enticed by an offer from a Bell chat agent. The agent assured her that by upgrading to a new Bell Fibe TV box, she could retain all her specialty sports channels like TSN and Sportsnet while saving $5 monthly. However, upon receiving the new equipment the next day, she discovered the speciality channels were missing. Bell informed her that she needed to pay an extra $25 per month to regain access, claiming she only had a “basic starter plan.”
This marked the beginning of an eight-week ordeal for Sloot with Bell’s customer service, involving numerous hours engaging in live chats and phone calls with various agents, leading to an escalation to Bell’s resolutions team. Sloot, a Toronto resident, expressed frustration over the lack of consistent and accurate responses from the support agents.
Several customers, including Sloot, have voiced dissatisfaction with the customer service provided by Canada’s major telecom companies: Rogers, Bell, and Telus. Common complaints include lengthy hold times, multiple transfers, dropped calls, and poor communication, resulting in delays of days or even weeks to resolve seemingly straightforward issues.
Insiders from Rogers and Telus have disclosed that frontline customer service representatives face diminishing incentives to assist with bill credits or reductions and are evaluated based on their ability to increase customer bills. This revelation comes amid a surge in complaints against telecoms, with over 23,000 grievances filed with the CCTS last year, primarily related to billing discrepancies.
Mohammed Halabi, the founder of MyBillsAreHigh.com, who has dealt with major Canadian telecoms for two decades, highlighted the increasing difficulty for customers to resolve issues and emphasized their growing frustration.
‘The system is designed to frustrate as many people as possible’
Marketplace documented Sloot’s struggle to resolve her telecom issues in late January, despite the involvement of a resolution manager. Sloot expressed feeling trapped by her reliance on a single agent, awaiting a promised callback that never materialized.
Amas Tenumah, a customer service expert, remarked on the deliberate design of Bell’s service system to prolong customer frustrations and potentially deter them from pursuing resolution, a sentiment echoed by Sloot’s prolonged unresolved issue, which culminated in her reluctantly paying more to regain access to the specialty channels.
Following Marketplace’s intervention, Bell provided Sloot with a $90 credit and a $30 discount on future bills, acknowledging the unnecessary steps she had to take to address the initial problem.
Bell’s communications director, Ellen Murphy, admitted the company’s failure to uphold its customer commitments in Sloot’s case but refuted claims of deliberate obstruction in resolving issues.
Reps encouraged to increase customer’s bills: insiders
Insider revelations from Telus and Rogers employees underscored a shift towards limiting assistance to customers, with an emphasis on increasing revenues through bill increments rather than resolving issues.
Employees described how their ability to assist customers, issue credits, or reduce bills has faced constraints and increased managerial oversight, impacting their service quality and ability to address customer concerns effectively.
Tenumah emphasized the conflicting metrics that hinder agents from delivering optimal customer service and highlighted the detrimental impact of such practices on both customers and employees.
Spanish law limits wait times to three minutes or face fines
In December 2025, Spain enacted legislation mandating strict customer service standards for telecoms and large companies, aiming to ensure prompt call responses and timely resolution of customer complaints.
The Spanish law imposes fines on non-compliant companies and sets stringent timelines for addressing customer grievances, reflecting a commitment to enhancing consumer rights and service quality.
Minister Bustinduy emphasized the significance of balancing consumer rights and fostering competitive practices among companies to ensure a fair and responsive customer service experience.
An opportunity for telecoms to do better
Despite the absence of standardized customer service benchmarks for telecoms in Canada, there is an evident need for improved service quality, as highlighted by consumer frustrations and industry practices that prioritize revenue generation over issue resolution.</p
