OTTAWA—The federal government has ordered an investigation into complaints of misleading and aggressive sales tactics by the country’s telecommunications companies.In a rare move, Navdeep Bains, minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, on Thursday directed the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to investigate the sales practices.“We’ve heard from hundreds of Canadians … clearly there’s a problem,” Bains told reporters on Parliament Hill. “We’ve also heard from sales agents who say that their managers have put pressure on them as well.”“There are vulnerable Canadians, seniors, low-income earning Canadians, people that necessarily don’t understand the technology that clearly can be persuaded to buy products and services that they may not necessarily need,” said Bains, the MP for Mississauga-Malton.The government has asked the CRTC to have the investigation finished by Feb. 28 and is hoping the report will contain recommendations to reduce consumer complaints.Bell Canada had the most complaints, at 2,275, followed by Rogers Communications (707) Telus Communications (511), followed by Virgin (429) and Videotron (368).The government order directs the CRTC to examine whether telecoms are “providing consumers with incomplete, unclear or misleading information regarding service terms and conditions.”The investigation will also look at the measures the companies have in place to monitor “aggressive” sales practices, existing policies to protect consumers and the “most feasible and effective” ways to strengthen existing consumer protections.“We want a set of recommendations and a clear set of facts around these high pressure sales tactics,” Bains said. The CRTC is responsible for regulating telecommunications services and overseeing measures already in place to protect consumers, such as the Wireless ...
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