Canadians are growing increasingly unhappy with the way their telecoms provide service. Sometimes we feel powerless to do anything about it, but recently, a Toronto man proved that we can. According to CBC, “in a judgment issued last month in a Toronto small claims court, Deputy Judge William C. De Lucia said that Bell’s attempt to impose new terms after a verbal contract guaranteeing a monthly price for 24 months had been struck was “‘high-handed, arbitrary and unacceptable.’”

The plaintiff, David Ramsay, began his journey of discontent with Bell in November of 2016, when he called the company to sign up for TV and internet services. He ended up subscribing to Bell’s Fibe TV and internet services for $112.90 a month for 24 months. However, when he received an email confirmation of his contract, it said the prices were “subject to change” and “Bell was planning to increase its price for internet service by $5 two months later.”

Ramsay was understandably unhappy. “”I was stunned and appalled to find these buried terms in an email,” he told CBC. “I had a contract, and this ain’t that contract.”

Ramsay called Bell Canada to complain that the emailed contract was different from the verbal contract. On this call, he made an important request; a transcript of the original call where the service rep promised him a fixed price for two years. Bell was unrelenting, so Ramsay filed a complaint with the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (the CCTS), which insisted that Bell “had the right to increase prices and since the telecom had notified Ramsay of this fact — as well as an upcoming price increase —  it ruled that the telecom provider met its obligations and no further investigation was warranted.”

Left behind by the federal agency meant to help him, Ramsay consulted lawyers who agreed that a verbal agreement should be considered a binding contract. So Ramsay decided to take the matter to small claims court.

Several times, Bell offered to settle with Ramsay in return for a confidentiality agreement, but Ramsay declined. He told CBC, “I wanted a judge to rule on the merits of this case. And if I happened to win, I thought it’d be a useful case for others to know about.”

Ramsay’s biggest weapon in court was that sales transcript, where the sales rep states “Your total cost for the 24 months will be $112.90 per month” and “You’re going to get an email confirmation of everything that was just discussed.”

Deputy Judge De Lucia sided with Ramsay, and in his reasons for judgement, said “I find that Bell cannot unilaterally insert or impose new terms. Any imposition of new terms … is unenforceable.”

De Lucia ordered Bell to pay Ramsay $1,110 in damages for his time, inconveniences, and miscellaneous costs.

This case is important to Canadians for many reasons. Firstly, it could act as the trial case for a larger class action suit against telecoms who continue to use these unsavory sales tactics. It is also an example of telecoms being held accountable for their actions, and a rare case of the consumer coming out on top.

Source: CBC.ca – Customer takes Bell to court and wins, as judge agrees telecom giant can’t promise a price, then change it
Published: April 29, 2018

Bell has been having a rough time with data security. In May 2017, 1.9 million customer email addresses, 1,700 names, and as many active phone numbers were accessed by hackers. Now, Bell has announced that again customer information was obtained by an “unknown-third party.”

“Hackers illegally accessed some customer information, including name, email address and in some cases phone number, user name and/or account number, for a limited number of Bell customers. There is no indication that any credit card or other banking information was accessed,” Bell said in a statement, published later by a local Toronto news site.

“We apologize to our customers and are contacting all those affected. There is an active RCMP investigation of the incident and Bell has notified appropriate government agencies including the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. Bell works closely with law enforcement, government and the broader technology industry to combat the growth of cyber crimes, and we have successfully supported law enforcement in past prosecutions of hackers.”

According to Bell, less than 100,000 customers have been impacted by the hack. Bell has not yet disclosed whether this breach is in connection with the May incident, or if they are unrelated.

If you get your wireless, television, or internet service with Bell Canada, be advised – there’s a chance a third-party hacker might have your information. According to Insauga, Canada’s primary carrier announced on May 16 that an anonymous hacker illegally obtained the information of approximately 1.9 million customer. This includes emails, names, and active phone numbers. Luckily no financial or personal information, including passwords, were accessed during the breach.

“We apologize to Bell customers for this situation and are contacting all those affected,” Bell said in a statement. “Please note that if your email address information was accessed, Bell will contact you by email. If your phone number was accessed, we will contact you by phone. If you haven’t been contacted by end of day May 16, your information was not accessed.”

If you haven’t already heard from Bell, your information is likely safe. Bell has also clarified that this was in no way connected to the recent WannaCry global malware attack, and that the customers involved face little to no risk. However, Bell reminds customers to never give sensitive information (such as credit card numbers) over e-mail, and to beware of unsolicited or suspicious communications.

Bell Canada and IBM have partnered to give Canadian businesses expanded access to cloud-computing services through Bell Business Cloud. Subscribers will now be able to connect to IBM Cloud via a high-speed, private Bell connection, and utilize a wide array of computing and storage options.

“Bell is an established leader in data hosting and cloud computing, providing customers with exceptional support from an expert nationwide team,” said Bell Business Markets President Tom Little, in a press release. “With businesses of all kinds increasingly relying on cloud services for their mission critical applications, adding IBM Cloud services to Bell Business Cloud provides customers with the seamless integration, security and dependability they expect and require.”

New services include Bell Cloud Connect, Bell Cloud Compute and Backup and Restore. The new offering will be available to mid and large businesses nationwide.