Canadian court certifies class-action lawsuit against carriers
By Michael Caputo 
posted Oct 6th 2007 8:05PM
posted Oct 6th 2007 8:05PM
If you're sick and tired of wireless carriers charging an arm and a leg for so-called "system access fees," you aren't alone. As wireless carriers up north rack in close to $800 million a year in said fees, they continue to brand the fees as required by the Canadian Radio-Television Commission -- even though the Government says that fees are no longer valid and don't need to be charged. Carriers were whacking Canadians with charges ranging from $6.95 for Rogers and Telus and up to $8.95 for Bell customers. Naturally, that kind of apparent overcharging can only lead to one thing: a class-action lawsuit. Get in while the gettin's good!
Oh canada!
...but that still don´t make up for taking demonoid away :P
Actually they haven't claimed it was a government fee for quite a long time.
Quoted from Fido's website:
"monthly system access fee of $6.95 (non-government fee) and a monthly 911 emergency service fee (50¢) apply in addition to the monthly service fee.
...
The system access fee is charged to help cover the costs associated with the ongoing operation, maintenance and upgrading of the wireless network. The fee is not required by nor collected for the government or any of its agencies."
I know about the whole system fee and the 911 fees and ect. but when I get my first bill will their be taxes added on to my bill cause, for something that I thought would be $45, it might turn out to be $51, I'm concerned and a little nervous..
If these companies (Bell, Rogers, Telus, Fido) would quit charging extra fees for everything I may be one of their customers. Until then I stick with Virgin Mobile. For $20 my mobile needs are met each month (minutes and features). The other companies have similar $20 plans that do the same, but then there is the $7 system access fee and often about $7 or more for caller display, voicemail, etc.
I'll take the $20 plan over the $34 one.
I'd willingly pay for a System Access Fee if my carrier (Rogers) actually IMPROVED the coverage area where I live, but since the coverage is only available in areas of towns with around 5k people or more where I live, I doubt I'll see new towers popping up.
I pay $6.25/mo on SaskTel Mobility.
This and Canada's OUTRAGEOUS data fees.... How in the hell did Canada get the shaft harder than us in the USA??? Thats just crazy. You guys up north even have a telecom specific "consumer protection" government agency? Where the hell have they been????
How do i get in on this class action suit??
Warning:
Telus mobility is spying on it's customer computers who
are buying music online from Telus, without being informed. if you
have a LG8100 and upgrade the phone software version, most probably
the Media player wouldn't work and it is because of Telus system not
the LG. I was faced with this two problems. It seems Telus making a history in Canada by it's scandal of seeling Porno on it's cellphones and going to be a little Microsoft. Although Internet explorer and Explorer in Windows operating system are almost the same, but if you like to experience the same result, just buy a single song and after that just get rid of IE completely then you will see the problem.
Warning:
Telus mobility is spying on it's customer computers who are
buying music online from Telus, without being informed. if you have a
LG8100 and upgrade the phone software version, most probably the Media player wouldn't work and it is because of Telus system notthe LG. I was faced with this two problems. It seems Telus making a history in Canada by it's scandal of selling Porno on it's cellphones and going to be a little Microsoft. Although Internet explorer and Explorer in Windows operating system are almost the same, but if you like to experience the same result, just buy a single song and after that just get rid of IE completely then you will see the problem.
WTF are they accessing and whats up with the 911 charge do you collect from the person you had to use it for there all crooks you should only pay a 911 fee if you use the service. Canada needs new service providers these ones have burned their bridges. its time for Canadians to move on
It's not just Telus' mobile phone service that is plagued by sleazy business practices and inefficiency. In our experience these traits also exist with their land line and internet service.
We ditched their mobile phone "service" a few years back after the three-year contract expired, then donated the phone itself to a women's shelter. A few months later Telus wanted us to pay for the service, which they supposedly were still providing for that phone!
Their so-called high-speed internet service was in our experience woefully slower than cable, and intermittent at best. How would you like to type out a 20-minute message and then hit "send," only to discover that your modem is no longer receiving a signal?
Three modem swaps didn't help, and we later discovered that our neighbours had the same problem. This proved that the frequent disconnects were a Telus service issue rather than a problem with our equipment.
But the worst part was when we wanted to terminate Telus as our ISP: Somehow they had switched us to what they referred to as "Advanced" ADSL, a system that carried a two (or was it three?)-year contract. Break the contract and they slap you with a $120 "dis-connection fee."
Since we had learned our lesson about Telus contracts from our cell phone days we certainly wouldn't have agreed to another one had it been solicited. We were apparently put on this new contract during one of the modem swaps by Telus staff, but nobody in that department could agree on when this took place. One told us March, another June and yet another in August. Since this new feature was in small print on page 2, and since there was no extra charge vs. our previous (contract-free) service, and since we certainly didn't detect any improvement over the old ADSL the new one went un-noticed on our bill--- until we decided to fire Telus as our ISP.
Protesting to their service reps via land line was no help, since Telus big wigs don't give them the authority to over-rule such muck-ups on their part, and those same cowards don't allow their srvice reps to transfer complaints to them directly.
What their staff did do was to try to win us back by switching our basic land-line service to one that allowed up to 200 minutes of free long distance--- for a couple dollars less than the previous plan. Funny how it took the threat of losing us as a customer to get them to make us aware of this option.
Oh, and they also slap their long-distance users with a "long-distance administration fee", a move that sinks them to the same level as used-car dealers on the sleaze and greed scale.
So we FIRED THEM as our home phone service provider as well. Goodbye, Telus. Hello, Vonage.
I believe in karma. I trust it, and when necessary I arrange it. I've already arranged it where Telus is concerned, and have done so in methods not mentioned in this post and in a manner that renders their net gain from their sleaze somewhere in the negative, ie: they've lost more than they sought to steal from me, and I've managed to recoup my loss at their expense. I recommend you and anyone else who has been f@%&ed over by Telus to employ similar strategies. Over and out.
Get updates and sign up for the class-action here.
http://www.merchantlaw.com/cellular.html