Small win for Canadian telecom consumers: Bell forced to pay $10M for misleading advertising

For over 4 years, Bell advertising has been misleading Canadian consumers, charging more than what was advertised for many of its services across the country.

For over 4 years, Bell advertising has been misleading Canadian consumers, charging more than what was advertised for many of its services across the country.

After a series of complaints and an in-depth investigation, the federal competition bureau found that Bell, one of Canada’s largest telecom companies, was showcasing prices that were unattainable for consumers after additional mandatory charges were included. The company was promoting services like home phone, TV and Internet bundles at 15% less than the actual total costs which included fine print charges. Although Bell “fundamentally disagrees” with the Bureau’s decision, the company has agreed to pay the penalty fee and has said it would stop its misleading advertising campaign within 60 days.

While this case sets an example for many telecom companies, $10 M (the maximum possible penalty) seems a small sum to pay compared to what Bell may have actually earned by misleading consumers since 2007. Canadians must be wary of the immense influence of telecom companies like Bell and Rogers that have masterfully developed advertising campaigns to attract more customers, at times through questionable practices.

Also, if Bell was so eager to obtain more customers, why not invest money on infrastructure and network building rather than investing in misleading advertising? It makes much more economic sense to attract consumers by providing them with improved and more reliable services, rather than deceive consumers into contracting over-priced services.