Who knew the CRTC was into undercover operations? Yet that’s exactly what the Commission revealed on Tuesday with the result of its “Secret Shopper” test. They asked people of each gender, and some with specific needs, like those who are blind, deaf or disabled, to go into one of the major Canadian telecommunications providers to see if they felt well treated - or just cheated.
 
For the most part, the test companies – the usual suspects of Bell, Rogers, Telus, Freedom Mobile and two others – actually came out with some OK ratings.
 
But while the sample sizes were a tad on the small side, the test found there were a lot of problems as well.
 
Here are some quick highlights from the CRTC study.
 
 I Can’t Get No Satisfaction
-Among the Service Providers, Bell had the highest satisfaction score… with 80%, while Rogers had the lowest score with 68% satisfaction rate.
 
 I CAN Get Some Dissatisaction
-Among the Service Providers, Bell had the highest rate of dissatisfaction of 17% on whether shoppers felt they were given sufficient time during the sales interaction, followed by 14% for Rogers, 13% for Sasktel, 10% for Freedom, 9% for Telus, and 6% for Videotron.
 
-Similarly, in terms of the shoppers feeling pressured to sign up or consider a service or product, Bell had the highest rate of dissatisfaction at 17%, followed by Videotron with 13%, Rogers with 12%, Telus with 7%, Freedom with 5%, and Sasktel with 0%.
 
High Pressure Tactics
 (This is where things really get interesting to me. Remember the case of the company (I think it was Bell) selling an 80-something senior Internet access when she didn’t even have a computer or a cell phone? The following speaks volumes about the way some of these guys operate.)
 
-In addition to the product or service they originally inquired about, 18% of shoppers indicated that they declined additional products or services which were offered by the salesperson. Among those who declined an additional product or service recommendation, 31% of shoppers found the salesperson to be persistent in overcoming their objection. This amounts to approximately 6% of shoppers who have both declined offers on unnecessary products or services and perceived persistence in overcoming their objections by the salesperson.
 
-In total, 33% of shoppers asked questions or expressed concerns about the recommended product or service during their sales interactions. The concerns included things such as overage fees, the offering of services that are not needed, and the product or service including allowances either much greater or lower than the actual stated need. It is concerning that among those who expressed concerns, 34% of shoppers indicated that the salesperson did not offer any helpful tips to address their concerns, and 20% of the salespeople attempted to downplay concerns expressed by the shoppers. (Bold added)           
 
-Among the ten shoppers who made a purchase, five attempted to cancel their purchase within the trial period, and two out of these five shoppers indicated that the staff made it difficult for them to cancel their service.
 
-More than one quarter of shoppers felt that the recommended product or service was not appropriate for their needs (26%), one in ten shoppers felt they faced aggressive sales practices (11%), and about 6% of shoppers not only were offered products they felt were unnecessary, but persistence by the salesperson to overcome their objection.

-The overall satisfaction rates across key metrics (i.e. appropriate products or services recommendation, misleading sales practices, pressuring consumers to sign up, offering unwanted services, etc.) were approximately 80%. This means that 1 in 5 potential consumers perceived that they may have faced misleading or aggressive sales practices, which is still a significant number.

Hands up those who are surprised. Hmm, I wonder if you'll be hearing this story on any of the Bell or Rogers owned stations. 
 
You can read the full results here or see a summary here.