Granted, this was a U.S. investigation, but you have to wonder how much of this kind of stuff goes on here, especially with the unscrupulous types at Bell & Rogers. Remember "negative option billing?" How about that Bell memo to workers that told them not to talk about skinny basic unless a customer forced them to?

Well, it's not just here. While they have better rates and choice in the U.S., there's a lot of funny business going on down south, too. Check out this memo from cable giant Time Warner that turned up during a senate investigation into the practices of the companies down there.

"...do the opposite of what the customer is calling for. If the customer is calling in to cancel, your goal is to not cancel the services! And if the customer wants to lower the bill, you’re going to try to avoid that, and perhaps even raise the bill!’” The report concluded that “all of the companies in this review trained their retention agents to follow a similar process.”

"Companies also push agents to up-sell in many types of interactions with customers, the report said. “Regardless of the reason that customers may have called, Comcast told its employees to ‘uncover “hidden” needs’ of their subscribers for additional services,” the report said. 

Nice to know we're not alone when it comes to the ongoing unethical practices of these malodorous trolls.

Senate Reports Fault Cable, Satellite TV Providers for Questionable Billing Practices