Canada’s monopolistic , self serving, greedy , immoral telecommunications firms

Bell Canada Slapped With  $1M Fine For Faking App Reviews. Canada’s Competition Bureau is imposing an a  $1.25 million fine on crooked  Bell Canada for posting online reviews of its products and services. The posts were   made by the company’s own employees who did not disclose their relation with the company. Bell employees encouraged by the company to post good reviews and give five star ratings to the MyBell Mobile and Virgin My Account apps. 

The alleged fake posts were found out by Scott Stratten who already knew how the apps performed poorly in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Then suddenly, he noticed how the apps started to increase its rankings which made him curious. He decided to do some research at LinkedIn and learned that most of the reviews came from various staff members of Bell such as the company’s IT Executives, Marketing Managers and Project Managers.   These reviews and ratings created the “materially false or misleading” general impression that they were made by independent and impartial consumers and temporarily affected the overall star rating for the apps.   This  misleading advertising under Canadian competition law is prohibited  as it creates the false impression that independent consumers have had positive experiences with that product or service . The Competition Bureau said certain Bell employees in November 2014 posted positive reviews and ratings of the new version of the free MyBell Mobile app and Virgin My Account app on the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Store, without disclosing that they work for Bell. The Commissioner of Competition announced that it had entered into a Consent Agreement with Bell Canada in connection with certain Bell employees posting misleading reviews and ratings of the company’s mobile applications. Under the terms of the Consent Agreement, Bell must not “direct, encourage or incentivize  its employees or contractors to “rate, rank or review apps in app stores.” Additionally, the Consent Agreement requires Bell to enhance and maintain its compliance program and pay a $1.25 million administrative monetary penalty. Many companies plant reviews to bolster products and perhaps now they will think twice knowing the Competition Bureau could take serious action.”It’s sending a message to everybody, saying ethics are important and we will be watching over it.”. Bell says positive employee-planted reviews will stop, but critics unsure

http://www.ct-tc.gc.ca/CasesAffaires/CasesDetails-eng.asp?CaseID=385

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Canadians can access broadband using either wire line or wireless facilities but in order to meet the high demands of cell phones, Canada’s major telecommunications firms and their subs they are  failing to deliver the capacities  as originally promised, Canada’s major telecommunications firms and their subs they are  not keeping their contractual obligations, are falsely  cutting back on internet capacity and speeds,  so all of this is still a major issue with Canada’s major telecommunications firms and their subs..  while  they advertise a certain speed but likely you next still only get half of it as they cap their downloads and speeds..   https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2014/06/23/can-bell-do-its-job-and-provide-me-now-their-proper-services/

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Five Canadian consumer and public interest groups say that Bell and Astral’s new proposed merger is not in the public interest and should be denied. Five Canadian consumer and public interest groups say that Bell and Astral’s new proposed merger is not in the public interest and should be denied. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), who also acts as counsel for the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC), Council of Senior Citizens’ Organization of British Columbia (COSCO), National Pensioners and Senior Citizens Federation (NPSCF) and Option consommateurs (OC) filed comments with the CRTC on Friday opposing the proposed acquisition of Astral Media Inc. by Bell Canada, a division of BCE Inc.  “Increased media concentration into the hands of few large vertically integrated telecommunications and media companies will not result in more competition in the market,” said John Lawford, PIAC executive director and general counsel, in a statement. “The loss of Astral in the marketplace does not deliver more competition for consumers. Any increases to Bell’s size will further threaten the ability of independent broadcasters and broadcasting distributors to effectively compete against the highly concentrated, tight oligopoly of large media companies that own both broadcasting and distribution services.”  The groups stated the deal would be bad for consumers and outlined several concerns, including:  http://www.cartt.ca/news/15358/Radio-Television/PIAC-other-consumer-groups-speak-out-against-Bell-Astral-II.html
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The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), who also acts as counsel for the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC), Council of Senior Citizens’ Organization of British Columbia (COSCO), National Pensioners and Senior Citizens Federation (NPSCF) and Option consommateurs (OC) filed comments with the CRTC on Friday opposing the proposed acquisition of Astral Media Inc. by Bell Canada, a division of BCE Inc. The  consumer advocacy group is asking the CRTC to turn down the Bell-Astral merger for a second time, saying a bigger Bell won’t be better for competition or choice.    The advocacy group says the market already isn’t meeting consumers’ expectations for choice, flexibility and affordability, and approving the deal doesn’t promise to make the situation any better. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/05/07/business-bell-astral-piac.html

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Cogeco also still opposes revised Bell-Astral deal, saying it’s not good for consumers. “Canadian consumers of television entertainment can only expect rising costs for their viewing options on fixed and mobile platforms, more forced packaging of BCE services and less choice in the selection of services they actually wish to use,” the company said in a news release.

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In Canada these days there is a big public outcry about legal tax avoidance by big firms.  It also now seems obvious in retrospect that self regulation also does not work. Effective supervisions, vigilance , controls are  always needed.. I also do still  think it’s time to break up the telecom monopoly in Canada as these mostly  still robber barrons cant be trusted with freedom on the internet or with our phones…

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Firms  that hire expensive lobbyists and seem to hand out extravagant gifts including golf outings, trips, and even opera tickets to legislators willing to vote their way. These firms   with their false one sided contracts do  still for  freedom from regulation, oversight and pursue  the right to abandon their full responsibility to their customers, even with their immoral price hijacks  rates for any false excuses now too. I have already rightfully, often written Posts about our too often bad telecommunications firms, Internet firms  and Bell, Rogers and Telus are still not about to give up their greedy, immoral ways .  These rather too often price gougers too still do seem falsely to like to find any excuse to stick more charges to the customers even 

https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/tag/telecommunications-firms/

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One sided contracts are illegal  as any contract is illegal when it is either contrary to a statute or is contrary to public policy.   and all illegal contracts are not enforceable. Thus if you enter into an agreement with another person and you know or have reason to suspect the bargain has some taint of illegality or immorality merely don’t take the risk and exposit it to all.

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And https://postedat.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/the-10-commandments-are-still-applicable-today-for-all-corporations-and-business-persons-included/

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These big firms that offer these now essential services too  they are too often useless, pretentious, immoral even, and the words “customer care” here clearly are misleading, false, they rather are paid company employees who look after the customer’s sole interest who quote the firms own policies, rights, demands.. These same mostly self serving firms and department, persons tend to disrespect even the federal and provincial laws, the consumer protection laws included as ai have found out myself many times now too. They all tend to firstly really not care about any of the customer’s personal abuses, hardships, losses, pains, concerns for almost all of these corporations solely care only about the firm’s own profitability, and their sole, bottom line for them is making more of the almighty buck not matter what the costs, even to the customers.  Still sadly almost all OF Canada’s telecommunications firms have a grossly one sided contract terms, definitions that mainly dictates out the rights of the firms only and not the customers rights, and this is grossly both illegal and immoral. Public exposure and prosecution of the liars, bullies, abusers, guilty firms serves everyone’s best interest. https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/bell-canada-to-pay-a-penalty-of-10-million-for-making-misleading-advertising-claims/

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According to Canada’s Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services 2011-2012 report, wireless services topped the complaints list. In the rising flood, Telus was the only company among Canada’s big three that had a drop in complaints — 13 per cent. Bell chalked up a hike of 17 per cent and Rogers Communications complaints rose by a whopping 112 per cent. Among cable service providers, Shaw saw complaints climb 335 per cent.”  https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/tag/bell-aliant/

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Those sly subversive foxes at the CRTC TEND STILL TO  SOLELY FOR THEIR OWN INTEREST and all very very far from the pretense that is to the consumer benefit. To promote competition and to prevent market abuse by the largest players there needs to be a mix of effective oversight, and regulation   to allow real competition in the marketplace to take hold with real price decreases now too

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It is clear the rich do continually get richer by satisfying their immoral  greed by drastically creaming off profits, and not fulfilling their promised responsibility by investment in adequate Customers  services. It seems obvious in all retrospect that self regulation does not work where the main  motive is  monetary  profit.  Also these Profits do leave the country, that’s the problem! They tend rather to go off to tax havens and we don’t see their further benefits. The  past privatisation of any of our basic essential service  needs, such as telecommunication and also Medicare,  in order to provide  profits for a few was and is always  foolish, destructive approach.  We must not tolerate any further citizen suffering caused by selfish profits, and it is time to bring back all of the basic  utilities and essential services back into democratic control, and to renationalise them.  it’s time all of the essential services, water, energy, rail, airlines  and communications were all taken back into public ownership without any recompense to those who hold the shares. They have already taken more than enough in profits and dividends.

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Rogers, one of the largest telecom companies in the country, has found a way to block our access to affordable mobile services. We’re now looking at a future where just three mobile telecom giants could control a monopoly of the Internet and phones services, holding back progress and innovation. This is totally unacceptable.

https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/tag/rogers/

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So Now still who really protects the ordinary Canadian citizens from the too often bad, immoral  firms in reality, now  holding the much too many crooked   firms to accountability and next falsely  if there is any justice  it takes years to do so.. and for decades  or  not much good  tends to happen next anyway..  as “We Have a Coin-Operated Government”  Now you would think that our public and civil servants, politicians would by now know how to deal with all of these crooks without me having to tell them and all about it still.

 

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