The CRTC has ordered all phone companies in Canada to publish a consumers bill of rights, in part due to complaints from people whose phone service has been cut off.
'Disconnecting telephone service is obviously a serious event.'— Donna Shewfelt
On the list will be the right for customers who fall behind on their bills to pay off the debt over time, rather than in a lump sum — which an eastern P.E.I. woman says she wasn't allowed to do when her phone service was cut off three years ago.
Deborah Kelly owed Aliant $266 when the company cut her phone line.
"They said I have to pay in full, and I said, 'I have to pay the whole payment in full, even though I paid $80 last week?' He said yes," Kelly told CBC News.
"They never offered me a deferred payment plan."
Kelly thought that was wrong, so she complained to the CRTC, which regulates telephone companies in Canada.
The CRTC agreed with her. It ruled Aliant's disconnection of Kelly's service was improper because Aliant didn't offer her a deferred payment plan.
Kelly's phone was restored, and the phone company had to refund her reconnection fee.
In part, because of complaints like Kelly's and others, the CRTC issued its order for the publication of a bill of rights, which includes Canadians' right to phone service and to stop telemarketing calls.
"Disconnecting telephone service is obviously a serious event," Donna Shewfelt of the CRTC told CBC News.
"It removes 911 and it can remove essential services that the customers come to rely upon, so there's lots of provisions, lots of protections put in place for the consumer."
The order will put the bill of rights in the front of telephone books this year.
