Convergia Networks signed 95-year-old Alice MacDonald up for a long distance phone plan she did not need or understand, her family contends. (CBC)

The family of an elderly woman says a long-distance phone company took advantage of her confusion by signing her up for an expensive service she did not need, and then refusing to cancel the bill.

Alice MacDonald, 95, says she was confused when a long-distance company called her home.

"All I remember is they started with 'This is the phone company,'" MacDonald told CBC News on Wednesday.

She thought it was her regular phone company, Telus.

But it was a telemarketer from Convergia Networks, a long-distance provider, looking to sign up new customers on its plans.

MacDonald already used a discount long-distance service that averaged less than a dollar a month, and was billed directly to the credit card of her daughter, who holds power of attorney over her accounts

But despite that fact, within minutes of picking up the call, the vulnerable senior, who lives in an assisted living unit, was signed up for a plan that cost about $29 a month.

"I know I'm not capable of any complicated arrangements … because I find myself doing silly things sometimes," she later told CBC News.

Children fight company

MacDonald's children soon realized what had happened, but before they could stop it, Convergia had racked up $140 in charges on the senior's bill.

Scott Wallace said Convergia staff were rude and obnoxious when he called to have the contract cancelled. (CBC)

Her grandson, Scott Wallace, head of investigations for the Insurance Council of B.C., tried for three months to cancel the contract, but said staff at Convergia refused to listen to his concerns.

"The people I dealt with there were rude and obnoxious, and the responses I received were farcical," he told CBC News.

After a long series of emails, he became increasingly frustrated, and that's when he called the CBC.

Confused senior prompted by telemarketer

In response to the complaints, Convergia provided a voice recording of MacDonald's conversation with the Convergia telemarketer to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which regulates the industry.

The family later gave a copy of the recording to the CBC. MacDonald can be heard dealing with the telemarketer and the company's automated verification process.

"Say your full name and surname. Then press the pound button," the company machine says on the recording.

'They had to tell her to answer and what to say,' —Alice Macdonald's grandson, Scott Wallace

But MacDonald did nothing, because she did not know what the pound button was, she said.

That's when the telemarketer came back on the line.

"Please say your name," the telemarketer prompts the 95-year-old.

"Alice MacDonald," MacDonald can be heard responding. And with that simple response, she was signed up for the long-distance plan.

Her grandson says that while it may not be illegal, it was certainly not ethical.

"She had to be coached through this process. They had to guide her. They had to tell her to answer and what to say," said Wallace.

'Phone slamming' a problem: watchdog

B.C.'s Better Business Bureau (BBB) says MacDonald's case is another instance of the increasingly common practice of "phone slamming," and there have been complaints about Convergia before.

The Better Business Bureau Simone Lis says phone slamming is an increasingly common scam. (CBC)

The practice involves switching a telephone customer's long-distance company without properly obtaining permission from the customer, according to the BBB.

The company said in a letter to CBC News that it has 17 complaints on record with the BBB over the past three years, but noted that, in comparison, other long-distance competitors have hundreds of complaints.

According to Simone Lis, vice-president of operations at the BBB of the Lower Mainland, seniors and those who take care of them should be careful when they pick up the phone.

"You teach them that it's OK to pick up the phone, and if they don't know who it is to hang up, or to say no, or to get themselves removed off any sort of market list," said Lis.

Company blames staff

After Convergia was contacted by the CBC, the company later said the issue was a misunderstanding at its end, and the problem would have been resolved if it had been referred to upper management.

But the email records that Wallace kept showed Convergia's North American director for customer care handled the complaint personally and turned down his request to cancel the bill.

The company also said Alice MacDonald's account had been cancelled and her bill wiped out.

But MacDonald's family told the CBC on Wednesday that it was not aware of any changes in the situation.

The federal regulatory body, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, advises people whose plans have been changed without their proper permission to report the unauthorized transfer to their original long-distance service provider immediately and ask to be switched back.

Other steps the CRTC suggests:

• File a complaint with the company that slammed you.
• Pay only the rate you would have paid through your original phone company.
• If you're not satisfied with the way your complaint is handled, contact the CRTC at its toll-free number, 1-877-249-2782, or by email.