Customers complain of long wait times, multiple calls to resolve issues with Rogers, Telus and Bell

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The proposal seemed simple. In early January 2026, a Bell Chat agent promised Vicki Sloot that if she upgraded to a new Bell Fibe TV box, she could keep all of her exclusive programming sports channels like TSN and Sportsnet. Plus, he’ll have to pay $5 less per month.

The next day, his new equipment arrived – but it did not have the specific channels. She went back to Bell, who told her they only had the “Basic Starter Plan” and that she would have to pay an extra $25 per month to get back.

So began an eight-week journey through Bell’s customer service department, which included hours spent chatting live and on the phone with various agents, and ultimately an elevation to Bell’s resolution team.

“It’s impossible to get a single correct answer that’s the same for every support agent,” said Sloot, who lives in Toronto.

Sloot is one of more than a dozen customers with Market Those who spoke say they are frustrated by the poor customer service they have received from Canada’s three big telecom companies: Rogers, Bell and Telus. Complaints include long wait times, multiple transfers and escalations, dropped calls and overall poor communication, which can take days or weeks to resolve seemingly simple issues.

Employees of the two largest telecommunications companies, Rogers and Telus, reported Market Frontline customer service representatives have less incentive to issue credits or help reduce bills, and said they are measured on their abilities to raise customers’ bills.

This comes as complaints against telcos reached an all-time high last year, with more than 23,000 complaints lodged with the Complaints Commission for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS), the majority of which related to billing issues such as incorrect monthly charges and missing credits. Meanwhile, in Spain, a new law is being considered to cap how long customers have to wait when addressing similar issues — and some say Canada should take note.

“It is becoming increasingly difficult for customers to resolve issues,” said Mohammed Halabi, founder and director of MyBillsAreHigh.com, who has been negotiating with major Canadian telcos on behalf of their customers for 20 years.

“they are tired.”

‘The system is designed to frustrate as many people as possible’

Sloot was one of many telecom customers Market One day in late January he was documented trying to find a solution to his telecommunications problems. By then, a resolution manager had been assigned to her case, and live chat and the usual customer service agents told her they were unable to help. He spoke briefly to the manager, who promised to look into his problem and get back to him.

“I’m locked into this one agent, I can’t do anything else,” Sloot said.

Slut waited three hours for a call back which never came. Amas Tenumah is an Oklahoma City-based writer and customer service expert who consults companies on their customer service practices.

He said of Sloot, “Make no mistake: There’s no on hold music, but (she’s) on hold there too.”

Tenuma believes that Bell is following a pattern he has seen many times before. “This system is designed to frustrate as many people as possible,” he said. “Part of the design is that people will give up so that (companies) don’t have to bear that expense.”

Sloot’s issue remained unresolved, and he eventually gave up and paid more to get the exclusive channels back. after Market Upon contacting Bell about Slutt’s case, the company gave her a $90 credit and a further $30 discount on her monthly bills.

In a statement, Bell acknowledged that they had to take more steps than necessary to correct the problem.

“We strive to make it easy for our customers to do business with Bell, and in this instance, we failed to live up to our customer commitments,” said Ellen Murphy, communications director.

However, he added, “The claim that we have deliberately designed our customer operations to avoid resolving issues is simply not true.”

Representatives encouraged customers to increase bills: Insider

It’s not just consumers who are frustrated – some telecom workers are frustrated too. Market We have spoken confidentially with several current employees of Telus and Rogers, whose identities we are withholding out of fear of professional repercussions.

Market Spoke to a Rogers worker who takes escalation calls and supports frontline agents. He said the ability of those employees to help customers, including issuing credit, is “continuing to be diminished.”

He said he’s noticed more agents calling him with basic questions, for example, how the autopay credit or financing incentive programs work.

“They don’t have a lot of experience or knowledge of what to do in those situations.”

A longtime customer service representative for Telus said similarly.

“When I first started, we listened to the customers, we appreciated them. I never had any hesitation in lowering anyone’s bill.”

Now, she says she keeps an eye on the number of credits issued. She says a certain level of credit must be approved by a manager, and if she underbills a customer her scorecard is negatively affected.

Another Telus employee, a technician, said he has high sales goals to meet and is expected to sell more to customers when he comes to customers’ homes to install or fix equipment.

“Agents are also victims of this process,” said Tenuma, who runs call centers around the world. “There is a long list of metrics that provide exactly what you want.”

When asked for comment, Telus initially did not respond to the claims made by employees prior to publication.

It later sent a statement from senior communications manager Brandi Merker, saying, “Our team members have established guidelines, coaching, and procedures to ensure we provide a consistent and effective experience for our customers.”

A Rogers spokesperson said it has an intensive training program for new customer service agents, including six weeks of training and two weeks of monitoring and on-call coaching. “We are working hard to ensure we provide our customers with a great experience at every touchpoint and continue to invest in training, tools and technology to continually improve,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Spanish law limits waiting time to three minutes or face a fine

In late December 2025, Spain passed a law introducing mandatory customer service standards for telecoms and other large companies with more than 250 employees. It stipulates that customer calls must be answered within three minutes, 95 percent of the time.

“It would be a revolution, it’s a small thing, but it would change the everyday lives of millions of consumers,” said Pablo Bastinduy, Spain’s consumer affairs minister.

Under the new law, which comes into effect within the next year, customer complaints must be resolved within 15 days, or within five days if it involves an “unreasonable charge”. Companies that do not comply can be fined up to 100,000 euros.

The lack of competition may leave customers feeling helpless, Minister Bastinduy said: “Everyone else does the same, so there’s no point in looking for alternatives.”

He says that if companies do not change their functioning then they will have to pay the price.

“We want to make that relationship a little more balanced and make sure that the rights we have as consumers are respected and enforced.”

Opportunity for telecom to perform better

Here in Canada, there is no set standard of customer service for telecommunications. The CCTS investigates complaints, but the quality of customer service – including long wait times and dropped calls – does not come under its mandate, despite hearing about it from consumers.

“It’s clear that customers are frustrated,” said CCTS Commissioner and CEO Josie Bidal Thibault. “There’s an opportunity to do better.”

The Canadian Telecommunications Association said most customers have had positive experiences. The industry group represents several Canadian telecoms, including Bell and Rogers. ““Telecom providers work fairly and directly with customers to resolve concerns and continue to invest in improving service for Canadians,” said spokesman Nick Kyona.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regulates the mandate of CCTS.

A CRTC spokesperson said they are monitoring Spain’s recent customer service legislation “to see how they can inform the CRTC’s future regulatory activities.”

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, who oversees telecommunications policies, did not respond to a question about whether her department would consider setting a similar customer service standard as Spain.

Recent amendments to the Telecommunications Act make it easier for Canadians to switch, renew or cancel their telecommunications plans, his office said in a statement.

“When consumers have problems with their carrier, there is an option to switch providers, which helps create a competitive landscape.”

Although the CCTS can’t do anything to reduce those wait times, Bidal Thibault encourages Canadians to go to the ombudsman regardless.

“Customer service issues generally don’t happen in a vacuum. Customers call their providers when they have a problem,” he said.

“It’s likely that these types of problems will be within our jurisdiction to help.”