“Just Because You’re Older…”: Seniors Respond to Telecom Sales Practices in Canada

Abstract

In 2018, the Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Navdeep Bains, commissioned the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch an inquiry into the “aggressive and misleading” sales practices of telecommunication service providers. This inquiry ensued after a series of news stories on the topic revealed the prevalence of such practices in Canada. Journalists, industry whistleblowers and consumer advocacy groups identified ‘seniors’ as one of the groups most likely to be targeted. This paper draws from interviews and focus groups to analyze the responses of 53 Canadians over the age of 64 on the topic of misleading and aggressive sales practices by the providers of Internet, mobile, phone and television services. While the industry suggests that these misleading and aggressive sales practices are infrequent, and the result of the antics of a ‘few bad apples,’ we found that most (75%) of our participants mentioned being misled or intimidated by sales personnel, or pressured into contracts that did not meet their needs or that contained unexpected charges on their monthly bills. We trace the experiences of older adults with misleading and aggressive sales practices, and explain some of the methods devised to mitigate their impacts. The comments from respondents demonstrate the ways older adults are put at a systemic disadvantage in the Canadian telecommunication sales landscape and shed light on the barriers that they face as consumers and citizens living in a rapidly changing digital world.