MONTREAL — Quebecor and Bell are going to see each other in court again, this time over Bell's practice of door-to-door sales, which Quebecor alleges is unfair competition and against the law.
Quebecor subsidiary Videotron Ltd. filed a request with Quebec Superior Court on Sept. 21 for an injunction against Bell Canada, requiring Bell to change its practices and pay $78.5 million "to compensate Videotron for losses suffered and to be suffered as an immediate and direct result of the civil fault committed by (Bell)."
The issue, Videotron alleges, is that Bell's sales representatives (either employees or subcontractors) pitch Bell's services to potential consumers, but rather than sign a contract with them on the spot, instruct them to call Bell and accept a contract over the phone.
This is done to get around an article of Quebec's consumer protection law that requires customers be given a copy of any contract immediately unless it's negotiated remotely.
Videotron also alleges that Bell conducts door-to-door sales without a licence.
Quebec's Consumer Protection Act requires that "itinerant merchants" — anyone who "personally or through a representative, elsewhere than at his address, solicits a particular consumer for the purpose of making a contract; or makes a contract with a consumer" has a licence to do so.
Videotron says it has a licence, and requires its salespeople travel with portable printers to print out contracts when they're concluded with new customers, which it says requires efforts that Bell is illegally avoiding.
Bell Canada has not commented publicly on the lawsuit despite several media requests, citing the fact that the case is before the courts.
This is far from the first court case between the two companies, which are in fierce competition for telecom services in Quebec, particularly in Montreal, Quebec City and Gatineau. It's also worth noting that the CRTC will open a public hearing October 22nd on the sales practices of Canadian telecom companies.
In 2005, Videotron and Groupe TVA filed a lawsuit against Bell, requesting more than $300 million, arguing that its ExpressVu satellite service did not do enough to combat piracy. An initial judgement awarded the Quebecor companies $1 million, but that was revised upwards to $83 million on appeal.
