Canada's third largest telco, TELUS, has agreed to reimburse customers up to $7.34
million to settle allegations that it made, or permitted to be
made, false or misleading representations in advertisements for
premium text messages in pop‑up ads, apps and on social
media.
In a consent agreement, Telus agreed to offer
rebates of up to wireless customers who received mysterious charges
for "premium text messages", such asringtones and
horoscopes, between January 1, 2011 and August 16, 2013.
The Bureau concluded that TELUS permitted a third party content
provider, and an aggregator of
premium text messaging and rich content services, to bill its
customers for premium text messages and rich content services that
the customers did not intend to purchase or for which they did not
agree to pay. The Bureau took the position that TELUS thereby made,
or permitted to be made, materially false or misleading
representations to the public, both online and through
