As encouraged by a CRTC officer, I am filing a complaint on the telephone set that I recently purchased at Zellers in Hull (Québec). It has a Communications Canada sticker (1813-4771-A), but the * (asterisk) and # (octothorp) buttons do not generate tones required by such telecommunications features as Bell Canada's pay-per-use *66 (Busy Call Return) and *69 (Last Call Return), both of which are available to all Bell Canada customers in Ottawa-Hull. The # (octothorp) tone is required in Northern Telecom's Meridian Voice Mail system as well as Bank of Nova Scotia's TeleScotia service. As explained in the instruction manual attached to this letter, the # (octothorp) button of this telephone set does a Recall function. Thus, it is not a manufacturing defect but a design intent. I do not feel that this kind of telephone set should be sold in Canada, and I would appreciate if further action can be taken by the CRTC through regulations to put it off the market.
I have discovered another disturbing fact. The *67 (Call Blocking) feature is available to any Bell Canada customers free of charge by the CRTC directive, but it is not explained in the 1994/1995 Bell Canada white-pages telephone directory while other features are fully described. Could the CRTC force Bell Canada to make it public and put it in the telephone directory?
