A non-profit group has made a formal request to the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission – asking the broadcast regulator to begin a public inquiry – into the sales practices of Canada’s big telecom service providers.

The Ottawa-based Public Interest Advocacy Centre wants the CRTC  to investigate recent media reports about high-pressure sales tactics used by least one major company.

The Centre’s executive director John Lawford makes reference to a CBC investigation that suggested older adults are especially vulnerable to accepting services that they may not want – or to accepting free trials – that will become billed services unless they are cancelled.

Lawford says the inquiry would serve a similar role as an ongoing  probe into banking sales practices – which is  being conducted by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.