Bell closed the premium-text sweep with the Bureau's biggest refund yet — $11.82M

The Bureau's investigation into unwanted premium text messaging charges — trivia, horoscopes, ringtones billed to wireless customers through third-party ads — ended with Bell, the last of the big three to settle. Bell had made, or permitted to be made, false or misleading representations in ads for the services appearing in pop-ups, apps and social media, with charges landing on phone bills without adequate disclosure of what the customer was agreeing to.

The consent agreement of 27 May 2016 required rebates to current and former customers of up to $11.82 million — the most the Bureau had ever obtained for consumers under a single agreement — plus a donation of approximately $800,000 to public interest advocacy groups working on digital research and consumer awareness.

The sweep's arc told its own story: Rogers settled first for $5.42 million, Telus next for $7.34 million, and Bell last for the largest amount. Each carrier's defence was that third parties wrote the ads; the Bureau's answer, three times, was that the carrier owning the bill owns the representations made against it.