Telus: the present is NOT friendly!

So I'm looking at The Canopy's phone bill today and seeing that we have $6.95 in long distance charges. This strikes me as strange because I know that I didn't make any long distance calls this month, so I go looking for more details. I soon find that there is a line called "Long Distance Administration Fee" for $6.95.

Now I have never noticed this before, probably because usually there are a few long distance calls on our bill.

In hope of gaining more information, I decide to call the Telus billing inquires number. After a few minutes of being irritated by the soft sultry tones of a computer generated female voice asking me a series of questions I arrive on the Telus help desk waiting line. Prepared for a long wait, I put the phone on speaker, where I am tortured by bad country music.

I begin thinking that eventually I am going to be talking to somebody who is physically located in India or Sri Lanka, and soon enough somebody comes on the line. It's a woman, but she definitely doesn't have the same sultry tones of the computer generated version!

I am informed that the 'Long Distance Administration Fee' is a charge for being able to make long distance calls! By this point the irony of the situation is sinking in: Most likely I've been on the phone for over 20 minutes, talking toll-free on Telus' dime, to a woman in India, who is informing me that Telus is charging $6.95 each month for the ability to make a long distance call, even when I DON'T make a long distance call!!

Is this what Telus imagines as a future that is friendly?

I suppose I should be thankful that I wasn't charged for calling India for 20 minutes!
(then again, maybe I was...)