On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission will be voting to ensure they won’t have to read your complaints anymore — and Democratic House members are not happy about it.
Two high-ranking Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter addressed to the Commission’s chairman Ajit Pai earlier today to voice their disapproval of a proposed rule that, if approved, would send informal consumer complaints directly through to the company in question. “At a time when consumers are highly dissatisfied with their communications companies, this abrupt change in policy troubles us,” the congressmen wrote.
If the consumer isn’t happy with the outcome of the informal complaint, their only other option would be filing a formal complaint and paying the $225 to do so. The fee for a formal complaint isn’t new, but under these rules, it’s the only option to get your opinion to the FCC’s staff. The Commission’s docket called this move an attempt at streamlining and consolidating “the procedural rules governing formal complaints.” But the procedure has the potential to shut out the voices of consumers when it comes to telecommunications-involved issues.
Last December’s notice of proposed rule-making regarding rolling back the 2015 Open Internet Order received over 20 million comments from advocacy groups and consumers. Under existing rules, all of those comments were required to pass through the agency’s staff, and commissioners were required to take comments into consideration prior to voting on a rule. Under the new rules, those comments wouldn’t pass through the commission at all.
“We have all heard countless stories of consumers complaining to the FCC about waiting months to have an erroneous charge removed from their bill or for a refund for a service they never ordered or about accessibility services that are not working,” the congressman wrote. ”Oftentimes these issues are corrected for consumers as a result of the FCC’s advocacy on their behalf.” Without the FCC addressing those issues, consumers would be left to wrangle with massive telecommunication corporations on their own, or pay a hefty fee to the FCC.
The vote will be held on Thursday during the commission’s Open Meeting, along with a slew of other measures.
arrogantsob on July 10th, 2018 at 22:40 UTC »
Oh god. AT&T made an offer which we agreed to by telephone, then didn't enter the right information in so we were either getting subpar service or charged an extra $40/month, and we spent five freaking months and at least a dozen calls trying to get it sorted out, speaking to supervisors, the cancellation department, the works.
One letter to the FCC and it was completely solved. FCC didn't even have to get involved. AT&T just had a deadline in which to respond, and they spent the time fixing the problem so they could submit a letter saying it was done. No one at the FCC had to lift a finger but it was the only thing that worked.
It will be really terrible to lose that kind of leverage.
Draiko on July 10th, 2018 at 21:40 UTC »
We already pay them to read our comments via taxes.
Political microtransactions do not need to be a thing.
TechyDad on July 10th, 2018 at 21:13 UTC »
So basically a company could put a <$225 fee on your account, refuse to refund it, and your only options would be to pay the fee or pay more to the FCC to challenge it.
No, this won't be abused at all!