Telco Opposition To Anti-Bill Shock Plans Doesn't Pass The Laugh Test
from the more-confusion? dept
It's been talked about for ages, but the FCC is finally preparing to take on mobile operator "bill shock," that happens when a user, unknowingly, goes way over their allotted time/data and is charged ridiculous overage fees, leading to the ever popular stories of multi-thousand dollar bills. The FCC plans to require mobile operators to at least alert users when they're nearing the limits on their plan. While I'm often skeptical of FCC actions, I'm having trouble seeing what's wrong with this, and the mobile operators protestations are so silly that it's difficult to take them seriously.Mobile operator trade association CTIA has warned that these sorts of warnings would "cause customer confusion and frustration." Huh? How? And it's already established that it's the crazy huge bills that are causing customer confusion and frustration (and, um, anger). Then there's Verizon Wireless, quoted as saying that "intense competition has led wireless carriers to provide consumers with usage information." Hmm. Information like the phantom charges that Verizon Wireless denied for nearly two years, until it finally 'fessed up and agreed to pay back to the tune of $50 million to $90 million. Honestly, I can't figure out what the pushback is over actually warning customers before they get insane overage charges?
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Filed Under: bill shock, bills, mobile phones, telcos
Companies: ctia, fcc, verizon wireless
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You're not thinking hard enough. Or too hard. The simple fact is that carriers make a ton of money on these charges. If they're forced to warn customers about these charges, they'll make less money. Seems simple enough.
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The money as the root of all evil thing has really taken hold in the US. Do you expect anything less from people whose only goal and motto in corporate life is "just a little more"?
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What is really needed is competition
With AT&T being the largest campaign contributor in the US, it is hard to imagine even this modest proposal going anywhere. True competition would be an even worse nightmare for the industry, so I fully expect to keep paying outrageous prices for tiered service.
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However, those of us who embrace technology, we're tired of being screwed.
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You have to mention it
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Re: You have to mention it
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I agree but...
On the other hand, what happened to adults being careful with what they are doing? Example: does a bank have to let you know when your checking account gets down to below... 100 or 500 or whatever pre-agreed amount or is it your responsibility to monitor your spending such that you stop writing checks/using the debit card when you are out of money? I have kids on my family plan and I can tell you that I monitor usage on my carrier's web site every few days or so to make sure I am not surprised when the bill comes!
If you give your 12 year old (surprising how many folks do this) a cell phone and don't monitor what they are doing with it (not only for charges but other good reasons), whose fault is the overage really?
I had to laugh at recent ads by a carrier with a family crying HELP! our daughter keeps texting and our bill is out of control! She won't stop! The solution is not to get a better plan, the solution is, if your kid is texting you into the poor house and "won't stop when you tell them to"... TAKE THEIR PHONE AWAY!!!
Geesh!!!
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Re: I agree but...
And saying, well, they should know better? Really? Banking has been around a long time. Mobile phones? What, realistically? 10-15 years? And probably the majority of the population, much less? How long have smart phones really, and I mean really, outside of the tech savvy communities have smart phones been out and about?
I'm tired of people like me who should know better spouting off that people who are not tech savvy should just know. A lot of these people don't even know the difference between WiFi and data. They don't even know that they don't that. And it isn't in their company's interest to tell them. It isn't in their company's interest to put documentation where someone can find it and written in understandable language to ensure that these people "know better".
And Heck Yeah to the rest of what you said about kids, parents and phones.
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Re: Re: I agree but...
I believe the people hit with these bills are those that are traveling a lot more.
Say I move to Japan for a few days and my iPhone is constantly connecting to the towers there. I don't want to think about the roaming charges that may accrue because I'm using my service outside of the US.
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However since European Mobile operators manage to track roaming in real time (EU law sets a cap on the Data charges when roaming unless you've made a prior arrangement with your provider, so they have to be able to stop use after £20 worth of data has been used) I wonder how American companies can claim to only exchange data usage info at anything less then a few minutes delay.
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Re: I agree but...
To the extent that they charge for things they don't tell customers that they are going to charge for I would say they border on fraud. and to the extent that they defraud us it's not really our fault. It's the governments job to prevent fraud. If I get into an agreement and all of a sudden the other person starts throwing stuff at me that I never agreed it's not my fault for refusing to comply and for insisting that the govt prevents this kind of behavior.
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Communication?
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Just Like The Banks
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Ideally
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the [telco] doth protest too much, methinks
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Farcical
Today, on the Glenn Beck show, Glenn had a long monologue on restoring honesty to the US. What is troubling, is that many erstwhile Libertarians when it comes to deceptive business practices never seem actually acknowledge that those misleading business practices are part of what is wrong with the US. They can only shrilly scream the single minded mantra that government regulation is "bad", while refusing to accept the concept that these businesses are being dishonest. For the anti-regulation crowd, if a business cannot conduct itself responsibly they should loose their freedom to operate without regulation. Freedom is not a license to steal.
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Re: Farcical
The banking industry is a good example. The mess today is not the first one they have made.
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The telcos long ago hired consulting companies to analyze their bills they send to customers. They pretty much made sure that the actual bills sent are confusing and hard to read. Why did they do this? Longer bills cost more money to create and mail, one would think that they would want to make them as light and simple as possible. Of course the answer is that if a customer can't understand their bill, they will have more revenue. They paid consultants to actually do this. It isn't an accident, it isn't a "mistake" it was a revenue plan.
As for banks and adults being responsible, you do know that the vast majority of banks use a software program that looks at every account and the balance and then orders the checks in a manner that ensures high fees are not lost. How does it work? Say you have 10 checks come to the bank today, your account balance is $100. The last check presented was for $100 and the other 9 checks are for $1. The software kicks off and clears the $100 check first instead of last as it was presented. Then the 9 $1 checks (which came in first) are processed and of course each of them bounced and you are charged fees on each check. Instead of 1 bounced check, you have 9.
Nice, isn't it?
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Customer Responsibility??
One of my daughters was charged, by a bank, for several bounced checks as highlighted by AC where only one check should really have bounced. Even that was debatable since she claimed that she had deposited a check to cover her balance.
We need to realize that this is not simply a case of consumers being responsible, it is a case of the companies gaming the system for their benefit. So lets put the blame where it belongs, on the corporations.
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I get laughed at
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