The Fcc Wants to Charge Us $225 So They Would Review Our Complaints
Show Pai the money —
"This is bonkers": FCC wants to finish reviewing nigh complaints about ISPs
FCC plans to cease reviewing informal complaints—filing a formal i costs $225.
Enlarge / Ajit Pai does the Harlem Shake in order to show that the FCC should repeal net neutrality.
Ajit Pai's Federal Communications Commission is proposing that it stop reviewing the vast majority of consumer complaints virtually telecom companies. Going forwards, consumers harmed by broadband, Tv, and phone companies would have to pay $225 in club to get an FCC review of their complaints.
The FCC accepts two types of complaints: informal ones and formal ones. It costs goose egg to file an informal complaint and $225 to file a formal one; given that, consumers nigh always file breezy complaints. Besides the filing fee, formal complaints kick off a court-like proceeding in which the parties appear earlier the FCC and file numerous documents to address legal issues. It isn't an easy process for consumers to go through.
The FCC is scheduled to vote Thursday this week on a proposal that would change the FCC's complaint rules by deleting two references to the commission's "disposition" of informal complaints.
Chairman Pai'due south proposal to alter the informal complaint procedure comes in a larger proposal about formal complaints; the change to informal complaints is explained in a footnote. "We delete the phrase 'and the Commission's disposition' from the last judgement of that rule because the Commission'south practice is not to dispose of informal complaints on substantive grounds," the footnote says.
Customers will still be able to submit breezy complaints, and telecom providers will still exist required to respond to them within 30 days. But consumers who don't go what they want from the ISP will take to file a formal complaint and pay the $225 in society to go the FCC to take any action.
Even if the telecom provider fails to reply to an breezy complaint, the only recourse would be filing a formal one. "[T]he Commission will notify the complainant that if the complainant is not satisfied by the carrier's response, or if the carrier has failed to submit a response by the due date, the complainant may file a formal complaint," the proposed version of the FCC complaint rule says. By contrast, the electric current version of the rule says that "the Commission volition contact the complainant regarding its review and disposition of the matters raised. If the complainant is non satisfied by the carrier'due south response and the Committee's disposition, information technology may file a formal complaint."
Democrats from the FCC and Congress say the change volition make it more than difficult (and expensive) for consumers to get complaints resolved. "This is bonkers. It's unacceptable," FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement to Ars.
We asked Chairman Pai'due south role for comment and will update this story if we get a response.
UPDATE: A spokesperson for Pai told Ars that the proposal "does non change existing procedures for treatment breezy consumer complaints."
If at that place's no change, why modify the rule? Pai's function said that the change "would simply align the text of a dominion with longstanding FCC practices that have been in place for years under prior Chairmen and Commissions."
However, the current dominion allows for the possibility that the FCC might review an informal complaint and arbitrate on behalf of a consumer. Without that possibility, ISPs might be less inclined to respond to or resolve consumer complaints (as we hash out later in this story).
Lawmakers urge Pai to modify form
Pai received a letter of the alphabet yesterday from House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Fellow member Mike Doyle (D-Penn.) objecting to the change
They wrote:
As well often, consumers wronged by communications companies face unending corporate bureaucracy instead of quick, meaningful resolutions. Historically, FCC staff has reviewed responses to breezy complaints and, where merited, urged companies to address any service problems. Creating a rule that directs FCC staff to just pass consumers' informal complaints on to the visitor and then to propose consumers that they file a $225 formal complaint if not satisfied ignores the core mission of the FCC working in the public interest.
"We have all heard countless stories of consumers complaining to the FCC near waiting months to accept an erroneous charge removed from their nib or for a refund for a service they never ordered or about accessibility services that are not working," Pallone and Doyle as well wrote. "Oft these issues are corrected for consumers as a result of the FCC's advocacy on their behalf."
The lawmakers urged Pai to reconsider the decision before tomorrow's vote. If the change goes through, "consumers with limited means and time [will exist told by the FCC] that they demand to start an expensive and complicated formal legal process," they wrote.
Tens of thousands of complaints a year
The commission's informal complaint system receives tens of thousands of complaints a year about billing errors, service outages, slow speeds, and many other problems. Complaining to the FCC is often more effective than merely contacting the telecom provider.
While it's likely rare for FCC staff to intervene in an individual complaint, the possibility that the FCC will arbitrate might cause ISPs to accept the complaints more seriously. If in that location's no possibility of the FCC reviewing a complaint unless a consumer pays $225, information technology'll be easier for ISPs to let client problems go unresolved.
Consumers filed more than 50,000 breezy complaints subsequently the FCC imposed net neutrality rules in 2015. The FCC received simply one formal complaint nether the net neutrality rules, against Verizon. The FCC never ruled on the formal complaint, even though it has been pending for about two years.
Pai'due south FCC voted to repeal the net neutrality rules in December 2017, and the rules officially came off the books last month.
The net neutrality repeal itself made it harder for consumers to seek action from ISPs by reclassifying broadband every bit a lightly regulated information service instead of common carriage. When broadband was a common carrier service, customers could complain to the FCC nigh any "unjust" or "unreasonable" pricing and practices; they could also sue ISPs in court considering the FCC applied Championship II's Section 207 to broadband. Those provisions were eliminated when Pai'south FCC killed the cyberspace neutrality rules.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/07/ajit-pais-fcc-wants-to-stop-reviewing-your-complaints-unless-you-pay-225/
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