FCC Begins Proceeding on Providers' Customer Service Practices

An FCC notice of inquiry on whether to require cable, phone and broadband providers to offer simple cancellation and access to live representatives is getting applause from consumer advocacy groups. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office on Monday circulated the draft customer service NOI. The White House said the NOI was part of a broader "time is money" initiative aimed at consumer woes. In addition, the effort will investigate whether health insurers make it difficult for customers to submit claims online.

"Consumers waste an enormous amount of time trying to resolve issues with companies -- either because they are stymied by a chatbot or another automated system -- making it nearly impossible to reach a human customer service rep or because the business is purposefully [making] it enormously difficult to obtain a refund or resolve a problem," Ruth Susswein, director-consumer protection, Consumer Action (CA), wrote in an email. Noting FTC work on subscription cancellations, DOT efforts on automatic refunds for canceled and significantly delayed flights, and a Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) initiative requiring that live company representatives are available for resolving problems, Susswein said CA "look[s] forward to the FCC requiring some of the same practical, reasonable actions when consumers are dealing with their phone, cable and broadband services as well."

A mandate to access live representatives "would be huge," emailed Teresa Murray, U.S. Public Interest Research Group's Consumer Watchdog director. "This is an incredible source of frustration for consumers who are trying to resolve issues with their phone, internet or cable." She said the FCC also could address issues with renewals and with uniformity regarding installations, outages and service calls. She said such agency actions would seemingly be under similar regulatory authority as FCC actions on the broadband nutrition labels and its robocall consumer protection requirements.

"In today’s competitive broadband market, providers are squarely focused on ensuring consumers have an excellent customer experience," USTelecom emailed us. "We will review the notice once it is publicly available and engage in the FCC’s process.”

“Consumers deserve the ability to resolve problems quickly and easily, in a way that works for them, not just what benefits the company’s bottom line,” Rosenworcel said in a statement. “Through this effort, we want to explore options to take some of the pain out of routine customer service problems and pass along cost savings to consumers.” The commission didn't make the draft NOI available. The agency said it sought comment on items including establishing uniform requirements concerning installations, outages, service calls and automatic renewals.

Companies "often deliberately design their business processes to be time-consuming or otherwise burdensome for consumers" as a way of disincentivizing people from canceling a subscription, membership or getting a refund, the White House said. It said the CFPB plans to issue rules or guidance on "ineffective and time-wasting chatbot" banks that are used in lieu of customer service. It also touted a pending FTC proceeding that proposes barring marketers from using illicit review and endorsement practices such as fake reviews, suppressing honest negative reviews, and paying for positive reviews. It said the Health and Human Services and Labor departments were pressing health insurers and group health plans to take such actions as making it easier to file claims, including submitting them online instead of having to print and mail forms, and providing information about prior authorization and other medical management rules in clear language.