WASHINGTON—The FCC has launched a formal proceeding to review the quality of support that cable, broadband, satellite TV, and voice service providers give their customers.
The notice of inquiry (NOI) seeks information on current customer-service practices and to collect data that will make it easier for consumers to easily cancel subscriptions, talk to live customer-service representatives, easily consent to or decline automatic service renewals and improve the accessibility of customer service engagement among other things, the FCC reported.
The launch of the NOI was strongly supported by FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, and panned by Republican-appointed commissioners.
The FCC approved the measure in a 3-2 party-line vote.
“We can and should expect consistent, transparent, and helpful customer service from the communications companies that provide so many services that are so vital in our day-to-day lives,” Rosenworcel said. “No one should get stuck in a doom loop trying to cancel a subscription or just get a human being to help resolve their service problems.”
In launching the effort, the FCC said it seeks to build a public record on the current state of customer support and explore ways it can further protect families and businesses that rely on these critical services.
The FCC said the NOI will examine the following areas:
- Simple Cancellation: Providing more cancellation options and better disclosure of cancellation practices at the point of sale and on bills.
- Automatic Renewal of Service: Ensuring providers obtain explicit customer consent for broadband and voice service providers before automatically renewing a service and/or increasing prices after a trial or promotional period expires.
- Access to Live Representatives: Helping to avoid bouncing consumers from one call menu list to another in a time-consuming effort to obtain resolution.
- Installation, Outage, and Service Calls: Extending cable operator installation, outage, and service call rules to also apply to satellite TV, voice, and broadband services.
- Individuals with Disabilities: Improving the accessibility of customer service resources for individuals with disabilities.
- Expanded Cable Customer Resources: Updating current cable operator customer-service requirements to reflect marketplace and technology changes.
Additionally, the notice explores whether to harmonize the FCC’s existing cable operator customer-service rules with requirements for voice, broadband, and direct broadcast satellite (aka satellite TV) consumers, the FCC said.
The FCC also reported that the Notice is part of a broader government effort, “Time is Money,” to crack down on everyday headaches that waste consumer time and money.
In response, commissioner Brendan Carr issued a scathing partisan attack on the NOI and the Biden-Harris administration, arguing that “the Biden-Harris Administration’s communications policies are failing to deliver for the American people.”
“We should recommit as an agency to the tried and true playbook of freeing up spectrum and eliminating regulatory barriers to deployment,” Carr said. “Instead, the administration has started blaming others for its own record. Today’s Notice of Inquiry is a case in point …. [i]n many cases, the actions explored by the NOI would require the FCC to go well beyond the bounds of our authority under the Communications Act. Indeed, much of what the FCC considers here would fit more appropriately within the scope of the Federal Trade Commission’s jurisdiction. In fact, the FTC has opened up a proceeding to look at these types of things already. We should leave those cross-cutting consumer protection issues to the nation’s lead consumer protection agency—the FTC. We should color within the lines drawn by the Communications Act. And we should focus our time and resources on policies that will help bring more Americans across the digital divide. Because today’s decision focuses instead on the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to deflect attention away from the necessary course correction, I dissent.”
