Verizon and Cingular wireless companies have inserted flyers into customers’ bills referencing a web site that specifically targets the Massachusetts’ Cell Phone Users’ Bill of Rights and encourages their customers to write to their Legislators and oppose the bill. Other cell phone companies may follow suit.
The website, which can be found at http://www.mywireless.org/stateissuesma/, includes an enormous amount of misinformation about what the proposed legislation would do. The Cell Phone Users’ Bill of Rights will provide basic common sense consumer protections making comparing service and rates easier, eliminating long term contracts and allowing consumers to seek redress when disputing a bill or service.
Below
you will find the corrections to the misinformation being spread by the
cell phone company’s website. For more information go to www.masspirg.org.
They say:
State policymakers are considering legislation – Senate Bill 1790 and
House Bill 3331, that would raise wireless costs by adding unnecessary
and complicated new regulations on your wireless service…These
unnecessary and overreaching regulations are a solution in search of a
problem and will threaten the affordability and accessibility of
wireless service in Massachusetts.
The truth:
Senate Bill 1790 and House Bill 3331 would adopt a strict Cell Phone
Users’ Bill of Rights that will force companies to treat customers with
openness and fairness. The bill would improve disclosure of contract
terms and wireless coverage areas, establish consumer recourse to
resolve billing errors, require prices and services to be disclosed up
front to the consumer in an easy to compare format, and increase the
information available to consumers about dead zones and dropped calls.
They say: Research shows that 80% of Massachusetts cell phone users are satisfied with their cell phone service.
The truth:
Complaints to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which
oversees the wireless industry, increased 92 percent –over the last two
years, far outpacing the 29% growth in subscribership during that same
period. Earlier this month, J.D. Power and Associates, a business
consulting firm, reported a 10% decline in overall consumer
satisfaction with wireless service providers, the biggest year to year
change since 1995.
According to a MASSPIRG study findings released in March 2005, only 57% of respondents were satisfied with their cell phone service, and only 15% said they were highly satisfied. Furthermore, over 42% of respondents reported that they experienced billing problems with their current provider. Shockingly over 68% of respondents reported having experienced problems with their cell phone service, including but not limited to, dropped calls, lack of service in their area, and poor sound quality.
They say: SB 1790 and HB 3331 would require the state’s regulatory bureaucracy to enact a lengthy list of new regulations, which would reduce your choices, increase confusion and raise the costs of your wireless service.
The truth: The Cell Phone Users’ Bill of Rights requires that all wireless contracts and marketing materials clearly list the terms of the contract in an easy-to-read format, all cell phone bills to be clear, give, and make available to consumers coverage maps that are as accurate as current technology allows. Also, the bill allows consumers to file billing disputes with the DTE without having to face late fees; allows consumers 30 days after receiving their first bill to cancel the service without being subject to contract termination charges to ensure the bill matches the cost and service promised; and states that no contract for wireless service be longer than 12 months, and prohibits cell phone companies from adding consumers name to the 411 directory without their consent There are service providers, such as T-Mobile and Cingular, who have found a way to provide some of these services without reducing consumer choices, making consumers more confused, or raising the cost..
They say: New regulations proposed in SB 1790 and HB 3331 instructs state bureaucracies to meddle in consumers’ ability to choose freely among wireless carriers and scores of calling plans… increase the costs of providing wireless services to consumers in Massachusetts…and cut the dollars going toward improving the quality and coverage of your wireless service.
The truth: The Cell Phone Users’ Bill of Rights gives consumers the right and tools to choose and compare easily from one carrier to another after only a 12 month period, unlike in the current situation where consumers are locked into two year contracts with high termination charges. The increase in costs of providing wireless services will not come from SB 1790 and HB 3331, but rather negligent providers who use punitive contract termination charges to keep consumers from switching to cheaper or higher quality provider. In August, 2005 MASSPIRG released a national poll which found 47% of consumers would have or would have considered switching service if not for the contract termination charge. In addition, they found that the early termination charges cost cell phone consumers $4.6 billion from 2002-2004 (cost to consumers who switched plus potential and lost savings).
They say: Wireless services are already regulated under a national framework that has produced an array of choices and lower prices for consumers…and with this attentive focus on customer service, there is no need to impose additional regulations that will ultimately hurt consumers.
The truth:
Unlike traditional phone service, wireless service is largely
unregulated. The FCC has failed to enact even the most basic consumer
protection regulations, instead relying almost exclusively on
competition and market forces to protect wireless subscribers.
Unfortunately, competitive pressures alone are inadequate for ensuring
that consumers are treated fairly in the wireless marketplace.
The rising swell of customer dissatisfaction with the cell phone
industry demonstrates a need for basic, common-sense consumer
protections. While the FCC has taken a "hands-off" approach to wireless
regulation, Massachusetts can play an important role in establishing a
set of basic service quality and customer service standards. The Cell
Phone Users’ Bill of Rights will establish common sense consumer
protections and put a stop to consumers being taken advantage of by
careless providers. The new regulations will ultimately help consumers
by requiring all cell phone providers to act with openness and
fairness.
They say: Tell Massachusetts Legislators NO to New Costly Regulations!
The truth: Act Now! Say “YES” to the Cell Phone Users’ Bill of Rights! Say YES to stronger consumer protections against monopolistic service providers! Say YES to expanding consumer choices, and increasing innovative new products and services. You can make a difference by SUPPORTING SB 1790 and HB 3331!