The FCC announced the launch of an online center to help consumers get information and file and track complaints. “The consumer help center is part of the FCC’s broader efforts to reform its processes to better serve the public. By quickly and efficiently managing consumer complaints, the FCC will help protect consumers and give them a greater voice in its policy initiatives to improve communications services for all,” the agency said in a news release.

It said that improvements include (1) “a [s]treamlined, user-friendly complaint filing system,” (2) “[r]eady access to helpful information that will empower consumers to resolve some problems on their own,” (3) “[b]etter communications between consumers and FCC consumer representatives,” (4) the “[a]bility for consumers to monitor complaints, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” and (5) “[f]aster delivery of complaints to service providers, enabling them to respond to consumers sooner.”

“The help center will also streamline the process of synthesizing and analyzing consumer complaint trends, and will make more of that data readily accessible to the public,” the FCC added. “Better monitoring of these trends will help the FCC, consumers, and industry identify broader problems and shape policy that will promote better service.”

Delara Derakhashani, policy counsel for Consumers Union, said, “This site will make it easier for people to file and track complaints about problems like annoying robocalls and fraudulent charges, and it will help the FCC spot emerging trends in the marketplace. This is a one-stop shop for consumers, and it’s a real improvement over the old system where forms and information were spread out and hard to find.  We’re pleased that more of this complaint data is going to be available to the public, which will help root out problems and raise the bar for companies.”

“Protecting consumers is one of the FCC’s foremost responsibilities, and we applaud the FCC for taking steps to update and streamline the consumer complaint process,” said Danielle Kehl, a policy analyst at the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute. “The new system will enable greater transparency about the type and volume of these complaints, and the system is a critical component of two broader goals: modernizing the FCC’s infrastructure and improving data collection practices. We are pleased that the FCC will continue to expand the consumer complaint data that it releases in the coming months, and hope that this is the first step in a continuing effort to improve other outdated systems as well.”

“This is something that should help consumers better hold companies accountable,” added Sen. Bill Nelson (D., Fla.), the incoming ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. – Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com

Courtesy TRDaily