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posted by martyb on Monday July 16 2018, @05:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the equal-justice-under-the-law...for-those-who-have-money dept.

Submitted via IRC for Fnord666

FCC plans to stop reviewing informal complaints—filing a formal one costs $225.

Ajit Pai's Federal Communications Commission is proposing that it stop reviewing the vast majority of consumer complaints about telecom companies. Going forward, consumers harmed by broadband, TV, and phone companies would have to pay $225 in order to get an FCC review of their complaints.

The FCC accepts two types of complaints: informal ones and formal ones. It costs nothing to file an informal complaint and $225 to file a formal one; given that, consumers almost always file informal complaints. Besides the filing fee, formal complaints kick off a court-like proceeding in which the parties appear before the FCC and file numerous documents to address legal issues. It isn't an easy process for consumers to go through.

[...] Chairman Pai's proposal to change 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 sentence of that rule because the Commission's practice is not to dispose of informal complaints on substantive grounds," the footnote says.

Customers will still be able to submit informal complaints, and telecom providers will still be required to respond to them within 30 days. But consumers who don't get what they want from the ISP will have to file a formal complaint and pay the $225 in order to get the FCC to take any action.

Even if the telecom provider fails to reply to an informal 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 current version of the rule says that "the Commission will contact the complainant regarding its review and disposition of the matters raised. If the complainant is not satisfied by the carrier's response and the Commission's disposition, it may file a formal complaint."

Democrats from the FCC and Congress say the change will make it more 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.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/07/ajit-pais-fcc-wants-to-stop-reviewing-your-complaints-unless-you-pay-225/

But, see also: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/07/11/no-fcc-is-not-forcing-consumers-pay-file-complaints/.


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  • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday July 16 2018, @11:33AM (3 children)

    ... as well as section 8 housing, or the Permanent Assistive Housing that I'm presently on.

    I watched a video about Mitch McConnell's home town in Kentucky. The people there were deeply distressed that McConnell and Trump were both acting _directly_ in opposition to their own interests.

    I don't expect _all_ those people to vote Democratic. Quite likely lots of them will stay home.

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  • (Score: 2, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Monday July 16 2018, @12:57PM (1 child)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Monday July 16 2018, @12:57PM (#707876) Homepage Journal

    They have a great guy in Kentucky, Governor Matt Bevin. He wants to put folks BACK TO WORK. And he said, OK, you want the Medicaid dental & eyes, first you go to work. Or go to school. You work, you study, we check your eyes & make your teeth look FABULOUS. And you can be VERY PROUD because you earned it! Great offer, right? But a judge told him "no." And Governor Bevin canceled the eye checks & dental for everybody. At the beginning of July he canceled, we still have to go through the legal on that one. The appeals. Possibly to SC (Judge Brett & Justice Gorsuch). But if it goes through, BIG SAVINGS!!!

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16 2018, @06:01PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16 2018, @06:01PM (#707978)

      Boring, time to make a new joke account the Trump parody is getting stale.

      But hey you're running a troll account so I'm sure any annoyance / boredom caused is just more reason to keep going. I suggest branching out into Sanders, maybe Conway, expand your repertoire.

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16 2018, @06:33PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16 2018, @06:33PM (#708003)

    That's odd, most Trump supporters cheer when he acts directly against their interests.