Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel

Home Skip Navigation Go to Section Menu

Message from the Consumers' Counsel:

Telephone bills getting even more complex

When residential consumers first learned how to shop for long-distance service, they were advised to compare the advertised per-minute rates as well as determine when they would be making most of their calls - during the day or in the evening. Today, rates are structured differently and it is getting increasingly difficult to determine which company would provide the most savings.

For example, some long-distance companies have added surcharges on customers' bills that are not taxes or government mandated fees. Often, these fees have names such as the "Carrier Cost Recovery Charge," which may mislead customers into believing they are required due to a law or regulatory rule.

By adding these types of new charges, the companies can avoid having to raise their advertised per-minute rate or increase the monthly service fee that many customers have grown accustomed to using as their points of comparison. In addition, with details about the new charges typically included in an advertisement's fine print, consumers may not discover the fee until they receive their first bill in the mail.

The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA), a group of state utility consumer advocates including the Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel (OCC), asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to eliminate the companies' ability to charge separate fees unless they are truly required or allowed by the government. The FCC denied the request and the group has appealed the decision to a federal court.

In addition, NASUCA has proposed recommendations to the FCC that would strengthen its current billing rules by, for example, requiring that companies fully disclose all charges before signing a customer up for service, put any discretionary charges in a separate, clearly marked section of the bill and allow customers more time to review their bills and cancel service without penalty.

Only stronger billing rules will reduce consumer confusion and provide protections against misleading charges.

 

Best regards,

Janine L. Migden-Ostrander