Wireless services complaints find confusing path at FCC

The Federal Communications Commission has a lot of work to do when it comes to regulating the burgeoning wireless industry. 

For example, in 2008 of the 430,000 informal complaints it got from consumers, more than 19,000 were directly related to wireless carriers services. But it is how the FCC handles, or doesn't handle in many cases, those complaints that has overseers more than a little concerned.

In a preliminary look at the FCC and the wireless industry, the Government Accountability Office said today that the FCC has not articulated goals that clearly identify intended outcomes of its efforts to address consumer complaints and lacks measures to demonstrate how well it is achieving intended outcomes. For example, FCC has a goal to "improve customer experience" with its call centers and Web site, through which consumers submit complaints, but lacks measures of customer experience.

Further, it is not clear if the intended outcome of FCC's complaint handling efforts is resolving consumer problems or fostering communication between consumers and carriers. Consequently, consumers may not understand what to expect from FCC's complaint process, and the effectiveness of FCC's efforts to assist consumers with complaints is unclear, the GAO stated.

FCC officials told the GAO that the agency's role in addressing complaints, as outlined in the law, is to facilitate communication between the consumer and the carrier and that FCC lacks the authority to compel a carrier to take action to satisfy many consumer concerns. Thus, it is not clear if the intended outcome of FCC's complaint handling efforts is resolving consumer problems, fostering communication between consumers and carriers, or both.

Furthermore, FCC has not established measures of its effectiveness in either resolving consumer problems or fostering communication between consumers and carriers. For example, FCC does not measure consumer satisfaction with its complaint-handling efforts.

Without clear outcome-related goals and measures linked to those goals, the purpose and effectiveness of these efforts are unclear and the agency's accountability for its performance is limited. And consumers may not understand what to expect from FCC's complaint process, the GAO stated.

And there are a number of areas that need fixing.  Key areas of concern from the GAO report:

Billing: Complexity of billing statements leads to lack of consumer understanding. Bills contain unexpected charges and errors.

Terms of service contract: Consumers are subject to fees for canceling their service before the end of their contract term (early termination fees), regardless of their reason for wanting to terminate service, effectively locking consumers into their contracts. Consumers are not given enough time to try out their service before having to commit to the contract. Carriers extend contracts when consumers request service changes.

Explanation of service: Key aspects of service, such as rates and coverage, are not clearly explained to consumers at the point of sale (when they sign up for the service).