Consumers Union is an expert, independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves.
“Bill Shock”—those unexpected and often-quite-large charges that suddenly pop up on cell phone bills – are consistently one of the top complaints from consumers about their wireless carrier.
That’s changing, however.
Spurred by aggressive lobbying from Consumers Union and other public interest groups – including petitions signed more than 62,000 CU activists – wireless companies agreed this week to adopt voluntary standards aimed at preventing Bill Shock.
Specifically, CTIA, The Wireless Association, and the Federal Communications Commission agreed to a new code of conduct for participating wireless carriers that will implement and/or standardize the use of free alerts for consumers when they are approaching or exceeding their monthly limits on voice, data and text.
There’s no question Bill Shock is a huge problem. A May 2011 survey by Consumer Reports found approximately one in five respondents had received a cell phone bill that was significantly higher than they had expected in the past 12 months. Among those who experienced “bill shock,” more than half said the bill was less than $30 higher than expected, while 38% said the bill was $30 or more than expected.
This voluntary agreement is a big step in the right direction. But because this agreement doesn’t carry the weight of law, Consumers Union will be watching like a hawk to see that wireless carriers carry through on their promises. If they don’t, we will push the FCC to make the rules mandatory rather than voluntary.
The four notifications agreed to under the deal include overage alerts before consumers reach monthly caps on their data, voice and text usage, as well alerts when a customer is about to incur a large fee for roaming. The participating carriers have agreed to provide customers with at least two of the notification categories by October 17, 2012, and all of the alerts by April 17, 2013. We wish it would happen sooner.
We think it’s possible – and consumers deserve – to begin receiving free alerts now to avoid overage charges, and Consumers Union will be asking the carriers to move more quickly. Some companies are already offering these alerts. It is especially important to provide these tools now, because many consumers cannot afford these unexpected charges in this tough economy.
Thank you for pushing this! They have got us a couple of times on this unfair practice.
our cell service is with credo which is sposed to bebprogressive, but our bill is high and service non=existant.
Thank you for fighting for me!!!! My AT&T bill is huge.
Verizon chooses to bundle and does not identify the charges clearly. Changes made in the service, such as reducing the number of minutes for the cell phone, are not immediately effective but are carried forward to the next ‘payment due’ period. They say: pay the entire amount now and wait for the adjustment next month. Charges continue even if I am away in Europe for a month, for example and I have neither made nor received calls. Bundling the billing meant that it became increasingly unclear how much the internet service really cost. Why does Verizon not have roll-over minutes while other carriers (out of my reception area) do so? Should not roll-over minutes more accurately reflect actual use of the service?
We solved our issues with the evil cell companies, we went Tracfone!! Buy mins you need, if you don’t use it, you don’t lose it either. Don’t need anything other than: Hello!
I still have a basic Nokia Cell Phone. I was looking at some newer phones-Android Samsung,HTC,IPod etc. I was told that if I want to purchase one of those telephones I would have to buy internet service as well. Many people like the internet and possibly need it, but I don’t. I believe people should have a choice.