BILLING RIGHTS

Sometime this spring, the California Public Utilities Commission will vote on a proposed “Consumer Bill of Rights,” that would enforce greater privacy, transparency and customer care from telecom carriers. Industry lobbyists responded to the idea with the usual display of daggers they perform for proposed regulations. But in the ensuing battle, carriers risk ignoring the more valuable message inside the movement: The dwindling tolerance consumers have for deplorable customer service and chronic billing errors from their phone companies. In 2001 alone, the CPUC tallied more than 31,000 consumer complaints, 57% of which were billing disputes. This is the oddest contradiction of local exchange carriers: Although their networks operate with 99.999% accuracy, the folks in billing can't keep that decimal point nearly as far to the right. If there's a problem with the network, a team of engineering Ph.D.s attacks it like crack surgeons in a trauma ward. But if there's a problem with your bill, you have to wade through Musak for 10 minutes to talk to Jimmy Part-time, an 18-year-old with attention deficit disorder who can't concentrate on your problem because he's got the theme from “Bonanza” running through his head. (The giveaway is when he starts with, “Dun-diddle-un-diddle-how can I help you?”) With better training and billing procedures, this can change, but it won't until carriers are as serious about ending these frustrations as consumers already are.