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FCC Plans To Stop Cell Phone Bill Mystery Fees

Posted by Soulskill on from the eight-dollars-for-occupying-a-transmission-medium dept.

GovTechGuy writes "FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said Monday that his agency is going to make it harder for mobile carriers to hit customers with mystery fees on their monthly bills. The practice, known as 'cramming,' typically involves charging customers between $1.99 and $19.99 per month for services they either didn't use or didn't request. The FCC announced fines totaling nearly $12 million against four carriers for cramming last week."

5 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Effective, I'm sure. by Sierran · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let's see. $12 million in fines, total, eh? Verizon Wireless at the end of 2009 had around 90 million subscribers. Cram a $0.99 charge onto each, take into account the fines, and...yes, profit!

    --
    A hero is someone who knows when to run away. I am a hero. -Trent the Uncatchable
    1. Re:Effective, I'm sure. by fast+turtle · · Score: 4, Insightful

      nah. Hit the CEO's wallets for the fines. They can afford it and they'd sure as hell get a damn clue. Expand this across the board and companies would be a lot more carefull and if there is a 2nd violation, include the Board of Directors in the fines.

      --
      Mod me up/Mod me down: I wont frown as I've no crown
  2. jail by ThurstonMoore · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The fines will mean nothing if the carriers make more money than what the fines cost. They need to put some people in jail and this shit would stop.

    1. Re:jail by Tanktalus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No. Capitalism only works properly when all parties have equal knowledge of the area they are exchanging value over. Such as exchanging $1/lb for these apples, I know what $1 is, I know how many pounds of apples I'm buying (if the scales are rigged, this is not-equal knowledge), and I know what apples are/taste like/contribute toward my health. Similarly, the vendor knows all of this as well. I am accepting the veracity of the apples, he is accepting the veracity of the cash as a representation of value, and both can use the government as an enforcer of the same (e.g., vs rigged scales, rotten apples, fake money).

      This is not Teh Socialism. This is Teh Justice in pursuit of Teh True Capitalism. Buyer beware only applies if you should have known better, not when you were intentionally deceived. Teh Socialism would be if the government wasn't merely trying to stop deception in the marketplace but also regulating the cell carriers' rates.

  3. The problem is not "transparency". by mrsam · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From TFA:

    the proposed steps would increase transparency and make it easier for consumers to understand the meaning of charges on their monthly phone bills.

    BS. Sheer nonsense. The problem is not that the bills are hard to "understand". The problem is the cramming in the first place. Remove the ability for any arbitrary fly-by-night op to place charges on anyone's bill, if they know their phone number, and the problem will mysteriously disappear.

    Cramming takes advantage of social engineering. "Wanna a HOT NEW LADY GAGA ringtone!!!! Just type in your phone number on our web site. (tiny font: $9.99 per month charge applies)".

    And that's how a "simple-minded" acquaintenance of mine ended up with $40 bucks worth of charges on her bill, some years ago.

    Get rid of the ability for anyone to cram charges, without a written notice by YOU, to YOUR cellphone carrier, and there's no more cramming. Of course, the cell-phone carriers will fight tooth and nail. I'm sure they make a nice profit skimming off their share of all the crammed charges.