At the National Consumers League, we hold these truths to be self evident, that all consumers have the right to know:
Unfortunately, until now, these truths were not evident when it came to consumers' phone bills. Our National Fraud Information Center, a consumer hotline, has been flooded with calls about cramming, slamming and other telephone billing abuses. Many of the people who contact us say that they didn't notice the bogus charges right away, and when they did, they had no idea what the charges were for.
So we are very happy that the Federal Communications Commission has ruled that consumers do have the right to truth in telephone billing. The new rules should make it much easier for people to understand their phone bills, spot fraudulent charges, and know that they can dispute certain types of charges without fear that their phones will be shut off in the meantime.
Of course, we would have been even happier if the FCC had gone further to require that consumers be notified before new recurring charges are placed on their bills, to require that information about new services or service changes appear on the very first page of the bill, and to set standard terms for all types of phone charges, not just those related to government programs.
We hope that the telephone companies who do the billing will come together, as they did on cramming, and develop consistent standards for bill format and content.
But for now, we believe that the action the FCC took today will be as revolutionary for telephone customers as the Declaration of Independence was for Americans in 1776. The new rules will give consumers freedom from confusing phone bills and the right to know whether they are being billed fairly.
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