FCC Mulling 'Bill Shock' Warning System

Part of the problem from the carrier's perspective is their point of view on overages and charges. Many see overages not as overages but as additional revenue due to the customer's own efforts. So working with a customer to fix the problem after the bill's come out is seen as a loss of revenue, worthy of all the corporation's efforts to save. If carriers were able to see overages as incidental charges rather than the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, consumers wouldn't be as quick to complain to the FCC about unfair practices.

For my company, if someone comes in asking for assistance on their bill, the general attitude is "to hell with the customer, it's their own fault." While I'm not looking to hold the hand of every customer I...
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There will always be customers who block texts, and then don't get the "Bill Shock" warning text. Then, they accuse carriers of not properly informing them of their usage. Customers carry a little responsibility, too.

If a customer is on say... a 450 min plan and they go over, they automatically get switched up to the next rate plan for that month only.

If they go over their text messages or data they get switched to the according plan for that month only.

Huge overages are not justified when there are other customers using the same cell carrier, with identical amounts of usage, and they pay $89.99 because they are on the right plan... but the guy who happens to go "over" ends up paying a ridiculous $200+ bill.

Personally I think overages are one of the biggest scams ever... fueled by pure greed. I don't think it's good for anyone. It just pisses customers off and leads to churn, also a huge headache for sales reps when customers have problems...
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This topic came up in another thread, but I think it deserves its' own.

There is a major difference between an electricity bill and a cell phone bill, in my opinion.

No matter how much electricity you use, it's bill at the same rate per unit. You pay for what you use, light or heavy usage. Enough said.

On a cell phone bill, the rate goes up dramatically if you have a heavy usage month. On a $39.99/450 minute plan, those 450 minutes cost a mere $.09 cents each, if you assume all other minutes (night & weekend, in-network) are free. However, once you exceed those 450 minutes, you are charged a whopping $.45 for each minute used.

How can the first 450 minutes cost less than a dime a piece, and additional minutes are practically 2/...
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My electric Bill????

Are they going to send me a text letting me know its high, or will I continue to hold my breath everytime I open the mail?

This is insane. The things consumers require cell phone companys to do but no other company has to do it...

Since companies like verizon and AT&T have no issue giving someone an $18k bill, it's about time someone steps in and protects the consumer.

Businesses need to make money... But something like this needs to be done.

Wow I would love not having to be responsible. They should do this for gas and electricity. Then I can know when I'm cooking too much or need to turn my lights off.

How about making my car issue a "Bill Shock" warning if I drive too many miles in a single day?

Makes just as much sense.

So this Is America, Capitalist society.

Its should be up to other companies like someone mentioned earlier that the android market already has a app that does this, and thats what and all it should be to it.

A company should have though of this a long time ago. Create a app that allows for you to put in your amount of minutes you have and your data pack and etc. and program the app to alert you when your going over that bar. Its up to the consumers to protect themsleves, yes it would be nice for mom and dad to protect us our whole lives but come on now we are grown! Its up to us.

US Cellular already has in place an overage protection for Voice and Text messages. It lets our customers know when they have reached 75% of plan minutes and plan text messages. It will also send them another text when they reach 100%. It will not prevent them from going over but proactively let them know. Best yet; ITS FREE!!!!

[as carriers in Europe are required to do], this is NOT Europe as much as Obama wants it to be, it,s not. Come on people take responsibility for your self. We do NOT need the government to hold our hands in our daily lives, or at least I DON,T.

Another way for wireless companies to "baby" their customers. Since when did a cellular service contract state that you verbally or physically agree to this legal binding contract and oh yeah we're gonna hold your hand every step of the way. There are too many self service options out there to check your unbilled usage. The reason why this is pressed on the wireless carriers now is due to people complaining to the FCC that they didnt recieve any notification on THEIR high bill for charges that THEY accumulated. I mean how hard it is to dial *225# or check their wireless account online any time throughout the day. Its the customers fault since they dont show the initiative. Even some devices come preloaded with short codes to text their provi...
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Ok - while I applaud the effort and IDEA behind it, we simply are NOT Europe and personal responsibility should matter. If your kid cant handle a cell phone without running up data charges, do the responsible thing and TAKE it from them. More of Big G doing the parenting for them (in this instance). Further this entrenches the entitlement culture in this country to new unprecidented levels. Cell phone companies have a way for the customer to monitor their usage; its called a website, # code features, and DATA FREE usge to see your current usage for data, text, and voice. If the consumer is so ignorant to not take advantage of these things - NOT MY PROBLEM - and they are left with what they used. These methods of checking your bill and usage ...
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