Ajit Pai's Federal Communications Commission is proposing that it stop reviewing the vast majority of consumer complaints about telecom companies. Going forward, consumers harmed by broadband, TV, and phone companies would have to pay $225 in order to get an FCC review of their complaints.

The FCC accepts two types of complaints: informal ones and formal ones. It costs nothing to file an informal complaint and $225 to file a formal one; given that, consumers almost always file informal complaints. Besides the filing fee, formal complaints kick off a court-like proceeding in which the parties appear before the FCC and file numerous documents to address legal issues. It isn't an easy process for consumers to go through.

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The FCC is scheduled to vote Thursday this week on a proposal that would change the FCC's complaint rules by deleting two references to the commission's "disposition" of informal complaints.

Chairman Pai's proposal to change the informal complaint procedure comes in a larger proposal about formal complaints; the change to informal complaints is explained in a footnote. "We delete the phrase 'and the Commission's disposition' from the last sentence of that rule because the Commission's practice is not to dispose of informal complaints on substantive grounds," the footnote says.

Customers will still be able to submit informal complaints, and telecom providers will still be required to respond to them within 30 days. But consumers who don't get what they want from the ISP will have to file a formal complaint and pay the $225 in order to get the FCC to take any action.


Even if the telecom provider fails to reply to an informal complaint, the only recourse would be filing a formal one. "[T]he Commission will notify the complainant that if the complainant is not satisfied by the carrier’s response, or if the carrier has failed to submit a response by the due date, the complainant may file a formal complaint," the proposed version of the FCC complaint rule says. By contrast, the current version of the rule says that "the Commission will contact the complainant regarding its review and disposition of the matters raised. If the complainant is not satisfied by the carrier's response and the Commission's disposition, it may file a formal complaint."

Democrats from the FCC and Congress say the change will make it more difficult (and expensive) for consumers to get complaints resolved. "This is bonkers. It's unacceptable," FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement to Ars.

We asked Chairman Pai's office for comment and will update this story if we get a response.


UPDATE: A spokesperson for Pai told Ars that the proposal "does not change existing procedures for handling informal consumer complaints."

If there's no change, why change the rule? Pai's office said that the change "would simply align the text of a rule with longstanding FCC practices that have been in place for years under prior Chairmen and Commissions."

Still, the current rule allows for the possibility that the FCC might review an informal complaint and intervene on behalf of a consumer. Without that possibility, ISPs might be less inclined to respond to or resolve consumer complaints (as we discuss later in this story).

Lawmakers urge Pai to change course

Pai received a letter yesterday from House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Doyle (D-Penn.) objecting to the change

They wrote:

Too often, consumers wronged by communications companies face unending corporate bureaucracy instead of quick, meaningful resolutions. Historically, FCC staff has reviewed responses to informal complaints and, where merited, urged companies to address any service problems. Creating a rule that directs FCC staff to simply pass consumers' informal complaints on to the company and then to advise consumers that they file a $225 formal complaint if not satisﬁed ignores the core mission of the FCC working in the public interest.

"We have all heard countless stories of consumers complaining to the FCC about waiting months to have an erroneous charge removed from their bill or for a refund for a service they never ordered or about accessibility services that are not working," Pallone and Doyle also wrote. "Oftentimes these issues are corrected for consumers as a result of the FCC's advocacy on their behalf."

The lawmakers urged Pai to reconsider the decision before tomorrow's vote. If the change goes through, "consumers with limited means and time [will be told by the FCC] that they need to start an expensive and complicated formal legal process," they wrote.

Tens of thousands of complaints a year

The commission's informal complaint system receives tens of thousands of complaints a year about billing errors, service outages, slow speeds, and many other problems. Complaining to the FCC is often more effective than merely contacting the telecom provider.

While it's likely rare for FCC staff to intervene in an individual complaint, the possibility that the FCC will intervene might cause ISPs to take the complaints more seriously. If there's no possibility of the FCC reviewing a complaint unless a consumer pays $225, it'll be easier for ISPs to let customer problems go unresolved.


Consumers filed more than 50,000 informal complaints after the FCC imposed net neutrality rules in 2015. The FCC received just one formal complaint under the net neutrality rules, against Verizon. The FCC never ruled on the formal complaint, even though it has been pending for nearly two years.

Pai's FCC voted to repeal the net neutrality rules in December 2017, and the rules officially came off the books last month.

The net neutrality repeal itself made it harder for consumers to seek action from ISPs by reclassifying broadband as a lightly regulated information service instead of common carriage. When broadband was a common carrier service, customers could complain to the FCC about any "unjust" or "unreasonable" pricing and practices; they could also sue ISPs in court because the FCC applied Title II's Section 207 to broadband. Those provisions were eliminated when Pai's FCC killed the net neutrality rules.