4 ms·

I don't think the government should be concerned with a $10 overcharge on your bill that takes a 15 minute phone call to fix. The government is concerned with

by dfxm12 4y ago

I don't think the government should be concerned with a $10 overcharge on your bill that takes a 15 minute phone call to fix. The government is concerned with more systemic issues. As an example, when there was $1.3 Billion dollars in harm across more than 11 million accounts, they stepped in with Wells Fargo: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-orders-wells-fargo-to-pay-37-billion-for-widespread-mismanagement-of-auto-loans-mortgages-and-deposit-accounts/ https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-order...

aliqot 4y ago
We need some type of ombudsman that exists between people and corporations to solve these small matters. Small claims is a bit much, and it's individual only. Congresspeople and such are a bit too much for this purpose also. There needs to be something lesser, with a very large stick to swing around.
- dfxm12 4y ago
  There are local consumer protection agencies and the better business bureau that might be able to help here. But, I mean, there was an issue and it got resolved pretty seamlessly. What do you want the BBB do? If this becomes a regular occurrence, that's another thing.
  - aliqot 4y ago
    The BBB is a private organization that a corp has to agree to be a member of and pay dues to. They're as much of a failure as Yelp.
  - lmm 4y ago
    A 15 minute phone call is not seamless. I should be able to write an email, or better yet, just not pay it, and be assured there will be no retalliation if the original problem is a mistake on the company's side.
- drewcoo 4y ago
  Almost like the CFPB? https://2020.elizabethwarren.com/cfpb https://2020.elizabethwarren.com/cfpb
  - dfxm12 4y ago
    The CFPB does some great work (and hopefully their recently proposed rule lowering credit card late fees becomes enacted), but unfortunately their scope is limited to financial institutions. I don't think they'll help with Comcast, stuff ordered online, insurance, etc. It would be great if we could expand their scope a bit or have another board for general consumer protection.
serverholic 4y ago
This feels like a bad faith comment. You could have commented on systemic issues with these corporations but instead you fixated on one example.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
jdalgetty 4y ago
Agreed, but it's never a 15 minute phone call...
- dfxm12 4y ago
  OP said they got it resolved with a 15 minute phone call. I was just assuming they were telling the truth...
  - xboxnolifes 4y ago
    minimum
    - dfxm12 4y ago
      They were clear on it taking 15 minutes: In the end I got the charge reversed, cold comfort, I was out a quarter hour...
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
deathanatos 4y ago
The entire point of TFA is that this is a systemic issue, happening across the economy, across services. I too feel like the person above you: my day is weighed down with doing tasks that either used to be part of what you were paying to get, and now have been outsourced to you (and lest we kid ourselves, the price didn't budge) or tasks which are effectively "hey, company, can you do your job?". I'll reuse the example I used in an earlier thread along these same veins: my SO caught COVID. At the time, I only suspected it: so I ordered a test from Walgreens. This was done online, and the online flow told me: "we'll contact you when the order is ready for pickup". Great. Hours pass. I call in, and get the chatbot. I navigate its menus to "lookup order status", and input the information: "there is no order under that number" — fine, sure, lie to me. I try a few more things, and finally cave & ask for a human. Hold for 20 minutes for "we're experiencing above average call volume" (more lies) and we get a human: "oh, your insurance declined." Like, okay Walgreens … let's say that's true: you decide to just blackhole my order, and gaslight me when I try to find it? And further, now I have to get in contact with the insurance, since … they're not suppose to decline. Walgreens knows they're not supposed to decline, but instead of telling the insurer "that's some hot garbage", they foisted the job of getting the insurer to do their job onto me. Nowhere, here, is anyone doing anything economically productive. The only person doing anything is me. The test was paid for out of pocket. It's an example, yes, but it's one I've been dealing with across companies, across the economy, for months? years?, has been getting worse, and is continuing to get worse. It no longer seems isolated to your usual bad actors like airlines who can't get planes from point A to point B to save their lives, it's everywhere. Consumer protection laws, regulatory action, class actions (if we could! I.e.: more consumer protection laws…) is the systemic level fix to this nonsense. > on your bill that takes a 15 minute phone call to fix. It's never a 15 minute phone call.
- dfxm12 4y ago
  I understand your frustration, and I think the US insurance system in general and your case specifically is materially worse than what OP described. After all, you never really got your issue resolved, as you had to pay out of pocket for something that your insurance was probably supposed to cover. It sucks we don't have anyone obvious to go to with these healthcare issues. It's never a 15 minute phone call. Why do people keep telling me this? I'm only going by what OP said. Tell them they were lying when they said they were on the phone for a quarter hour :)
michael1999 4y ago
Regulated monopolies should exactly be hammered on this. That's why we have anti-trust in the first place - the bargaining power is so lopsided! The line between this and Wells Fargo is much thinner than you think. Nobody has managed to prove actual malice at the board level at Wells. A company like Xfinity is likely prioritizing bugs by revenue. As a result, bugs that result in overcharging will be fixed last, if ever. It is unrealistic targets, crappy policies, and bad incentives all the way down. The only way to actually make them care would be fines which would move it up the revenue list.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  CFPB should be handling some of this, but it's clear they'll never be funded and staffed like they should be, and it's been demonstrated that when one of our two political parties controls the executive the CFPB won't be permitted to do anything but twiddle their thumbs. That's until they manage to eliminate them entirely.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

by dfxm12 4y ago

aliqot 4y ago

We need some type of ombudsman that exists between people and corporations to solve these small matters. Small claims is a bit much, and it's individual only. Congresspeople and such are a bit too much for this purpose also. There needs to be something lesser, with a very large stick to swing around.

dfxm12 4y ago
There are local consumer protection agencies and the better business bureau that might be able to help here. But, I mean, there was an issue and it got resolved pretty seamlessly. What do you want the BBB do? If this becomes a regular occurrence, that's another thing.
- aliqot 4y ago
  The BBB is a private organization that a corp has to agree to be a member of and pay dues to. They're as much of a failure as Yelp.
- lmm 4y ago
  A 15 minute phone call is not seamless. I should be able to write an email, or better yet, just not pay it, and be assured there will be no retalliation if the original problem is a mistake on the company's side.
drewcoo 4y ago
Almost like the CFPB? https://2020.elizabethwarren.com/cfpb https://2020.elizabethwarren.com/cfpb
- dfxm12 4y ago
  The CFPB does some great work (and hopefully their recently proposed rule lowering credit card late fees becomes enacted), but unfortunately their scope is limited to financial institutions. I don't think they'll help with Comcast, stuff ordered online, insurance, etc. It would be great if we could expand their scope a bit or have another board for general consumer protection.

serverholic 4y ago

This feels like a bad faith comment. You could have commented on systemic issues with these corporations but instead you fixated on one example.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

jdalgetty 4y ago

Agreed, but it's never a 15 minute phone call...

dfxm12 4y ago
OP said they got it resolved with a 15 minute phone call. I was just assuming they were telling the truth...
- xboxnolifes 4y ago
  minimum
  - dfxm12 4y ago
    They were clear on it taking 15 minutes: In the end I got the charge reversed, cold comfort, I was out a quarter hour...
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

deathanatos 4y ago

The entire point of TFA is that this is a systemic issue, happening across the economy, across services. I too feel like the person above you: my day is weighed down with doing tasks that either used to be part of what you were paying to get, and now have been outsourced to you (and lest we kid ourselves, the price didn't budge) or tasks which are effectively "hey, company, can you do your job?". I'll reuse the example I used in an earlier thread along these same veins: my SO caught COVID. At the time, I only suspected it: so I ordered a test from Walgreens. This was done online, and the online flow told me: "we'll contact you when the order is ready for pickup". Great. Hours pass. I call in, and get the chatbot. I navigate its menus to "lookup order status", and input the information: "there is no order under that number" — fine, sure, lie to me. I try a few more things, and finally cave & ask for a human. Hold for 20 minutes for "we're experiencing above average call volume" (more lies) and we get a human: "oh, your insurance declined." Like, okay Walgreens … let's say that's true: you decide to just blackhole my order, and gaslight me when I try to find it? And further, now I have to get in contact with the insurance, since … they're not suppose to decline. Walgreens knows they're not supposed to decline, but instead of telling the insurer "that's some hot garbage", they foisted the job of getting the insurer to do their job onto me. Nowhere, here, is anyone doing anything economically productive. The only person doing anything is me. The test was paid for out of pocket. It's an example, yes, but it's one I've been dealing with across companies, across the economy, for months? years?, has been getting worse, and is continuing to get worse. It no longer seems isolated to your usual bad actors like airlines who can't get planes from point A to point B to save their lives, it's everywhere. Consumer protection laws, regulatory action, class actions (if we could! I.e.: more consumer protection laws…) is the systemic level fix to this nonsense. > on your bill that takes a 15 minute phone call to fix. It's never a 15 minute phone call.

dfxm12 4y ago
I understand your frustration, and I think the US insurance system in general and your case specifically is materially worse than what OP described. After all, you never really got your issue resolved, as you had to pay out of pocket for something that your insurance was probably supposed to cover. It sucks we don't have anyone obvious to go to with these healthcare issues. It's never a 15 minute phone call. Why do people keep telling me this? I'm only going by what OP said. Tell them they were lying when they said they were on the phone for a quarter hour :)

michael1999 4y ago

Regulated monopolies should exactly be hammered on this. That's why we have anti-trust in the first place - the bargaining power is so lopsided! The line between this and Wells Fargo is much thinner than you think. Nobody has managed to prove actual malice at the board level at Wells. A company like Xfinity is likely prioritizing bugs by revenue. As a result, bugs that result in overcharging will be fixed last, if ever. It is unrealistic targets, crappy policies, and bad incentives all the way down. The only way to actually make them care would be fines which would move it up the revenue list.

yamtaddle 4y ago
CFPB should be handling some of this, but it's clear they'll never be funded and staffed like they should be, and it's been demonstrated that when one of our two political parties controls the executive the CFPB won't be permitted to do anything but twiddle their thumbs. That's until they manage to eliminate them entirely.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]