3 ms·

>I spent multiple hours on the phone and on their support forums and got nowhere (over the span of 2-3+ weeks). Finally I filed an FCC complaint and the issue w

>I spent multiple hours on the phone and on their support forums and got nowhere (over the span of 2-3+ weeks). Finally I filed an FCC complaint and the issue was fully resolved in 3 days. This costs taxpayer money, to have an enforcement agency to deal with BS like this and have them waste time on these matters. There should be a huge fine that the company in question (AT&T here) must pay every time something like this happens and it turns out it was their fault. When companies like this cost everyone else time and money, they should be heavily penalized, so they'll fix their broken internal processes.

Spooky23 3y ago
There is. That’s why you get the love. The state public service / utility commission is similar with utilities. Verizon let some of their phone infrastructure rot, it fell and was dangling over my yard between a couple of poles. I called them and got all sorts of runaround for days. I filed a complaint and a guy was there in 2 hours assessing the situation and it was fixed by bedtime. Their newfound responsiveness was because they have a limited number of hours to respond, at which point fines accrue hourly.
- midoridensha 3y ago
  That's better than nothing, but I want to see heavy fines just for them having to get a complaint through the public service commission in the first place (plus fines accruing hourly on top of the initial big fine). These companies shouldn't get any kind of grace period; they already have one, in the form of customers being able to contact them and ask them to resolve it before getting the government involved.
  - Spooky23 3y ago
    That argument is used by utilities to defang the utility commissions! Big companies only understand pain, but they don’t systematically feel pain unless you’re able to inflict it. Every fine reduces someone’s bonus, so you want the incentive to encourage resolution under pressure - otherwise, if you get fined no matter what, there’s no incentive to act. Works the same way with services contracts. If you force the provider to price penalties into the P&L as a matter of course, you’ve lost the ability to compel behavior. Companies internally incentivize loss avoidance.

Spooky23 3y ago

There is. That’s why you get the love. The state public service / utility commission is similar with utilities. Verizon let some of their phone infrastructure rot, it fell and was dangling over my yard between a couple of poles. I called them and got all sorts of runaround for days. I filed a complaint and a guy was there in 2 hours assessing the situation and it was fixed by bedtime. Their newfound responsiveness was because they have a limited number of hours to respond, at which point fines accrue hourly.

midoridensha 3y ago
That's better than nothing, but I want to see heavy fines just for them having to get a complaint through the public service commission in the first place (plus fines accruing hourly on top of the initial big fine). These companies shouldn't get any kind of grace period; they already have one, in the form of customers being able to contact them and ask them to resolve it before getting the government involved.
- Spooky23 3y ago
  That argument is used by utilities to defang the utility commissions! Big companies only understand pain, but they don’t systematically feel pain unless you’re able to inflict it. Every fine reduces someone’s bonus, so you want the incentive to encourage resolution under pressure - otherwise, if you get fined no matter what, there’s no incentive to act. Works the same way with services contracts. If you force the provider to price penalties into the P&L as a matter of course, you’ve lost the ability to compel behavior. Companies internally incentivize loss avoidance.