If you bought something or you’re paying for a service, you bill should pretty much reflect that. However when it comes to our phone bills, this is where it gets confusing because carriers tend to tack on a bunch of other charges that at least on first glance, will leave people clueless as to what it might be.
Some customers might shrug it off and pay it, while others might try to contest it. However the FCC is doubling down on surprise phone bills in which based on newly approved rules, will institute a “clear ban” on bill cramming and slapping unauthorized charges to customer’s accounts.
These new rules will also prevent companies from switching the customer’s phone company through deceptive means. This means that if during the sales call, you feel that you might have been misled by the sales representative, it would effectively invalidate any permission that you might have previously given.
The FCC had long forbid carriers from surprise phone bills, but according to the FCC, these new rules basically “reaffirms” their policy on cracking down on such behavior. In the past several major US carriers have gotten into trouble with the FCC over bill cramming and while for the most part this behavior has toned down, hopefully this rules will discourage carriers from trying to come up with sneaky ways around it.