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Customers dazzled by internet and cable offerings that are too good to be true may soon be taking a break.
Legislation introduced this month by California Democrat Representative Anna Eshoo and Massachusetts Democrat Senator Ed Markey would require phone, cable and Internet service providers to include all fees in the prices. announced.
The 2019 Billing, Recourse and User Empowerment Act, or the 2019 Real Royalty Act would allow consumers to terminate contracts without penalty if a provider raises fees. a price that is not clearly illustrated in the original list.
Under the proposed legislation, companies should alert the consumer of any increase no later than 21 days before it comes into effect, which would give the consumer sufficient time to cancel the service and / or switch to another cable provider.
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Public Knowledge, an open and non-profit Internet of public interest in Washington, DC, approved the bill, arguing that such advertisements were misleading and prevented consumers from accurately comparing the costs of different products.
The legislation would require telephone, cable and Internet service providers to include all charges in advertised prices.
Often, a customer will receive a higher bill of $ 50 or more for the forecast due to hidden fees, the group said. These fees may include taxes and equipment rental fees, which are charged when an internet company asks a customer to use a router or other device for its services.
John Bergmayer, Senior Counsel at Public Knowledge, stated that all of these surcharges were additive and misleading. "Companies are constantly discovering new excuses to divide the costs of doing business into new secret fees, in order to be able to advertise fictitious prices," he said.
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The Internet & Television Association, a group specializing in the broadband and pay-TV industries in the United States, said cable providers "are transparent in pricing and deliver detailed bills to customers" monthly statements and their websites.
Cable companies are often open to price negotiation rather than having a customer switch to a competing service. They could even lower prices if the customer answered them over the phone, said Kelsey Sheehy, personal finance writer for the NerdWallet personal finance site.
Consumers are often discouraged by long waiting times and poor customer service. The "TRUE" bill would therefore require companies to give consumers the opportunity to make changes online. Services such as Billshark and Trim also analyze monthly costs and can help negotiate lower prices.
Comcast
CMCSA, -0.15%
refused to comment on the legislation. Its fourth-quarter revenue is $ 27.85 billion, up from $ 21.92 billion a year ago. charter
CHTR, -0.03%
, which reported fourth-quarter revenue of $ 11.2 billion, an increase of 5.9% over the same period last year, did not respond to the request for comment. Mediacom and Frontier
FTR, + 2.45%
did not respond to the request for comment. Frontier reported quarterly revenue of $ 2.13 billion in September 2018.
The Dow Jones Industrial Index
DJIA, + 0.04%
, is up 11.07% since the beginning of the year and the S & P 500 index
SPX, + 0.15%
, is up 10.97% over the same period.
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