Does reporting a big wireless service company to the FCC or BBB really do any good?
While it seems most of the complaints would be just plain dumb (from my experience anyway) I'm sure there are legit complaints that should be made and resulting action taken.
So with a company as big as Cingular or say Verizon or any of the other providers does a complaint to the FCC or the BBB really do anything? I'm not so sure because with the number of subscirbers there's got to be a certain expectation of complaints. I'm thinking that unless a decent percentage of the subscriber base complains nothing happens. (if you want I'm sure you could throw in politics, etc into the array too I'd be sure almost nothing got done)
So with a company as big as Cingular or say Verizon or any of the other providers does a complaint to the FCC or the BBB really do anything? I'm not so sure because with the number of subscirbers there's got to be a certain expectation of complaints. I'm thinking that unless a decent percentage of the subscriber base complains nothing happens. (if you want I'm sure you could throw in politics, etc into the array too I'd be sure almost nothing got done)
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I think complaining to the BBB does soemthing only if the company you're complaining about happens to be a memeber of the BBB.
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I'd be calling myself. 🙂
(Cingular is part, I'm sure the other companies are too but my interest isn't sufficient enough for me to look. 😛 )
(Cingular is part, I'm sure the other companies are too but my interest isn't sufficient enough for me to look. 😛 )
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Well, the post just below this one actually. (How Cingular Ruined My Holidays!)
By no means am I saying he doesn't have a valid complaint one way or another. He just brought up the subject of the BBB and this post was made. 🙂
By no means am I saying he doesn't have a valid complaint one way or another. He just brought up the subject of the BBB and this post was made. 🙂
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Yeah it does... but it takes a large costumer base to actually have anything done about it...
with a larger customer base... it requires more customers to complain...
The steps would be as followed...
Let's say the margin is 10% of the customer base has to complain...
about 5 million customers complain about the specific carrier...
That would cause the FCC or BBB to go over the complaints... They would throw out the unjustified complaints (There are many)... If the number of complaints they're left w/ is still over that margin they would investigate it... If it's lower they wait until it hits the margin again and repeat the process...
Keep in mind, anything that is in the Terms & Conditions, there's no valid proof (retail...
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with a larger customer base... it requires more customers to complain...
The steps would be as followed...
Let's say the margin is 10% of the customer base has to complain...
about 5 million customers complain about the specific carrier...
That would cause the FCC or BBB to go over the complaints... They would throw out the unjustified complaints (There are many)... If the number of complaints they're left w/ is still over that margin they would investigate it... If it's lower they wait until it hits the margin again and repeat the process...
Keep in mind, anything that is in the Terms & Conditions, there's no valid proof (retail...
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Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. With all the complaints of "I'm going to sue because I can't get service in my bathroom” I don’t think I’d be leaping too far if I were to say the valid complaints that should be looked at are often not.
Now I’m not too sure how the BBB works, so does it take multiple complaints on one issue for something to happen or will they look at an individual case if it’s deemed serious enough?
Now I’m not too sure how the BBB works, so does it take multiple complaints on one issue for something to happen or will they look at an individual case if it’s deemed serious enough?
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The BBB is similar but they look more for the repetitive notion... Meaning the same situation arising on several occasions... The same thing happening once or twice doesn't really get reviewed... the same situation occuring thousands even millions of times usually sparks interest... The BBB however is not as dangerous as the FCC should the FCC audit a carrier... If the BBB sees a trend they bring it to the carriers attention... the carrier then has the option to improve this... if it doesn't get fixed and the BBB gets a large number of complaints for the same issue... usually the margin gets dropped lower to a couple hundred or so... the BBB will put a request to the company for an investigation... the carrier can either agree or refuse... m...
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Here's a report for a local performance shop near my home. I know they are part of the BBB and I looked them on on BBB.com so this should give you an idea of how they work....
Based on BBB files, this company has a satisfactory record with the Bureau. The Bureau has processed one customer complaint on this company in its three-year reporting period. The company addressed the disputed issues of the complaint and the customer verified that the complaint has been resolved satisfactorily. To have a Satisfactory Record with the Bureau, a company must be in business for at least 12 months, properly and promptly address matters referred to it by the Bureau, and be free from an unusual volume or pattern of complaints and law enforcement action i...
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Based on BBB files, this company has a satisfactory record with the Bureau. The Bureau has processed one customer complaint on this company in its three-year reporting period. The company addressed the disputed issues of the complaint and the customer verified that the complaint has been resolved satisfactorily. To have a Satisfactory Record with the Bureau, a company must be in business for at least 12 months, properly and promptly address matters referred to it by the Bureau, and be free from an unusual volume or pattern of complaints and law enforcement action i...
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I have seen comments on a customers account stating that they filed a complaint w/ the FCC. The received a call back from some high up department and a $50.00 credit. So I guess you would probably receive the same courtesy.
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I say yes otherwise they probably wouldn't publish the stats for people to see. I for one have read stats that were not good for some companies. And this was a reputable publication.
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True, but then you can think of it as it only benefits the consumer when they read those reports. The standard person will not know about a bad report unless they do the proper research. (but now we're in the "a smart customer is one who does his/her research before buying" topic)
So really unless there's a major number of complaints and it's picked up by a news publication the complaints made no matter how valid or wrong they are don't seem to do much IMO.
So really unless there's a major number of complaints and it's picked up by a news publication the complaints made no matter how valid or wrong they are don't seem to do much IMO.
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You are correct, and I am one of those people who does research. So for those who don't do research it is null and void.
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school started and i have lagged behind my plans of filings..anyway from personal experince i only know about BBB
i have filed two complaint agaisnt sprint:
1. they couldnt get my address right for two months and kept on sending the bill to wrong place + charging me wrong taxes (differnet states even) + some other issues. i received a call from corporate apoligizing and saying everything is corrected now and offered me like a 20 or 25 credit something like that for the inconvinience
2. my plan on sprint was a local one so i went out of state for about 1.5 months and i asked them if i could put my phone on hold or something that would freeze my account. he said they only do that if i go internationally and costs like only 5 bucks. but si...
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i have filed two complaint agaisnt sprint:
1. they couldnt get my address right for two months and kept on sending the bill to wrong place + charging me wrong taxes (differnet states even) + some other issues. i received a call from corporate apoligizing and saying everything is corrected now and offered me like a 20 or 25 credit something like that for the inconvinience
2. my plan on sprint was a local one so i went out of state for about 1.5 months and i asked them if i could put my phone on hold or something that would freeze my account. he said they only do that if i go internationally and costs like only 5 bucks. but si...
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o and.. for every case you file through bbb you get a personal person who looks after your file in case the dispute is not resolved... so each case *i believe* is looked through personally.. and it takes quite a bit of time to hear a reply.. about a month? more..?
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I can say the BBB works!!
3 years ago i sent of for a rebate for my phone from Sprint PCS. I never recieved a check, and got a runaround for about 6 months. I finally got sick of it. I contacted the BBB. Upon doing so, the very next day i recieved a email from them that Sprint is sending me out my money for the rebate. The next friday from that i had a 75.00 check in the mail, with a letter of appology from sprint for my inconvinence
3 years ago i sent of for a rebate for my phone from Sprint PCS. I never recieved a check, and got a runaround for about 6 months. I finally got sick of it. I contacted the BBB. Upon doing so, the very next day i recieved a email from them that Sprint is sending me out my money for the rebate. The next friday from that i had a 75.00 check in the mail, with a letter of appology from sprint for my inconvinence
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