It feels like I just took a payoff...
In the last couple of months I've had an open complaint at the FCC regarding an issue with the "Truth In Billing Act" with Covad Communications. Lets start by rewinding the way back machine to November 16th, 2010.
In October 2010, we received our monthly bill from COVAD for our TDM internet service and found that COVAD had left us a nice little present of $61.51 labeled "Regulatory Surcharge". Previous months it was not listed on the bill and we caught it with raising the price per month was outside of the normal rate. Further research on the bill showed the following description...
Regulatory surcharges are a slippery beast. But something about this bill didn't sit right. I checked out the URL and found that it stated almost verbatim the same paragraph. So I decided to phone the FCC. While dialing I expected to sit on hold waiting for an agent to receive my call for sometime, but was pleasantly surprised to immediately be greeted by an agent (and have been every time that I've called). His name was Andy, and I explained what I was seeing, and he agreed that it sounded like things were a little sideways. He also illuminated me upon the FCC "Truth In Billing Act", and explained that by law a company must break out and explain the taxes, fees, and surcharges on the bill. At this point I decided give COVAD a chance to clarify the "regulatory surchage" before opening a complaint.
As suggested on the bill, I had questions and thought that maybe calling would help clarify what taxes or fees (federal, state, or local), or surcharges are being rolled into this "regulatory surcharge". After being on hold for more than a half hour, I finally got Shannon. I asked her about the charge, and she practically read back the above stated paragraph, again verbatim. As which point I asked her to clarify what government agencies required the fees, or what the break out was on the "regulatory surcharge". She did not know, and asked if I'd gone to the URL? Again stated to her that it states the same thing as the bill, which doesn't answer the question of why this was not being clearly stated as per the Truth in Billing Act directs. She simple stated, "Oh it's just a government requirement for the taxes and fees". I thanked her for her time, and hung up. I immediately call the FCC back, get Jerry, and open a complaint that COVAD was not following the Truth in Billing Act, and would like it investigated.
Fast forward to late December, 2010. I receive a phone call from the FCC asking if we'd been contact yet regarding the issue, and so far radio silence. I let her know that we had not heard anything yet from them in regards to the complaint.
Lets jump ahead again to Feb 4th, 2010. I receive a phone call from a Dale Hogg at COVAD, looking to resolve the complaint, and gives me this great offer. If I agree to drop the complaint, they would be happy to charge back the fees from that day all the way back to when I filed the complaint.
Wait...humina what? You are going to just give us the credit on the account?
Dale continues, that since your contract is up in May, if you re-up your account for an additional year, they would be willing to cut the "regulatory surcharge" in half. Better yet, if we update our account to 2-3 years, they will be happy to drop the surcharge all together. At this point I asked if this was a charge that every customer was paying, and he responded with "it is". So to clarify, every customer on the COVAD network pays a 9.5% "Regulatory Surcharge", and you're going to just not have us pay it? Dale, "correct". I let him know that I have to talk with our CEO and finance officer to see if this was an acceptable "offer".
Four hours go by, and I receive another phone call from Anthony at COVAD, wanting to refer to this issue, and wanted to offer me a deal. Which was funny since we'd just gone over this four hours previously. Anthony's deal was different you see. His deal was simple: "accept now, get everything back charged, and never pay the fee again."
I felt like I'd been hit by a brick. So you complain that you're being charged a fee they can't breaking out, and they hope you not say thing anything more by not having you pay it. Meanwhile everyone else is having to pay this fee, and as I'm to find out it's not a fee or surcharge by the government, it's an administrative recovery cost for COVAD...
Today I receive a piece of mail from COVAD...
In the last couple of months I've had an open complaint at the FCC regarding an issue with the "Truth In Billing Act" with Covad Communications. Lets start by rewinding the way back machine to November 16th, 2010.
In October 2010, we received our monthly bill from COVAD for our TDM internet service and found that COVAD had left us a nice little present of $61.51 labeled "Regulatory Surcharge". Previous months it was not listed on the bill and we caught it with raising the price per month was outside of the normal rate. Further research on the bill showed the following description...
Important Message:
Effective immediately, your monthly bill will include a Regulatory Surcharge of 9.5%. The Regulatory Surcharge recovers the costs of administering various federal, state and local takes, fees, surcharges, assessments, and requirements. If you have any questions, please contact us at 888-642-6823 opt 3 or refer to http://support.covad.net/web/resources/announcements/COVAD_Billing_Update.pdf for more information.
Regulatory surcharges are a slippery beast. But something about this bill didn't sit right. I checked out the URL and found that it stated almost verbatim the same paragraph. So I decided to phone the FCC. While dialing I expected to sit on hold waiting for an agent to receive my call for sometime, but was pleasantly surprised to immediately be greeted by an agent (and have been every time that I've called). His name was Andy, and I explained what I was seeing, and he agreed that it sounded like things were a little sideways. He also illuminated me upon the FCC "Truth In Billing Act", and explained that by law a company must break out and explain the taxes, fees, and surcharges on the bill. At this point I decided give COVAD a chance to clarify the "regulatory surchage" before opening a complaint.
As suggested on the bill, I had questions and thought that maybe calling would help clarify what taxes or fees (federal, state, or local), or surcharges are being rolled into this "regulatory surcharge". After being on hold for more than a half hour, I finally got Shannon. I asked her about the charge, and she practically read back the above stated paragraph, again verbatim. As which point I asked her to clarify what government agencies required the fees, or what the break out was on the "regulatory surcharge". She did not know, and asked if I'd gone to the URL? Again stated to her that it states the same thing as the bill, which doesn't answer the question of why this was not being clearly stated as per the Truth in Billing Act directs. She simple stated, "Oh it's just a government requirement for the taxes and fees". I thanked her for her time, and hung up. I immediately call the FCC back, get Jerry, and open a complaint that COVAD was not following the Truth in Billing Act, and would like it investigated.
Fast forward to late December, 2010. I receive a phone call from the FCC asking if we'd been contact yet regarding the issue, and so far radio silence. I let her know that we had not heard anything yet from them in regards to the complaint.
Lets jump ahead again to Feb 4th, 2010. I receive a phone call from a Dale Hogg at COVAD, looking to resolve the complaint, and gives me this great offer. If I agree to drop the complaint, they would be happy to charge back the fees from that day all the way back to when I filed the complaint.
Wait...humina what? You are going to just give us the credit on the account?
Dale continues, that since your contract is up in May, if you re-up your account for an additional year, they would be willing to cut the "regulatory surcharge" in half. Better yet, if we update our account to 2-3 years, they will be happy to drop the surcharge all together. At this point I asked if this was a charge that every customer was paying, and he responded with "it is". So to clarify, every customer on the COVAD network pays a 9.5% "Regulatory Surcharge", and you're going to just not have us pay it? Dale, "correct". I let him know that I have to talk with our CEO and finance officer to see if this was an acceptable "offer".
Four hours go by, and I receive another phone call from Anthony at COVAD, wanting to refer to this issue, and wanted to offer me a deal. Which was funny since we'd just gone over this four hours previously. Anthony's deal was different you see. His deal was simple: "accept now, get everything back charged, and never pay the fee again."
I felt like I'd been hit by a brick. So you complain that you're being charged a fee they can't breaking out, and they hope you not say thing anything more by not having you pay it. Meanwhile everyone else is having to pay this fee, and as I'm to find out it's not a fee or surcharge by the government, it's an administrative recovery cost for COVAD...
Today I receive a piece of mail from COVAD...
Labels: covad, fcc, payoff, regulatory surcharge, surcharges, truth in billing
posted by Cable-Monkey at 1:25 PM
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