TURN Fights for Consumer Rights, Corporate Accountability

Consumer Protections Restored

Special rules designed to protect consumers from abusive marketing practices by AT&T were put in danger by deregulation.  AT&T eliminated the protections, claiming that under deregulation they were no longer required to comply with the rules.  The CPUC was willing to allow AT&T to ignore its original order, but TURN was not.  TURN’s attorneys convinced the CPUC that AT&T had acted prematurely, and the Commission ordered some of the key protections restored.

Demanding Rights Despite Deregulation

In the deregulated phone market, TURN has had to fight for safeguards that are the norm in other industries, where disclosures of prices and terms are the rule, rather than the exception.  In this atmosphere, TURN’s victories in getting limited disclosures in place, including requirements that prices be posted on line and a 30-day notice for rate changes for all services will mean consumers are not left completely in the dark.   

Telecommunication legislation supported by TURN will help to empower and protect phone consumers, softening the blow of the CPUC’s deregulation of the phone industry. Assembly Bill 2885 (De La Torre, D-South Gate) will allow CPUC enforcement of existing laws protecting consumers of pre-paid phone cards, and AB 2136 (Mendoza, D-Norwalk) expands requirements for truth-in-advertising for pre-paid phone cards.  Senate Bill 1149 (Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa) will expand the telecommunications grant program for rural areas, and SB 1193 (Padilla, D-San Fernando Valley) will attempt to expand high-speed Internet to underserved areas.

AT&T Retreats in the Face of Consumer Protests

In late August AT&T sent all its California customers — about 90% of the state — a new “service agreement,” that protected AT&T from liability for “slamming” and “cramming,” gave AT&T the right to change billing cycles and rates without notice, eliminated a customer’s right to file a lawsuit and buried the few remaining consumer rights in a 2,500 page online guidebook.  Customers were given a deadline by which they had to either agree to the new terms or find a new phone company.

Outraged consumers contacted TURN for help in fighting back.  TURN complemented our legal filings with a vigorous outreach campaign that included drawing media attention to the issue, mobilizing customers to testify at CPUC meetings, regular online action alerts, and collecting over 1,700 signatures on an a petition that was delivered to the CPUC.  The Commission was forced to act, and issued a ruling suspending the “agreement” for revision.  AT&T then backed down even further, and the “agreement” has been put on ice for the foreseeable future.