carols@drilex.dri.mgh.com (Carol Springs) (10/12/90)
In the October 12 {Boston Globe} is an article by Lawrence Edelman
with the headline "MCI Offers Consumer Defense Plan." According to
the article, MCI, the "most often cited" slammer, submitted to the FCC
yesterday a five-point plan which "would protect consumers against
slamming while preserving competition." Seems that MCI doesn't like
AT&T's January proposal to the FCC that would require carriers to get
written authorization before switching people -- "this would favor
AT&T and inconvenience consumers." (!) Instead, MCI proposes the
following (quoted verbatim from the article):
o Minimum disclosures in all telephone sales calls,
including the name and company of the sales representative
and a warning that the call could result in a change in
long-distance service.
o Monitoring procedures to assure that telephone
sales representatives adhere to approved procedures.
o Verification of all switches by someone independent
of the sales force.
o Free and convenient return to the original long-
distance carrier in the case of slamming.
o Audits by independent firms of sales procedures.
The article also mentions that at least 100,000 people were slammed by
some carrier or other last year. Since that figure would represent
only those customers who noticed and decided to do something about it,
I'd reason that the actual numbers are much higher.
Guess MCI is looking for a new reputation as consumer advocate.
Carol Springs carols@drilex.dri.mgh.com