The
American Teleservices Association (ATA) is holding a
conference in Washington DC on legislation that would impact the teleservices industry. They plan to introduce a set of self-regulatory standards at the conference. The ATA has identified five (5) pending bills seeking to impose regulations for inbound call centers. Each of these bills is addressing the need for consumers to be able to reach a human promptly when they need one. The bills are:
Oklahoma H.B. 2783. Customer Service by an Actual Human Being Act. At any point during an inbound call the consumer has the right to “press zero” and get connected to a live operator.
New York A.B. 10446. Establishes the department of insurance shall require every health insurer group health plan, health maintenance organization, or other entity offering medical benefits, whether by insurance or otherwise, to provide residents of this state with a way to bypass the automated telephone answering service of such health insurer, group health plan, health maintenance organization, or other entity offering medical benefits.
Rhode Island H.B. 7660. First, RI HB 7660 requires all cell phone companies to provide their customers with direct toll-free numbers to corporate contacts “other than automated answering system” in order to resolve inquiries relating to cell phone service. Second, it requires cell phone companies to document all customer inquires and record the time, in minutes, spent resolving the issues raised by the customer. Third, “upon resolution of any inquiry or dispute related to billing or service which is resolved in the customers favor, said customer shall be credited on their account one dollar for every minute spent resolving the issue or dispute.”
New Jersey A.B. 2089. Provides that "if a telecommunications company utilizes an automated answering system or response system during normal business hours, the company shall have trained company representatives available to respond to customer telephone inquiries and shall inform customers that they may have access to a company representative in lieu of the automated system.”
New Jersey A.B. 2712. Same as A.B. 2089, but targets cable televisions companies.
Posted by gethuman on Mon, 2 Apr 2007 9:51am
