Jan 23, 2007 7:01 pm US/Pacific
The Wireless Runaround
by Jeanette Pavini
(CBS 5)
What's the biggest consumer complaint in California? Cell phone problems.
So who can you turn to for help? Now, one group says they're listening. With slick ads and an interactive website they call themselves consumer advocates but on the Consumerwatch, Jeanette Pavini investigated who they're really helping.
"I'm frustrated with their customer service." "We have no protection." That's what cell phone users with billing problems and confusing contracts say as they look for answers. "There is no enforcement, no accountability."
So meet Mywireless.org. You may have seen their ads on television or visited their comprehensive web site where cell phone users can make their "voice heard" or "learn about the issues."
And when you click on "about us" Mywireless calls itself a "non-profit consumer advocacy organization giving wireless consumers a powerful and unified voice." protecting "their wireless rights."
But "I think the truth is very, very far from that," says Bill Nusbaum of the Utility Reform Network. He says Mywireless.org is not at all what it appears to be. "They're basically an organization that's funded by the wireless industry." He points to the top of the Mywireless agenda list of fighting any form of regulation. Nusbaum says, "It's hard for me to believe that this helps consumers at all."
"Mywireless is one consumer resource among many that are available," says Jay Ziegler who represents CTIA - The Wireless Association - and says cell phone companies are using Mywireless to inform customers. "More information is better service, more information is lower prices, more information is more accountability and we are all for those things."
But the non-partisan consumer advocacy group, Common Cause, says the wireless industry has secretly spent $16 million dollars creating Mywireless to do exactly the opposite. In its report "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing," Common Cause calls Mywireless nothing more than a front group that is…"all about corporate money, not citizen power." That it deliberately misleads citizens and our lawmakers about complex telecom issues.
And it's greatest victory? "They were the lead effort in defeating the Telecommunications Bill of Rights here in California," says Nusbaum. It's on the Mywireless website as defeating what they called a bill on excessive taxes and regulation.
"I can't think of one other consumer group that thought that was a victory," asks Jeanette Pavini.
"You have an outcome today where consumers, wireless companies, regulatory community, others that are working together to achieve the outcomes that consumers are looking for," responded Ziegler.
"They're working for the industry and that's what they're there to do…but don't pretend that you're advocating for consumers when in fact what you're really advocating…for your shareholders," says Nusbaum.
If you have a problem with your wireless phone or carrier, you can file complaints with these government agencies:
California Public Utilities Commission
www.cpuc.ca.gov/
Federal Communications Commission
www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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