3 mo. ago • 97%

Biden-Harris Administration Launches New Effort to Crack Down on Everyday Headaches and Hassles That Waste Americans’ Time and Money.

www.whitehouse.gov FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Launches New Effort to Crack Down on Everyday Headaches and Hassles That Waste Americans’ Time and Money | The White House

New actions will take on corporate tricks and scams like excessive paperwork, long wait times, and more that pad the profits of big business at the

83 comments

DOT’s rule also puts an end to airline runarounds by requiring refunds to be automatic, prompt, in the original form of payment, and for the full amount paid.

This is perfect. I just had to chase a few travel companies for refunds they owed me. The cancellations were the fault of the companies, not mine.

Every single one of them requires you to call some hidden phone number who tells you to download an app, and part of your refund is always disputed. It literally takes hours just to figure out how to complain.

They take your money in 5 seconds, but give it back in "5 to 7 business days".

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- They take your money in 5 seconds, but give it back in "5 to 7 business days".
  
  This is the thing that pisses me off most. After spending hours arguing when they finally relent it will be "up to 30 business days before you see your refund". I had one company take 120 days to refund my money when my venue had to be cancelled during COVID, money that I had to pay the moment I booked.
  
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  At that point you have to complain about it to your credit card provider. They are literally taking your money. 30 days is not acceptable, let alone 120 days.
  
  I complain once to the merchant and if the money isn't going to be refunded soon, I call the credit card company. Try not to threaten or call again. Literally just escalate at the sign of problems.
  
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  During COViD, I had flights cancelled on me. It was a discount carrier that first claimed “no refunds”. When I called and pointed out COViD regulations requiring it, they relented and gave me a credit for their shitty airline, expiring in a year. However after two years, I did get an actual refund … never again flying JetBlue
  
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Ensuring accountability for companies that provide bad service. People shopping for products or services should be able to rely on customer reviews to assess which companies will provide streamlined service and not waste their time. The FTC has proposed a rule that, if finalized as proposed, would stop marketers from using illicit review and endorsement practices such as using fake reviews, suppressing honest negative reviews, and paying for positive reviews, which deceive consumers looking for real feedback on a product or service and undercut honest businesses.

Wait. No more fake reviews? No more supressing honest negative reviews?

I'll believe it when I see it. Let's see how Amazon/Google/Yelp handle this.

Let the lobbying commence!
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- How in the world would they enforce this?
  
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  Consumer reporting.
  
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  That is what someone who is taking advantage of that system would ask.
  
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One thing I'd like to improve the clarity on or outright declare/enforce: put a limit on the wait time allowed. Fixing chat bots, and website directions is one thing, but still being put on hold for 2 hours because the company doesn't pay for sufficient phone staff is BS.

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- and it does not make companies pay the phone staff a living wage either furthering the problem
  
  this all just show for the election with no plan to carry through
  
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  In '21 a bill to more than double the minimum wage to $15/hr failed due to Republicans in Congress, and Biden used an Executive Order to increase Federal Worker minimum wage to $15/hr. The issue isn't Democrats here. Vote Blue if you want to empower Harris and Co. to enact these changes they clearly also want to implement.
  
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How about automation of filing taxes. Such a scam.

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- New direct file from the IRS is a good step forward. It is very simple but not everyone is eligible yet iirc.
  
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  Its so simple I'm disqualified from using it because I have a HSA.
  
  Now pass federal universal healthcare and that'll go away so we have no issues.
  
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  Didn't they just open it up to everyone? I thought that was one of the Biden admin's recent wins
  
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A new Internet provider came to town and we jumped from Comcast. Waited up to two hours multiple times trying to get through to someone to cancel the account, and couldn't. So we just let them turn our service off. We don't have any of their hardware so there are no continuing charges. It'll be easier and less costly, considering the value of our time, to pay the collection agency.

That is fucked up. That's some bullshit I'd love to see fixed.

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- I have good news for you. You can just tell your credit card provider that you tried to cancel, but couldn't. They will just cancel it for you. It's a bit of a strong-arm tactic, but it works.
  
  Whenever you need to cancel a gym, try this. They tell you that you need to come in? Nope, not acceptable or legal.
  
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  Getting banned from the gym is easier than cancelling.
  
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  Yeah I think we did ETF or something. I've been out of work for 5 months. Now let me tell you about trying to close an empty bank account so they will stop paying people and charging you fees...
  
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  don't rely on that. I had a medical vendor charge the wrong amount (pre claim) and refuse to reverse the charge and my credit card company (well ex credit card company) refused to as well. because some sort of charge was legit they did not see the wrong amount as any issue.
  
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- Doesn’t work with Comcast ….. when I moved into my current house, I got a fantastic fiber provider that hooked me up on move-in day! However apparently the previous owners had Comcast and Comcast kept trying to collect despite me saying I have never had an account with them. 2-3 months later, they came and cut my fiber from my actual provider. Bastards wouldn’t even let me complain because now they realized I’m not a customer
  
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  They cut someone else's fiber? That seems like a trespass or destruction of property, but probably not your property.
  
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  There need to be serious consequences for something like that and there just aren't.
  
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Can we do something about the math test/Star Chamber hybrid we all have to fill out every April?

The IRS knows what we owe already. Send a bill or a check. If there's a dispute, then there should be paperwork.

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- Good thing, and good news, they are actively doing something about that.
  
  https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/strategic-plan/irs-direct-file-pilot
  
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  I think @Ensign_Crab is talking about how other countries like the UK and France do things, where you don't have to file. The government sends you a letter that says "you owe X" or "your refund is Y", and if there's anything that's not reported in there or things that are wrong, then you file that with the government and they go "oh, OK, here's your adjusted amount". Simple forms are often not "simple", especially with our arcane, convoluted tax code.
  
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Called up my health insurance the other day and they transferred me 3 times. It should not be this difficult.

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- That's on purpose. Fuck u
  
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Finally! Those republicans have been a nuisance for far too long.

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this is exactly the way. So much fighting over big issues but hey there is a lot of small stuff making life miserable and stifling progress.

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- Yes I want all child-birth-capable people to have proper access to healthcare but also yes I don't want AT&T yo bounce me endlessly between their app, website, and phoneline because the tranfer pin for my number isn't being generated
  
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Thank god, we need so much of this.

I've been chasing my bank around for almost two months now to get a problem fixed. They have obviously invested the least amount of money possible in customer service to the point where they can barely answer the most basic questions. The only progress I have seen on this problem is due to the fact that I finally figured out the right question to ask.

It is infuriating that they provide this level of support when it's obvious it isn't saving me any money - it's all just going to the C-suite and investors.

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- that right question to ask thing really speaks to me. I have found across the board that places do not have employees that know the business and expect you to. What they really expect is that the software they bought will allow them to hire people that don't know what they are doing for less and the software will do the work. they want the mcdonalds registers that use icons for a big mac or such. its so not working.
  
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Go after ISPs. We really need transparency on where they directed government grant money.

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- Executives need to be prosecuted for theft.
  
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are calling on [insert link to letter] health insurance companies

Someone needs to proofread these things.

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Go after introductory pricing. It's a bait and switch in my opinion and it's probably also a regressive policy too. Switching providers does get you better deals but if you can't pay early termination or installation fees you're stuck.

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This is something I can get behind!

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They're going to start paying for my Indomethecin?

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I'll be watching these regulations closely as I am a sysadmin for a financial institution's call center.

As a consumer, I suppose the 'Press X for Agent' requirements will be a net good, but man, it's a rough requirement for call center agents. If you present that option, people take it. A well-designed Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system will save callers' time because any organization with a minimal amount of complexity can't just staff jack-of-all-trade agents in a single phone queue. They need to transfer you to another team who is specifically trained to help you, and the time it takes you to explain what you need and for them to figure out where to send you is almost always going to be longer than the time you would have spent in the IVR.

So yeah, great for poorly designed or malicious IVRs, but it's gonna increase Average Handle Times across the board and increase stress for call center agents in well designed environments.

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- A well-designed Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system will save callers’ time because any organization with a minimal amount of complexity can’t just staff jack-of-all-trade agents in a single phone queue.
  
  Then maybe corporations should have actually developed the very first well-designed IVR. Because they're all shit on purpose at the moment.
  
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  yes. designed to get you to hang up and decide you issue is not worth it and you will eat the three bucks or whatever.
  
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- You can’t force a company to do a good job with their voice response or web page. However if it takes longer to respond to callers so they no longer comply, then the corp has incentive to spend money on a better automation tool or more people. Their choice
  
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- solution here is to increase personelle. If people want to talk to people they should be allowed to. Look at automated check out lines in stores. The stores tried to push them and elminate the manned ones and it fell apart. But you know what they did not get rid of them and folks when not forced to will if it makes sense for their needs and they get a good amount of use. Folks will use the automated systems if their experience with those systems are good. Give an estimated wait time for an agent and estimated time to resolution with automated and folks will try the automated. but if the automated systems stymies them they will call back for agents or press a key for them and will not use it for awhile in future. Maybe never. Its up to the automated system to actually be better from a human point of view.
  
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/08/12/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-launches-new-effort-to-crack-down-on-everyday-headaches-and-hassles-that-waste-americans-time-and-money/

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- Well this one I would expect to be a bit biased lol
  
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