Fed up by the way he said he was treated by his mobile phone provider, a state senator is taking on the cell phone industry.
Sen. Jim Waring, R-7, has drafted a bill that could likely mean consumers can walk away without penalty if their service providers violate any terms of the contract.
It would be the second bill in two years targeting practices by service carriers.
Waring would also be the second state legislator this year to complain about he was treated by cell phone companies.
“I definitely think that they were taking advantage of me in certain situations. But it’s not just myself,” Waring said. “I have friends who have had exactly the same stories.”
The gist of what happened to him was this, Waring said. His cell phone stopped working. He could hear people, but they could not hear him. He brought it to a service center. They told him it had water damage.
“This was in the middle of a drought and I hadn’t been near a pool,” he said. He asked how often water damage voids a warranty, and he said he was told it does by 75 percent to 80 percent of the time, and that you could get water damage from sweat in a T-shirt or steam in a shower.
“I don’t remember them walking me through all that — that I have to stay away from any kind of shower or I can’t sweat too much or it’s going to ruin my cell phone. That just sounded absurd,” Waring said.
But what further irked Waring was that he was told he could get a new phone if he signed up for another two years.
Waring said he would call his measure a “Cell Phone User’s Bill of Rights.” It touches on several aspects, from length of contract to billing contents to warranties.
The legislation, for one, would limit contracts to no more than 12 months. It would permit subscribers to cancel their contract for any reason within the first month without any penalty. It would also permit subscribers to terminate services without any penalty if the provider changes rates or terms of service and the changes will result in a “material, adverse change for the subscriber.”
Additionally, it would prohibit a service provider from requiring a contract extension to get a replacement phone under warranty. All replacement phones must also be new.
Under the bill, a subscriber would not have to pay for charges if the phone were stolen and if the subscriber promptly reported the theft to the provider.
Waring met with industry representatives on Nov. 9.
Susan Bitter Smith, a lobbyist for the cell phone industry, said her clients have not taken a position on the bill, which she described as “very comprehensive.”
“We committed to go back and look at it, and delve into what the outcomes might be for customers and what it might be for carriers, and we would provide comments back to him and suggestions,” Bitter Smith said.
She said they would review implications of Waring’s proposal.
Last session, Sen. Pamela Gorman, R-6, introduced similar legislation, which was narrower in scope. She said her mobile phone erased her calendar and efforts to get that and other problems resolved went nowhere.
What Gorman introduced would permit a consumer to rescind a contract if the cellular phone company violates any of its provisions. Cellular companies opposed it, with lobbyists saying it was overly broad and unnecessary.