President Plan Aims to Streamline Consumer Experiences

U.S. President Joe Biden
U.S. President Joe Biden. Credit | AP

United States – The Biden administration on Monday provided new rules and initiatives to address consumer irritations, including difficult-to-cancel subscription services, tricky insurance documents, and the inability to reach a real person when phoning customer services, as reported by Reuters.

Addressing Consumer Hold Times and Costly Inconveniences

The “Time is Money” plan will address hold times for consumers or purposely lengthy processes that ultimately cost consumers, according to Neera Tanden, the adviser on domestic policy for U. S. President Joe Biden.

She asserted that it should not take 45 minutes to cancel a subscription, which took one click to make, or being required to download complex forms in order to file an insurance claim. Sometimes, they abandon goods, she said, resulting in those companies retaining money that consumers could have used to purchase other products.

“These seemingly small inconveniences don’t really happen by accident. They have huge financial consequences,” she said.

The push is part of Biden’s seeking to relieve pressure on voters’ wallets as inflation concerns continue, which has dampened support for the Democratic Party.

The same case is being made by the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the United States.

CEOs have complained about what they believe to be unnecessary demonization and over-regulation attempts by Democrats. For instance, the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has promised to deregulate business.

The new actions leverage existing government oversight instruments and are not attempting to ‘bully corporations in general,’ Tanden said. They do not have to be approved by Congress, according to an official, and some will be implemented over the next few months.

Push for Simpler Cancellations

The Federal Trade Commission is currently soliciting comments on a proposed rule that would make it as easy to cancel a subscription/product as it is to sign up for it, according to the official.

The Federal Communications Commission is planning to take the same steps on Monday in regard to cable, broadband, and cellphone service.

The Labor and Health and Human Services departments will also send letters to large health care corporations and insurance providers demanding that consumers are allowed to file forms online.

New Rules to Tackle Phone Trees and Chatbots

New rules are being formulated by several agencies of the United States informing the companies to allow customers to reach a real person with a press of a button instead of going through a never-ending phone tree ‘hell,’ the officials stated, as reported by Reuters.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is also getting prepared to release rules to restrict so-called ‘time-wasting chatbots’ deployed by banks to consumers, the official revealed.