Thus, providing a carrier timely notice of complaints filed against it would allow customers, carriers and the Department to resolve the problem in a much more efficient manner where the carrier obtained a valid authorization. Implementing such a procedure in other circumstances would also allow the customer and the carrier to attempt to resolve the complaint independently without need for the Department to intervene. When carriers and customers are able to resolve the dispute without the Department's involvement, all parties benefit. Carriers are able to improve their customer relations and tailor their business practices to ensure that such problems do not continue to occur. It also avoids placing a carrier into an adversarial setting that is not conducive to solving the problem at hand.
Customers benefit as they are able to get a quick resolution to their problem.
Finally, the Department's resources are conserved so that it can focus on more problematic situations. As it currently reads, any interexchange carrier or local exchange carrier that initiates a change is potentially liable under the Department's proposed rules. However, in most instances, there are at least two parties involved, the carrier requesting the change and the carrier that affects the requested change. For example, it is unclear whether the Department's proposed rules would apply to both carriers, or only to the requesting carrier. Thus, Choice One respectfully requests that the Department revise the rules to clearly indicate that only the carrier that requests the change is subject to the slamming rules.