The first responsibility of the FCC is to represent consumers. Facilitating consumer interface with the Commission is a major component of that responsibility. Today, we are proud to announce the launch of a new online Consumer Help Center.
The Consumer Help Center will make the FCC more user-friendly, accessible and transparent to consumers. This new capability is part of Chairman Wheeler's comprehensive review of the agency's processes and operations. A significant goal of this effort is to take advantage of advances in technology to provide better service and support for consumers, now and in the future. The new tool launched today replaces the Commission's previous complaint system with an easier-to-use, more consumer-friendly portal for filing and monitoring complaints.
We see the Help Center as a new approach to enhancing communications between the Commission and the public. In addition to being easier to use for consumers, the information collected will be smoothly integrated with our policymaking and enforcement processes. The result will be better results for consumers and better information for the agency. The insights we gain will help identify trends in consumer issues and enable us to focus Commission time, money, and resources on the issues that matter most.
Here are some key features of the Help Center:
- Streamlined Process for Filing Complaints. The new web-based consumer interface replaces 18 outdated complaint forms with one web portal. The system is interactive, guiding you toward the most relevant options.
- Integrated Consumer Education Tools. Our "one-stop shopping" portal integrates complaint intake and educational materials. In some cases, the educational information will enable consumers to immediately solve a problem, without filing a complaint. If not, the complaint portal is right there and makes filing easy.
- 24/7 Tracking of Complaint Status. You can now track the status of your complaint in real time by creating a unique log-in.
- Faster Handling of Consumer Complaints. The new system will promptly serve complaints on providers, enabling them to respond more quickly to consumers.
- More Transparency. The system will make available to the public and internal staff a much wider array of aggregated consumer-complaint data than in the past, and an even more robust data dashboard will be available in the future. Stay tuned. Tell us what you think. The new portal enables you to give us immediate feedback on your experience, and is designed to be flexible and adaptable, so we will be able to continually improve our customer service.
We hope you will agree that our new Consumer Help Center is a big step forward that will enable the FCC to better protect and inform consumers. We are committed to providing you with excellent service.