Complaints about wireless billing errors are on the rise and it’s no surprise that for 6 years in a row, billing errors are the top consumer complaint, according to the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS). The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has been listening to Canadians’ complaints and have implemented a Wireless Code that took effect December 2, 2013. Or have they been listening to Canadians?
The Wireless Code addresses complaints about contract language, term lengths, caps on roaming charges, and other non-billing related items. While all of the points in the Code address legitimate concerns, there’s one notable omission, which makes up 50.9% of all disputes brought to the CCTS: billing errors.
Billing errors are there every month. Sometimes they’re obvious, sometimes less so. How much are telecom billing errors costing you every month? Every year? For our firm, identifying billing errors on corporate mobility accounts is simply a monthly routine activity. They’re always there; it’s just a matter of finding them. For one our clients with over 500 devices, there has not been a single month without errors. Sometimes they’re obvious: a customer is billed $700 for hardware that was supposed to be a $0 upgrade; and sometimes they’re a little less visible: airtime minutes are not properly pooled, resulting in every user being overcharged by $1-$3 per month. Even seemingly small errors add up over the course of a year to equal a significant amount.
At Nielsen IT, we have billing experts who are specially trained to audit wireless services, identify billing errors and recoup the overcharge from the carrier. How does an organization without a formally trained mobility expert perform these tasks? The answer is: they don’t. Too many companies are stuck within their long-standing process where Accounts Payable compares the current amount due to last month’s amount due; if there isn’t a substantial change, the invoice is paid and filed.
The fact is that every user’s invoice needs to be reviewed every month. For a company with 500+ devices, that seems an impossible task. Even for a company with 30 devices, without an on-staff resource who is trained and experienced in auditing mobility invoices, it is an impossible task.
Outsourcing monthly audits to an independent, carrier-agnostic firm like Nielsen IT Consulting Inc. is the answer to keeping mobility costs in check. Talk to one of our experts to discover how we can help!
