Photo by Ricardo Díaz on Unsplash
The Biden-Harris Administration’s new “Time Is Money” initiative promises a comprehensive pushback on frustrating, red-tape-heavy customer practices that waste Americans’ time and money.
It’s an effort many of us can get behind—after all, who hasn’t been stuck on hold for hours to cancel a subscription or faced confusing paperwork to get a refund you’re entitled to? These headaches aren’t just annoying; they’re often deliberately designed by companies to make customers give up, allowing companies to profit from customers’ frustration.
A Trend in the Spotlight?
Some companies have been getting away with it for years, but the ethical and legal penalties are starting to come more clearly into the limelight.
For example, Adobe, Inc., the global software giant known for Photoshop and Acrobat, is currently facing a lawsuit for allegedly misleading customers about subscription pricing and cancellation fees. Similarly, SiriusXM, a major satellite radio company, has been accused of trapping customers in lengthy, burdensome cancellation processes, leading to another legal battle. Toyota Motor Credit had to pay $60 million in penalties in 2023 for setting up a contact center as a deliberate dead end for customers who wanted to cancel fee-based products on their auto loan contracts.
The Gist of the White House Memo
The new White House memo calls for better CX as a business standard in multiple sectors. It includes demands for companies to offer transparent, up-front “all-in” pricing, easy cancellations for subscription services, automatic refunds for canceled flights, and the ability to speak to a human being for customer service help. It also calls for schools to streamline the regular deluge of communications to parents and for health insurance companies to make it easier for customers to understand their policies.
This initiative may seem like a breath of fresh air, bringing much-needed attention to what customers, citizens, and consumers need. During COVID, I recall multiple weeks when I received tens of thousands of words in e-mails from my son’s school district and school board members. It was impossible to keep up.
A Regulatory Crackdown?
What I really hope we can do right now is manage our expectations. The new memo isn’t signaling an outright business reform on bad CX, although a flurry of social media posts makes it seem that way.
While the memo introduces a mix of old and new initiatives, it falls short of the regulatory enforcement many customers might hope for. Instead, it relies on encouraging industries to make voluntary changes, which may or may not lead to meaningful improvement.
For instance, the Time is Money memo suggests that health insurance companies must improve their practices but stops short of calling for new rules. Instead, an open letter from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to CEOs urges clearing frictions from customers’ lives—the friction that forces people to spend too much time deciphering bills and insurance policy allowances. Similarly, the Department of Education is reaching out to schools with guidelines on how they can make parents’ administrative burdens lighter.
The memo also interweaves actions toward deceptive marketing. Deceptive marketing rules (also called negative option marketing on the Federal Register) have actually been on the books since 1973. There’s a need to update those old rules, but this process has been underway for a few years.
Getting Its Own House In Order
Interestingly, this White House memo for better CX in the private sector coincides with the federal government’s efforts to get its own CX house in order administratively through red tape and burden reduction. Executive orders, policies, and oversight bodies have targeted government agency CX practices for more than three decades. Many people point to Biden’s 2021 Executive Order as a starting point for CX in the U.S. federal government, but the work has been going on a lot longer than that—across multiple presidential administrations!
The Call to Action
The White House memo wasn’t a victory lap but a clear signal that the quest for better CX as a business standard continues. However, real change depends on vigilant consumers. Stay engaged: participate in public comment periods, join advocacy efforts, and tell policymakers what matters. Let the White House know what should be targeted.
Your voice is crucial in shaping a future where better CX is the norm, not the exception.
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