The Alabama Public Service Commission didn’t track whether...

The Alabama Public Service Commission didn’t track whether the roughly 750 complaints it received last year about phone companies were resolved to the satisfaction of the customer, a PSC spokeswoman told us Wednesday. Explaining a recently approved Alabama measure (http://bit.ly/PucWgY) stripping the PSC’s authority to follow up on consumer complaints, the measure’s author, Republican State Rep. Mike Hill, told us the PSC was essentially acting as an “answering service” by simply forwarding complaints to the companies (CD March 18 p10). Asked whether the PSC had been able to resolve the complaints it received, its spokeswoman said in a statement: “All complaints are resolved one way or the other and many of these are resolved in the customer’s favor.” Many “complaints result from consumer misunderstanding about service terms, rates, and conditions or misinterpretation of prior oral or written communication with company marketing representatives,” she said. “Such conflicts may be resolved to the consumer’s satisfaction but not necessarily in their favor."