Dear all,
I am new to this list and have been lurking. In addition to the Latin American and Caribbean study noted by Alice, the World Dialogue on Regulation also conducted a similar survey of Africa in 2003 - for which the Kenyan regulatory website was observed to be a best practice website. http://www.regulateonline.org/content/view/213/65/

As mentioned by Alice, there is a Consumer Center on the CCK website - which is an extremely useful feature.
In addition to what kind of information is made available, we also need to think about how it is organised and presented. At the CCK site, the information on the Consumer Center page seems overly formal. The tone and language of that section could be a bit more user friendly with examples of complaints and the kind of documentation that would be required.

For example, I bought a prepaid card last month that was supposed to have 20 minutes of time on it. And after carefully monitoring my time so that I have enough for two months, more than 30 days after I bought the card I find out that I could only make 15 minutes of calls. What do I do? Your site tells me that I have to exhaust all possibilities with the provider. Is that the person I bought the card from? If I call the number on the card and they take the complaint but say they can't help me, can I complain to the regulator?

Or, I have subscribed to a broadband (yeah!!) service. But from noon until about 6pm it is really slow. I've called my service provider, but they say everything is fine. Can I measure this? How do I show it is too slow for what I am paying?

Some websites post the complaints that are being reviewed by the regulator; other websites post yearly consumer complaint indicators. Also, an online feature to submit questions could be useful.

In a recent study of the Uruguayan regulator, we found that attention to consumer affairs was lacking on all levels (by the regulators, consumers and the private sector) simply because there is no historical tradition of a consumer movement in the country. One of the reports recommendations was for the regulator to work with the local consumer advocacy groups to strengthen them and make them a better resource for consumers. Developing a strong relationship with the consumer advocacy groups would also serve to lessen the burden on regulators in terms of improving communication and disseminating information to consumers via these groups.

Thanks for the great discussion thus far. Very useful.

- Amy Mahan

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Amy Mahan, LIRNE.NET Coordinator
Montevideo, Uruguay

www.lirne.net
www.regulateonline.org
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The CCK recently unveiled the CCK service chatter that sets public 
expectations Re: dealing with the Commission and its staff 
interchangeably called the "The Customer Service Charter " it outlines 
rights and responsibilities and the procedure to follow if  CCK service 
standards are not met. available at www.cck.go.ke

Then there is a consumer center on the website, which includes some 
useful links e.g how to make a complaint, what you need to know about 
telecoms services, but is this enough?
I think the following  benchmarks 
(http://www.regulateonline.org/content/view/354/69/ ) for Latin American 
and Caribbean Regulatory Authority Websites are rather useful

best
alice

above comments are personal and do not reflect any position of the organizations I am affiliated with






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