BILL NUMBER: S7146
SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general business law and the public service law, in
relation to customer service access
 
PURPOSE:
To address call wait times for customer service.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends the general business law to set forth new
provisions for customer service access that shall apply to corporations
with 100 or more employees and revenue in excess of $50 million who
provide products and services in New York as well as the civil penalties
for violating such provisions.
Section 2 of the bill amends the public service law to set customer
service provisions that apply to public utilities as well as penalties
for violating such provisions.
Section 3 is the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
We've all been there. You have a problem with your phone, insurance or
utility provider, a kitchen appliance, or computer software that you
cannot figure out how to fix. You call the customer help line and you're
put on the dreaded hold. And then you stay on hold. For minutes, some-
times for hours, and sometimes are never connected with a person.
This frustration results in untold hours of unpaid labor performed by
New Yorkers, oftentimes to maintain their most basic necessities.
Regardless of how loathsome this may be for customers; companies,
particularly duopolies and monopolies, have little if any incentive to
alleviate long wait times for customer service.
This legislation builds off of similar legislation passed in Spain to
create this incentive by requiring companies with more than 100 employ-
ees and $50 million in revenue and utilities under the public service
law to connect customers with a human customer service representative
within five minutes and 30 seconds respectively. Corporations that fail
to meet this requirement risk being assessed a civil penalty of up to
$50,000 per day. Utilities that fail to meet a 90% call-answer rate may
be required to distribute a surcredit to ratepayers.
In an era defined by corporate profits, New Yorkers deserve quality
customer service, from large corporations and their utility companies.
By passing this legislation, we can put an end to the days where working
people subsidize the marginal cost a multi-national corporation or util-
ity should pay to guarantee quality customer care.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024: S7042 (Died in committee)
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect one hundred and twenty days after it shall
have become a law.