FCC may soon charge $225 to handle your complaint

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai (Associated Press)

As the rules currently stand, filing a consumer complaint with the FCC sees them assess and handle that complaint on your behalf. If it's a valid complaint, an FCC consumer representative may contact you for further information then serve your complaint and require a written response within 30 days from the company. There is no charge, but that could be about to change.

As Engadget reports, tomorrow the FCC is set to look at its complaint-handling procedure and possibly alter it slightly. It could mean the rules change and your consumer complaint is only forwarded to the relevant provider who is then left to decide what to do without further intervention. The part where the FCC assesses your complaint, asks for more info, and demands a written response would be gone. Unless, of course, you pay.

If the rule change happens, getting the FCC to go through the same steps as it does today will require filing a formal complaint, which costs $225. That's according to the Democrats, and in particular House Energy & Commerce Committee, Reps. Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania, who sent a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai expressing their concerns.

As CNET reports, the FCC refutes the claims being made, stating "The item would not change the Commission's handling of informal complaints ... The Democrats' letter is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the draft order."

If Pallone and Doyle are correct, the rule change could certainly save the FCC a lot of money, but it would also raise new money due to a natural increase in expensive formal complaints by consumers who feel let down enough by a company to spend $225 getting the FCC involved.

Now we just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.