Consumer Affairs Branch

COMPLAINTS AND INQUIRIES ABOUT TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDERS THAT ARE RECEIVED IN LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ENGLISH

The Consumer Affairs Branch (CAB) of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is responsible for assisting consumers in answering questions and resolving disputes with their utility providers.

Many questions and complaints are received in CAB in languages other than English.  The CPUC requires that a record be kept of these contacts and that the information be posted on this webpage.[1]

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Link to Data

Complaints and Inquiries Made to CAB in Languages Other Than English

Annual data can be found in the following links:

Excel format: [Data tables for 2009 through 2012]

PDF format:  [PDF for 2009, PDF for 2010, PDF for 2011, PDF for 2012]

Explanation of Data

The data in the tables are provided by CAB, and are a compilation of consumer complaints and inquiries, which taken together are called “contacts.”  These contacts to CAB concern individual telephone companies.  The tables report only the contacts that were made to CAB in languages other than English.

The data provide a tool for comparison between telephone companies.  The companies listed in the tables are organized in descending order, starting with the company that has the highest ratio of Limited-English-Proficient (LEP) contacts to company size, as explained by the following: 

• The data in the column titled “Contacts per 100,000 Access Lines (or equivalent)” represent the relationship between the number of LEP contacts that CAB received about a telephone company and the size of the telephone company.
• The abbreviations in the column titled “Utility Type” indicate the type of telephone company.  These types are defined in the Utility Type Definition Table.
• The columns titled “Percentage of Complaints” and “Percentage of Inquiries” represent the percentages of LEP complaints and LEP inquiries, respectively, out of the total number of LEP contacts for each telephone company.
• Disclaimers: 

1. CAB contacts include both informal complaints and inquiries (questions).

2. Consumers are first advised to contact their telephone company regarding any problems or questions about their services or bills before contacting CAB for assistance.

3.  Complaints to CAB are not always resolved in favor of the consumer.

4.  The CPUC is providing the information in the tables to assist consumers.  The CPUC does not endorse or recommend one Telephone Company over another.

5.  In addition to looking at the information in the tables, consumers also should do their own research before making decisions to purchase specific telecommunications products and services.

6. The data has not been disaggregated to separately report LEP contacts for services delivered over IP platforms.

CAB welcomes your feedback and suggestions for improvement regarding these tables.

[1] In Decision D.08-10-016, the California Public Utilities Commission required its Consumer Affairs Branch (CAB) to place data on the CPUC website about contacts with consumers who communicate in languages other than English.  The CPUC uses the term “Limited-English-Proficient (LEP)” to describe this group of consumers.  This web page provides the data on contacts with CAB by LEP consumers.