Item Level Change Explanations

The Item Level Change Explanations feature allows customers to view detailed explanations of changes at the individual item level within their billing statement. This feature breaks down the bill into specific items—such as individual services, devices, usage fees, and taxes—and highlights any changes in these items from the previous billing cycle. By providing a granular level of detail, the Item Level Change Explanations offer deeper insights into what caused fluctuations in the total bill.

With this feature, customers can track changes in specific items (e.g., a new device installment, additional service fees) and understand how these contribute to the overall bill changes. This level of transparency reduces customer confusion and minimizes billing-related support calls, empowering customers with clear and actionable information about their charges.

Key Benefit

• For Consumers: Provides detailed insights into changes in individual items on the bill, helping customers understand precisely why their charges have changed.

• For Customer Service Representatives (CSRs): Reduces the volume of item-specific billing inquiries by offering customers detailed breakdowns of their charges, leading to quicker issue resolution.

• For Analysts: Offers a granular view of billing changes, helping identify which items or services are causing the most significant fluctuations in customer bills.

Use Case

The Problem

Telecom customers often struggle to understand individual charges on their bills, especially when those charges change from month to month. This confusion can lead to frustration and an increase in billing-related customer service calls.

The Solution

The Item Level Change Explanations feature breaks down the bill into individual items and highlights any changes that occurred in those items compared to the previous month. This provides customers with clear, itemized explanations of why their charges have increased or decreased.

Benefits

• Granular Insights: Provides detailed explanations of changes at the individual item level, making it easier for customers to pinpoint why their bill has fluctuated.

• Transparency: By breaking down the bill into specific items, customers get a clear view of what caused their charges to change.

• Reduced Support Calls: When customers have a better understanding of their bill items, they are less likely to contact customer support for billing inquiries.

How it works

• When a customer accesses the Bill Explainer microsite, the system compares the current bill’s items with the previous month’s bill.

• The system identifies any changes in individual items (e.g., service fees, device installments, or taxes).

• For each item, the system highlights whether the charge has increased, decreased, or remained the same, and provides a detailed explanation for the change.

• Customers can click on each item to view additional details, such as specific usage or service fees that contributed to the change.

Common Issues/Troubleshooting

• Issue: "The item changes aren’t showing up correctly."
  Solution: Ensure that the billing data for both the current and previous months is correctly integrated into the system. Incomplete or incorrect data may result in missing explanations.

• Issue: "The changes don’t make sense."
  Solution: If the explanations seem unclear, it may be helpful for the customer to review the specific details of the item. Clarifying item descriptions and usage patterns can resolve confusion.

• Issue: "I don’t see any changes in my items."
  Solution: If no changes have occurred between billing cycles, the system will indicate that no item-level changes were found. This is expected behavior for months with stable charges.