Second Look at Phone Bill

Several thousand customers of General Telephone of California have been complaining about more than the bottom line on their monthly phone bills, it seems--enough for the Santa Monica-based company to pay attention to the complaints and give its recently revised billing format another look.

The present bill, redesigned last April, features smaller type, which apparently prompted most of the complaints. The reduction was aimed at cutting costs while making room to accommodate billing by long-distance carriers. Each of these carriers require a separate page for its bill.

“We’re taking another look at the bill format,” said John Casey, vice president of service. “We want our customers to know that we’ve heard them and are responding.”

Casey said the company is developing “some alternative formats” to be tested for acceptability. “Feedback from the (test) groups will help us find a bill design that will meet both customer and company expectations,” he said.