The Division of Consumer Affairs today announced seven providers have agreed to a settlement with the state regarding the sale and advertising of prepaid calling cards.The division investigated the companies` business practices concerning consumers getting the full amount of calling time for which they paid.
IDT Corp. in Newark Locus Telecommunications Inc. in Englewood Cliffs CVT Prepaid Solutions Inc. in Great Neck, N.Y. Dollar Phone Enterprises Inc. in Brooklyn, N.Y. Epana Networks Inc. in New York STi PhoneCard Inc. in Flushing, N.Y. and Total Call International Inc. in Los Angeles all settled with the state.
Each company will pay $5,000 to DCA for the costs of the investigation. Six of the companies will pay an additional $5,000 annually for the next three years to cover the costs of state monitoring of their businesses. CVT will not pay the additional fees, as the company no longer sells prepaid calling cards.
These settlements ensure that the terms governing the use of calling cards are clearly and plainly disclosed to consumers, Attorney General Anne Milgram said in a statement.
The companies must also adhere to state regulations that include disclosing all fees on the calling card packaging and advertising. The companies must also clearly disclose policies for rounding off phone time for billing purposes.
|
Canadian Competition Bureau cracks down on prepaid calling card companies
27/03/2008
Government crack downs on the prepaid industry are not isolated to the United States. North of the border, the Government of Canada`s Competition Bureau has started an initiative to ensure accurate disclosure of information from prepaid calling card providers.We have... |
|
Fla. gets settlement with calling card companies
13/06/2008
Residents who use prepaid calling cards can stop worrying about being cheated on their minutes.Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced Wednesday that the state has reached a settlement with nine calling-card companies. The companies must cease deceptive... |
|
FTC Accused The Companies Of Misleading Prepaid Calling Card Customers
26/02/2009
WASHINGTON (Indianas NewsCenter) - A group of prepaid calling card companies have agreed to pay more than $2 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission.The FTC accused the companies of misleading customers, especially non-English speaking... |
|
Shell Collects Consumer Info With Calling Card Promotion
07/11/2007
Shell, in a seemingly innocent effort to give away a free phone card valued at $2 to students away from home during the Chinese New Year, has, according to Tian, distributed promotional pieces around the Arizona State University campus. In order to redeem the offer,... |
|