Posted on Fri, Nov. 09, 2007
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
Associated Press Writer
MIAMI --
They can be seen hanging behind the counter at the mini-mart, those
brightly colored phone cards for calling Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Often, they are the only reliable way for immigrants to stay in touch
with their families.
But many buyers of these cards are being ripped off to the tune of
millions of dollars a year.
Some cards fail to deliver the promised minutes. Others tack on
confusing fees that may not be listed in the microscopic print on the
back of the card. Still others round up each call to the nearest
three-minute mark.
"Sometimes they give you all the minutes. Sometimes they don't. Then you
have to switch to a new card," said Augusto Revolorio, a Miami Beach
grocery stocker. He buys the $2 or $5 cards regularly to call his mother
and four brothers in Guatemala. "It costs me more to complain on the
phone and be late for work, so I just rip up the card and buy a new one."
A 2004 study led by University of Georgia economics professor emeritus
Julia Marlowe found that the cost-per-minute rates for prepaid calling
cards were on average 87 percent higher than those advertised.
But because many immigrants like Revolorio don't have time or are afraid
to go to authorities to complain - and the money they lose per card is
small - little has been done to crack down.
"Every time I check, the telecommunications industry is a highly
regulated industry. This one they don't want to regulate," said Gus
West, head of the nonprofit Washington-based Hispanic Institute.
That's beginning to change. In the past year, attorneys general in
Florida, California and several other states have begun to take a closer
look at the phone card industry, as has the Federal Trade Commission. In
October, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., introduced legislation to regulate
the business.
The push comes in part from an unlikely source - communications giant
IDT Corp. The Newark, N.J., company settled its own decade-long
class-action lawsuit in January over allegations it failed to adequately
disclose its charges. Now, it is leading the call for regulation at the
state and federal level.
"What we'd like to see is an honest industry, where everyone is held to
the same standard that we hold for ourselves," IDT head Jim Courter said.
The most popular cards among immigrants - and the ones least likely to
deliver promised minutes - are those offering super cheap rates to
countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Haiti and India.
Norbert Dominguez of Miami said he buys about six $10 cards a month to
stay in touch with his mother and 4-year-old daughter in Cuba. Each card
promises 18 minutes but usually delivers closer to 12, he said. That's
an actual cost of about 83 cents a minute, versus the promised 55 cents.
Still, it is cheaper than the typical long-distance telephone rate of
$1.15 a minute.
"It's the cheapest way to call because other ways are very expensive,
but in the end, they're still swindling us," Dominguez said.
Dominguez said he has complained with little success. "They give you a
customer service rep, but it's never someone with authority," he said.
An AP reporter had a similar experience when asking about a hot-pink
card $5 card emblazoned "Pa' Llamar" (For Calling) that delivered only
60 of 148 promised minutes to Central America. Miami-based Blackstone
Calling Cards, the company that advertises and distributes the cards,
referred the reporter to ADMA Telecom, which provides the actual connection.
An ADMA customer service agent who identified himself only as Ernesto
said the company's overtaxed computer system sometimes misreads the call
destination.
"If you are calling for Nicaragua it could charge you the rate for
Haiti. The caller has to call us and tell us that there was an
inconvenience with the call, and we fix the problem," he said.
When pressed for more details, Ernesto referred the reporter to a
supervisor, who in turn gave another phone number - Blackstone's.
Oscar Munera, an independent distributor of calling cards, said that
despite the problems, the cards are a bargain.
"Fifteen years ago, you couldn't even call Colombia because it was so
expensive. Customers are never satisfied," he said. He said people could
avoid problems if they read the fine print.
But the fine print isn't always available, readable or in the consumer's
native language.
"There is so much variation in cards and fees that you can't just go to
a store, look through the selection and make an informed choice," the
University of Georgia's Marlowe said.
Engel's bill would require clear and standardized disclosures of all
charges on the back of the card or in ads, ensure companies provide
promised minutes and prohibit charges for unconnected calls.
"We're not attempting to have huge regulation, but I just want the
average person to know what they're getting," the congressman said.
No comments:
Post a Comment