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TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that his office has reached a settlement with a tenth prepaid calling card company, closely following a settlement with nine other prepaid and long distance phone card companies announced in June. Touch-Tel Partners USA, LCC, a major telecommunications service provider of international prepaid calling cards in Florida, must cease all deceptive advertising, provide 100 percent of the minutes advertised, and submit to three years of auditing by the Office of the Attorney General to ensure that it is following the terms of the agreement. The company will also reimburse the Attorney General’s Office $125,000 for the cost of its investigation and future enforcement efforts.

The Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Division launched an investigation last July after receiving more than 200 complaints about the industry’s practices. Prior to the investigation, consumers complained that companies within the industry often utilized hidden or inadequately disclosed fees and charges such as “hang-up fees,” periodic maintenance fees and destination surcharges. Touch-Tel also allegedly offered “unlimited” minutes which were not truly unlimited and made generic mention of additional fees and surcharges rather than specifically stating the actual amount of each fee or surcharge.

Investigators determined there were also allegations that Touch-Tel was rounding up completed call times to the nearest three-minute increment. Additionally, at least one advertising poster seized by the Economic Crimes Division contained fees and surcharges disclaimer printed in English only, even though the rest of the poster was printed in Spanish. Other problems included a statement that a 25 percent service fee would apply to each call and a general statement on numerous posters that stated surcharges would apply. These terms were non-specific as to actual charges that consumers would be required to pay.

Under today’s agreement, Touch-Tel must agree to print disclosures in any language used in the advertisements. There must be a clear representation of the exact number of minutes available on each card and the card’s expiration dates, if applicable, must be clearly provided. There must also be no surcharges resembling taxes and calls must only be rounded up to the nearest one-minute increment. All additional limitations or terms of use must be clearly provided.

In June, the Attorney General’s Office reached similar agreements with IDT America, Inc.; Union Telecom Alliance (UTA); Total Call International, Inc.; Blackstone Calling Card, Inc.; CVT Prepaid Solutions, Inc.; Dollar Phone Enterprise, Inc.; STi Prepaid, LLC; Alternatel, Inc; and Cristel Telecommunications, LLC. Some investigations are still ongoing and consumers affected by these or other practices may file a complaint by visiting the Attorney General’s website at http://www.myfloridalegal.com or calling the fraud hotline at 1-866-966-7226.

Examples of the problematic advertisements are available online at:
http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MRAY-7FHGJ8/$file/orbitelFINAL.pdf