CODEY applauds Senate for the Suppression of the calling card of unscrupulous practices.

TRENTON - The General Assembly today approved a bill sponsored by Senate President Richard J. Codey (D-Essex) to crack down on calling card companies who cheat consumers out of the advertising minutes by imposing hidden fees and restrictions. S2887 bill would prohibit certain types of charges and fees and require that all charges and restrictions are clearly marked on maps or packaging and advertising.

"There are a lot of small companies phone cards over there who are trying to remain competitive by advertising what appears to be much," said Senator Codey. "Secondly, the consumer is hit with all these hidden fees and they did eventually get 50 or 60 minutes, although they thought they buy 100. This must stop. If I went to a gas station and said his representative, I would not expect to hunt with half a tank of gas. "

The bill would require that all minutes promoted or advertised for any prepaid card available to the customer, without limitation other than permissible deductions for fees and taxes, and no fewer than disclosed expiration of the card or of the packaging and advertising. The bill would also prohibit charging busy signals or unanswered, and strictly limit the charges that can be applied to the map for payphone government taxes and surcharges.

Sen. Codey noted that part of the problem is the lack of accountability on the part of some of these companies and frustration it causes consumers. Therefore, the bill would also require that all providers of prepaid calling services, and prepaid calling card distributors disclosure of a number of details on maps or in any of the packaging and advertising, including : The name of the company, the leading provider of customer 24 hours Phone Service, the amount and frequency of any licence fee that can be applied to the use of the card for calls from the United States, US; notice that additional or different rates per minute, charges or fees may apply to the use of the card for International calls; per minute notice that rates may be higher for calls made via free numbers fees, and any applicable policies relating to the restitution, recharge, reduced minutes and expiry.

Sen. Codey noted that it is feared that many suppliers of phone cards advertise their services to consumers at a specific price and then cheat consumers by not providing such a service. For example, suppliers of advertising and the phone card offers 100 minutes of phone time for a fixed price of 2 cents per minute. Suppliers, however, be inferred from the map of hidden costs such as "connection fee", "costs of disconnection", "operating costs", "cell phone fees, and other charges. Consequently, consumers will not receive the 100 minutes that he or she expected, but will receive 40% to 60% of that.

In order to enforce these provisions, retailers would be forbidden to knowingly sell prepaid calling cards that offer minutes less than the number of minutes advertised or promoted. Violations of the Act would be treated as violations of the Law on Consumer Fraud.

The bill would take effect 7 months after enactment, but it would not apply to printed circuit boards prior to the effective date. The Senate unanimously approved the bill in December and it now heads to the Governor for his signature.