Federal Trade Commission Takes on Clifton Telecard Alliance
Well it looks like Clifton Telecard Alliance (CTA) is being chased down by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for the misrepresentation of the number of calling minutes consumers get on their cards. CTA seems to be have been singled out in this particular case due to it's size and dominance in the calling card market with the FTC claiming CTA had sales of $28 million alone in just the last quarter of 2007.
The FTC cite one card which was supposed to deliver 40 minutes of calling time to El Salvador (according to the poster) and cut the call off after only 27 minutes. In all the FTC purchased 46 different CTA cards and claim none of the cards delivered the total advertised minutes.
The FTC has asked that the court demand that the company halt these practices while the case awaits trial and they have also asked for a court appointed monitor to oversee the business to make sure the process doesn't continue. The trial date has yet to be set but the FTC is trying to do as much in their power to curb this companies practices even before their day in court.
Unfortunately I don't think CTA is the one mandating the number of minutes given on a card! All distributors would love to have cards that deliver the true amount of minutes (although insanely high) but the carriers are the ones who play the games.
Just a warning to all phone card providers and distributors this is probably the first of many of these types of suits. The movement in Washington is to crack down on the calling card companies deceptive minute practices and is in large part thanks to the heavy lobbying IDT has undertaken as of late to clean up their business!
Here is a link to the The full FTC complaint against CTA
The FTC cite one card which was supposed to deliver 40 minutes of calling time to El Salvador (according to the poster) and cut the call off after only 27 minutes. In all the FTC purchased 46 different CTA cards and claim none of the cards delivered the total advertised minutes.
The FTC has asked that the court demand that the company halt these practices while the case awaits trial and they have also asked for a court appointed monitor to oversee the business to make sure the process doesn't continue. The trial date has yet to be set but the FTC is trying to do as much in their power to curb this companies practices even before their day in court.
Unfortunately I don't think CTA is the one mandating the number of minutes given on a card! All distributors would love to have cards that deliver the true amount of minutes (although insanely high) but the carriers are the ones who play the games.
Just a warning to all phone card providers and distributors this is probably the first of many of these types of suits. The movement in Washington is to crack down on the calling card companies deceptive minute practices and is in large part thanks to the heavy lobbying IDT has undertaken as of late to clean up their business!
Here is a link to the The full FTC complaint against CTA
