|
|
WASHINGTON, March 1, 2000 -- MCI Worldcom has been fined
$100,000 for misleading ads about its "dial-around"
service.
The Federal Communications Commission announced the fine as
it and the Federal Trade Commisison jointly unveiled a new set
of advertising guidelines
for the "10-10" services, which amount to about $3
billion in yearly sales.
FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky says much of the dial-around advertising
is either "outright deception" or "confusing
to consumers."
MCI Worldcom operates two of the heavily-promoted services,
10-10-321 and 10-10-220.
The dial-around services advertise rates that seem much cheaper
than comparable long-distance rates. But when customers' bills
arrive, it's often a different story.
What the ads don't reveal is often more significant. For example,
those ads that say ou can talk for 20 minutes for 99 cents?
That's great, except that it also costs 99 cents to talk for
30 seconds. That's because 99 cents is the minimum charge for
all calls, hardly a bargain.
Other ads claim callers can "save 30% of AT&T rates"
-- referring to AT&T's basic rate of 26 cents per minute
rather than its more heavily discounted rates that can be as
low as 5 cents per minute.
|
|
