MCI Refund to Florida Prisoner Families
Friends and family of Florida prisoners may be entitled to $190,000 worth of free telephone calls under a recommendation issued by the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC).
Between February and July 1996, as previously reported in several PLN articles, telephone giant MCI overcharged Florida customers who accepted phone calls from FL prisons by nearly $2 million. MCI was forced to refund $1.7 million for the overcharges, but has been unable to locate customers who received $190,000 worth of the over-priced calls.
The overcharged resulted from a $3 surcharge on all intrastate calls made from MCI's "Maximum Security" pay phone system in Florida's 40 state prisons. The maximum intrastate surcharge fee allowable under state regulations was $1 for two weeks of that period and $1.75 for the remaining four months that MCI gouged prisoners' "Friends and Family" with the $3 connect fee.
In its investigation, the PSC pointed out that MCI is the seventh phone company since 1991 cited for overcharging on pay phones in state prisons and jails.
Source: Palm Beach Post
Between February and July 1996, as previously reported in several PLN articles, telephone giant MCI overcharged Florida customers who accepted phone calls from FL prisons by nearly $2 million. MCI was forced to refund $1.7 million for the overcharges, but has been unable to locate customers who received $190,000 worth of the over-priced calls.
The overcharged resulted from a $3 surcharge on all intrastate calls made from MCI's "Maximum Security" pay phone system in Florida's 40 state prisons. The maximum intrastate surcharge fee allowable under state regulations was $1 for two weeks of that period and $1.75 for the remaining four months that MCI gouged prisoners' "Friends and Family" with the $3 connect fee.
In its investigation, the PSC pointed out that MCI is the seventh phone company since 1991 cited for overcharging on pay phones in state prisons and jails.
Source: Palm Beach Post