News and Views

Personal Note

Looks like I did not have to take a week off. Aaron Henry Cohen was born on Friday, July 25th, at 12:03 am. Seven Pounds, Seven Ounces, and very healthy! If anyone is interested, photos can be viewed at: http://www.cardmall.com/aaron. I would like to thank everyone for their kind wishes. This will be a short issue of POL due to my sudden lack of free time!

Frontier Sued

MIAMI (July 21) BUSINESS WIRE -July 21, 1997--Blackstone Calling Card Inc., a Miami-based manufacturer and distributor of pre-paid calling cards, has filed a lawsuit alleging fraud, racketeering and negligence against $3 billion telecommunications firm Frontier Corp. The suit claims that Frontier Corp. knowingly defrauded Blackstone by canceling access to pre-paid PINs for long distance calling. The lawsuit, which was filed in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court in Dade County, Fla. by Catlin, Saxon, Tuttle and Evans, P.A., demands $27 million in damages from Frontier Corp.

According to the suit, Frontier Corp. knowingly arranged for Blackstone to purchase the network services and PIN numbers for more than 100,000 pre-paid calling cards through a senior sales representative of a Frontier subsidiary. Blackstone then manufactured and sold its pre-paid calling cards through its existing network of approximately 2,800 distributors and retailers in time for Father's Day.

The suit alleges that the subsidiary was knowingly set up by Frontier Corp. to circumvent tariffs by regulatory agencies and, upon realizing that they were going to be discovered, Frontier terminated the network services on June 13. This left consumers with 100,000 unusable cards days before the third busiest long distance calling day of the year and severely damaged the reputation of Blackstone among consumers and retailers.

In addition, the suit alleges that representatives from Frontier contacted the Florida Public Service Commission and made representations designed to harm Blackstone and, prior to cutting off service, intentionally rerouted calls to "Hard Body Escort Services" in an effort to further damage and discredit Blackstone.

"This is a classic David and Goliath story in a deregulated, complex industry that affects small businesses and the general consumer," stated Luis Arias, president of Blackstone Calling Card Inc. "Frontier Corporation is responsible for activities that have severely damaged Blackstone and undermined the public's trust in the whole telecommunications industry."

Be Kind to Animals Calling Card

The American Humane Association, Petco and Frontier Corp. (a leading telecommunications company) have collaborated on a prepaid phone card that helps raise money to support AHA's animal protection efforts. Dog owners can purchase the 60-minute "Be Kind to Animals Calling Card" for $20 at Petco locations nationwide.

From: Jim Silva

All Detergent

Bought "All" laundry detergent today at the local Foodtown and, when we got home, discovered a coupon printed on the tape from the checkout: "save this certificate to receive: FREE 5 MINUTES OF LONG DISTANCE PHONE CALLS! FROM ALL LAUNDRY DETERGENT" You dial a toll-free number, enter the "security code" printed on your coupon, and receive your card in 6-8 weeks. Offer expires 9/9/97.

From: Andrew Henderson

Until Next Week, Alan

Distribution

Phonecards On-Line is written and distributed by Alan Cohen. It is a weekly newsletter devoted to phonecards - Current news, viewpoints, and reviews of new issues. It is distributed free of charge, and available two ways.

1) On-Line on the World Wide Web. The address is: http://www.cardmall.com - All back issues are archived at the web site!

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