Dirty Cheap or Dirty Dirty?

Some calling cards are really doing some magic with your minutes.

They know how to make them disappear in no time.

Let's see their magic tricks and bring this shady side to light.

According to users, the calling cards don't deliver what they promise.

Their tool to under-deliver? fees.

Connection Fee: Charged when call begins. I've recently seen a card offering the US at 0.1 ¢/min with a 99 ¢ fineprint connection fee and with a limited talk time of 20 minutes… do the math!

Maintenance Fee: Can be charged at the end of a call, or every week, or every month. Just a way to make sure you card expires in no time.

Communication Fee: A charge when the call is over.

Disconnection Fee: Yet another penalty for ending your call.

Long-Talking Fee: A fee for talking for more than 20 minutes.

Toll-free Access Fee: A fee for accessing their TFN to use the service.

On the top of that, some calling cars have an outrageous rounding policy, sometimes 3-5 minute.

Even the largest player in the business, with total sales last year of $2.2 billion is playing a nasty packman game with your minutes. On their $3 Crazy card, they charge a connection fee at the end of the call for every five minutes of use. The card also lists a 25% service fee. The card issuer says the fees are fair since a customer can avoid them by using all of a card's minutes for one conversation.

This is just sad when you know that customers are mostly poor immigrants, older people, and other low-income consumers.