Seven cents a minute: Usury

Editor,

Attention area telephone users. What a sweet deal for CenturyTel. You probably received CenturyTel's letter (mine bore no date), explaining the new Reservation-Wide EAS calling plans in which you must choose one or the other offer.

Better take a look at the last line under number two which, after naming area towns, reads: "… are $.07 per call."

Now, read the Leader story of June 15. You will see that the cost reads "… $.07 per MINUTE," (emphasis mine), not per call as stated in CenturyTel's letter.

Seven cents a minute is usury, folks. Our public service (now there's an oxymoron), folks signed off on this. Can you believe that? At our house we overcame the problem of long distance charges with CenturyTel, by not using this service.

Instead we purchased pre-paid long distance calling cards. The last renewal gave me 1,000 minutes at 2.3 cents a minute.

That's $23. At CenturyTel's proposed per-minute charge those 1,000 minutes would cost me $70. That's more than triple. As my mom used to say, "I may look green, but I'm not cabbage." If that's not a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, tell me what is.

To make matters worse, CenturyTel will now be issuing an amended letter telling you they screwed up. And you must pay them by the minute. We should all send thank you cards to the Ronan Telephone Company and the others who fought for this new plan that will stick it to the consumer.

After my phone call to Ethan Smith at the Leader office in which I pointed out the discrepancy, he was quick to check the wording in the press release he had received against the wording in the letter sent to CenturyTel's customers. His investigation and response to this writer were amazingly fast.

Thanks, Ethan, for a job well done.

Maureen Theiler

Polson

Editor's Note:

CenturyTel confirmed that they made a typographical error on their original letter to consumers and it is seven cents per minute. CenturyTel said it would be sending out a corrected letter soon.