Lawyer and consumer advocate Carl Mayer made a Christmas Eve journey to the Princeton, N.J., home of MCI Chairman Nicholas Katzenbach to present his First Annual "Bah, Humbug" Corporate Scrooge Award.
"The First Annual 'Bah, Humbug' Corporate Scrooge Award is for MCI's relentless drive since Katzenbach joined the MCI Board in 2002 to over-bill, double-bill, fraudulently bill and provide some of the worst customer service in the United States, while simultaneously shipping American jobs overseas," said Mayer.
"The recently released (December 14, 2005) national Corporate Reputation Survey done by Harris Interactive Polling revealed that Americans still consider MCI one of the least trustworthy and most unethical corporations in America today."
According to Mayer, complaints and regulatory actions against MCI have only mushroomed since MCI's perpetration of an $11 billion accounting fraud, the largest financial fraud and bankruptcy in U.S. history.
"MCI is the Energizer Bunny of consumer fraud," said Mayer. "They just keep over-billing and over-billing and over-billing."
Mayer noted that:
• On May 31, 2005, the California Board of Public Utilities launched an investigation into massive fraudulent billing practices by MCI involving thousands of customers. Just a year earlier, the Board issued a cease and desist order to stop the same practices.
• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) disclosed that in the first half of 2003 (the last year figures were available) MCI was the subject of more billing complaints than any other long distance carrier. Astoundingly, in 2003, billing complaints filed with the FTC against MCI rose 310 percent to over 8,000 per year -- double the rate of any other carrier.
• Consumer websites continue to excoriate MCI for its service. Sites like ConsumerAffairs.com, www.mythreecents.com and www.theripoffreport.com list hundreds of letters from people who have been ripped-off, pushed around, defrauded and otherwise victimized by MCI.
Mayer lambasted Katzenbach for boasting in a September 1, 2004 letter about "the company's absolute commitment to the highest standards of corporate governance and ethics...."
"I think Katzenbach coined the phrase 'Mission Accomplished,'" said Mayer. "His words are an insult to the tens of thousands of customers this company continues to defraud."
