Direct One Communications

This company sells long distance telephone service in the form of pre-paid calling cards and also bills customers on a monthly basis. We believe methods used to recruit new customers and retain existing ones are deceptive and misleading. The company obtains customer card numbers and personal information from unrelated companies selling other products sold through infomercials or from telemarketing sales for magazine subscriptions. The information is provided to Direct One without authorization by the card holders. This company's principal, Anthony Brown, previously operated a Company called Direct American Marketers. This company was the subject of legal actions by 29 State Attorney Generals, and the FTC, charging the company with deceptive marketing practices. A seperate report is available upon request. If you have incurred unexplained charges on your credit card, we suggest you immediately contact your card issuer to dispute the charge. In most cases, the card issuer allows 60 days for cardholders to contact them for charge disputes. Carefully review your monthly statement and investigate any charges which seem unfamiliar to you. In some cases we have found that services are billed on a quarterly basis to avoid detection until after the 60 day window has closed making it difficult for customers to dispute the fraudulent charge.