TALLAHASSEE, Fla., April 16 (UPI) -- Some calls to Florida's customer service line for food stamp recipients are answered by operators in India, officials said Thursday.
The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post reported that the Sunshine State has contracted with JPMorgan Chase for nearly $50 million over the past three years to provide food stamp program services, which include the customer service call centers in Bangalore and Gurgaon, India.
JPMorgan also has call centers in Illinois and Ohio that also handle food stamp calls from Florida.
JPMorgan Chase, which has received $25 billion from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program, has drawn fire for boosting its use of India-based contractors by 25 percent.
"It's befuddling how some of these companies just don't get it," said Florida Senate Majority Leader Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami. "They don't understand the public is fed up with this kind of thing, with not being in touch with the real world."
A state spokeswoman said the the five-year contract with JPMorgan runs through 2013.
The newspaper reported that Florida paid the company $12 million this year, $19 million in 2008 and $18.3 million in 2007 to run the program.
