Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: Telemarketers charged with making illegal robocalls to generate solar panel leads, (Mar 10, 2016)
Organizations Mentioned:U.S. Department of Justice
By Michael Menzhuber, J.D., LL.M.
The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the FTC, has filed a lawsuit in the federal district court in Los Angeles to stop a telemarketing operation that allegedly made illegal robocalls promising consumers energy savings in an effort to generate leads to sell solar panels (U.S. v. KFJ Marketing, LLC, File No. 152 3166, Dkt. 2:16-cv-1643).
The complaint was filed against defendants: KFJ Marketing, LLC; Sunlight Solar Leads, LLC; Go Green Education; and Francisco J. Salvat, individually and as an officer of each of the three businesses. It alleges that the defendants placed more than 1.3 million illegal pre-recorded telemarketing calls to consumers with phone numbers on the Do Not Call (DNC) Registry.
The complaint further alleges that the pre-recorded calls told consumers to “push one” to lower their electric bill. Those that did were supposedly transferred to telemarketers who asked if they were interested in solar panels. An appointment was scheduled with a solar panel company for those consumers who said “yes” and the consumer’s information was purportedly sold to that company as a customer lead. Requests by consumers not to be called again were often ignored, the complaint claims.
The complaint charges the defendants with violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule by:
calling consumers whose numbers are on the DNC Registry;
continuing to call consumers who previously asked not to be called;
failing to transmit accurate caller-ID information; and
making illegal robocalls.
In addition to civil penalties, the complaint seeks costs of bringing suit, as well as a federal court order permanently barring the defendants from future violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule and FTC Act.
News: ConsumerProtection FederalTradeCommissionNews