Legal Commentary

FTC Sues Robocaller

By TChris

The FTC is going after a company that uses those annoying (and illegal) robocalls to market its extended vehicle warranties. The company -- Florida based Transcontinental Warranty Inc. -- wasn't easy to find. Employees are instructed not to disclose the company's name, and they're fired if they break that rule.

Fortunately, a former employee got fed up after only four days on the job and contacted the FTC. The information he provided corroborated customer complaints about the company's deceptive practices.

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"I understood it to be an acceptable practice at Transcontinental to say whatever was necessary to get the consumer to divulge his or her credit card number," [Mark] Israel said in the court documents. "Telemarketers were only disciplined for disclosing Transcontinental's name."

In response to an FTC lawsuit, a federal court in Chicago imposed a restraining order on Transcontinental and froze its assets. That puts one annoying robocaller out of business -- at least until the owners resume their operation under a different name.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 25, 2009 (boomark / email).