A federal court today spanked two telemarketers with some $1.2 million in civil penalties for violating the Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call (DNC) Rule.
According to the FTC, the companies called consumers whose phone numbers were on the Do Not Call Registry without having obtained their express written agreement or having an "established business relationship" with them. One group's telemarketers also allegedly abandoned many calls, by failing to connect the calls to a sales representative within two seconds after consumers answered, as required by law, the FTC stated. The cases were filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the FTC.
The two court orders settle the FTC's charges against defendants Central Florida Investments, Westgate Resorts, and CFI Sales & Marketing, LLC (collectively known as Westgate by the FTC); and against All In One Vacation Club, Accumen Management Services and their principals (collectively known as the All In One Vacation Club). In addition to imposing the monetary penalties, the orders bar the defendants from violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) and its DNC Registry provisions.
According to the FTC's complaint, the Westgate defendants bought phone numbers from an Internet-based lead generator that collected contact information in connection with offering an array of free and discounted products to consumers on its Brandarama.com Web site. The Westgate defendants purchased the telephone numbers of consumers who answered travel-related survey questions, such as "Select your favorite travel destination," on Brandarama.com's online form, the FTC stated. Many of these telephone numbers were on the DNC Registry. The Brandarama.com Web site did not refer to Westgate or notify consumers that they would receive telemarketing calls, except in language buried in its "terms and conditions" or "privacy policy" pages, the FTC stated.
The All In One Vacation Club defendants also sold timeshare and vacation packages through the company's telemarketing unit, All In One. According to the FTC, All In One called many consumers whose numbers were on the DNC Registry. Many of the calls All In One made were to consumers who had filled out entry forms for sweepstakes to win vacation packages and other high-ticket items. While the entry forms had a fine-print waiver on the back that the defendants claimed gave them the right to call consumers on the Registry, the Commission disagreed. In the FTC complaint, the agency stated that the form would not lead a reasonable consumer to expect that by completing it, they would receive a call from the seller about its timeshares and other vacation offerings, and that it did not constitute either "express agreement" or an "established business relationship" under the DNC provisions.
The FTC said that, in both the Westgate and All In One Vacation Club cases, consumers did not reach out to the defendants seeking information about their products or services before receiving a telemarketing call. Thus, the companies did not have an "established business relationship" with the consumers, a component of the DNC.
The Westgate order bars them from violating the terms of the DNC Registry and the TSR, and imposes a civil penalty of $900,000. The All In One Vacation Club defendants are barred from violating the terms of the DNC Registry and the TSR, and imposes a civil penalty of $275,000, the FTC stated.
The FTC recently said its pursuit of DNC violators has been very successful. As of September 30, 2007, the FTC said it had filed 25 cases alleging violations and had reached settlements in 22 of these cases, obtaining injunctive relief in all 22 cases. In 13 of the resolved cases, defendants paid civil penalties totaling more than $8.7 million. In the remaining resolved cases, defendants paid redress for other violations, totaling more than $8.4 million, the FTC said.
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Sundance Vacations
http://naskiewicz.blogspot.com/
Copy and paste into the Google search engine.
Sundance Vacations Sweepstakes
If you entered the Sundance Vacations sweepstakes with the hopes of winning the grand prize but NOT with the express intent of inviting relentless telemarketing calls bordering on harassment, and you have been the recipient of uninvited or unwelcome telephone calls and are registered on the federal or state Do Not Call lists, you should call the FTC at its toll-free hotline at: 1-888-382-1222; or you should call the specific state in which Sundance Vacations has sales offices:
(1) Illinois 1-800-386-5438
(2) New Jersey 1-800-242-5846
(3) Pennsylvania 1-800-441-2555
(4) Wisconsin 1-800-422-7128
You may find the following article very informative and interesting:
http://naskiewicz.blogspot.com/
Sundance Vacations
"This company is a FRAUD. I also got suckered into going down to pick up the free cruise I had been given as a "gift." Now, the customer service agent was correct in that they never use the word "won". Its just a matter of wording to keep their scams on the border-line of legal. And I understood that I had to sit through an hour of a sales pitch..which I was fine with. What I was not fine with were the LIES that they had told me in advance about this free cruise.
LIE #1: I could go on the cruise at ANYTIME during the year. I was told repeatly by the woman on the phone about how I could basically go whenever dates I wanted to, anytime during the next year. Well, that is a lie. When I received my vacation voucher, I looked at the fine print on the back page. You CANNOT use this cruise during the months of June, July, August, or any week of which there is a holiday.
LIE #2: If I didn't use the cruise, I could do with it whatever I wished. I could give it as a gift or sell it. The fact is, you CANNOT. It clearly states that the name of the trip is non-transferable and cannot be sold.
LIE #3: I was told airfare was included and that I could fly from my local airport..which is a major international airport. That isn't true. They tell you where to fly out of. For example, they mentioned Newark, New Jersey as a possibility. Plus, the fine print says it only includes "base" airface. I'm not even sure what the fine print is on base airfare
LIE #4: I was told I would simply have to pay minor taxes on a trip which values at about 1, 200 dollars. Well, the taxes start at 225 dollars per person (35 percent tax???????) Plus, there are all kind of registration and booking fees on top of that.
LIE #5: i was specifically told on the phone I would even receive free gift cards to Applebees, Red Lobster, and Olive Garden if I camew to the 5pm presentation. When I inquired about them, the girl gave me a funny look and told me that "they didn't give them out anymore because people don't use them." What??? I was told only the DAY BEFORE I would be getting them. So, they gave me this piece of paper and said to go eat somewhere (anywhere), attach the receipt to the paper, send a self addressed stamped envelope, and I could get up to 15 dollars for my meal. I'm not holding my breath. Bottom line, this company is a fraud.
They told me out and out lies about the cruise just to get me in. They are very shewd. They have people designed to search these very blogs just to tell you how wonderful they are. There is an old saying. "Me thinks thou protests too much." If someone has to over and over again tell you about all the awards they won and how great they are...makes you wonder why...doesn't it?????"
http://sundancevacationsmanipulation.blogspot.com/
Sundance Vacations
Sundance Vacations is attempting to manipulate the Google search results.
Here is the link explaing the attempted manipulation:
http://naskiewicz3.blogspot.com/
Sundance Vacations Vs Do Not Call
If you entered the Sundance Vacations sweepstakes with the hopes of winning the grand prize but NOT with the express intent of inviting relentless telemarketing calls bordering on harassment, and you have been the recipient of uninvited or unwelcome telephone calls and are registered on the federal or state Do Not Call lists, you should call the FTC at its toll-free hotline at: 1-888-382-1222; or you should call the specific state in which Sundance Vacations has sales offices:
(1) Illinois 1-800-386-5438
(2) New Jersey 1-800-242-5846
(3) Pennsylvania 1-800-441-2555
(4) Wisconsin 1-800-422-7128
You should also visit the following web sites:
http://sundancevacationsmanipulation.blogspot.com/
http://naskiewicz.blogspot.com/
http://naskiewicz2.blogspot.com/
http://sundancevacationspropaganda.blogspot.com/
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