We recently reported that U.S. Senator Charles Schumer wanted a federal investigation into what he called "robo-dialer harassment."
Approximately five days later, Judge John F. Grady of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a temporary restraining order stopping telemarketing company Voice Touch, Inc., its principals James and Maureen Dunne, its business partner Network Foundations LLC, and Network Foundations principal Damian Kohlfeld from making any further calls in violation of the Do Not Call Registry and other provisions of the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the FTC Act, the FTC press release read.
The FTC filed the case yesterday, charging that the defendants were operating a massive telemarketing scheme that used random, pre-recorded phone calls to deceive consumers into thinking that their vehicle’s warranty is about to expire.
“Today the FTC has disconnected the people responsible for so many of these annoying robocalls,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. “We expect to see a dramatic decrease in deceptive auto warranty calls, but we are still on high alert.” If consumers continue to receive unsolicited robocalls to numbers on the Do Not Call registry, they should report them to DoNotCall.gov, the officials advise.
For a quick reminder, the robocalls involves a computerized voice telling people that their car warranties are about to expire and that they should sign up for new service plans, even if some of them don’t even have a warranty or a car.
The restraining orders are in effect until a preliminary injunction hearing set for May 29, at which time the judge will reassess what type of relief should remain in place until the case proceeds to trial.
And all this after U.S. Senator Charles Schumer received such a robocall. Oh, did we mention that the Better Business Bureau received more than 140,000 complaints about the car warranty calls?
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