North Carolina Sues Telecom Telemarketer For Deception

by Mike Bevel CollectionIndustry.com

A telemarketing firm that tricked hapless senior citizens into paying too much for long distance phone calls is in pretty serious hot water with North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper.

“These sneaky telemarketers misled seniors with promises of special discounts and then stuck them with inflated phone bills,” Cooper told ConsumerAffairs.com. “We are working to put a permanent stop to their calls and make sure they give seniors their money back.”

The telemarketing firm in dutch with Roy is Indiana-based Buzz Telecom of Merrillville. And if Roy gets his way, Buzz Telecom and its employees will be permanently banned from telemarketing in North Carolina. Buzz will also be out about $5,000 per violation. More than 30 consumers have complained about Buzz since 2004, mostly seniors, their children or caregivers.

According to the complaint, Buzz began pitching its long-distance telephone service to North Carolinians sometime in 2003 through telemarketing calls. Buzz telemarketers regularly failed to tell consumers that they were calling to switch them to a new phone service and often claimed to be with the consumer’s local phone company.