Everyone has gotten at least one call from an automated service warning that your car’s warranty is about to expire, right? Even if, like me, you don’t own a car. It’s quite a nuisance, though little more. Still, for some it could be costing valuable minutes. Thankfully, Verizon Wireless is sticking it to these rogues. They’ve filed suit in New Jersey, and will take on three of the offending companies. Their infraction: using an auto-dialer illegally. Hopefully this will make the now-daily calls go away.
This isn’t the first time Verizon has stuck it to illegal telemarketers. They’ve fought similar illegal auto dialers in the past. The linked issue was basically the same as the car warranty one we’re dealing with now, except in Spanish. No matter the language, though, it is a violation of the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act to use an autodialer to call cell phones.
“Telemarketers continue to harass our customers with these pitches for extended auto warranties, among other offers,” said Steven E. Zipperstein, vice president and general counsel of Verizon Wireless. “Whatever it is they are selling, these unlawful telemarketing calls are an annoyance to our customers and invade their privacy, and we will continue using all the legal weapons in our arsenal to stop this activity and protect our customers.”
These autodialing companies are quite elusive. They don’t reveal many details about their company to the people who actually speak to a representative, and if you try to call back the caller ID number it comes up as unavailable. In fact, Verizon has named John Does as defendants so they can use the legal process to discover more about these offenders.
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