The Oregon attorney general has put a telemarketer out of business there after residents were called collect and pitched a vacation package.
Dimensional Express Services Inc. of San Antonio, TX, doing business as vacationcollect.com, agreed not to operate in Oregon for 18 months.
Dimensional Express got consumers on the phone by calling them collect. Many people accepted the calls out of concern that a relative was trying to reach them because of an emergency, said Attorney General Hardy Myers, in a statement. Residents then found that in addition to listening to a telemarketer peddle travel deals, they were charged $8 to $9 a call.
The agreement with the attorney general admits no law violation, but requires the telephone outfit to provide full refunds to complainants including the cost of any collect telephone calls and the vacation packages. The firm must also pay the Oregon Department of Justice $3,000 toward its education efforts.
Dimensional Express, owned by Timothy G. Selby Sr. of San Antonio, also agreed to register with the Justice Department if it resumes business in 18 months.
Oregon’s telemarketing laws require registration and subscribing to the “No Call” list. The state has taken action against more than 200 companies for failing to register or for using fraudulent sales pitches since these laws began in 1990.
Dimensional Express conducted its operations in Oregon from February to May without registering.
Network
