The owner of a telemarketing operation that deceived consumers who were trying to sell their timeshare properties is permanently banned from the timeshare resale and rental business, and from all telemarketing, under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.
The settlement followed a court ruling that the company violated the FTC Act and Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). The case is part of the FTC’s ongoing effort to crack down on con artists who use fraud and deception to take advantage of consumers in financial distress.
According to the FTC’s March 2011 complaint, Vacation Property Services, Inc., made tens of thousands of unsolicited telemarketing calls to timeshare owners falsely claiming that they already had, or could quickly find, buyers for the owners’ timeshares.
The defendants demanded that consumers pay a large up-front fee to facilitate the sale.
The FTC’s complaint charged Vacation Property Services, Inc. and its manager and owner, Albert M. Wilson, with violating the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule by misrepresenting the company’s refund policy and the existence of potential buyers.
The complaint also charged the defendants with calling hundreds of thousands of consumers whose phone numbers are on the FTC’s Do Not Call Registry.
Now if we can just get rid of “Amy from card services”, the people who continually call with a “final notice” to lower my credit card rates, the “free home security system” people, and all the other folks that the no call list seems not to block.
Then we can start banning all the political calls, and surveys that call at 8:30 when my kids are in bed.
The no call list is a huge joke. Anyone who ignores the list is a crook but there is no recourse for the people who keep getting these calls. I’ve been filing complaints with the FCC for years but the calls keep coming.