Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with FTC

Dry cleaners destroyed dress, refusing refund

davebug — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:45:11 -0800

My girlfriend took a $200 dress to the dry cleaners, paid $9 for it to be cleaned, and it was returned with broken threads and missing beading. The dry cleaning place sited some Federal Trade Commission ruling that they say protects them from having to pay for the clothing. Three part question, all of which are important to me: a) What is the FTC ruling they're referring to? b) How difficult will taking them to court be? c) Are there any strategies to further the discussion of them simply paying for the dress?

How can I take down these telemarketers?

anodyne- — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 15:53:18 -0800

Please help me take action against an unidentified automated telemarketer! Over the last three weeks I have received three identical automated calls on my home phone number soliciting a "free carpet cleaning" service. The company and phone number are never identified, and the only options on the phone tree are:
1) Make an "appointment"
2) unsubscribe from list.

*69 only gives me "000-000-0000," so I can't call them back and ask for information.

I would love to send a complaint to the FCC/FTC/whoever, but I don't know if this will do any good without as much as a phone number.

I'm sure this is illegal (I believe I can take them to small-claims court for $500 for the automated solicitations), but I don't know to what degree or to whom I should complain. Any ideas on what, if any, action I can take? Thanks.

Who will stop Domain Registry of America?

amtho — Thu, 31 May 2007 09:17:48 -0800

Yet another one of my clients has been confused by a Domain Registry of America "invoice" mailing, and now I'm even madder at them. I saw this FTC ruling from 2003, but is there any kind of action/suit against the company now? If not, why not? This is the third or fourth client of mine to go through this. These are smart people, they're just busy and they are very conscientious about paying all their invoices. Naturally, when they receive a mailing warning them that their domain name is going to expire, they just put a check in the envelope and send it off. I only found out about it because I asked how many years they'd like to renew the domain name, and they told me they'd "renewed" it last week. I got suspicious, mentioned the usual technique of Domain Registry of America, and the first word of the reply message from my client was an expletive.

I am so tired of this. It would be easy to assert that this company's entire business model is built on the kind of advertising that confuses people. Is there some kind of class action suit, or going on? I've spent a number of otherwise-billable hours helping these people untangle this issue, and my clients have lost time, too.

If there's a good reason why a suit _can't_ or _shouldn't_ be filed, I'd love to hear about it from AskMe contributors who, whether or not they are lawyers, would of course not be my lawyer and would not be rendering me official legal advice.

No Phishing

Saucy Intruder — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 22:47:29 -0800

I get a phishing e-mail on a daily basis. It probably accounts for 10% of my spam. The FTC and private industry groups are up in arms, but the problem keeps getting worse. Given the little old ladies who are losing their pensions by clicking on these links, why can't anyone catch these guys? What's the technological barrier?