On behalf of everyone in America who has a phone, I say:

Thanks, FTC.

Hear, Hear! I was getting these calls at least once a day for 3 weeks or so. I filed a complaint, and I'm glad I did.

This is outstanding news on a Friday morning. Drinks all around!

I think the baby fell asleep waiting for a live rep to come on the line.... He wants his number removed from their calling lists, too.

Poor kid, I know how you feel.

When I say my prayers tonight,I'm going to pray that they let me on that jury in that trial.

Does anyone know if you can give the death penalty for this ?

@YamiNoSenshi: More like "It's about damn time!"

At the very least, we should be able to get real info about these companies out of the lawsuit filings and documents, right? Real numbers, names and addresses to complain to? Constantly? At all hours of the day? Many times a day?

This story comes the day after the USPS delivered two of those "AUTO WARRANTY PROGRAM" junk mailings to me. Two. In the same day. For the same car.

"FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz called it "one of the most aggressive" telemarketing schemes the agency has ever seen."

Interesting comment, since the FTC wasn't doing anything about this scheme until publicly shamed into it by members of Congress. The next inquiry should be into why the FTC feels entitled to not do its job.

@razremytuxbuddy: Agreed. I can't even count on both hands and feet how many spam calls/faxes i've gotten from companies THIS MONTH regardless of having my number on the no call list, asking each one to remove me from their list and then reporting each company every time I get a call from them.

Ridiculous, if you ask me.

Funny how it only got attention when members of Congress start getting them. God forbid Congressmen actually LISTEN to the people who vote before it got out of hand.

@synimatik: I got three of these just yesterday: twice on my office phone and once on my cell. Getting them at work is the absolute worst, talk about a distraction and a waste of time.

Next up: the "We're calling about your high interest rate credit cards!" and "Don't miss this exciting re-finance opportunity!" robots, if we're lucky.

Great soundbites... but I would be surprised if this turns to be anything more than a slap the wrist, and $100,000 fine and a "promise" to self-police in the future...

The thing I hate abut these guys is that they inflate the costs of possible repairs in their ads. I talked to an auto warranty shill (I wanted to mess with her head) who tried to tell me that it would probably cost $600?!?! to replace an alternator on my Bonneville. I've had to replace the alternator twice and have never paid more than $175, that was when I took it to a shop ($125 for the part, $50 for 30 minutes of ASE labor) The last time it went out my husband fixed it for the cost of the part which happened to be on sale at Auto Zone for $100.

I actually lied to the girl on the phone about the year of my car to see what she'd say. Its a '92 but I told her it was a '95 to see what she'd quote estimated repair costs. Its the exact same mechanical setup so costs are going to be the same. She also told me that a water pump would run me close to $1000; WRONG! I paid a shop $400 to replace the water pump in 2006.

My point is that I hate the way they lie about potential repair costs to get the uninformed to buy their stupid warranties. I'm glad they're being sued because they're the biggest liars on the planet; right up there with sleazy used car salesmen and Bernie Madoff!

@Trick: I pray you're wrong. I'm hoping that since they've got Congress huffing and puffing over their shoulder (and probably threatening their agency budget), they might actually DO THEIR JOB (are you listening FTC?) for once and smack the snot outta these guys.

My office wants to find out who to send the brownies to.

I recommend these guys get publicly waterboarded as to why they thought this would win customers. The call centers and auto dialing product they use should be investigated too. What Companies sell the Robo-Dialers- This should be investigated on multiple levels. I want to see them raided - would make a top rated reality show.....

I hope they are placed in a two story jail cell where the phone is on the second floor, they are required to work on the first floor, and they have to wear a weight belt to simulate being nine damn months pregnant. Then required to pick up the phone whenever someone calls it.
I admit, upon finding out it is them and not a customer, I have used language that will float in a cloud over Lake Michigan for years.
/rant

@YamiNoSenshi: FTC FTW!

What's sad about this is that many people have filed complaints with the FTC about this constant barrage of Robo calls from all sorts of companies. But they never took any actions... UNTIL... a Congressman or Senator started getting the calls. Why didn't they do anything before ?

Just for something amusing:
I was at a Les Schwab tire place getting a tire on my wife's car fixed and they got a warranty robo-call. We thought it was fairly amusing.

The FTC should consider putting a PayPayl button on their web site to accept donations. :)

High Five!

@pratzert: Because the only people that matter in this country are those in governmental agencies.

I'm praying that my Congressman gets a call from an Indian trying to sell him prescription drugs.

While I find the calls as annoying as the rest of you, For those who are asking why the FTC did not act before receiving pressure from Congressmen who were receiving the calls, it may simply be a matter of not receiving enough complaints to warrant significant attention. In February the FTC published their top 20 consumer complaints in 2008 [www.ftc.gov] Telemarketing/robocalls do not even make the list. Even if you were to consider all of the "Auto Related" complaints as Auto warranty Robocalls, you are only looking at approx 1% of the complaints.

Realistically how much time or money do you think that the FTC will push to address this issue unless Congress starts breathing down their neck (which will pull people away form more pressing complaints)?

The Do Not Call registry essentially resolved 99% of the telemarketing complaints, the remaining complaints are for Auto Warranty Robo calls and Political Campaigning Calls (which are surprisingly exempt from the Do Not Call Registry).

Is this not a justified case where we can use our military power? Find these people, send in the Air Force to do tactical strikes on them, and exterminate them from the planet.

I filed a complaint with the FCC about an unsolicited pre-recorded telemarketing call to my cell phone. I got a response back that they wouldn't do anything because it wasn't a violation.

I called them back to ask why it wasn't a violation (so I wouldn't keep filing useless complaints), and they still haven't gotten back to me.

My reading of the TCPA must be off, since I though that would at least be a violation since it was a pre-recorded call, and a violation since it was made to a wireless device. Silly me. Useless FCC.

@Trencher93: Nuke them from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

@chucklebuck: But the phone companies can not figure out that information... yet they can give up yours to the government...

@Jonbo298: If it doesn't happen to the members of Congress then the little people don't matter...

Got to love that inherent flaw of automatic robo-calling- everyone gets called as it calls each and every number...

@Trick: I give it a little more than that since they have p-o'ed attorney generals and Congress people.

Probably a drawn out 4 year case with a $2 million fine which the company will fight for 4 more years all the while still robo-calling...

@Rachacha: So what caused the auto warranty freaks to amp it up in the first half of 2009?

[www.ftc.gov]

From the complaint:
"This defendant also claimed that he makes 1.8 million dials per day and that he had done more than $40 million worth of dialing for extended warranty companies, including one billion dials on behalf of his largest client, according to the court papers filed by the FTC."

Impressively criminal, indeed...

@Rachacha: Well there you go again, mixing facts into a stewing 'roid rage attack on Teh Government.
Good point, btw.

@razremytuxbuddy: Tell me about it. I filed a complaint about the "you won a Lincoln Navigator" scheme, which hundreds of people have also complained about online. Got a letter saying No violation found. Called for explanation. Was told there was no analyst's name attached and no more details. I wrote to the name on the letter and demanded an explanation, provided print outs of other consumers' complaints about the same company, and I never got the courtesy of a response. Our local TV consumer reporter said last week that the FTC prosecutes apparently a miniscule # of cases, only those that get "lots" of complaints. Something like 134 companies total. I think telemarketers have figured out the odds are in their favor that they aren't going to be caught and have to pay up. There is no purpose to the Do Not Call registry if telemarketers are allowed to call you and give you an automated "press here" opt-out. that's why I registered my number--to OPT OUT. The entire FTC Do Not Call is a farce.

@SacraBos: @razremytuxbuddy: Tell me about it. I filed a complaint about the "you won a Lincoln Navigator" scheme, which hundreds of people have also complained about online. Got a letter saying No violation found. Called for explanation. Was told there was no analyst's name attached and no more details. I wrote to the name on the letter and demanded an explanation, provided print outs of other consumers' complaints about the same company, and I never got the courtesy of a response.

Our local TV consumer reporter said last week that the FTC prosecutes apparently a miniscule # of cases, only those that get "lots" of complaints. Something like 134 companies total. I think telemarketers have figured out the odds are in their favor that they aren't going to be caught and have to pay up. There is no purpose to the Do Not Call registry if telemarketers are allowed to call you and give you an automated "press here" opt-out. that's why I registered my number--to OPT OUT. The entire FTC Do Not Call is a farce.

@pratzert: Don't forget the attorney general of Indiana.

Plz to destroy the unsolicited online pharmacy calls, kthx.

@razremytuxbuddy:
What's more ridiculous is that Congress didn't give a rat's ass until THEY started getting the calls themselves. See, it's not a problem for those jackasses if their constituents are getting the calls. They only care when they themselves get called.

My thought is that if this happens in the future, we consumers need to get a hold of the private cell phone numbers of our members of congress and find a way to forward all those telemarketing calls to them. I guarantee the problem would be gone within a week.

@Megan Squier:
$600 is probably what a dealer or shady place would charge you. I hear that a local Tuffy franchise charges $400 for alternators that they get from Napa for $125. And we're not even including labor to do it. I could swap an alternator in 15 minutes, but you'll probably get charged over $100 for labor to do it. Auto repairs are one of the biggest ripoffs out there next to extended auto warranties.

@econobiker: Honestly I don't know, but if I had to guess with the economy tanking, people are concerned about keeping their vehicles on the road and avoiding inexpected repairs. If I told you that an average transmission replacement cost $3000*, but for a $300/year "extended warranty" if your transmission broke down I would repair it free of charge (insert very small print and exceptions here, free repair only valid at 2 repair shops in your state 500 miles away, shop fees, parts and labor at additional charge, hazardous material disposal fee extra, we will employ high pressure sales tactics to get you to pay for optional services that we will make seem like they are mandatory), most people who were concerned about making ends meet like the warm fuzzy feeling that a steady monthly payment provides rather than facing an unexpected auto repair bill. Forget the fact that most times you do not need a transmission replacement, and while the repair may be expensive, it is far less than the cost of replacement, and about in line with the cost of the aftermarket extended warranty.

* I just made the $3000 transmission replacement figure up for example, I don't actually know how much a replacement would cost.

@YamiNoSenshi:

Thanks for FINALLY doing your job is more like it. How long has this been going on and how long have they been doing nothing about it?
I realize they probably need a lot of complaints. Is 5k enough? 10k? I guess the magic number is whenever the politicians get pissed, just like previous posters have said.

@Megan Squier:

They probably go off dealer quotes, which are crazily inflated. Not sure where you got your water pump replaced, but a bmw dealership wanted $1150 for a radiator and water pump replacement. I got it done at a local mechanic for $400, plus they found another problem and fixed that, plus I got new wiper blades.

@scootersidecar: I am praying that my congressman gets a campaign solicitation call from another congressman at home at 11:00pm so that we can do away with campaign calls.

@chris_d: "What's more ridiculous is that Congress didn't give a rat's ass until THEY started getting the calls themselves"

Exactly. Had this not happened, the FTC wouldn't have lifted a finger.

@chris_d: My new VOIP phone service is evil... it has a feature that allows you to capture an incoming caller ID field, and specifiy another number to always forward any future calls matching that field without first ringing your phone. Hehehe.

@econobiker: That is potentially ONE BILLION ADMITTED VIOLATIONS of the Do Not Call law. Potentially 1.8 million DNC violations per day, but the FTC did nothing to stop them. I want heads to roll at FTC.