Step by Step: a Quick $750

Verbally. I received a call from their attorney in response to my written demand. They then prepared a settlement agreement, I signed, and received a check.

The letter went to the company calling me because that is who violated the law, and who would be sued. The FTC could initiate its own probe and separately fine the company.

Not in this case.

So any company that ever settled a lawsuit is a victim of extortion?

Don't be daft.

Hard to imagine anyone could be so out of touch with reality as to confuse what the op did with extortion, but I can't think why else you would post this irrelevant and overly broad definition of extortion here.

Let's see, if obtaining something through threats (of any kind; since "threats" isn't qualified in your post), rises to the level of the crime of extortion, then practically every time someone negotiates anything, they would be guilty. EG: "If you can't beat their price, I will take my business to them"; a threat, which according to you, could result in years behind bars for the "extortionist" who made it. The gas company would be guilty every time they threatened to turn off someone's gas unless they pay their bill; that's using a threat to get money.

Are you starting to turn red with embarrassment for making such a ridiculous post? You should, after implying the op is guilty of a serious criminal offense, just because he knew what to do about the illegal harassing phone calls.

And that's why Atlas eventually shrugged!

That's why you are you dealing with bill collectors and I'm the attorney and am $750 richer.

Most disputes are resolved without the need to file a lawsuit. If it is your business plan, after receiving a demand letter from an attorney to ignore it and force the filing of a lawsuit, then, respectfully, you're an idiot.

In this type of case a lawsuit would have ultimately meant the company also would had to pay my filing fee ($430) plus pay their court appearance fee ($430) plus pay an attorney several thousand dollars to try and settle the matter anyway. No business in their right mind would do that, especially when they have liability.

Additionally, I may have had a colleague file as a class action. The company was using a call center and on one website alone is the subject of more than 300 complaints about its unsolicited calls. So let's see ... $500 minimum times 300 complaints to one website is $150,000 in damages. You can be sure the company has called many multiples of consumers beyond those complaining on the one site.

Or, I may not have filed as a class action, but when I won it would have been something called collateral estoppel against the company so that when they then got hit with a class action from someone else they lost as a matter of law. Their attorney did ask if I might file a small claims case, and I said no because of the collateral estoppel issue. Literally, the next sentence out of his mouth was a settlement offer.

Again, you are you and I am the one with the knowledge of the law.

It gets better. A judgment against the company could then be used by the FTC to impose administrative penalties. Since you have obviously not been paying attention to legal issues, FTC penalties are up to $16,000 per violation and FTC fines regularly run into the millions of dollars. Basically, whatever a company has.

You may want to check out the FTC website to see how many millions of dollars are being paid out in Do Not Call violations.

So, faced with a documented violation of the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule, and a legal demand letter from an attorney willing to let you off the hook for $750, you're going to blow him off and insist they file a lawsuit? The fact is bravery from anonymous posters like yourself evaporates real fast when you get the demand letter.

Consider it lesson #2 for the day: attorneys sending demand letters are not bill collectors to be ignored. They can, and will, file actions. When you force a filing then means you get to pay for an attorney, have numerous sleepless nights, explain things to your family, etc., and then it starts getting really expensive. Bro.

.

Two phone calls interrupted my July 4th holiday. During the second call the sales rep said I was in their area. So I checked (Google) and the company was nearby. Just a couple blocks from where I used to have an office.

$750 for less than an hour of work, I don't know how much you make per hour, but that was worth it for me.

There is also a potential for a monster payday if a class action is filed. However, my office could not file it or be involved if I also had a personal claim. But now I have settled that claim and the company is clearly on notice of a legal problem. I have already setup a web page about the phone number, the company, and the law.

This is how attorneys are able to pay so much for PPC or leads. All it takes is one person, the right person, to contact my office and this preparatory work will pay-off more than $750.

Another option I would have is to flip a class action case to another attorney. I have done that before. No work on my end except referring a case and that can be a six-figure "commission" check.

Marketing lesson #3: You cannot get referral fees from an attorney for referring a case if that involves the sharing the fees paid to the attorney. In short, an attorney cannot share their fees with a non-attorney. But you can be paid for leads, such as for CPA offers. This is why legal leads can pay out huge amounts. Sometimes you will also find lead offers, by email or by phone, in places like Commission Junction.

Marketing lesson #4: Instead of offering an SEO service, which are a dime a dozen and attorneys are beyond tired of the sales calls, use the SEO on your own website and then sell the leads to attorneys or an attorney service.

.

You're right. You only need the knowledge. However, I bet a company would act a little quicker receiving a letter on a law firms letterhead rather then a letter from a no-name non-identifiable individual.

This was NOT the original premise of your post!

Your intent in writing the initial post was to inform people of how smart you were and how you (and presumably other Warriors who wanted to follow your business model as well) could create money out of thin air with a small amount of effort by nailing ONE cold caller (or company) to the wall after they had made a mistake in calling you ONE time with a scare tactic demand notice of 'Failure To Comply' with FTC laws and then demanding payment from them.

Coming back and LATER justifying your tactics with 'Oh the business had been doing this for a while and had been in violation X number of times from a certain call center of the the previous year' is completely irrelevant.

The spirit of your initial post was an easy money grab by nailing one cold caller to the wall for one simple violation.

And as you, yourself have stated all it takes is ONE violation, from ONE individual (even an accidental input of digits into the phone or not having the 'latest' DNC list or whatever) and you can start sending out violation notices, scare letters and demanding cash payments feigning 'damages' left and right!

If this is your business model, good for you.

The law might be on your side but rational thinking and ethics aren't.

The spirit of the law also isn't. This FTC ruling was intended for gross negligence multiple time offenders. Not what you were suggesting in your original post.

Of course, I suppose when there is easy money up for grabs, every vulture in a 10 mile radius will be over to tear off a piece of meat.

Yeah... it's no wonder growth in the US (and worldwide) has stagnated. Every small business owner lives in fear of lawyers popping out of the woodwork at every turn for every little violation, no matter how small, and this thread is a perfect example of actually encouraging the practice.

I suppose it's just too easy to do what everyone else does when they get a sales call they don't want - Just tell them you aren't interested.

Lets really hammer them by first scaring the crap out of them with a legal notice and then demanding a juicy lump sum payment to make the problem 'disappear'.

Nice.

Anyway, nice work guys, and way to add value to society.

LMFAO

Here is the thread title in case you missed it:

Re: Step by Step: a Quick $750

It isn't really fair to call people clueless, simply because they lack your advanced mind reading skills. "The point", as you see it is certainly a valid lesson to take away, but what you don't seem to get is that it's not the only possible lesson. For some of us that are particularly annoyed by the ongoing problem of interruptions in our day by telemarketers who ignore the do not call list, the op's suggestion is somewhat attractive to contemplate, if nothing else, because it gives us a reason to find some value out of the years of annoying interruptions.

Just make sure you send it to the right place or you could receive a demand letter
in violation of something

The difference being you chose to come here, you chose to read this thread. Conversely some put their numbers on the lawful do not call list but get called anyways by companies that choose to "WILLFULLY" ignore that law.

So you think what the OP has done is dishonest in some way?

OP's post ended with: Marketing lesson of the day: pay attention to those FTC rules in your marketing.

smsagent, welcome to the forum. It's true and here's a copy of the check:

http://kindsvater.com/images/kdesign...ckredacted.jpg

One of the important things you will want to learn on the forum is how to evaluate who has been around here and knows what they are talking about.

.

Well this might convince you if you believe NBC News

Suing Telemarketers | How to Sue a Telemarketer


Making telemarketers pay -- in cash - NBC News.com

I have lots more links

I don't buy it either.

Regardless, the first problem with this is, "Sign up for the Do Not Call List."

Why do you want to apply to the government to settle a private problem?

Agreed--I will never use robo calls and there is no substitute for talking to a prospect.

Eventually, no matter how hard you try to hide, you will have to talk to someone.

That's funny. Lawyer jokes come to mind.

You feel sorry for someone that felt is was okay to break the law and expect to get away with it?

Really? :confused:

Do you think the OP is the only one they called?

If not, then that means that they repeatedly broke the law.
If I speed over and over.... but eventually get a ticket... will you feel sorry for me? I know I repeatedly broke the law, but when I got caught, I had to pay a fine.... :rolleyes:

I would expect every non-lawyer to get exactly the same results that you got.

The op is a lawyer. He knows the appropriate legaleze and he used his law firm's letterhead. When the company's lawyer called, he/she knew that they were dealing with a lawyer.

The op situation is not the typical person's situation and it is misleading to think that it is.