Portage County Legal News

Ohio attorney general files lawsuit against two telemarketing groups

ELISSA COLLOPY
Special to the Legal News
Published: January 18, 2017

A lawsuit against two Ohio telemarketing groups was announced recently by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.

Accused of running a work-from-home scheme, Buckeye Impact Group LLC and Premier Design Group LLC allegedly misled consumers and failed to deliver promised services through websites deemed to make them money through Amazon products sold through those sites.

According to the lawsuit, both groups sold personalized websites and marketing packages while claiming they would allow consumers to work from home making $1,000 to $1,500 a month by helping them "create, develop, market and run their own successful ... internet business" as Amazon affiliates.

"People were told they could make a lot of money if they put up some of their own money first," said DeWine. "We found that just wasn't true. People were paying hundreds or thousands of dollars and getting next to nothing in return."

The defendants stated that when someone visited the consumer's website to purchase an item, the consumer would receive a cut of the sale while Amazon shipped and billed the purchaser.

An investigation led to the finding that none of the created websites qualified for an Amazon program and did not generate income for consumers.

According to the lawsuit, Buckeye Impact Group and Premier Design Group solicited consumers through email and phone, including calling numbers on the National Do Not Call Registery from the same telephone number.

The first group sold websites for a fee of $99 for a personalized website or $129 for an additional referral website set-up where consumers would receive referral fees for anyone they recruited for the program. Premier marketed sites for costs ranging from $2,500 to $7,500.

The websites sold to consumers allegedly had obscure addresses making it nearly impossible for a customer to reach during a general internet search, according to DeWine.

Amazon does offer a program called the Associates Program, according to the lawsuit; however, it is free to join and the website must meet certain criteria before being accepted.

This program is "intended for people who already have a website, blog, or other social media presence that has unique content."

All websites created and sold by the defendants to consumers were rejected by Amazon for not meeting basic requirements, yet consumers were unaware of these rejections and believed they were a part of the program, the lawsuit stated.

Consumers with these Buckeye or Premier websites said they received no income even after friends of family made "test" purchases from their websites.

Dozens of complaints have been filed against the companies with the Ohio Attorney General's Office and Better Business Bureau.

The lawsuit accuses the groups of violating Ohio's Consumer Sales Practice Act and failing to comply with state and federal telemarketing requirements, according to DeWine.

In the lawsuit, the Attorney General seeks reimbursement for affected consumers and an end to the law's violations. The lawsuit is filed under R.C. 1345.07.

[Back]