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Wednesday, February 12, 2003

By The Associated Press

HARRISBURG -- A Poconos-based telemarketer has agreed to pay a $33,500 fine, and 67 consumers who complained that the firm was violating Pennsylvania's "do not call" law stand to get rewards of $50 apiece as a result of the first legal action taken under the program, state Attorney General Mike Fisher said yesterday.

Under a proposed settlement pending yesterday in Commonwealth Court, Kristel Marketing Ltd. of Stroudsburg would pay the civil fine plus $1,000 to cover the state's investigatory expenses.

Fisher said Kristel was promoting the sale of real estate and time shares in the Poconos for Vacation Charters Ltd., which signed a separate agreement promising to obey the law and agreeing to pay $2,500 to cover the state's costs.

Neither company admitted any wrongdoing.

Among other things, the attorney general's office accused Kristel's telemarketers of falsely claiming to be exempt from the law because they were calling from out of state; falsely claiming to be calling within a 30-day grace period before the law took effect; failing to identify themselves and their employers; and refusing to provide consumers with a return telephone number and address.

About 2.6 million Pennsylvanians have placed their names on the list, which is updated quarterly by a nonprofit group that sells it for $465 a year to companies that market themselves by telephone in Pennsylvania.