Premise
You’ve all had them – that annoying, pesky robocall, offering a free timeshare, or survey for your thoughts, or in this case, a free cruise! A class action lawsuit against Big Cruise, including Carnival, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean, argues that these players violated the Telephone Consumer Protection act by spamming unsuspecting Americans with robocalls. These robocalls, through a company called Resort Marketing Group, require previous consent from consumers to receive.
Robocall: What happened?
As a result, the companies have settled, with a preliminary settlement fund of $7 to $12.5 million. This will be doled out to consumers, $300 per call, up to three calls, if their claims are valid. That’s $900 maximum, which at the high point of $12.5 million, is a hair under 14,000 customers. If the number of claims grows, I can see the settlement amount going up, or getting cut per person. I suppose it is up to the judge/lawyers and how they feel.
Free Money Details
You can check here on the settlement website, to see if you’re eligible. Both online and mail-in claims are valid, but why waste your time mailing anything in?
I checked for myself – no dice – but my lady qualified so I will track her status. There are some caveats, with final legal approvals being held April of 2018, but hey, the chance for free money? Why not? You should save any confirmation emails or pages for your records, and make a note, mental or otherwise, to check on it at a later time.
Conclusion
This was a very interesting situation, and a nice reminder of how government consumer protections and regulation do occasionally come in handy. Granted, it’s not a lot, but if you place yourself on a do not call list, companies should not be able to break the law with a robocall, and get off scot-free.
Now, if there was a way to blacklist telemarketers in one fell swoop, that would be good. I get maybe a half-dozen per year and it annoys me every time. It’s not enough to block their number – I want financial penalties, like this guy.
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Have you tried the Hiya app? It screens calls or at least lets you know if they’re suspected to be spam/telemarketer
Have not – but that’s really interesting and I’ll check it out!
I have used the app along with another apps. It did help me a lot, but it didn’t stop them from calling. I think the only thing that we could do now that will stop them is by the court action. I read an article that talks about a law firm called Lemberg Law which sued a company because of multiple robocalls that the company did to a consumer.
Thanks for this. My wife and I did not qualify, but I just checked and saw that both my brother-in-law and dad did. Maybe I’ll get a finder’s fee 🙂
My standard is 15%! See if they’re interested. Don’t forget my 15%!