Pennsylvania recently settled its lawsuit against with Florida-based marketing company RMC Direct Mail Services over allegedly deceptive warranty mailers.
“This marketing company has sent its last piece of junk mail to Pennsylvanians,” state Attorney General Michelle Henry said. “Junk mail typically can cause inconvenience and annoyance, but this company went beyond, startling recipients with urgent messaging and false representations.”
Under the settlement, RMC Direct Mail Services cannot participate in the creation or dissemination of advertisements to Pennsylvania residents, and must pay the state’s investigative costs and penalties.
The company sent mailers that appeared to be from the Internal Revenue Service or other government institutions, but were advertisements unrelated to any government institution, or appeared to be about a consumer’s warranty that was expiring.
They included false representations to mislead, pressure, and frighten recipients into responding such as language that indicated “Final Notice,” “Time Sensitive,” “Immediate Response” or “Respond by.”
Mailers stated “Signature Required” when no signature was required. They implied that if action wasn’t taken a person’s financial liability would increase.
RMC Direct Mail Services participated in the creation and mailing of advertisements for warranties on behalf of one or more businesses, according to the Office of Attorney General’s investigation.