WAUKESHA, Wis. — Midwest Heating and Cooling has agreed to pay the state $40,000 over violations of Wisconsin's phone solicitation laws, including calling those who were already registered on the state's Do Not Call list.
The HVAC contractor, based in Mukwonago, violated two specific statutes, according to the Waukesha County District Attorney's office: A statute that requires companies to register as "telephone solicitors," and one that bars companies from calling phone numbers on the Do Not Call list.
"If you're going to contact a Wisconsin Consumer, whether you're located here or somewhere else outside of Wisconsin, the law requires you to register with us," Michael Domke, Director of the Bureau of Consumer protection said. "That's an annual registration and allows you to then call individuals who are not on the Do Not Call list as part of that registration."
The businesses that register with DATCP are given the list of more than 5 million numbers on the state's Do Not Call registry. Businesses face $100 fines for every call made when not registered and, additionally, a $100 fine for every call made to a person on the Do Not Call registry. So in theory, a company that is not registered could be required to pay $200 for each call made.
"It is pretty effective," Domke said. "It can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. We had a couple of settlements last year that were int he hundreds of thousands of dollars for Do Not Call violations. You're going to have a few that we see repeat here and there but by and large, they are an anomaly. It's pretty effective."
According to court documents, Midwest Heating and Cooling made more than 120,000 phone calls to numbers on the Do Not Call list between January 1st and April 17th, 2022. They didn't register as a telephone solicitor until April 18th — after more than 170,000 phone calls to sell air conditioning units, furnaces, and maintenance services had already been placed.
Even after the company had registered as a solicitor, the documents show it continued to make sales calls to those on the Do Not Call list. A total of 189,723 calls were made to those numbers between April 18th and October 22nd, 2022.
The Do Not Call list has over five million Wisconsin phone numbers currently registered. Registration on the list is permanent, unless a person chooses to remove their number from the list. By being on the Do Not Call list, residents hope to be protected from unwanted sales calls and texts.
Wisconsin's Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) is receiving fewer complaints involving telemarketing and the Do Not Call Registry, but it was still the second highest complaint volume of any single category last year. In 2022, DATCP received 1,651 written complaints in this category. It's the fourth year in a row the agency saw a decrease.
As part of the agreement between the state and the company, Midwest Heating and Cooling will need to periodically provide the state with phone records, proving they are in compliance with the two statutes.
Cases like this can't happen without consumer support. DATCP encourages anyone who is registered on the Do Not Call list to contact them if they feel they've been called improperly. It's the main way they can figure out if a company is not in compliance.
"We're very dependent on consumers," Domke said. "We need thsoe complaints and that information to help us identify the patterns. We set up a hotline called fast track complaint where you don't even have to talk to anyone. You can just automatically call our hotline, enter that phone number. That will help us paint a bigger picture of, are we seeing this? The same phone number coming through and that kind of triggers us to look at this one quick. With the number of phone calls going out, it's difficult for us to look at all of them. That's why those complaints are so important. It helps show those trends for us."
You can call the hotline at 1-800-422-7128.
If you are interested in learning more about the Do Not Call registry or are interested in signing up, you can visit DATCP's website here.
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