Companies Fined for Violating Do Not Call Rules
Nov. 7, 2007— -- Craftmatic Beds promises a peaceful night, but the company is one of many that have caused Americans' evenings to be anything but peaceful.
Telemarketers for Craftmatic have called hundreds of thousands of people, even though many of them were on the national Do Not Call list.
Today, the government took action against Craftmatic — and other companies that call Americans on the Do Not Call list — for the way it obtained telephone numbers.
For more information on how to sign up for the Do Not Call list, verify a registration and report violations, click here.
Many companies fooled consumers into giving them their telephone numbers. Craftmatic, for example, obtained numbers by asking people, who filled out entry forms to win a free bed, to include their phone numbers, which would be their contest entry number.
But nowhere on the form does it give the company permission to call them, which is why the bed maker was slapped with the second largest fine ever — nearly $4.5 million — for violating Do Not Call list rules.
Total penalties issued by the Federal Trade Commission to companies in violation of the Do Not Call list totaled $7.7 million.
