TAMPA, Fla. — The Federal Trade Commission announced on Wednesday that it charged a Florida-based group for cheating consumers out of more than $6 million over four years with illegal extended auto warranty programs.
The FTC said the group, American Vehicle Protection Corp. (AVP), headquartered in Pompano Beach, called hundreds of thousands of people and used deceptive marketing tactics to swindle them out of money.
“AVP blasted consumers with illegal calls and made bogus claims about bumper-to-bumper warranties,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The truth is that the warranties didn’t come from the manufacturer, didn’t cover the repairs people needed, and weren’t sold legally. We are holding AVP accountable.”
According to the complaint filed by the FTC, AVP's telemarketers called consumers, many of who were on the Do Not Call Registry, and tried to sell the warranties. FTC said the company misrepresented the warranties by stating they were associated with the person's vehicle manufacturer or dealer.
The FTC also said the defendants' telemarketers made untrue promises that they could provide bumper-to-bumper or full coverage for prices from $2,800 to $3,400. They also said the person could get a full refund of their down payment or full payment within 30 days of buying the warranty if they were unhappy, which the FTC said is also untrue.
In the complaint, FTC is seeking an order barring the defendants from such illegal conduct, from violating the TSR through their illegal and deceptive telemarketing, from remotely creating and depositing remote checks, from violating the DNC Registry rules by calling consumers whose phone numbers are on the Registry, and from failing to pay the fees required to access the numbers on the Registry and scrub them from their call lists.
