Suit Alleges Advertising 'Bait and Switch' by Broadband Providers
Dish Network, Frontier Communications, Charter Communications, Hughes Network and EarthLink and sales agents Infinity Sales Group and GoDish.com were part of a broadband "bait and switch advertising scheme" involving RedPlum advertising mailers, said an amended complaint (in Pacer) filed Wednesday…
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in U.S. District Court in Tampa, Florida. Consumers routinely get RedPlum mailers advertising broadband offerings at particular speeds and prices, but none of those offers was available as a free-standing service at the lowest-advertised prices, alleged plaintiff TruthInAdvertisingEnforcers.com -- "a fictitious business name" registered to Gerald Collette, a Holiday, Florida, resident, said the lawsuit. RedPlum can target mailings down to the sub ZIP code level, Collette said, but none of the defendants advertising their services at special prices provided a means by which consumers could get the advertised services at advertised price. Fine print in the ads may refer to limited availability of product, but "the size, position and lack of prominence of ... the fine print in such advertisements were, in comparison to the material statements promoting the Advertised Bargains, inadequate," Collette said. Defendants didn't comment Thursday. The complaint was the fourth amended complaint filed by TruthinAdvertisingEnforcers.com.