Farmers Insurance Exchange and its reciprocal insurers, Truck Insurance Exchange and Fire Insurance Exchange, was fined $575,000 by the state of Missouri—the largest amount ever paid by a telemarketer—for violating the state’s No-Call laws and telemarketing regulations.
A lawsuit was settled in October that not only demanded a fine from the insurer, but also required Farmers to adopt policies and measures to avoid violations in the future, which include properly training agents and conducting annual audits of a sample of Farmers’ agents.
Chris Koster, Missouri Attorney General, said that his office received more than 275 No-Call complaints over a 4-year period, involving Farmers agents and their telemarketing. A good number of consumers complained that Farmers continued to contact them despite being instructed not to do so again.
Unwanted telemarketing calls and irritating treatment by telemarketers rank the highest every year on the list of complaints received by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.
The National Do Not Call Registry was created in 2004, and is still in use today. Those who register on the DNC list are kept off for-profit business call lists. Telemarketers have to updates their lists at least every month.
Those companies that conduct sales calls to customers they have no existing business relationship with can have complaints filed against them. The federal penalty for violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule is up to $16,000 for every violation.
