HARRISBURG, Pa. – A HVAC company in the Lehigh Valley reached a settlement with the state over a lawsuit accusing it of using deceptive and high-pressure sales tactics.<\/p>\n
Curtis Total Service, Inc., and two of its employees \u2013 current manager Richard Price and former HVAC field supervisor Matthew Price \u2013 agreed to pay Pennsylvania $300,000 as part of the settlement, the Pennsylvania Attorney General\u2019s Office said in a news release.<\/p>\n
The AG\u2019s office said the company will also significantly revise its business practices to comply with the Pennsylvania Consumer Protection Law and Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit had said Curtis Total Service, Inc. targeted vulnerable consumers in pushes for unnecessary HVAC work and equipment replacements.<\/p>\n
The company used high-pressure sales tactics to convince consumers their systems needed immediate replacement, had customers sign incomplete or blank contracts, and later filled in or altered terms after signatures were obtained, the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit also said the business misrepresented financing terms and misrepresented the statutory right to rescission to prevent consumers from exercising their right to cancel their contract within three business days.<\/p>\n
The company threatened legal action or other consequences against consumers who attempted to cancel contracts and otherwise took adverse action against consumers who filed complaints about Curtis Total Service, according to the Commonwealth\u2019s lawsuit.<\/p>\n
The company and the two employees agreed to settle the lawsuit after approximately one week of trial testimony presented by the AG\u2019s office, including testimony from multiple consumer victims, according to the news release.<\/p>\n
Under the settlement, the AG\u2019s office said the business and the two employees are prohibited from engaging in the conduct alleged in the lawsuit, including:<\/p>\n
Knowingly recommending unnecessary goods and\/or services.<\/p>\n
Utilizing advertising materials that make materially false or misleading statements.<\/p>\n
Recommending replacement of a system or appliance without first making reasonable repair efforts.<\/p>\n
Providing goods and\/or services to consumers before providing the consumer with upfront prices and obtaining a consumer\u2019s written consent.<\/p>\n
Identifying a substance in a consumer\u2019s home as mold without confirming via laboratory testing.<\/p>\n
Having a consumer sign any document that is not completely filled out at the time of signature.<\/p>\n
Failing to provide consumers with copies of any and all contracts at the time they are signed.<\/p>\n
Rejecting a timely effort to cancel a contract within three business days absent a valid Emergency Work Authorization Form or otherwise misrepresent a consumer\u2019s right to cancel their contract.<\/p>\n
Under the settlement, if the business enters into any type of agreement with a consumer or employee that contains a non-disclosure or non-disparagement provision, the provision must contain an express carve out allowing the consumer to disclose information and provide documentation to law enforcement, the AG\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
Matthew Price is banned for eight years from serving in any type of management or sales position for any HVAC related company operating in Pennsylvania, according to the news release.<\/p>\n
The AG\u2019s office said he is also permanently prohibited from handling financing applications or credit limit increases for non-familial Pennsylvania consumers.<\/p>\n
According to the AG\u2019s office, Richard Price is required to provide written notice to his direct supervisor regarding certain business decisions involving consumer purchases and cancellations and ensure those are maintained in consumer files.<\/p>\n
He is permanently barred from holding any type of ownership interest in an HVAC-related company in Pennsylvania for five years, the AG\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
The AG\u2019s office said a settlement agreement will not be considered as an admission of violation of the law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARRISBURG, Pa. – A HVAC company in the Lehigh Valley reached a settlement with the state over a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,90178,90179,48493,157,28],"class_list":["post-204927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-curtis-total-service","tag-deceptive-sales","tag-hvac","tag-lehigh-valley","tag-pennsylvania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}