Telemarketing Company Fined $700,000 and its Manager Sentenced to Six Month Jail Term for Deceptive Telemarketing Practices

OTTAWA, December 1, 2000 — The Competition Bureau announced today that telemarketing company C.S.R.H. Heritage Group Inc. was fined $700,000 and the company's manager, Ronald Howell, was sentenced to a six month conditional jail term for misleading advertising under the Competition Act.

The sentences follow guilty pleas entered by the company and Mr. Howell on July 13, 2000, and relate to deceptive telemarketing and direct mail practices carried out by the Montreal-based company between November 1997 and March 1999.

During that time, the company phoned and sent letters to consumers telling them they would get valuable awards or "premiums" if they bought promotional products such as pens and coins that the company was selling at what turned out to be inflated prices. Consumers have stated that they were misled about the nature, value and quality of the awards, and that extra conditions and restrictions required to collect the awards were either not mentioned or only partially disclosed by the company.

"These highly sophisticated illegal operations target members of the public who are very vulnerable," said Johanne D'Auray, Deputy Commissioner of Competition, Fair Business Practices Branch. "The Competition Bureau is actively pursuing these types of deceptive marketing practices in Canada."

Heritage Group telemarketers are currently awaiting trial on charges of misleading advertising under the Competition Act. Their next court appearance is scheduled for February 6, 2001 in Montreal.

For more information, please contact:

Julie Hébert
Senior Communication Advisor
Communications Directorate
819-953-4257