Alleged Choice Home Warranty Robocalls, Spam Texts Spark Class Action Lawsuit

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A proposed class action claims Choice Home Warranty has placed unlawful telemarketing calls and text messages to consumers’ phones without securing prior written consent, and even after they’ve asked the company to stop calling.

According to the 26-page case, Choice Home Warranty has run afoul of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), a federal law that, among other things, prohibits telemarketers from using automated technology to call consumers without written permission. The TCPA also prohibits unsolicited calls to numbers listed on the National Do-Not-Call Registry, and requires telemarketers to develop their own do-not-call policies and lists, and to train personnel on the existence and use of those lists, the complaint relays.

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Per the case, Choice Home Warranty has violated all three of these TCPA provisions. As the suit tells it, the fact that the company has already been subject to “nearly 40 lawsuits” and a slew of consumer complaints over its telemarketing practices indicates that the conduct “appears to be part and parcel of Defendant’s business model.”

According to the lawsuit, Choice Home Warranty uses an automatic telephone dialing system or prerecorded voice to place calls advertising its home warranty products without first securing consumers’ prior express written consent. Nowhere on its websites does the defendant “clearly and conspicuously disclose” its intention to use automated technology to place telemarketing calls, the case claims, arguing that any contact information consumers provide to Choice Home Warranty was therefore given without the individuals’ prior express written consent to the company’s telemarketing practices.

The complaint goes on to claim that Choice Home Warranty frequently calls telephone numbers listed on the National Do Not Call Registry without permission—another alleged violation of the TCPA. Per the suit, violations of this facet of the law entitle a call recipient to up to $1,500 in damages per call. 

Third, the lawsuit alleges that the defendant has failed to establish an internal do-not-call list and train its employees on the use of such a list. According to the case, the company’s responses to consumers’ do-not-call requests range from “ignoring them, to hanging up when the request is made, to rude comments, to attempting to solicit payment for placement on the do-not-call list.”

Indeed, the plaintiff, a Gentry, Arkansas resident who claims to have received from Choice Home Warranty at least 60 telemarketing calls to his two telephone numbers, says that when he asked for a copy of the company’s do-not-call policy, a representative “stated he would provide this policy in an email and then hung up.” Per the complaint, the plaintiff never provided his email address during this call and never received a copy of the requested policy. Notably, the same representative sent the plaintiff a subsequent email advertising Choice Home Warranty’s services, the suit says.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff “does not appear to be alone” as the internet is “full of complaints” from consumers who have apparently been unsuccessful in their attempts to be placed on Choice Home Warranty’s do-not-call list.

“There is no other explanation for the consistency in Defendant’s refusal to honor do-not-call requests than a lack of meaningful training and/or policies and procedures on documenting and honoring do-not-call requests,” the complaint contends.

The plaintiff looks to represent anyone to whose telephone number, since July 19, 2018, defendant CHW Group placed (or had placed on its behalf) a telephone call regarding Choice Home Warranty’s goods, products or services using an artificial or prerecorded voice.

The case also looks to cover anyone in the United States to whose residential or cell phone number, since July 19, 2018, CHW Group placed (or had placed on its behalf) two or more calls or text messages within a 12-month period regarding Choice Home Warranty’s goods, products or services.

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