Ruby Receptionists Sued Over Allegedly Deceptive Billing Practices

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Two law firms have put their names on a proposed class action in which they claim Ruby Receptionists, Inc. deceptively overcharges clients for receptionist services. According to the lawsuit, the defendant wrongfully bills clients for time callers spend on hold and rounds up its billable receptionist time in its own favor.

The case explains that Ruby offers clients plans for remote receptionist services that provide minimum amounts of “Receptionist Minutes” – defined on its website as “time that the receptionist is involved in the call” – for fixed prices. The lawsuit says that despite representing that clients will only be billed for time receptionists are actively working with callers, Ruby also charges for time callers spend waiting in a hold queue, time in which no receptionist is involved in the call. The case claims that because Ruby has failed to provide the resources necessary to handle the high volume of calls for its clients, the company is forced to place callers on hold while understaffed receptionists are busy.

The lawsuit further picks at the defendant’s alleged practice of rounding up receptionist minutes to the nearest half-minute. “To illustrate,” the complaint reads, “for a call in which a Ruby receptionist is involved with a caller for 2 minutes and 1 second (2:01), Ruby bills its clients for 2 minutes and 30 seconds (2:30), rather than the actual 2:01 ‘that the receptionist is involved in the call.’” The case argues that this rounding practice is not disclosed to potential clients at any point before they enter into a contract with the company. Instead, the suit continues, clients only learn of the alleged practice after Ruby sends them a “Welcome” email containing a link to an otherwise inaccessible list of FAQs.

“Ruby had the opportunity to accurately disclose its billing practices before and at the time of contracting, but chose not to do so,” the complaint charges.

According to the complaint, Ruby’s hold time and rounding practices frequently cause clients to exceed their monthly allotment of receptionist minutes, resulting in additional charges for extra minutes they would not have accrued “if not for Ruby’s undisclosed practices.”