Individuals who were called by Dish Network telemarketers between May 2010 and August 2011 are eligible to receive a compensation of $1,200 per call.
It is confirmed that over a thousand people are potentially qualified to make such monetary claim. In fact, the lawyers involved in the case pointed out that it is quite difficult for them to convince people to sign up in order to receive the upcoming payout.
Class-Action Lawsuit
The money apparently comes from a $61 million class-action lawsuit against the company. It stemmed from the violation of the right of individuals who are listed under the Do Not Call Registry.
It appears that the company's telemarketers continued to make sales pitches to the people who do not want to be bothered at all by salesmen.
Continued Violations Despite FTC Ruling
The Federal Trade Commission implemented the Do Not Call Registry as a way for individuals to prevent telemarketing calls to their home number. Once a number has been registered on the list, it could take up to 31 days for all sales calls to completely stop. Most people are not aware of this, so they might file a complaint immediately after signing up.
However, what happened in the case of Dish Network was that customers who have been on the list for a while now were still contacted by its salespeople. The only exception detailed by the government are political calls and those from charities and non-profit organizations. Telemarketers who call on behalf of charities are not exempted.
Analysts pointed out that complaints regarding violations of the DNC list increased by 120 percent since 2014. Anna Werner, a CBS News correspondent, confirms that due to the repeated infractions incurred by Dish Network, customers can finally receive their due compensation courtesy of the lawsuit.
Lawyers Face A Big Challenge
As stated above, lawyers noted how hard it is to convince the victims that the class-action lawsuit is real and has ruled in their favor. Yet, it seems that people mistake their calls as another form of telemarketing or even a scam.
Deborah Turner, a banker from Chicago claims that Dish Network continued to harass her with sales calls, totaling to 15 times between 2010 and 2011. She was reportedly skeptical when she got a call recently and was advised about her potential $18,000 payout.
In addition to the $61-million lawsuit, a separate government case slapped Dish Network with a $280 million penalty.
Readers are encouraged to check if their numbers are included in the list to qualify for the payout.
