伊利诺伊州消费者马修·赫夫努斯说,9月26日,他收到一家名为DoNotPay,Inc.的公司发来的短信,试图招揽他的生意。综合起来,这些信息是这样写的:“嘿,我是DoNotPay的Jen——我们知道预先询问你的付款细节是很困难的,我们确实需要。但有一个统计数据显示,DoNotPay用户平均每年可以节省450美元的现金。起诉机器人,取消免费试用,再也不用和客服打交道了。如果您不满意,我们将继续删除您的详细信息并全额退款。”据称,这些信息敦促Hufnus注册DoNotPay应用程序,这是一个服务聊天机器人,DoNotPay称之为“世界上第一个机器人律师”据DoNotPay称,该应用程序允许用户对美国任何城市的停车罚单提出上诉;取消服务或订阅;办理退单和退款;简言之,用户可以通过注册的各种服务获得退款,或获得产品或服务的免费在线试用。DoNotPay被指控在未经Hufnus明确许可的情况下发送短信。根据《消费者权益保护法》(TCPA)的规定,这三家公司违反了《消费者权益保护法》(TCPA),这三家公司违反了《消费者权益保护法》(TCPA)的规定,向消费者提供短信服务。该法限制电话招标活动,包括使用自动电话设备、人工或预先录制的语音信息、短信和传真机。
原文:Illinois consumer Matthew Hufnus says that on Sept. 26 he received a number of text messages on his cellphone from a company named DoNotPay, Inc., attempting to solicit his business.
Taken together, the messages read: "Hey there it's Jen from DoNotPay -- we know it's a lot to ask for your payment details upfront, we really do. But here's a statistic -- DoNotPay users save an average of $450 in cold, hard cash per year. Sue robocallers, cancel free trials and never have to deal with customer service again. If you aren't satisfied, we'll go ahead and delete your details and refund you in full."
The messages allegedly urged Hufnus to sign up for the DoNotPay app, a service chatbot that DoNotPay bills as "The World's First Robot Lawyer."
According to DoNotPay, the app lets users appeal parking tickets in any city in the U.S.; cancel services or subscriptions; handle chargebacks and refunds; and, in short, get their money back for a variety of services they signed up for, or to get free online trials of products or services.
DoNotPay is accused of sending the texts without first obtaining Hufnus' express permission. That, together with the ask to sign up for services, makes those unsolicited advertising text messages, which violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), according to a complaint filed against DoNotPay by three law firms Dec. 8.
The Act restricts telephone solicitation activities, including the use of automated telephone equipment, artificial or prerecorded voice messages, SMS text messages and fax machines.