OTTAWA – 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.
