Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com (10/02/88)
A telephone repair company operating in Chicago agreed to curtail operations last week after State's Attorney Richard M. Daley sued the firm, charging that it mislead the public into believing that it was connected with Illinois Bell Telephone Company. The firm, known as Phone Company, Inc. and a sister firm, Phone First, Inc. were soliciting people to sign up for the repair service they offered. Sales people from the Phone Company were using telemarketing methods to call people in the Chicago area to sign them up for the service. When they called, they would identify themselves as calling 'from the Phone Company', which, while technically correct, was misleading, according to the suit filed. The telemarketing people were explaining that under the changes made in recent years, Illinois Bell was no longer permitted to repair telephone sets, or wiring within your home without charging a special fee for doing so. (this is true). So, said the salespeople from the Phone Company, the Phone Company is now offering a 'monthly maintainence plan' which will cover the cost of repairing or replacing any telephone set in your home which is out of order. If you would like to have the Phone Company handle your repairs, *as Illinois Bell was doing in the past*, all you have to do is tell us you want to sign up for the monthly maintainence program.... You will note they carefully did not ever refer to themselves as Illinois Bell, and they always referred to their own service as 'The Phone Company'. Of 400,000 Chicago area Illinois Bell customers solicited, about 170,000 had indicated they wanted to sign up for this monthly maintainence program, and bills had been sent out to about 100,000. The bills *very closely* resembled the monthly bills sent out by Illinois Bell, even to the extent that they used such verbiage as "Other Charges and Credits", and had the invoice laid out looking exactly like the front page of our telephone bill, including the slogan 'Phone First' in one corner, a group of numbers representing an 'accounting office code', and other artifacts. Illinois Bell Telephone Company does not have a copyright, or any exclusive use of either the phrase 'phone company' or the phrase 'phone first', although they use the latter frequently in their own advertising. Apparently where they tripped up was in a call to Kenneth Miller at his home. Mr. Miller is a district security manager for Illinois Bell, but was not known as such to the telephone solicitor who called him. The solicitor began the conversation by saying, "This is the Phone Company calling," and then asked if he wanted his phones fixed in his home, or by taking them to a Phone First office, according to the suit filed. Miller asked the solicitor if this was a service offered by Illinois Bell, and if it was approved by Illinois Bell, and both times the solicitor replied yes, the suit said. Miller already knew this to be false, according to the suit. State's Attorney Daley alleges that the Phone Company mailings were deceptive also, and made to resemble telephone bills, leading the public to believe that the firm had a contractual arrangement with Illinois Bell. The deal offered by the Phone Company was simple enough: If you signed up for their service, which apparently does exist and is honored when needed, you would pay a fee up front, about $15, to be 'enrolled', and then $4.95 per month -- forever, I assume -- for the privilege of using the Phone Company's repair services; either in your home, or at their repair facilities which they called Phone First. The proprietor of the Phone Company, Mr. William Jackson, has agreed with State's Attorney Daley and officials of the State of Illinois Consumer Fraud Unit that he will halt operations for the time being. Jackson further agreed that when his business resumes, no bills will be mailed out without approval from the Consumer Fraud Unit as to their form and content. Any money collected from consumers who do not wish to engage the firm's services will be refunded under the agreement. The name, "the Phone Company" will not be used in any mailings, literature or phone solicitations. No further telephone solicitations will be made without the script previously being approved by the Consumer Fraud Unit. Since Jackson does in fact hold title to the phrase "Phone Company, Inc" under corporate law in Illinois, and that name was allowed by the Secretary of State under a lawful application for same, I do not really see how another arm of the government can prevent him from calling his business by its lawful name....but State's Attorney Daley claims he can do it, and has obtained a restraining order from Judge Sophia H. Hall in Cook County Circuit Court. Illinois Bell Telephone has stated that while they dislike Jackson's use of that phrase, they cannot stop it as such. On the other hand, Illinois Bell has claimed an infringment of their advertising slogan 'phone first' by Jackson in his reference to his repair facility which uses that name. You'd think people would know the difference between The Phone Company and Illinois Bell, particularly after how many years now of educational efforts by the various Bells, the OCC's and the utility commissions to advise folks about the post-divestiture scene. But I guess people are as unsophisticated about their phone service as they always were. To Daley's credit, he has also started making rumbling noises about the COCOTS and the AOS businesses....but why he feels one guy (Jackson) trying to run a telephone repair/replacement business is any more of a fraud operator than the companies who are taking over Illinois Bell payphone shells with look-alike phones is beyond me. The public is certainly decieved by those evil instruments also, to hear Illinois Bell complain about the number of complaints *they* receive from people who accuse *them* of ripping off their money. Patrick Townson