TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Legal Newsline) -- Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Wednesday a settlement with DADATA Inc., a Pinellas County-based company that allegedly charged Florida customers for various services without their consent.
DADATA Inc. and its client companies allegedly charged Floridians for e-fax, voicemail and other services without obtaining the customers' consent.
Many of the customers were allegedly billed for months to years for the unauthorized services on their telephone bills. When customers requested refunds, they allegedly only received partial refunds.
Under the terms of a settlement, the defendants must refund all charges billed since July 1, 2009, for eligible Florida consumers who never consented to the services for which they were charged.
"This settlement will provide refunds to customers who paid for added services charged on their telephone bills that they never authorized," Bondi said in a statement. "My office will continue to hold companies accountable for billing practices to ensure that consumers are not being charged for services that they did not authorize."
The defendants will pay about $2.3 million to more than 18,000 Florida customers who are potentially eligible for refunds.
DADATA and its client companies will pay an additional amount of more than $2.2 million to more than 53,000 other Florida telephone lines. This payment includes refunds to seniors ages 80 to 99 who purportedly enrolled online in the services, government lines and hundreds of customers who provided affidavits of the allegedly unauthorized charges or other responses to the Attorney General's Office.
Fla. AG reaches settlement with DADATA
