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A Florida woman says she was inundated with marketing calls from Royal United Mortgage LLC after a brief trip to their website in a class action lawsuit filed Wednesday.
Lead plaintiff, Michelle Johnson Peterssen, claims in her nationwide class action lawsuit filed in Florida federal court that she and other consumers have been peppered with illegal telemarketing calls from Royal United after turning to the internet for information about lending rates. She says the company calls consumers multiple times daily often before 8 am. In addition, Peterssen, who has been on the Do Not Call list since 2016, alleges that the company disregards the Registry as well as pleas from consumers to stop the annoying telemarketing calls.
Peterssen says she had filled out an online inquiry form in mid-2020, but, after receiving a barrage of solicitation calls from Royal United, she finally got the call center to stop; however, Peterssen says that many months later she made a quick trip to the internet to look up refinancing rates. During that trip on March 9, 2021, Peterssen says she did not provide her phone number or any information. In fact, she says that when she saw Royal United’s site, she quickly closed her browser.
Peterssen alleges that this quick visit resulted in a barrage of unwanted solicitation calls from the mortgage company. She claims that starting at 7:05 am that same morning, Royal United called her no less than three times within ten minutes. Peterssen says that she asked for the calls to stop each time.
In one instance, Peterssen asked the calls to stop, told the Royal United employee she was upset about getting calls so early in the morning, and said she would report them. Allegedly, the employee told Peterssen that she did not care and hung up.
“The unauthorized solicitation telephone calls that Plaintiff received from Royal United…have harmed Plaintiff Peterssen in the form of annoyance, nuisance, and invasion of privacy, and disturbed the use and enjoyment of her phone, in addition to the wear and tear on the phone’s hardware (including the phone’s battery) and the consumption of memory on the phone,” contends the class action lawsuit.
The complaint also accuses Royal United of violating federal laws protecting consumers from unwanted telemarketing calls. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was enacted to stop aggressive telemarketing behavior. The TCPA requires Royal United and other companies to obtain the express, written permission of consumers before making telemarketing calls. The TCPA also limits the times in which telemarketers can contact consumers.
The law also created the Do Not Call Registry, which allows consumers to list phone numbers at which they do not want to receive telemarketing calls. In addition, companies themselves must maintain an internal do not call list of consumers who asked not to be contacted with marketing messages.
Peterssen’s lawsuit includes consumer complaints and even complaints from former Royal United employees detailing egregious telemarketing activity.
The class action seeks to represent consumers who were bombarded with Royal United marketing calls early in the morning or late at night, as well as those who were called despite being listed on the national Do Not Call Registry and those on Royal United’s do not call list.
Have you received unwanted marketing calls from Royal United about mortgage rates? We want to hear from you! Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.
The lead plaintiff is represented by Stefan Coleman of the Law Offices of Stefan Coleman, PA, and Avi R. Kaufman of Kaufman PA.
The Royal United Marketing Calls Class Action Lawsuit is Peterssen v. Royal United Mortgage LLC, Case No. 1:21-cv-21629-XXXX in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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26 thoughts onClass Action Says Royal United Mortgage Scraped Internet for Consumer Info To Make Marketing Calls
They have called 10 times in the last minute. Every time I block them they are already calling from another number. They know they are harassing people because they sent an email that had a link that says if you want the calls to stop to click it and it just takes you to a funnel page to give them more of your personal information.
I was searching online for a mortgage company that would give decent rates on a home equity loan for some home renovations/upgrades. I filled out a bit of contact information for Royal United Mortgage and was contacted by phone within 2 minutes of submitting my info. The representative was friendly and seemed to want to help. I told him exactly what I was looking for and specifically told him I was not interested in a cash out refinance. He said he would get back to me in about 45 minutes. When he called back what did he offer? Rates for a cash out refinance. At that point I told him he could not earn my business because he didn’t listen to me and offered a product I specifically told him I was not interested in. Since then I have been getting anywhere from 6 to 15 calls per day from Royal United Mortgage. I’ve told each rep “I’m not interested and to take me off their list.” I’ll get a call from the company on another phone a few minutes later. This has been going on for about 3 weeks now. I still tell each rep to take me off their list and block the number from my phone. I’ve since filed a complaint with the BBB. I’m still getting multiple calls from them each day.
Yes: dozens of calls 7 am til 10 pm daily AND hang up calls because I yelled at them to stop calling
Royal Mortgage is calling me back to back to back. I’ve asked them repeatedly to stop. They continue to call; this is harassment!! I’ve blocked them from several numbers and they continue to call. Please do something about it.
These people from Royal United are the most aggressive, disrespectful, narcissistic, telemarketers I have ever dealt with. They lied to me by telling me I inquired about a refi, which I did NOT! Do they think I am stupid? I refied with my bank in May, 2021, and am very happy with them. Then when I told them I was not interested, they do not take “NO” for an answer and they keep pushing the hard sell! They keep up their relentless telemarketing calls, and each time I block a number, they call from another number. One day I got about 10 calls within 15 minutes, each number being different. This one employee, I think his name is Steven, actually called me back 2 or 3 time on a RESTRICTED NUMBER! This was only done in an aggressive attempt to take control, show me who was “boss”, annoy me even more, and to take punitive action on me for hanging up on him! I think these people are mentally ill!
Royal United has been calling me from from 5:30am and every 15 minutes thereafter after browsing through their website. They just won’t stop their automated calls. It’s very annoying.
Royal Mortgage repeatedly calling. Most recent call at 730pm on Sunday evening 7/17/22. Tired of these aggressive telemarketers.
Royal United called me and I had a great experience, hence why I left my phone number. My advice don’t leave your phone number on the internet if you don’t want to get calls.
This company calls my phone repeatedly..Starting at 6am .I tell them I don’t need them and they just repeatedly keep calling..
Add me please! Royal United will NOT leave me alone despite the fact that I have repeatedly told them to. I received a text message and two phone calls within 2 hours today, and it’s SUNDAY MORNING. They just won’t stop.