Cruise Company Allegedly Placed Robocalls to Cell Phones

A recent TCPA class action lawsuit claims that a travel company made unsolicited robocalls to cell phones in order to advertise “free” cruises.

Plaintiffs Angel Bakov and Kinaya Hewlet claim that Consolidated Travel Holdings Group Inc. knowingly placed unwanted calls to consumers along with several other companies. Other companies listed in the class action include The Marketing Source Inc. and Sun Bridge Systems LLC.

According to the plaintiffs, the companies used an India-based call center Virtual Voice Technologies Pvt. Ltd. to place robocalls without consumer consent. The call center allegedly used “idiot proof” software to place robocalls to cell phones containing advertisements for free Bahama cruises through Holiday Cruise Lines.

Bakov and Hewlet claim that Virtual Voice was paid by Consolidated Travel to use their technology to initiate robocalls.

“After navigating to the site and logging in with a username and password, Virtual Voice agents gained access to a main screen from which they could make and transfer calls,” the suit said. “This software was designed to be ‘idiot proof.’ There was a ‘dial next’ button onscreen and, next to that, dozens of voice prompt buttons.”

Bakov and Hewlet allegedly received these calls in January 2015, March 2015, April 2015, June 2015, and March 2016. When they picked up the calls, the plaintiffs allegedly heard a prerecorded voice giving one of 47 different messages chosen by a Virtual Voice agent. Some messages were greetings such as “Hi, this is Jennifer with Holiday Cruise Line on a recorded line. Can you hear me OK?” while others inquired about a caller’s interest in free cruises. In some cases, the messages reportedly prompted the consumer to be transferred to Consolidated World.

According to the robocall class action lawsuit, the telemarketing calls violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

“Consolidated Travel conferred upon Virtual Voice express, implied and apparent authority to market its ‘free cruise’ product, make phone calls to class members and violate the TCPA,” the robocall class action lawsuit claims.

TCPA is a federal law that was passed in 1991 to protect consumers from harassing telemarketing practices. Telemarketing calls can be extremely annoying and can breach a consumer’s privacy if telemarketers are calling or texting day and night.

Previously, TCPA had provisions that allowed businesses to place telemarketing calls if they had a previous business relationship. However, in 2012 the Federal Communications Commission revised this rule to require all businesses to obtain “prior express written consent” before engaging in telemarketing communications.

Bakov and Hewlet seek to represent a Class of consumers who were called by Virtual Voice Technology between Dec. 29, 2014 and Mar. 20, 2016 with a telemarketing message about cruises from Consolidated World Travel.

A similar TCPA class action lawsuit has been filed in Illinois against Consolidated Travel Holding’s “alter ego” Consolidated World Travel Inc. Bakov and Hewlet are the named plaintiffs in this case as well and bring similar claims that the company violated TCPA with unsolicited robocalls to cell phones.

The Robocalls Class Action Lawsuit is Bakov, et al. v. Consolidated Travel Holdings Group Inc., et al., Case No. 0:19-cv-61509-WPD, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

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If you were contacted on your cell phone by a company via an unsolicited text message (text spam) or prerecorded voice message (robocall), you may be eligible for compensation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.