Nearly 2,200 small businesses eligible to receive $125 refund from $398,000 settlement
FRANKFORT, KY. – Attorney General Andy Beshear announced on Friday that nearly 2,200 Kentucky small businesses can get money back from a Michigan-based company alleged to have sold scam services.
Beshear’s more than $398,000 settlement resolves alleged violations of the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act by Michigan-based The Mandatory Poster Company Inc., which also does business as Corporate Records Service.
Corporate Records Service was accused of sending Kentucky businesses an official-looking “Annual Minutes Form” mailer offering to provide “corporate minutes” work to business owners. The Attorney General’s Office alleged the form created the impression that the mailer was sent by a government entity or that the purchase of the annual minutes was required by Kentucky law.
As part of the agreement, Corporate Records Service, agreed to offer a full, $125 refund to nearly 2,200 businesses that purchased the minutes service and pay a penalty, which includes providing more than $93,000 to Kentucky’s general fund.
“My office takes action to protect Kentucky families, including those who own and operate our critically important small-businesses from scams and fraud,” Beshear said. “Making sure our business community was able to recover their money was my office’s top priority in bringing this case.”
Beshear filed a lawsuit against Corporate Records Service in 2016 after the Attorney General’s office received numerous complaints from state business owners saying that the company was mailing misleading, deceptive or fraudulent solicitations.
Beshear said small businesses that purchased the annual minutes service should expect a letter from his office soon, which details the refund and how to claim it. To receive the refunds, consumers will need to sign a release and return the release to theAttorney General’s Office of Consumer Protection within 45 days from the date the letter is sent.
Beshear said his office is committed to protecting Kentucky families and encourages consumers who have been the target of a scam or fraud to reach out to his office and file a consumer complaint online. Consumer complaints are an integral part of most every Consumer Protection Act action taken by the Office of the Attorney General.
In February, Beshear reached a settlement with TK Holdings, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Takata, over allegations that the company violated Kentucky’s Consumer Protection Act by concealing safety issues related to defective airbags. The multistate settlement affected approximately 480,000 cars in Kentucky.
