Solar Energy Firm That Was Fined $13.9M in 2023 Is Sued for TCPA Violations

Robert Doane filed suit Thursday in U.S. District Court for Massachusetts in Boston to halt an alleged scheme to generate solar energy leads through widespread illegal telemarketing activities, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act. Defendants Solar Xchange and its owner, Mark Getts, “illegally placed tens of millions of calls to consumer phone numbers listed on the national do not call registry without the consumers’ prior express written consent, alleged the Wakefield, Massachusetts, resident’s complaint (docket 1:24-cv-10868). Solar Xchange and Getts are the same parties that agreed in July to pay the federal government and Arizona $62,000 of a $13.9 million suspended civil penalty to settle allegations they violated the FTC Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule and Arizona’s Consumer Fraud Act and Telephone Solicitations Act (see 2307210008). In many instances, Solar Xchange, at the direction of Getts, “falsely told consumers that it was affiliated with a government program or electric utility company,” said the complaint. It falsely told consumers that Solar Xchange was required to call the consumer due to a state mandate, or falsely indicated that Solar Xchange was working in partnership with the consumer’s local utility company, it said. Solar Xchange also made “various false or unsubstantiated representations about how consumers can save money on their electric bills by installing solar panels on their homes with no money down,” it said. It also misrepresented that consumers’ monthly payments for solar panels would replace their current electric bills at a fixed rate up to 30% lower, it said. In many instances, consumers who received telemarketing calls from Solar Xchange requested that the company stop calling, yet the calls continued, it said. Solar Xchange also “often made rude or harassing comments to consumers who asked not to be called,” it said. Doane’s complaint alleges that Solar Xchange made thousands of calls “that repeatedly or continuously caused consumers’ phones to ring.” He alleges that Solar Xchange “called at least 150,000 different phone numbers over 50 times and called at least 12,000 phone numbers over 100 times.” Many of these consumers “received multiple calls almost every day for one or more months,” with some consumers regularly receiving five or more calls daily, said the complaint. Solar Xchange’s contract with Five9, one of its telephone service providers, required Solar Xchange to comply with all federal, state and local laws, including its compliance with the national DNC registry, it said. Defendant Getts also corresponded directly with Five9 about Solar Xchange’s obligations and its compliance, it said. Solar Xchange submitted some, but not all, the phone numbers in its possession to third-party services for “scrubbing” against various DNC registries, “to make it appear that Solar Xchange was attentive to compliance when it was not,” it said. The complaint estimates Solar Xchange placed roughly half its calls to numbers on the national DNC registry between August 2021 and June 2022.