Over the phone, it sounded like a good deal: a 30-day supply of chemicals to clean out Lynn Hayes' septic tank, free and with no obligation.
Then came a year's supply of Septic-Helper, a bill for $139 and a barrage of threatening phone calls and letters when she didn't pay, federal and state authorities say.Her complaints and those of thousands more brought the attention of state and federal attorneys who allege that the New Jersey-based companies, Miller Septic Inc. and Miller-Plante Inc., practiced unlawful collection practices.
Both companies are accused of fraud in federal court filings.
U.S. District Judge William Walls this week ordered the companies, their owners and a manager to halt their collection practices and stop delivering their product to people who do not want it.
He also froze the assets of the companies and individuals, and directed the Postal Service to seize any money mailed to them. Walls scheduled a hearing June 19.
Also this week, New Jersey sued the companies to shut them down and repay consumers.
"I would love to hear of them going out of business," said Hayes, a licensed practical nurse from Springdale, Ark. "They've billed me, they've threatened me with lawsuits" and said they would ruin her credit rating.
"I'm at the point now where I just hang up on them," she said. "I told them they are not getting a penny."
Company principal Herbert Miller refused to comment until he talked to an attorney. The other principal, Gerald Plante, did not return messages left at his home and office. Neither did Lawrence Brown, a company manager.
The business appears to be lucrative. Miller had a $1 million salary from Miller-Plante in 1997, and $625,000 in 1996, according to papers filed by the Postal Inspection Service.
Based on the 1,200 letters arriving weekly for the companies, consumers are being cheated out of thousands of dollars each month, the postal service estimated.
In some cases, children answering the telephone were told that their parents would be jailed if their bill was not paid, according to court papers.
Although consumers had no obligation to pay, some were so shaken they hired lawyers, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Guadagno said.
Miller and Plante also operate a collection agency, H&S Industries Inc., that sent 125 bogus lawsuit threats each week to people who got Septic-Helper, the agency said.
No consumers were actually sued, Guadagno said.
Hayes said that the postal clerk told her she was the sixth person that week to return the septic product.
"They've hit quite a few people around here," she said.