Articles Posted in Deceptive Trade Practices Act

People in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Mansfield, Crowley, Benbrook, Burleson, Keene, Joshua, Cleburne, Granbury, Pecan Plantation, Acton, and other places in Texas need to have a basic understanding of some of the consumer protection laws enacted to protect them against businesses that violate basic rules of fairness.

The Texas Business & Commerce Code, Section 17.46(b) has a “laundry list” of false, misleading, or deceptive acts or practices that have been declared unlawful by the Texas Legislature. In the appropriate situation, even the district and county attorneys throughout the state will get involved in making sure the public is protected from illegal acts that some businesses engage in.

Here is a partial list of some of the unlawful conduct found in the above section:

Buyers in Dallas, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Arlington, Irving, Garland, DeSoto, Cedar Hill, Burleson, North Richland Hills, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, and any other place in Texas can find themselves being taken advantage of by a company they have purchased a product or service from. It appears that even a well known and respected company like Dell Computers will cheat a consumer and do it in a calculated way when they think they can get away with doing it.

This is illustrated in an article published in The New York Times. The article was published on November 18, 2010, and was written by Ashlee Vance. The title of the article is, “An Unsealed Lawsuit Indicates Dell Hid Faults of Computers.”

The article starts out; “Documents unsealed Thursday in a three-year-old lawsuit against Dell have raised more questions about how the company handled an unprecedented number of faulty computers sold to governments, schools, and corporations from 2003 to 2005.”

People in Arlington, Grand Prairie, Mansfield, Burleson, Dallas, Fort Worth, Irving, Mesquite, Garland, and all over the State of Texas buy cars. When they buy cars they buy them from dealerships rather than individuals 95% of the time. Have you ever wondered if those dealerships are deceitful in their dealing with you. The answer is yes, and in fact a lot of people are convinced the dearlerships are not honest.

Here is a victory for the books, and car purchasers across the nation. The Kansas City Star ran an article on August 12, 2010. The article was written by Meredith Rodriguez and was titled, “Couple Wins More Than $1 Million in Court Case Against Owner of Defunct Auto Dealership.”

The article tells of a Kansas jury in Clay County, Kansas, that awarded a Harrisonville couple more than $1 million in damages against Chad Franklin and his defunct Suzuki dealership in North Kansas City.

Everybody in Mansfield, Arlington, Grand Prairie, Dallas, Fort Worth, Coppell, De Soto, Burleson, Granbury, Aledo, and other towns in Texas will suffer the loss of a loved one. In fact it will probably happen many times. Have you ever wondered about the quality of services offered by the funeral home at this time of loss?

The Houston Chronicle recently ran a story about the services of a funeral home that were not acceptable. The article ran on August 9, 2010, and was authored by Allan Turner. The title of the article is, “Funeral Home Faces Suit Over State of Corpse.”

Allan Turner writes that a Richmond man is sueing a Pasadena funeral home claiming he suffered nausea, nightmares, emotional breakdowns, severe pain and suffering and emotional trauma, grief and sorrow after his son’s body arrived for burial in his native Uganda in a state of advanced decomposition.

Residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Grand Prairie, Weatherford, and other cities, beware. There are businesses out there that will cheat you.

Think about this for a second. There is a saying that says there are only two things in this world a person can be sure of; death and taxes. A person can be a little light hearted and joke by saying they are getting screwed by both of them.

But here is a different twist. According to a Houston Chronicle news story that was published on July 19, 2010, the tax man, or in this case “TaxMasters” is screwing you over also. The author of the article, Mike Tolson, titled the article, “TaxMasters target of state AG, customers.” The article tells how the tax assistance company, TaxMasters, appears to be in violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Texas Debt Collection Act.

Let us say you are a guy in Dallas, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Arlington, Irving, De Soto, Duncanville, Lancaster, Rowlett, Aledo, or anywhere else in Texas and you see an advertisement. How do you know whether the advertisement is being deceptive or misleading? The answer: You probably don’t know.

Travelers Insurance was recently running an advertisement that was deceptive. There was a story on this on Wednesday, July 7, 2010. The story ran in the Austin paper, American-Statesman and was written by Tim Eaton. The title of the story is, “Consumer group says Travelers ad is deceptive, wants it pulled.”

The Texas consumer advocacy group, Texas Watch, claims a television ad run by Travelers Companys, Inc. is deceptive in its content. The Executive Director of Texas Watch, Alex Winslow, has written to the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, and to the Texas Insurance Commissioner, Mike Geeslin, seeking a cease-and-desist order to keep the ad off the air in Texas.

No matter where you live, Grand Prairie, Arlington, Mansfield, Fort Worth, De Soto, Hurst, Duncanville, Weatherford, Aledo, Azle, or anywhere else in Texas, you like most anybody else, are always looking for ways to save a few dollars and hopefully make life a little easier to manage.

The Palm Beach Post ran an article on June 22, 2010, that showed how one business was taking unfair advantage of this desire to save a little money that most of us have. This article was written by Susan Salisbury. The title of the article is, “Lawsuit says Fort Lauderdale auto group engaged in deceptive practices.”

She reported that, Auto Relief Group, a Fort Lauderdale based firm owned by a John J. Boyle, from Fort Lauderdale and his son John J. Boyle, from Boca Raton, are being sued for allegedly engaging in deceptive and unfair practices related to automobile loan modifications. These accusations are from the Florida Attorney General’s Office.