Computer disk manufacturer Iomega Corp., Roy, UT, has agreed to settle charges that it violated the Federal Trade Commission’s mail-order rule when it failed to fulfill rebate and premium requests for its products, the FTC reported last week.
Iomega will pay a $900,000 civil penalty, the largest ever for nonfraudulent violations of the mail-order rule, the FTC said. According to the FTC, Iomega violated the mail-order rule during rebate and premium promotions by:
* Making unreasonable shipping claims.
* Failing to provide prompt automatic refunds or rebates when it was unable to fulfill orders on time.
* Failing to give customers the option to agree to a delay or receive a refund.
* Failing to offer buyers free order cancellations.
“The FTC’s mail and telephone order sales rule ensures that products and services ordered through the mail and over the phone are delivered as promised to consumers,” said Jodie Bernstein, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Iomega violated the rule when it failed to provide refunds or promised merchandise to consumers.”
Iomega’s data storage products include the “Zip, Jaz and Ditto” drives.
