AT & T to Pay $1.25 Million to Settle Complaint on Sales : Inquiry: Company admits that employees of several authorized dealers used heavy-handed tactics on elderly customers and falsely identified themselves.

American Telephone & Telegraph Co. has agreed that several of its authorized dealers used unlawful tactics to sell products to the elderly and will pay $1.25 million to the Ventura County district attorney’s office to settle a complaint, prosecutors said Monday.

Prosecutors said AT & T knowingly let its dealers who were authorized to sell home-security and medical-alert systems falsely identify themselves to customers as employees of the giant telecommunications company, Assistant Dist. Atty. Colleen Toy White said.

Prosecutors also said AT & T’s largest West Coast dealer--Ideal Systems Inc. of Glendale--pressured many senior citizens into buying products at inflated prices.

Ventura County--which led a 15-month, multi-agency investigation--will pocket $831,000 for its efforts in the investigation and distribute the rest of the money to other agencies that assisted in the inquiry.

The next largest share of the settlement will go to the state attorney general’s office. Authorities said part of the money will go to bolster consumer protection and education programs.

The settlement is the largest involving the Ventura County district attorney’s office, White said.

Prosecutors said more than 400 elderly customers throughout California, including about 75 in Ventura County, complained of being the victim of heavy-handed sales tactics by representatives from Ideal and other AT & T-authorized dealers.

Many customers purchased thousands of dollars in equipment under the false impression that they were buying directly from AT & T, a name they trusted, Deputy Dist. Atty. David M. Fairweather said.

Fairweather, lead prosecutor in the investigation, said the average customer spent $5,000 on products.

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“We felt that AT & T could have prevented this situation,” he said.

Prosecutors also T was aware that Ideal and the other dealers were intentionally misleading elderly customers and using high-pressure tactics to sell products. But AT & T failed to take decisive action, they said.

“It was kind of a benign neglect,” White said.

A spokesman for AT & T said the company cooperated fully with the criminal investigation.

AT & T has also terminated its contract with Ideal, said Steven Emery, of AT & T Consumer Products in Parsippany, N. J.

“We had in the past received complaints about the telemarketing and in-home sales of Ideal Systems,” Emery said. “In hindsight, we could have, and should have, acted sooner.”

Hedva Zerilan, secretary-treasurer of Ideal Systems, denied that representatives of her company identified themselves as AT & T employees. She said company policy was to tell customers that Ideal was an authorized agent of AT & T.

And she said Ideal representatives found using high-pressure sales methods were terminated. She said Ideal was the largest AT & T dealer on the West Coast. The firm has been forced to slice its seven-office operation by more than half since AT & T terminated the contract.

Ideal is now selling a new security system for ITI Security Systems, she said.

Fairweather said most of the customers have no complaints about the quality of the systems. He also said the investigation only centered around the charges of misrepresentation, and not overcharging.

The investigation started with a complaint from an Ojai resident, he said. It broadened after prosecutors learned that the state Department of Consumer Affairs had also received a large number of complaints, he added.

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Fairweather said prosecutors traveled the state tracking down victims and other information that showed that Ideal and other dealers were making a practice of misleading customers. In addition to Ventura County, Fairweather said, many victims came from Fresno, Kern and Monterey counties.

The district attorney’s office also had one of its investigative aides pose as a customer. The 75-year-old aide, who asked not to be identified because he does other investigative work, said he had three meetings with dealers, who tried to pressure him into buying AT & T equipment.

“Because of my age, it’s easy for me to get them to come and give me the pitch,” said the aide, who wrote a check to one of the sales representatives but had it canceled before it was cashed.