Complaint Targets Maker of Vacuums
The Ventura County district attorney’s office and the state attorney general’s office are pursuing a complaint alleging fraudulent sales practices by the manufacturer and the Southern California distributors of TriStar vacuum cleaners.
TriStar vacuum cleaners are sold through extensive in-home demonstrations for about $2,500. According to Deputy Dist. Atty. Mitchell Disney, sales people used lottery-like scratch-off tickets left in packets on doorsteps to lure consumers with promises of a mini-vacation. When people called in to claim their prizes, a young man or woman would be sent out with a vacuum cleaner to present a lengthy sales presentation.
Filed by the Consumer and Environmental Protection Division of the district attorney’s office and the attorney general’s Consumer Law Section, the complaint alleges that vacuum cleaner sales representatives gained access to customers’ homes by representing themselves as messengers bearing prize winnings, or saying they were interested in merely conducting a “survey.”
The complaint further alleges that the prizes offered as lures were either worthless or heavily restricted. In addition, the district attorney and attorney general maintain that sales representatives, in order to discourage three-day cancellations--permitted by California state law--would falsely inform the buyer that the young sales representative would have to buy back the vacuum if the sale was canceled.
Disney says consumers began filing complaints in 1993. There are now about 40 on file, including one case in which a salesperson pleaded guilty to assaulting a customer.
“That got our attention,” Disney said.
The formal complaint asks the Ventura County Superior Court to issue a statewide permanent injunction, order restitution and impose civil penalties on each of the distributors--Interstate Engineering Corp., Golden Star Inc. and Research Distributing Inc., all of Anaheim; and Direct Innovative Systems Inc. and Health Rite Enterprises, both of Newbury Park. Representatives for the Ventura County firms could not be reached for comment.
