Company must cease billing customers for services it failed to provide
BALTIMORE (April 12, 2012)—Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that his Consumer Protection Division has obtained a preliminary injunction enforcing its prior cease and desist order against Glenn Chumley and his business, Medical Alert Buyers Alliance Corp. The Division has charged Mr. Chumley and his company with preying on elderly consumers by selling them emergency alert devices and one-year service plans promising to connect them with an emergency alert center if they fell or had other medical emergencies, but then failing to respond when they needed help.
On December 6, 2011, the Division entered a Cease and Desist Order requiring Chumley and his company to stop billing consumers unless he could provide the emergency alert services and until he posted $20,000 in security with the Division. Chumley and his company were also ordered to pay restitution to consumers and to notify his customers if he could no longer provide services and recommending that they find another emergency alert service provider.
Last week, the Division filed a complaint in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County alleging that Chumley and his company were violating the Division’s order by not posting the required security and continuing to bill consumers for emergency alert services that he was not providing. The Division also alleged that Chumley, of Odenton, had not informed his customers that they should locate another emergency services provider. On Monday, April 9, the Circuit Court found that consumers were being irreparably harmed and entered a temporary restraining order against Chumley and his company. On Wednesday, April 11, the Court replaced its temporary restraining order with a preliminary injunction, which bars Chumley and his company from offering and selling emergency alert services unless he provides the Division with a $20,000 bond, letter of credit or cash payment. Chumley must also send his customers the notices required by the Division’s Order.
The preliminary injunction will remain in effect until a hearing on the Division’s Statement of Charges is completed and the Division enters a final order resolving its charges. The Statement of Charges is currently pending before the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings. Consumers with questions regarding their emergency medical alert service provider may call the Attorney General’s Health Education Advocacy Unit at 877-261-8807 or 410-528-1840.
Source: Office of Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler