Sunday, April 5, 2009

Missouri Attorney General sues Florida locksmith company

Attorney General Chris Koster filed a lawsuit last Thursday to stop Dependable Locks, Inc. of Florida from fraudulent business practices. Koster is asking the court to approve an order which stops the company from advertising itself deceitfully with at least 16 different business names and bogus addresses and from charging consumers two to three times more than the price quoted for service. None of the 16 businesses are legally registered with the state to conduct business in Missouri.

Since Missouri is not one of 13 states with laws regulating the locksmith industry, Koster was required to go through the court process to stop the fraudulent activity. An online search of both the Missouri Senate and House of Representatives revealed that there is no locksmith legislation currently working its way through their legislative process.

In addition, Koster notified AT&T (a regulated industry) that it is carrying deceptive advertisements and demanded that the phone company take all appropriate steps to remove the ads, including removing them from electronic sites such as “The Real Yellow Pages” and yellowpages.com.

According to the State of Florida Division of Corporations website, Dependable Locks, Inc. is owned by David Peer of Dunedin, Fla. Peer lists his former address on the 2006 incorporation papers as Bronx, NY. He is listed as the sole officer of the company. According to the 2008 forms, the principal place of business is at 407 S. Arcturas Ave., Clearwater, Fla. 33765.

Koster requests that victims of Dependable Locks, Inc. file a complaint at www.ago.mo.gov or call his consumer hotline at 800-392-8222. Investigators in the Attorney General’s office found the following business names being used by Dependable Locks, Inc.:
A #1 24 Hour Locksmith
A 24 Hour locksmith
AAA 24 & 7 day Locksmith
A Always Available 24 Hour Locksmith
A Emergency A Locksmith
A Locksmith Always 24 Hour
A Locksmith A 1-24 Hour
A Locksmith 00 24 Hour
A Locksmith O Always 24 hour
A Locksmith Service 24 hour
A Locksmith 24 Hour Emergency
A Locksmith
A Kansas City #1 Emergency Locksmith
24 hour A Locksmith At St. Louis
24 hour A Locksmith
Locksmith
0 24 Hour Locksmith




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