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Lawsuit against BeWell.Net in discovery stage
A lawsuit filed May 12 by Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar against a Parker-based Internet service provider is now in the discovery stage, said deputy attorney general Ken Lane.
By Christine Ina Casillas
A lawsuit filed May 12 by Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar against a Parker-based Internet service provider is now in the discovery stage, said deputy attorney general Ken Lane.
The lawsuit was filed against BeWell.Net, its president Christy Logan-Sheppard and its principal operator William Sheppard for deceptive sales and billing practices in connection with BeWell.Net’s marketing and delivery of services to more than 25,000 customers.
The lawsuit is seeking the maximum civil penalties and refunds to injured customers. The maximum penalty is $2,000 per violation.
The lawsuit was filed because of an ongoing investigation of more than 400 customer complaints against the Internet company received by the attorney general. The Denver Better Business Bureau, Kansas Attorney General Carla Stovall and Wyoming Attorney General Gay Woodhouse also are partners in the lawsuit.
A court date has not been set.
BeWell.Net is in the process of “exchanging mandatory disclosure,” said Julia Roye, attorney for BeWell.Net.
Logan-Sheppard and Sheppard were unavailable for comment.
However, in its response to the allegations, the firm denies the charges.
The lawsuit alleges that the company has engaged in deceptive advertising that concerns high-speed modem access and 24-hour, seven-day-a-week technical support for its services.
In a response from BeWell.Net to the attorney general, the company says it advertised between March and November 1999 in the ComputerEdge, a free computer magazine, and says it was “unable to provide service to Burlington, Colo., after access to telephone service became unavailable.”
The lawsuit also alleges that customers trying to connect are unable to sign on, get booted off the network or experience slow connections that prevent customers from going online.
When customers call the company for support, the company does not answer its telephone, and no sufficient technical support services are available, the lawsuit says.
Also included in the lawsuit are allegations for automatic, prepaid billing for services never received, multiple billing and refusing to provide refunds because of its “no refund” policy.
BeWell.Net has denied the allegations about refusing to refund its members.
The response reads: “If a BeWell member no longer has access to BeWell for any reason, BeWell offers the member the option of transferring their remaining prepaid Internet access time to an existing or new member or of placing their account on hold.”
Because members open multiple accounts, billings errors occurred since Jan. 1, 1997, the company said. When the billing errors were discovered, the company said it made the necessary corrections.
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