Ben Livingston
Vice-President, Innovative Access
7744 29th Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98117

My name is Ben Livingston. I am Vice-President of Innovative Access, a small Internet service provider in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. Innovative Access is seeking damages of $1,500 and court fees from Rapid Business Services, a company located at 110 West Road, Baltimore, MD 21204 for three violations of RCW 80.36.400.

RCW 80.36.400
Automatic dialing and announcing device -- Commercial solicitation by.
(1) As used in this section:
(a) An automatic dialing and announcing device is a device which automatically dials telephone numbers and plays a recorded message once a connection is made.
(b) Commercial solicitation means the unsolicited initiation of a telephone conversation for the purpose of encouraging a person to purchase property, goods, or services.
(2) No person may use an automatic dialing and announcing device for purposes of commercial solicitation. This section applies to all commercial solicitation intended to be received by telephone customers within the state.
(3) A violation of this section is a violation of chapter 19.86 RCW. It shall be presumed that damages to the recipient of commercial solicitations made using an automatic dialing and announcing device are five hundred dollars.
(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the Washington utilities and transportation commission from adopting additional rules regulating automatic dialing and announcing devices.

On Friday, February 2, 2001, I received a call during the late morning. A pre-recorded voice announced that I had been approved for a $10,000 credit card, and on top of that, a 4-day, 3-night cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines. If I was interested, the recording said, I must press the number one to speak to an operator. I pressed one. An operator answered.

"I'd like to get some information on your company," I said.

"What kind of information?" she asked.

"Name, address and phone number," I replied.

"I can't give that out," she replied and quickly hung up the phone.

I tried *69 and no information was available. I called the operator and was transferred to a Qwest representative who basically said there was nothing I could do to get information on the caller. Slightly perturbed, I returned to my work.

On Wednesday, February 7, 2001 at around 4 p.m., Abi Ludwig, Treasurer of Innovative Access, received the same pre-recorded call. She was much more successful at getting information from the company than I was. The operator told her the company name was "Rapid Business Services" and the phone number was (248) 967-3959. Abi asked what company they were representing, and the operator said it was Chase Manhattan Bank and the phone number was (866) 866-1600.

On Thursday morning, I decided we should file a small claim against the company for violating RCW 80.36.400. I called (248) 967-3959 and spoke with a manager named "Austin." When I asked for the company name, he said "Austin." I'm not sure if that is the company name, but that's all he would tell me. He said that his company doesn't do any calling - when someone presses the number one, the call is transferred to his company. The company doing the actual calling, he told me, was Rapid Business Services and he told me to call them at (866) 866-1600.

After many busy signals, I got through to Rapid Business Services and asked for their mailing address, which I was given without questions.

On Thursday, February 8, 2001 at approximately 2 p.m., Robert Lunday, President of Innovative Access, received the same pre-recorded call. He pressed the number one and asked the operator for company information. The operator told him the company name was "Rapid Business Services" and the number was (866) 866-1600.

On Friday, February 9, 2001 at approximately 9:40 a.m.. I received the same pre-recorded call again. I pressed one and was transferred to an operator. I told her I was interested in her company and she proceeded to tell me about their credit card offer and various other services. After a few minutes, she stopped and I told her I was looking for more information about the company itself, like name and address. She asked why and I said it was to serve notice of a small claim. She then transferred me to a manager named Walter who wouldn't provide a last name. Walter told me that they don't do the actual calling - Rapid Business Services does that. He gave me their number - (866) 866-1600.

I called the number and was transferred to a manager named Carolyn. I asked if they had a registered agent in Washington State and she didn't know what a registered agent was. I told her it was someone who could legally represent the company in the State of Washington, and she said they had "representatives" in California, Indiana and a few other states - I believe she meant sales representatives, not registered agents.

My conversation with Carolyn was filled with confusion. She told me they don't do any calling. I told her that Walter said Rapid Business Services did the actual calling and asked her who was doing the calling. She said she didn't know. She said they could remove me from the call list, but as far as the machine that was calling the people on that list, she had no idea who was doing that.

Austin and Walter, managers at the company that calls are forwarded to when a person presses the number one, told me that Rapid Business Services was the company doing the calling. Carolyn at Rapid Business Services told me she could take me off their list and I wouldn't receive any more calls. Because of these two reasons, I am forced to assume that Rapid Business Services is the company doing the calling, even though Carolyn at Rapid Business Services told me they weren't the company doing the calling.

RCW 80.36.400 presumes the damages for a violation of that section to be $500. We are seeking $1,500 in damages as well as court fees from Rapid Business Services for three violations of that law. I presume the first call I received, in which the operator hung up on me, was Rapid Business Services. However, since I was unable to confirm this fact, we are not seeking damages for that call.

I hereby declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the State of Washington and the United States that the above statement is true and correct.

Dated: February 9, 2001

Ben Livingston