Provo marketing firm fined for hanging up on customers

A Provo company that sells Dish Network Corp.'s satellite TV services has agreed to pay a $75,000 fine for hanging up on customers, federal regulators said Tuesday.

Provo-based Star Satellite LLC will pay $75,000 after the company was accused of making telemarketing calls that failed to connect consumers to a live telemarketer within two seconds after consumers answer the call. The Federal Trade Commission said the company, its president and other defendants were "unjustly enriched" by these "unlawful practices."

The FTC said the two-second rule was implemented after concerns by consumers, especially women and the elderly, that they were being stalked when they picked up the phone and no one answered.

Telemarketers would make several automated calls at once and route the first consumers who answered their phones to live marketers. Because of the company's limited staff, other consumers wouldn't be connected at all, said FTC spokesman Mitchell Katz.