Americans can get checks up to $600 from a $17 million settlement with a major TV provider – see who’s eligible

AMERICANS may receive payments of up to $600 from a major television provider that just agreed to a massive $17 million settlement.

DirecTV has agreed to send checks to data subjects who allege that the company hired collection agencies to send recorded overdue payment reminders to people who weren’t even customers.

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After 10 years of back and forth, the company closed the case but maintains its innocence.

“Although we deny the allegations in this lawsuit because we have established extensive procedures to comply with TCPA, we have decided to settle this nearly decade-old case,” a spokesman reportedly said CNET.

In Brown et al. v. DirecTV LLC, plaintiffs allege that the satellite company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by hiring third party groups to make the automated calls.

Explicit consent is required by law to send pre-recorded messages over the phone.

Lead plaintiffs Jenny Brown and Carmen Montijo filed the lawsuit, alleging that DirecTV hired multiple companies to place at least 220,000 calls to bogus numbers.

The lawsuit alleges DirecTV “either knew or knowingly avoided knowing” what the telemarketing agencies were doing.

DirecTV has now set up a claims process for people allegedly affected by the agencies.

Those eligible include anyone who has not been a customer since 2004 but still received the calls.

Messages must also have been sent between August 14, 2009 and December 4, 2015. It is required that they are either pre-recorded or created with an artificial voice.

The amount of money individuals can make depends on which agency they contacted.

According to the settlement, consumers can receive $300 in shares if they can show they were affected.

If the consumer was called by iQor or Credit Management, they are entitled to two joint calls, or about $600 per call.

If they’ve been contacted by Enhanced Recovery or AFNI, they can get a share or about $300 per call.

To make a claim, all you have to do is visit the comparison website and fill out a form.

If that is easier, you can also send an application form by post.

Consumers don’t just have to provide evidence of the cellphone numbers that received the call, either.

The deadline for making claims is December 19th.

A final hearing to approve the settlement is scheduled for February 24.

After that, the payments should be sent.

However, the company asked applicants to be “patient” during this process.

This comes after DirecTV was involved in another similar settlement in 2005.

The company was forced to pay a $5.3 million fine by the Federal Trade Commission after a contracted telemarketing agency contacted people on the national Do-Not-Call registry.

It broke a consumer protection law and had to pay what was then the highest fine imposed by the FTC.

“The do-not-call rule applies to all players in the marketing chain, including retailers and their telemarketers,” said then-FTC Chair Deborah Platt Majoras.