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State of Washington v. Global Grid Telecom, Inc., an Oregon Corporation, and Harry H. Hart III, an individual

The following describes a government action that has been resolved by either a settlement or a decision by a court or administrative agency. If the matter is being appealed, it will be noted below.

On May 11, 2022, in the State of Washington Superior Court, the State of Washington and Global Grid Telecom, Inc. and Harry H. Hart III, an individual entered into a Consent Decree.  According to the judgement, Global Grid Telecom must pay more than $8,000 to the Attorney General’s Office, which will be given to 200 Washingtonians harmed by the company’s hidden start-up fee. Global Grid Telecom and owner Harry Hart III also face $603,000 in penalties, costs, and fees for its illegal conduct, including robocalls, which are suspended so long as they pay back the upfront fees and do not violate the terms of the consent decree.  In addition, Global Grid Telecom, Inc. must shut down its illegal robocalling operation. The company must also stop all deceptive marketing practices, including misrepresentations about a product it falsely promised could block robocalls.
 
In October 2021, the State of Washington filed a lawsuit against Global Grid Telecom, Inc. asserting the company made over 54,000 illegal robocalls to Washingtonians, in violation of the Washington Automatic Dialing and Announcing Device (WADAD) Statute and the Consumer Protection Act (CPA). Ironically, the calls attempted to sell a purported robocall-blocking service.

Global Grid Telecom, Inc. robocalled consumers on the Do Not Call Registry and made deceptive claims in its advertising and told people that “subscriptions start at just pennies per month" yet failed to mention that they would be charged up-front fees to activate the service — anywhere from $8 to $100.

Washingtonians impacted by Global Grid Telecom's illegal hidden fees will receive restitution payments equal to the amount they paid. These payments will average approximately $35 per customer. The consent decree, currently pending approval from King County Superior Court, requires Global Grid Telecom to make all restitution payments to the Attorney General’s Office within the next 12 months due to the company’s current lack of funds and assets, which the Attorney General’s Office independently verified. The Attorney General’s Office will send checks to consumers once Global Grid has completed its payment. Consumers do not have to do anything to receive restitution.

Background of the case:

From May 2017 through December 2019, Global Grid used an autodialing program to send pre-recorded commercial voice messages directly to the voicemails of CenturyLink customers with Washington landline phone numbers (i.e. robocalls).

Global Grid Telecom sent 54,410 robocalls into Washington state. The company robocalled 16,808 Washingtonians more than once. One Washingtonian received 23 robocalls from Global Grid Telecom.

Global Grid Telecom made 46,332 robocalls to Washington telephone numbers on the Do Not Call Registry to advertise its service.

Global Grid Telecom offered a telephone service called “MAX|Command” that, the company represented, would stop unwanted telephone calls when added to the customer’s CenturyLink telephone line. However, the service did not function as represented, nor did it offer any unique features as its control features are already within CenturyLink’s telephone system.

The following is an example of one of Global Grid Telecom Inc’s robocall messages:

“Please do not hang up. The voicemail system has an urgent announcement for you regarding your security and the Federal Trade Commission’s National Do Not Call Registry. There’s a new telephone feature that you can add to your current CenturyLink phone line that will screen and block robocalls and unwanted telemarketers.”

The lawsuit asserts Global Grid Telecom’s voicemail messages sounded like official messages from CenturyLink, and consumers complained that the messages deceptively sounded as if the offer came from CenturyLink. Nearly all of the company’s messages referred to a “voicemail system announcement.”

Many of the messages also referred to the advertised service as an “upgrade” or new feature to CenturyLink accounts. Further, some of the messages referenced the Do Not Call Registry, which could have deceived people into believing the message was associated with the federal government.

Global Grid Telecom, Inc. also claimed its products would stop all robocalls, and would stop 90 to 100% of telemarketers and unwanted calls. In fact, “MAX|Command” did not prevent robocalls. It only would manage and add phone numbers to a list of blocked numbers on a telephone line, without actually blocking new incoming unwanted calls.

The robocall message did not provide an option for people to remove themselves from Global Grid Telecom’s call list. In some instances, consumers who informed the company they no longer wanted to receive messages from Global Grid Telecom continued to receive robocalls.

Assistant Attorney General Mina Shahin, investigator Eric Peters of the office’s Consumer Protection Division handled the case for Washington.  For more information, please contact the Washington State Attorney General’s Office at https://www.atg.wa.gov/ or call toll-free 1-800-551-4636. You can also can report robocalls to the Federal Trade Commission at https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx.

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