Promotional companies to pay $1.8 million

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Attorney General Jay Nixon said Thursday that two companies that ran a promotion promising big rebates must pay $1.8 million to customers and the state. Nixon sued the companies in February, saying England-based Consumers Trust and its partner, Consumer Promotions Inc., of Lee's Summit, promised extravagant product rebates to consumers but then made the rebates extremely difficult to obtain. Nixon said the companies violated Missouri consumer protection laws with misleading and deceptive practices. Consumers nationwide were fooled into buying everything from cars to carpeting and even cosmetic surgery, after being promised they would get rebates for all or most their costs three years later, Nixon said.

Merchants were sold vouchers on expensive items as a way to increase sales, but the fine print on the rebates made it nearly impossible to get paid back, he said.

As part of a consent judgment entered Wednesday, Nixon said, the companies will send out new vouchers to clarify terms and pay $1.85 million to satisfy customers' claims and cover the state's costs for pursuing the case. He said 5,000 Missouri customers who had vouchers will be able to exchange them for new ones.