ABSTRACT

The model-home pitch, the "free" gifts and samples, the "official inspector" and the specially selected household gimmick all lend themselves to door-to-door selling. In fact, "model home" companies were accused in a majority of the home improvement and repair complaints received by the Minnesota attorney general's Consumer Fraud Bureau in recent years. Fraudulent and deceptive practices in the home repair and improvement field have also boomed. Most fraudulent home-improvement schemes have common characteristics: phony bargains, tricky financing, guarantees not honored, materials misrepresented, and performances exaggerated. The court stated that referral selling possesses the elements of prize, chance, and valuable consideration, which thereby brings it within the scope of the state's lottery laws. State and federal agencies should have power to obtain preliminary civil injunctive relief in consumer fraud cases. Closer cooperation should be established between federal, state, and local governmental agencies dealing with consumer protection.