Cambridge Honda Sued Over AI Robocalls to Man on Do Not Call List

A Massachusetts man has sued Cambridge Honda, saying the dealership kept calling his cell phone with prerecorded, AI-voiced messages asking whether he wanted to sell his car. Jonathan Kamens filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and is asking the court to turn it into a class action under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the federal law that limits automated and prerecorded calls.

If a judge certifies the class, the case could cover anyone in the U.S. who got a prerecorded message from the dealer on a cell phone over the past four years, according to the complaint.

What the calls said

Kamens has never bought or serviced a car at Cambridge Honda, and his cell number is listed on the National Do Not Call Registry, Automotive News reported. The complaint describes a caller with a “robotic and artificial voice” that called him by the wrong first name, Timothy, and introduced itself as “Roger from Cambridge Honda.”

The message told him he was a customer and that his car was on a list of models the store wanted to buy, then pitched an instant cash offer and gave a number to call back. Kamens says text messages from “Roger” followed, again inviting him to sell his vehicle. He says he has no interest in selling.

When Kamens dialed the number, a voice answered. He asked whether he was talking to a real person, and it said it was AI. Automotive News reported that it called the same number and got the same automated reply.

What the lawsuit claims

The complaint argues that people who received the calls lost the use of their phones while the line was tied up, were charged for the calls and had their privacy invaded. It also says the calls harmed Kamens personally because they were frustrating, annoying and a nuisance that disturbed his solitude.

Kamens is asking the court for three things:

• certification of a nationwide class of people who got the dealer’s prerecorded calls on their cell phones
• damages for himself and the class
• an order barring Cambridge Honda from using an artificial or prerecorded voice to call cell phones in the future, except in emergencies

The filing does not say how many times Kamens was called or how many people may have received similar messages.

The dealer’s response

Cambridge Honda has not commented publicly. A lawyer representing the dealership said she was not authorized to discuss the case, according to Jalopnik.

What it means for car owners

The suit targets a familiar pitch: a dealer calling to offer cash for a car the owner never offered to sell, this time with an automated voice. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act restricts calls to cell phones that use an artificial or prerecorded voice, and the National Do Not Call Registry is meant to let people opt out of sales calls. Kamens’s complaint says both protections applied to him and that the dealer called anyway.

For drivers who have received similar calls from Cambridge Honda, the class-action request matters because it would let them be part of the case without filing their own suits. That depends on the court agreeing to certify the class.

Source: Jalopnik