Horizons September 2009

HORIZONS e-NEWSLETTER
Volume 2, Number 6
Member Issue

Latest update of news and items of importance to members of the Vehicle Protection Association (VPA)

MO Attorney General Investigators Go Door to Door to St. Louis area Call Centers

While many of us were returning from the VPA annual meeting, a half a dozen investigators from the Missouri Attorney General’s office went “door to door” walking into call centers and asking lots of questions. As soon as the VPA learned of these visits, it alerted its members and recommended that they refer the investigators to VPA legal counsel Helen Mac Murray. The VPA immediately contacted the AG’s chief investigator. He claimed that because of all the press recently about the industry, his office wanted to learn about the industry practices. The VPA offered to meet with the investigators and review the Standards of Conduct and certification process with them. We explained that as members become certified, they will all be following the same standards. The AG indicated that they would stop the visits until the association can meet with the Attorney General’s office. We will keep you updated on the progress of our outreach to the Missouri Attorney General’s office.

Want a passcode to the new VPA website?

Just send your request to me at larry@vpanet.org and I’ll request one for you from our webmaster.

VPA Annual meeting deemed a GREAT success!

Attending VPA’s first annual meeting last week in Orlando were over 75 members and prospects. Participants learned the latest activities and benefits of VPA that positively impact their firms, how and why to get their firms Certified, received more details of the next Standards of Conduct (SofC) and networked with suppliers, associates and possible competitors. The VPA SofC are being finalized and will be distributed to members when ready.

VPA Members -- We Need Your Help!

As discussed at the Orlando meeting, we are working diligently to make the VPA website (http://www.vpanet.org) a valuable resource for consumers, policymakers and the media. One of the goals of the site is to have it counteract some of the negativity that is out there. As such, we are working on a search engine optimization (SEO) initiative designed to get the site to show up more in search engine results and thereby offer a balanced perspective on our industry.

To help the VPA site to do well in the search engines, it would be very helpful if you could have your webmaster add the following text to the "about us" section of your website:

[YOUR Company Name] is a proud member of the <a href="http://www.vpanet.org" target="_blank">Vehicle Protection Association</a> (VPA). The VPA is a not-for-profit trade association representing firms that are active in the automotive service contract industry. VPA member firms are committed to educating consumers on their rights, protecting consumers, and otherwise ensuring the integrity of the automotive service contract industry.

When/If you do add this link, please send a note to Ken Gaebler via email at ken@walkersands.com. Ken's firm, Walker Sands, is overseeing our SEO efforts. Thanks for your support.

CONSUMER TESTIMONIALS NEEDED

Please send testimonials from your customers as to the benefits of a VSC/Warranty to larry@vpanet.org ASAP. We want to use them to demonstrate that our industry provides value to its customers and vehicle owners.


VPA/AWSCA REGULATORY GUIDE AVAILABLE:

Get more information or order today. VPA/AWSCA now has its Regulatory Guide ready for members and non-members. To get more information, click on the AWSCA logo. To order: http://www.vpanet.org/Regulatory-Guide

Contents include:

  • Basics of federal & state telemarketing compliance
  • Telemarketing registration requirements 
  • Advertising guidelines
  • Updates on the latest regulatory enforcement actions 
  • A demonstration of the association's on-line regulatory compliance guide
  • Proper use of CallerID using services to assure proper name delivery
  • Contains all federal and state requirements for marketers