NC Attorney General Bars iMergent (IIG) and StoresOnline from Business in NC, Must Pay Refunds

May 17, 2007 10:28 AM EDT

From North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper: Wake County Superior Court Judge Michael Morgan signed off on an order late Tuesday that bans iMergent (AMEX: IIG), Inc and StoresOnline, Inc from selling or marketing products and services in North Carolina until Cooper’s complaint is resolved in court. The order also requires the companies to provide refunds to North Carolina consumers who complain to the Attorney General’s office. Cooper is asking the court to permanently bar these companies from unfair and deceptive business practices in North Carolina and to require them to pay $5,000 per violation.

According to Cooper’s complaint, iMergent and StoresOnline failed to comply with North Carolina’s law for business opportunities and misrepresented their Internet products and services as being easy to use for consumers with little or no computer experience. He also alleges they failed to provide consumers with the proper written notice of their three-day right to cancel as required by law for sales made off premises, such as at workshops.

Since 2002, iMergent and StoresOnline have held several workshops to pitch their services in North Carolina, including workshops in Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Raleigh, Fayetteville, Wilmington and Asheville. At the workshops, the companies urged consumers to sign up for the service, at a cost of $2,700 for three websites or $5,900 for six plus a monthly hosting fee of $24.95 per website.

Cooper’s office has heard from more than a dozen consumers about the bad practices of iMergent and StoresOnline since 2002. The Better Business Bureau has received more than 400 complaints about these companies from across the country in the last three years.

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