(WXYZ) — Attorney General Dana Nessel's office is investigating a Muskegon business for ripping off face mask customers during the COVID-19 crisis.
The AG's office issued subpoenas for records from EM General LLC, which has allegedly been accepting payments for face masks, including N-95 masks, but failing to provide consumers with the products.
The subpoenas were issued to shed light on its business practices, including sales records and other financial information, customer correspondences, supply of goods and advertising records.
The AG's office says the company is likely in violation of the Michigan Consumer Protection Act for many reasons, including price-gouging, misleading costumers, advertising goods and services without the intent to provide those to purchasers and failing to provide consumers with refunds.
"My office will act swiftly against any business that thinks it can dupe consumers,” Nessel said. “We will continue to investigate complaints and take appropriate action to ensure consumers are being treated fairly and that they are not being taken advantage of by companies that are explicitly breaking our laws.”
EM General's website was allegedly selling "antiviral" N-95 masks for around $25 apiece. A 10-pack box of N-95 masks generally sells for closer to $15, the AG's office says.
Delays in providing the product to consumers were blamed on a high demand for the masks, and because of a "nationwide lockdown," but the AG's office says no such lockdown exists.
One person who purchased multiple masks from the company on March 4 asked whether her order was completed since she did not receive any confirmation. The company reportedly never responded.
Around two weeks later, company emails led the consumer to believe that EM General had received inventory on March 13 and was shipping products in the order purchases were made. It also said customers would get tracking numbers once shipping began and the product was to arrive six to eight days later.
On March 29, the same consumer received another email from the company with similar information, but different dates. EM General said it received inventory on March 19 and was shipping on that date, rather than March 13 as previously noted.
The Better Business Bureau provided the AG'S office with 87 complaints about EM General for similar issues, including failing to provide goods to purchasers from across the U.S.
One victim reported receiving emails from the company that noted the demand for N-95 respirator masks was “high,” that there were delays in shipping as they were “importing masks from Turkey.”
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