If You Got a Call Promising You a Free Cruise, A Class-Action Lawsuit May Get You Some Cash

I don't know about you, but for my family, signing up for the National Do Not Call Registry did not give us the relief from telemarketers that we'd hoped for. As a matter of fact, we've barely noticed a drop-off in call volume at all. And we've been on the Do Not Call list for over 10 years.

I must admit that in the big picture, it's not an incredibly big deal. It's just annoying as hell. I remember reading that big fines would be handed out to people who violate the no-call list by continuing to call you. Maybe that's happened, but if it has, there hasn't been a lot of noise made about it.

We still get plenty of calls to lower our interest rates on credit cards we don't have, re-financing our mortgage, or telling me that the IRS has issued an arrest warrant for me but if I pay them right now, over the phone, with my credit card--all would be forgiven (a complete and total scam, by the way).

I remember reading that with the Do Not Call Registry only people that we do or have done business with are allowed to call, along with politicians (who do you think made the rules? Politicians, of course. So, they naturally exempted themselves from those rules), and a few assorted others. Nobody said anything about things like free cruise offers.

Which brings me to my point. If you've gotten a call at some point with an offer of a free trip aboard a Carnival, Royal Caribbean, or Norwegian Cruise Lines cruise ship, you may be entitled to some money. You have to take some action online to include yourself, but I've done it, and it only takes about 5 minutes at the most.

The class-action suit, Charvat v. Resort Marketing Group, Inc., basically claims that Resort Marketing Group violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by calling people on their cellphones and/or landlines with an offer of a free cruise with the aforementioned cruise lines.

If your phone number was one of the many called by Resort Marketing, you may find yourself on the receiving end of $300, or up to $900 per phone line.

Click here to see if your number(s) is part of the settlement.

If it turns out that you were indeed a recipient of one or more calls, there's a short claim form to fill out, and you must mail it in (or complete it online) by November 3, 2017.

Just before uploading this post, I went online to the above website and checked our numbers. It turns out that we are on the list of people who've gotten that call.

I've already filled out the claim form. Now, time to wait for the cash to show up.