Door-To-Door Vacuum Salesman Fined $30,000, Banned

A judge has ordered a Coeur d’Alene door-to-door salesman to repay customers to whom he sold overpriced vacuum cleaners.

First District Court Judge Gary Haman also banned Frederal Lopez from door-to-door sales in Idaho and fined him $30,000.

Lopez sold vacuum cleaners primarily in North Idaho under the business names Northwest Airflow and Miracle Air, targeting the elderly, according to the state attorney general’s office.

In one case he charged an 80-year-old Coeur d’Alene woman more than $1,700 for a vacuum cleaner, said Attorney General Al Lance.

The woman traded a pipe organ for the vacuum cleaner and ended up being taken for $4,000.

“Lopez talked her into signing the contract even though she told him she was taking prescription medication and was unable to see the contract well enough to read it,” Lance said.

Deputy Attorney General Michael McDonagh said Lopez used “high-pressure tactics” to make sales, frequently refusing to leave people’s homes when asked.

McDonagh said Lopez had been selling vacuums for about three months when the attorney general’s office began receiving complaints.

Haman ruled that Lopez violated the state’s Consumer Protection Act and the Rules of Consumer Protection by failing to tell customers they could cancel the sale within three days of signing a contract, a requirement under state law.

“Industrywide, one of the areas we’ve seen problems is with the door-to-door vacuum cleaner sales,” McDonagh said.

Last year, the attorney general’s office won a default judgment from Lopez’s business partner, Jim Bennett, alleging similar violations.

Bennett also was fined, banned from door-to-door sales and ordered to pay restitution.

, DataTimes