Fake Arizona delivery service ordered to pay $900K in consumer fraud case

PHOENIX – A fake Arizona delivery service that tricked consumers into providing personal information for telemarketers was ordered to pay more than $900,000, officials announced Wednesday.

A Maricopa County Superior Court commissioner entered a default judgment against Matthew Willes and his companies — Valley Delivery, My Home Services, Next Day Delivery and Next Day Services – on June 25.

The ruling followed four years of litigation. The case began in March 2020 when then-Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a consumer fraud complaint against Willes over his companies’ deceptive practices.

According to the court order, the businesses put notices saying “Sorry We Missed You” on the front doors of hundreds of thousands of Phoenix-area homes. If a resident called the number on the slip, the fake Arizona delivery service was able to match the caller’s number to his or her address.

“While on the call, Defendant’s representatives typically sent the homeowner a text message with a link that they instructed the homeowner to click on in order to verify information. The link took the homeowner to an online form where the homeowner unknowingly consented to receive telephone solicitations,” the default judgment says.

Businesses affiliated with the defendants — including Protection Source, Aqua Bright, Nergy, Latch Windows and Jax Homes — then targeted the homeowners with sales calls, according to the order.

How widespread was fake Arizona delivery service?

The defendants distributed more than 333,000 door tags since 2017, tricking more than 60,000 homeowners into responding.

Willes and his companies were ordered to pay the state approximately $747,000 in civil penalties along with over $175,000 in court and attorney fees.

The defendants also were directed to discontinue the deceptive practices that landed them in court.

“Mr. Willes and his companies went to great lengths to manipulate unsuspecting consumers into providing personal information and agreeing to receive telemarketing solicitations,” Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a press release Wednesday. “It is unbelievable how far some people will go to deceive Arizona consumers. I am pleased that my office was able to stop this deceptive practice and hold the defendants accountable for their actions.”

Arizonans who believe they were the victims of consumer fraud can file a complaint through the Attorney General’s Office website.

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