50-626. Deceptive acts and practices. (a) No supplier shall engage in any deceptive act or practice in connection with a consumer transaction.

(b) Deceptive acts and practices include, but are not limited to, the following, each of which is hereby declared to be a violation of this act, whether or not any consumer has in fact been misled:

(1) Representations made knowingly or with reason to know that:

(A) Property or services have sponsorship, approval, accessories, characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits or quantities that they do not have;

(B) the supplier has a sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation or connection that the supplier does not have;

(C) property is original or new, if such property has been deteriorated, altered, reconditioned, repossessed or is second-hand or otherwise used to an extent that is materially different from the representation;

(D) property or services are of particular standard, quality, grade, style or model, if they are of another which differs materially from the representation;

(E) the consumer will receive a rebate, discount or other benefit as an inducement for entering into a consumer transaction in return for giving the supplier the names of prospective consumers or otherwise helping the supplier to enter into other consumer transactions, if receipt of benefit is contingent on an event occurring after the consumer enters into the transaction;

(F) property or services has uses, benefits or characteristics unless the supplier relied upon and possesses a reasonable basis for making such representation; or

(G) use, benefit or characteristic of property or services has been proven or otherwise substantiated unless the supplier relied upon and possesses the type and amount of proof or substantiation represented to exist;

(2) the willful use, in any oral or written representation, of exaggeration, falsehood, innuendo or ambiguity as to a material fact;

(3) the willful failure to state a material fact, or the willful concealment, suppression or omission of a material fact;

(4) disparaging the property, services or business of another by making, knowingly or with reason to know, false or misleading representations of material facts;

(5) offering property or services without intent to sell them;

(6) offering property or services without intent to supply reasonable, expectable public demand, unless the offer discloses the limitation;

(7) making false or misleading representations, knowingly or with reason to know, of fact concerning the reason for, existence of or amounts of price reductions, or the price in comparison to prices of competitors or one's own price at a past or future time;

(8) falsely stating, knowingly or with reason to know, that a consumer transaction involves consumer rights, remedies or obligations;

(9) falsely stating, knowingly or with reason to know, that services, replacements or repairs are needed;

(10) falsely stating, knowingly or with reason to know, the reasons for offering or supplying property or services at sale or discount prices;

(11) sending or delivering a solicitation for goods or services which could reasonably be interpreted or construed as a bill, invoice or statement of account due, unless:

(A) Such solicitation contains the following notice, on its face, in conspicuous and legible type in contrast by typography, layout or color with other printing on its face:

"THIS IS A SOLICITATION FOR THE PURCHASE OF GOODS OR SERVICES AND NOT A BILL, INVOICE OR STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT DUE. YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO MAKE ANY PAYMENTS UNLESS YOU ACCEPT THIS OFFER"; and

(B) such solicitation, if made by any classified telephone directory service not affiliated with a local telephone service in the area of service, contains the following notice, on its face, in a prominent and conspicuous manner:

"_____________________________ IS NOT

(name of telephone directory service)

AFFILIATED WITH ANY LOCAL TELEPHONE COMPANY";

(12) using, in any printed advertisement, an assumed or fictitious name for the conduct of such person's business that includes the name of any municipality, community or region or other description of the municipality, community or region in this state in such a manner as to suggest that such person's business is located in such municipality, community or region unless: (A) Such person's business is, in fact, located in such municipality, community or region; or (B) such person includes in any such printed advertisement the complete street and city address of the location from which such person's business is actually conducted. If located outside of Kansas, the state in which such person's business is located also shall be included. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to the use of any trademark or service mark registered under the laws of this state or under federal law; any such name that, when applied to the goods or services of such person's business, is merely descriptive of them; or any such name that is merely a surname. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to impose any liability on any publisher when such publisher had no knowledge the business was not, in fact, located in such municipality, community or region;

(13) (A) making an oral solicitation for products or services based on a mortgage trigger lead unless the solicitation clearly and conspicuously states in the initial phase of the solicitation that the solicitor is not affiliated with the lender or broker with which the consumer initially applied and that the solicitation is based on personal information about the consumer that was purchased, directly or indirectly, from a consumer reporting agency without the knowledge or permission of the lender or broker with which the consumer initially applied;

(B) making a written solicitation for products or services based on a mortgage trigger lead unless the solicitation clearly and conspicuously states on the first page of the solicitation that the solicitor is not affiliated with the lender or broker with which the consumer initially applied and that the solicitation is based on personal information about the consumer that was purchased, directly or indirectly, from a consumer reporting agency without the knowledge or permission of the lender or broker with which the consumer initially applied. Clear and conspicuous shall include legible type in contrast by typography, layout or color with other printing on the first page of the correspondence; and

(C) any solicitor under clause (A) or (B) shall be in compliance with the provisions of the Kansas mortgage business act, unless otherwise exempted from such act, and any other law or regulation; and

(14) failing to release funds representing an insurance settlement payment for damage to real property subject to a mortgage by the mortgage holder to the mortgagor within 30 days after receiving written proof that the damaged property is replaced or otherwise repaired to the satisfaction of the mortgagor and the mortgage holder. Any person who submits false information regarding the condition of the property shall be liable in damages to the mortgage holder or the mortgage holder's assignee for the amount of the funds together with interest thereon, attorney fees, and any additional damages that the mortgage holder or the mortgage holder's assignee has incurred.

History: L. 1973, ch. 217, § 4; L. 1976, ch. 236, § 3; L. 1991, ch. 159, § 2; L. 1993, ch. 177, § 1; L. 2000, ch. 167, § 1; L. 2009, ch. 67, § 2; L. 2010, ch. 103, § 3; July 1.