The People First Party (PFP) caucus yesterday said that it would initiate a class-action lawsuit on behalf of parents against a local firm accused of selling learning materials allegedly developed by renowned US child brain development expert Glenn Doman.
The firm, operating under the name Glenn Doman Co, last month was fined NT$500,000 by the Fair Trade Commission for illegally using Doman’s name and portrait at its stores.
The commission’s investigation found that advertisements run by the firm were “deceitful,” misleading customers into spending between NT$70,000 and NT$200,000 for content it created, PFP caucus whip Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
He said he was teaming up with PFP Taipei City Councilor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), a lawyer, who has received complaints about the alleged fraud to initiate a class-action suit against the firm and help customers reclaim their money.
Parents should be on alert to avoid being deceived by the company, which has undergone several name changes, Lee said, calling on the authorities to further investigate the case.
Huang said that based on her own investigation, Doman did not create the learning materials.
The firm targeted relatively well-off families who have children with learning disabilities, Huang said.
Taking advantage of parents’ concern for their children’s education, the firm claimed that the materials were developed and authorized for sale by Doman and that its customer support representatives would go to buyers’ homes to teach them how to use the products, she said.
However, parents who received the products said they were of poor quality and no customer support personnel ever showed up at their doors, she said.
The learning materials sold by the firm are largely the same as those offered by another company called Super Genius Baby (超級小天才), which sparked a controversy in 2006, she said.
The allegedly fake educational materials are now marketed by a firm under a different name, whose address corresponds to Glenn Doman Co’s at 2F-2, No. 45-1, Changan W Road, Taipei, Huang said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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