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CA Certificate Service, LLCInformation and Alerts
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This business has 2 alerts.
Alert
BBB has received a pattern of complaints concerning misrepresentation in advertising and selling practices. Consumers allege that the business advertising appears to be an official document from their state government agency. This business is not a government agency.
To date, the BBB has verified CA Certificate Service LLC or Corporate Compliance Service LLC has done business in the following states:
Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Iowa
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
New Hampshire
New Mexico
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
Government Action: BBB reports on known government actions involving business’ marketplace conduct:
2024-CV-08528
On December 20, 2024, the Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania brought against this business and others for violations of federal law. For more information, please check in Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania (2024-CV-08528)
The list of Defendants are as follows:
Corporate Certificates, LLC, (D/B/A PA Corporate Certificates) ; and Owners of Corporate Certificates, LLC: Brian Capobianco, Dean G. Marshlack, David Marshlack.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania alleges that Defendants’ solicitations target Pennsylvania business owners, giving the false or deceptive overall impression that Defendants are affiliated with the Pennsylvania Department of State when, in fact, Defendants have no affiliation whatsoever with any Commonwealth agency. Issuing solicitations to Pennsylvania business owners which appear to be from an entity based and/or located in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has the capacity to mislead recipients regarding the location and affiliation of the sender, thereby creating a more trustworthy impression than is warranted.
Defendants offered to provide certificates of subsistence to Pennsylvania business owners for One Hundred Two and 50/100 Dollars ($102.50), although The Pennsylvania Department of State offers certificates of subsistence for Forty and 00/100 Dollars ($40.00). Furthermore, a Pennsylvania business which has just been incorporated, may or may not need of a subsistence certificate. Defendants’ solicitation does not disclose that their Certificate of Subsistence Fee of One Hundred Two and 50/100 Dollars ($102.50) is more expensive than the Forty and 00/100 Dollar ($40.00) cost of a Subsistence certificate obtained directly from the Pennsylvania Department of State.
Defendants send their solicitations to new Pennsylvania business owners within weeks after they create their business, and even include an arbitrary deadline on their solicitations. If a subsistence certificate is required in any case, it is easily and quickly obtained directly from the Pennsylvania Department of State, close in time to when it is requested. There is no deadline at any point in time beyond which a business owner will be able to obtain a subsistence certificate; indeed, the existence of a deadline to obtain such a document is completely contrary to its purpose.
The Bureau of Consumer Protection (“Bureau”) has received complaints which indicate that some recipients of the solicitation believed that the solicitation came from a Commonwealth agency and/or that obtaining a subsistence certificate was a necessary step to complete the organization of their business. This belief was based on the appearance of and language used in the solicitation. In some instances, the business owners who received the solicitation were first-time business owners who were uncertain of the requirements to conduct business in the Commonwealth. In some instances, the business owners who sent a check to the Defendants in response to the solicitation did not receive a subsistence certificate in return.
Defendants unsuccessfully attempt to mitigate the net deceptive impression of their solicitations by way of the following:
a. Description of the subsistence certificate as “optional” in the smallest typeface present in the solicitation; and
b. Inclusion of the sentence “Pennsylvania Corporate Certificates is not affiliated with any government or state agency and this notice is a solicitation for your business” in the smallest typeface present in the solicitation.
The above-noted disclosures are not clear and conspicuous and fail to negate the deceptive overall net impression that the solicitation is coming from a Commonwealth agency in regard to a document that a new business owner is required to obtain.
Defendants offer little to no benefit or advantage compared with a business directly requesting a subsistence certificate from the Department of State, and it charges over twice the certificate’s Forty-Dollar fee to perform this negligible service
The appearance of the solicitation tends to mislead or confuse recipients. The Commonwealth believes and therefore avers that Defendants crafted the solicitation to create the impression that it is an official document from either the Pennsylvania Department of State or another Commonwealth agency. The Commonwealth believes and therefore avers that Defendants’ use of the unregistered fictitious name “PA Corporate Certificates” misleads Pennsylvania business owners into believing the solicitation was an official document from either the Pennsylvania Department of State or another Commonwealth agency.
The Pennsylvania Fictitious Names Act (hereinafter the “FNA”) states that “any entity which either alone or in combination with any other entity conducts any business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under or through any fictitious name shall register the fictitious name with the Pennsylvania Department of State.”
The following are violations under Consumer Protection Law and Fictitious Names Act
found by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania:
COUNT I – Violations of the Consumer Protection Law: defendants misled Pennsylvania business owners into purchasing its services by imitating a Commonwealth agency
COUNT II – Violations of the Consumer Protection Law: defendants knowingly misrepresented to business owners that their services of negligible value were needed when such services were not needed
COUNT III – Violations of the Consumer Protection Law: defendants accepted payment for the provision of a service and subsequently failed to perform said service
COUNT IV – Violations of the Consumer Protection Law: defendants failed to comply with the Fictitious Names Act
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania requests that the Court:
A. permanently enjoining Defendants, in any capacity, from offering for sale the provision of a subsistence certificate to Pennsylvania business owners;
B. directing Defendants to make full restitution and civil penalties to all Pennsylvania business owners who have suffered losses as a result of the acts and practices alleged in this complaint and any other acts or practices which violate the Consumer Protection Law
C. Defendants to pay to the Commonwealth civil penalties of One Thousand and 00/100 Dollars ($1,000.00) for each instance of a past or present violation of the Consumer Protection Law, and Three Thousand and 00/100 Dollars ($3,000.00) for each instance of a past or present violation of the Consumer Protection Law involving consumers age sixty (60) or older as victims.
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