FTC Bans Prerecorded Telemarketing Drivel 381
coondoggie writes "In the ongoing battle to let us eat dinner in peace without being interrupted by amazingly annoying telemarketer blather, and in this case the even more infuriating recorded telemarketing drivel, the Federal Trade Commission today basically outlawed recorded telemarketing calls. Specifically, the FTC changed its venerable Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) to prohibit, as of Sept. 2009, telemarketing calls that deliver prerecorded messages, unless a consumer has agreed to accept such calls from a given caller/seller. Between now and 2009, telemarketers must provide an obvious, easy and quick way for consumers to opt-out of any call, the FTC said. Such an opt-out mechanism needs to be in place by December 1, 2008."
Opt Out? (Score:0, Informative)
It's called hanging up.
United States only (Score:2, Informative)
There are some calls that are exempt, like during a state of emergency the fire department will issue an evacuation order via automated phonecall.
Re:Exemptions? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A good start. (Score:5, Informative)
Quit leaving that fucking hole in these things !
Why is this limited to just telemarketers? Debt collectors, campaigners, and non-profits need included.
I kept getting hammered by an automated call only leaving a number to call back.. A Google search turned up the number belonged to a collection agency in Chicago. They were hammering stale cases and my new number from a move just happend to be one of the numbers they had. If you don't speak english and thus unable to follow the instructions to call, there is no way to stop these calls as there is never anyone on the line to talk to.
I called them and told them to put me on their DNC list. They informed me that they were exempt as they were not telemarketers. WTF??? I expect this new thing to be full of loopholes also.
What I don't understand is... (Score:3, Informative)
...why aren't the pre-recorded messages about 'your vehicle warranty' and messages from 'cardholder services' illegal to begin with? They're basically fraudulent trolling schemes. They don't come out and say it, but they basically imply that they're something they aren't. Like "OH SNAP! YOUR CAR'S WARRANTY IS ABOUT TO EXPIRE, BLAH BLAH BLAH!" a less intelligent person might think this is actually real and important. Cardholder services? Please. "We're your credit card company, press 1 on your touchtone phone to lower your interest rate!" There's also that snail-mail spam claiming to be from your registrar, saying your domain is about to expire, and you have to pay them $29.95.
I get half a dozen of these calls a day. Not being comfortable with phones, I try to use them as little as possible, so it really pisses me off.
And the opt-out is a joke. I have 'been removed from the list' 17 times this week alone, for the exact same fucking 'cardholder services' recording!
Something else that is a joke is Anonymous Call Rejection, where calls are blocked if they have Caller ID blocked (Not Available) or are 'PRIVATE'. Too bad telemarketers know this, and therefor I'm still constantly getting calls from anonymous 800-numbers that are NAMED 'Private' and 'Not Available'. Assholes. I wonder if I can sue them under the DMCA for circumventing my apparent 'spamfucker security'.
Re:Useless (Score:5, Informative)
Well.... not everyone is stoned on the couch eating Cheetos and playing all day. I agree, if you are doing that then getting a call from a telemarketer can be fucking hilarious since they are paid to talk to you in the vain hopes of you remembering where you credit card might be. Under those circumstances I can entirely understand how one might want to get such calls. Kind of like reverse prank calling.
On the other hand, there are plenty of older people who are suffering without medications because some telemarketing company drained their bank account of a couple hundred dollars which they need. There are also plenty of people that when they get home are so busy making dinner, taking care of children, and basically dealing with 9 million more important things than getting a phone call every 5 minutes from somebody wanting to sell you something.
I'm all for it being both ways. Opt-in as well as Opt-out. That way all the grannies and stoner kids can sign up for a Telemarketer TeleBuddy(TM) and the rest of us can go on with our lives in peace.
Re:A good start. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Useless (Score:1, Informative)
Actually, TFA is about recorded marketing calls. So, your grandma wouldnt actually have anyone to talk to.
Re:A good start. (Score:5, Informative)
You are absolutely wrong about somebody deserving to be harassed by debt collectors. Nobody EVER deserves to be harassed under any circumstances. That is why there are large awards in civil court cases for collection agencies with too much "zeal".
This gentleman clearly indicated he was not the party they were looking for. Any calls that occur after this are, by definition, harassment. Now this harassment is not necessarily covered under the aforementioned FDCPA, but it does not have to be. This is no different than any other person or company repeatedly calling a random person after being asked to stop.
As you can see from the FDCPA, even IF the debt collection agency is calling the right person there are still rules governing their ability to call them after being asked to stop. You might want to look at:
Furthermore, at any time a person may send a letter to the collection agency asking that all telephone communications cease. Afterwards, the collection agency may only send letters to the person updating them on any actions being taken towards the debt.
Re:A good start. (Score:5, Informative)
I have had the same thing happen to me many times and to friends and family as well. Here is the 411 for you:
1) They ARE exempt from all telemarketing laws. Everyone likes to bring that up on the phone, but they are actually right.
2) So what the fuck now? They are still not exempt from basic laws governing harassment. You could deal with your phone company or talk to a supervisor of the debt collection agency and threaten a lawsuit if they keep calling you, or you could just go to....
3) Deal with them under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. They MUST inform of you their mailing address and the appropriate department. Send them a typed letter explaining that you are not the person they keep asking for, you have no knowledge of this person any debts this person has. Demand that all communications to that number cease immediately or you will seek remedies under the FDCPA.
Believe it or not, this works every time under the FDCPA. The reason why is that 99.9% of the people complain on the phone where the debt collection agency is not liable. Hardly anyone ever writes a letter.
Write the letter, it will stop. If it does not.. you have a $5,000 dollar insta-claim in a small claims court of your choice.
Re:Useless (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Already happening in OZ (Score:2, Informative)
If the call centre is based outside the UK then their cold calls are not exempt - which seems more than a little rediculous to me. In the end I had to resort to only anwswering calls with listed numbers.
Re:Useless (Score:3, Informative)
You do understand that only applies to pre recorded messages. Last time I checked you ccan't pank a message.
So look at the positive now all of our telemarketing calls are real people that we can screw with!
Thanks FTC for giving us more entertainment during extreme boredom.
Re:One MAJOR item missing from do not call lists (Score:3, Informative)
Tell them to re-read the law and then report them. AFAIK They can cold call you. You may then tell that specific organization to not call you again and they must honor that request within 30 (or is it 90?) business days. If, after that time, they call you again they are subject to fines up to $11,000.
(I was a SysOp for ICT - a telecommunications/market firm ages ago and follow the laws fairly clearly. However, the .gov site is down at the moment, IANAL, and I don't follow the changes as closely as I should.)
The above is not, as I recall, from the DNC but rather predates it with the TCPA from 1991. (Yep, IS0-9002 was a lot like hell to go through but set ICT apart from the rest, but I digress.)
As I recall any one specific organization can be told to place you on their INTERNAL DNC which is not to be confused with the national registry. I had long since hung my shingle out and abandoned regular employment by the time the DNC rolled around but I'm 99.999% certain that no provisions in the TCPA were over-ridden by the DNC other than providing statutes for a national registry and a requirement for some businesses to use said registry.
Yeah, it kind of sucks but you *can* get the vast majority of them fairly quickly if you're getting a lot of calls. I have a post earlier in this thread that deals with some issues I've dealt with quite recently and the effectiveness of that. It is some work but the TCPA is not to be ignored - though many people are ignorant of its benefits for us, the consumers, and so it goes...
Re:What I don't understand is... (Score:3, Informative)
If you live in the United States of America don't look at the DNC laws but do a few minutes of research with the TCPA (1991) and file a few complaints. You *should* see some results fairly quickly. Complaints can even be filed online.
Re:A good start. (Score:3, Informative)
Your example failed to demonstrate your point. How exactly did the phone company sell your number when you hadn't even setup a business phone number yet? How would the phone company know you opened a business and then associate it with your home number and sell it? No, what happened is that when you filed for your DBA, you provided your home phone number on the application, and the state sells lists of registered businesses.
I know this, because I've had the same thing happen to me for 2 businesses that I've setup. One of the businesses was a shareware company, where I didn't need a phone for anything, and thus never provided my home phone number or address (in relation to the business) to ANYONE with the exception of when I got my DBA. Thus there is only one conclusion to be drawn about where it came from.
All phone calls can be opted-out! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Opt Out? (Score:3, Informative)
"immediately say "no, thanks" and hang up."
If you simply say "no thanks," they will call back again later. You must say "remove me from your calling list." Telemarketing outfits make their money by number of calls made, and it is in their financial interest to do everything they can to keep you on their list. Any degree of ambiguity will be used as an implicit approval of future calls.