Boston Calls for Overhaul of Do Not Call Rules

March 27th, 2010 No comments »

Though all telemarketers are governed by federal rules pertaining to the National Do Not Call Registry, all states maintain individual rules for calls placed within their state. With the recent election of a new governor, Boston is now calling for the state of Massachusetts to overhaul its long-standing do not call rules.

Though many states include do not call provisions for political parties who make solicitous calls, Massachusetts currently includes no laws pertaining to politicians and political campaigners. For the state of Massachusetts, that means that all “political speech” phone calls are free from do not call rules, meaning that with every election comes an onslaught of phone calls from political campaigners, leaving residents with no recourse.

The election that took place this month to fill the late Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat was preceded by a bitter and forceful battle between Republican candidate Scott Brown and Democratic candidate Martha Coakley. Massachusetts residents received numerous calls each day from the offices of each candidate, asking for support, taking polls, and discussing various campaigning platforms. Now the residents of Massachusetts have had enough, and are asking for the state to step in and place restrictions on “political speech” phone calls, either by limiting how often calls to each resident are allowed or by allowing residents to place their numbers on a do not call list specific to political calls.

Whether the state of Massachusetts will decide to take action and revamp their do not call rules for politicians and political speech remains to be seen. Check back in with Do Not Call Compliance for updates on all do not call compliance news and information.

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Do Not Fax Laws and Compliance

March 7th, 2010 No comments »

Does your company send information, brochures, coupons, or other items to residents via fax? Though you may think of this as direct mail, companies or individuals who send solicitous materials to residents via fax are actually subject to all federal and state do not call rules and do not call regulations, as outlined by the FTC.

If you or someone from your company sends solicitous materials via fax to residents, all of your “call” lists must be fully do not call compliant. This means that just like a telemarketer, you must compare all the fax numbers on your “call” lists against the National Do Not Call Registry. Failure to do so could result in harsh monetary penalties at both the federal and state levels. Additionally, companies or individuals who scrub their fax lists against the National Do Not Call Registry and knowingly send solicitous faxes to do not call numbers are subject to these penalties as well.

If you send solicitous information to residents via fax, you need to make sure all your “call” lists are fully do not call compliant. Visit www.donotcallcompliance.com to learn more about do not call compliance management and do not call list scrubbing. We can help you scrub your lists against the National Do Not Call Registry to make sure that all your faxes and/or calls are fully do not call compliant. Do Not Call Compliance.com offers full service do not call list scrubbing and compliance management tools for all large volume call centers, including insurance and technology companies.

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Australian National Do Not Call Registry

December 26th, 2009 No comments »

You can bet that telemarketing companies in Australia are wishing they had a company like Do Not Call Compliance at their disposal right now! Recent reports claim that the well-known Australian Communications and Media Authority group, known as the ACMA recently failed to adequately educate consumers on what the Do Not Call Registry is and how to successfully use it to discontinue receiving telemarketing or solicitous calls.

The Australian version of the National Do Not Call Registry is known as the Do Not Call Register, or the DNCR, and is fairly new to the country. The Do Not Call Register was put into effect in the spring of 2007. Since its inception, Australian statistics report that 3.83 million numbers have been registered to the Do Not Call Register, out of an estimated 20 million eligible numbers.

However, the Australian Communications and Media Authority has now come under scrutiny for apparently failing to educate consumers on how the Do Not Call Register works. This means that consumers who may want to register their numbers on the list, or who may have registered their numbers but are still receiving unwanted calls are unaware of how to resolve their problems. Clearly, while the Australian Do Not Call Register is a step in the right direction, there is still work to be done.

If you manage telephone marketing representatives who make sales calls to residential (non-business) consumers to solicit a product or service, or if you make those types of calls yourself, give Do Not Call Compliance a call today. We would be happy to scrub all of your call lists against the American National Do Not Call Registry, ensuring that all of your calls are fully Do Not Call compliant. Please call us at 800-930-7252 today; we look forward to hearing from you.

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Wisconsin State Do Not Call List

December 3rd, 2009 No comments »

Today, November 30, 2009, is the last day on which Wisconsin residents can opt to have their phone numbers put on the Wisconsin State Do Not Call List. Wisconsin residents are given this opportunity every two years, although this year the rules are a bit different.

Though Wisconsin natives will still have the opportunity to block calls from companies and solicitors, the Wisconsin State Do Not Call Compliance laws do not apply to politicians, political parties, or non-profit organizations. Phone calls from these organizations will not be blocked and are not subject to state and federal Do Not Call Compliance rules.

If you place phone calls for a non-profit agency or political party, it may still be important to scrub your call lists for other states, which may or may not have rules similar to that of Wisconsin. We here at Do Not Call Compliance, however, will be happy to assist you in all your Do Not Call list scrubbing needs, and can help you decide which Do Not Call databases from particular states you need to scrub, or if you qualify as a political party or non-profit agency. For example, phone calls from the governor of your state may be exempt from the Do Not Call Compliance rules, but phone calls from a printing company that prints signs supporting the governor may not be exempt.

If you need telemarketing or lead lists scrubbed for Do Not Call Compliance, give us a call today at 800-930-7252. We would be happy to scrub all your lists and make sure you are fully compliant with all federal and state Do Not Call rules and regulations this holiday season.

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New Do Not Call Compliance Law Bans Pre-Recorded Telemarketing Calls

September 12th, 2009 No comments »

Pre-recorded telemarketing calls have been practically banned per the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) new restrictions. They have been quite popular in recent years and have been widely thought of as an inexpensive and more efficient way for marketers to reach their target market as much and as often as they desire. Pre-recorded sales messaging systems, or voice broadcasting systems as they are often times referred, have allowed solicitors to reach thousands of prospects cheaply and efficiently thus generating a numerous amount of sales leads in a relatively small period of time and at a low cost. Unfortunately, however, the party looks to be coming to an end.

The FTC’s new do not call compliance laws and restrictions levied against pre-recorded solicitation messages went into effect on September 1, 2009, and ban these “robocalls” to consumers, unless the telemarketer has obtained written consent from every customer on it’s call list that he or she wants to receive these types of calls.  Telemarketers face fines of up to $16,000 per violation.

Unless a seller has obtained signed expressed written consent from the consumer that explicitly gives the seller the right to call the consumer using pre-recorded telemarketing calls, then the seller cannot use pre-recorded telemarketing calls to solicit to the consumer. This is also irrespective of whether or not the seller has an established business relationship with the consumer or not. Otherwise, the only other scenario in which pre-recorded messages can be legally transmitted to a consumer under the do not call compliance laws is in the case of purely informational messages; for example, an airline calling a consumer to inform them that their flight was cancelled or a consumer’s pharmacy using a pre-recorded message to call the consumer to letting them know that their prescription is ready for pick up.

It will be interesting to see what short and long-term effect this new FTC ruling will have on call centers and voice broadcasting companies both here and abroad.

References

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/08/telemarketing_rules.html

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/08/tsr.shtm

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Register with the National Do Not Call Registry

July 26th, 2009 No comments »

Before picking up the phone and making your first or next solicitation call to a consumer, STOP and read this!

You must be registered with the National Do Not Call Registry (www.telemarketing.donotcall.gov) before making any solicitation calls in the United States to any consumer or “residence” pursuant to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 or you will be violating national do not call law and could possibly face hefty federal fines. In other words, if you desire to solicit or sell any product or service to a consumer via the telephone, you must carefully and consistently follow Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR).

If you are planning to sell or attempt to sell any type of product or service at any point to the consumer, even if you are not asking for the consumer to “sign on the dotted line” during the initial call, then yes, it is a sales call. If you plan on selling your product or service to the consumer at any point or time during or after your call to them, then yes, it is still considered a sales call.

Per the Federal Trade Commission, there are exemptions to this rule however for the following organization types:

  • calls from organizations with which you have an established business relationship;
  • calls for which you have given prior written permission;
  • calls which are not commercial or do not include unsolicited advertisements;
  • calls by or on behalf of tax-exempt non-profit organizations.

So unless you currently do business or have done business with the consumer within the past 18 months, have received written permission from the consumer, are calling a business or are calling from or on behalf of a tax-exempt organization like a charity, you must “scrub”, filter your lead list against the National Do Not Call Registry before picking up the phone to make any calls; and must only call those leads that are not on the National Do Not Call List or you are breaking the law.

Also, if a customer has asked to be placed on your “company specific” or “Internal Do Not Call List” then again, you are not allowed to call them ever; unless they have written to you and asked that their phone number be removed from your company’s “internal Do Not Call List”.

Although it can be a little overwhelming and in some cases a little costly, in the end, it is must more cost effective to just follow the National Do Not Call Law.

Sources:

FTC.gov. http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/donotcall/

Federal Trade Commission. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/alerts/alt129.shtm

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Do Not Call Scrubbing and Call Compliance Partner

July 20th, 2009 No comments »

So you’ve been tasked with implementing a cost effective, results-yielding do not call list scrubbing and compliance management solution, and possibly your company’s entire outbound telephone, email or fax marketing campaign. Remember one of the most important things you can do is to partner with an experienced do not call list scrubbing and compliance management firm. The right firm will be essential in ensuring that your company is fully inoculated against probable exorbitant state and national do not call registry fines that often range from $11,000 to $16,000 along with the additional losses that often spur from Civil Investigative Demands (CID) by the federal government. Also, having a competent and thorough do not call list management firm in place will save you from probable missteps and headaches that are likely to occur when starting and maintaining an up-to-date do not call compliance solution for your company.

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The Right Do Not Call List Scrubbing & Compliance Partner

July 18th, 2009 No comments »

Understanding the “nuts and bolts” of do not call compliance to ensure that your company is compliant for both state and national do not call rules and regulatory statutes can be quite daunting to say the least. Add in the potential complexities of your outbound telephone marketing campaign, knowing that state do not call statutes vary from state to state and sometimes conflict with or override with the national do not call list rules, and it can be enough to send you over the edge!

And if that’s not confusing enough, depending on the type of equipment you are using to make your calls, the federal government may require you to perform do not call scrub operations to compare your call lists against additional databases. Between the state do not call lists, the national do not call list, the unique registration processes and requirements for each, and the required regular updates and maintenance you’re expected to uphold, it’s easy to become frustrated to the point of tears.

Fortunately, our total do not call compliance solution goes well beyond simple do not call software and do not call scrubbing. We offer total state and national do not call rules management, established business relationship management, Do Not Call Policy creation, Company Do Not Call List Management, Cell Phone Scrub capability and a stellar do not call compliance training and education. With our do not call scrubbing and total management services we will ensure that your company will become and remain compliant and that it is tucked firmly under the Federal Trade Commission’s TCPA Safe Harbor Protection Act. This will shield your company from the thousands of dollars of potential liability in the case of a do not call violation.

Ensuring do not call compliance best practices as they relate to your outbound calling campaign and similar arenas actually can be quite simple with the right call compliance management company by your side. It can also be quite affordable to achieve and maintain do not call compliance with the efficient and secure list scrubbing and compliance management services that we offer. Our easy-to-use do call list scrubbing system takes the headache out of call compliance and maintaining a do not call compliance.

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Raise the curtain for our new “Do Not Call Compliance” blog

June 30th, 2009 No comments »

Clap. Clap. Clap…   Hello and welcome to the new “Do Not Call Compliance” blog. Here’s where you’ll find the latest & greatest news on everything about State and National Do Not Call Compliance – from cool product/service updates to interviews with Compliance Experts. (Yes there really are interesting people running around here starting with me of course).

We’ll be working hard to keep you updated on the ever-changing call compliance laws and industry news and updates and will try to make this blog a touch more interesting to read than your refrigerator’s user manual.

So bookmark this blog, email to a friend/colleague or add our RSS feed, and let’s pump up the volume on news at Do Not Call Compliance. And of course, we’d love getting your feedback at Do Not Call Compliance and this blog — and what you want to see discussed (and showcased) in the future.

Until next time friends…

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