Major Appliance
Joined: 09 Feb 2008
Posts: 1292
Location: Brand Central
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Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:44 pm Post subject: FTC does its job!
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WASHINGTON — After a barrage of consumer complaints, the government is banning phone calls of prerecorded sales messages unless consumers agree to receive the calls.
The Federal Trade Commission also announced that by December all prerecorded calls must provide an opt-out selection to make it easy for consumers to stop getting those calls. Effective Sept. 1, 2009, sellers and telemarketers may place prerecorded calls only to consumers who have provided signed and written agreements to receive them.
The FTC said the rules will not affect informational prerecorded messages, such as messages to notify consumers of appointments and cancellations, because they do not attempt to sell goods or services.
A report by the FTC this week said there were more than 13,000 consumers comments that objected to the telemarketing industry's request to gain more flexibility to make recorded sales calls.
The agency says the new rules will protect consumers' privacy, much like the Do Not Call Registry. The registry, initiated in 2003, has been widely acclaimed for allowing Americans to eat their dinners without being interrupted by telephone sales pitches. More than 150 million people have listed their phones on the registry, which prohibits calls from telemarketers, with some exceptions.
Mark Cooper, director of research for the Consumer Federation of America, said Wednesday the rule closes a loophole that "was part of the intrusion of unwanted calls."
"Callers did not think they were bound by the Do Not Call list, and now they are," said Cooper. "The FTC finally addressed it." |
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Nofsdad
Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 6742
Location: Central CA
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Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:36 pm Post subject:
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I get several of those a day and on an annoyance scale of 1-10 it rates a 25 which should make it a capital crime and result in immediate execution of the perpetrators.
I especially hate the ones in which a recording threatens the hell out of you with something, usually in regard to "your account" and demands that you call THEM.
Then there are the ones whose robo equipment makes the call and then is too damned stupid to realize that the call has been answered and forgets to even start the recorded spiel.
This is long overdue... I'm just concerned about the "There will, of course, be exceptions" comment I saw in the Consumerist blurb on the article. Our government loves to leave loopholes.
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