Suing Telemarketers Made Simple

Lord of the Distinctive Rings writes "Telemarketer calls victim in wee hours. Victim is lawyer. Victim sues telemarketer. Hilarity ensues, as recounted in narrative replete with links and information on how you too can sue up the wazoo." Well, one's certainly not ever going to get rich or anything going after telemarketers on a one-off basis, but every bit helps, I think.

Comments

I can't wait...

[stev3]

I can't wait for the National Do Not Call List to take effect.

HURRY UP!!

Keep em on the phone.

[amembrane]

I've had friends who have had to do this to make ends meet. The key to this business is speed, so if you really want to make it ineffective, keep them on the phone as long as possible. Doesn't matter to me, I haven't had a land line since the last millenium. =P

Re:Keep em on the phone.

[L1Trauma]

Your strategy for dealing with the intrusive and obnoxious is to listen longer? More power to you, buddy. Also, see earlier /. Cell-e-marketers are on the way.

How to identify 'Out of Area' on called id?

[Anonymous Coward]

I get like 2 of these calls a week, none of which announce the business name, some of which arrive after 9 p.m. However, these scumbag telemarketers have their numbers show up as 'Out of Area' on my caller id. How do you identify the offending company then?

I know telemarketers suck, but...

[Mononoke]

This sounds like some poor schmo who was sold an autodialer and forced his (now unemployed) secretary to program it. Sucks that the lawyer had to go after a legit business owner that actually works hard for that $500.

Too bad he couldn't just extort the name of the phone number list seller out of the guy, and go after "the dealer."

Re:I know telemarketers suck, but...

[nuggz]

Yes he is likely a legit business owner.
But he did at least 2 things wrong.

#1 He is calling people in the middle of the night, this is not acceptable.

#2 He didn't identify himself when he called, this is also a violation.

Both of these are wrong, you take away #1, and you're left with #2, which at the very least meant that he didn't properly look into what he was doing.

Also I hate telemarketers, and door to door soliciters, I just tell them no I won't support their cause because I hate people calling/coming to my door.

Just kill your local land line.

[disc-chord]

At this point most people use their cell for everything. Especially with the competing providers offering more and more free minutes, you may actually find it's a lot cheaper to go cell only. I'm personally saving $15 a month.

But here's the sweet bit... You never get telemarketed at! (Obviously you shouldn't be doing stupid stuff like giving it out to businesses.) And you don't have to worry about annoying late-night calls, as most providers give you free voice mail, so you can just turn off the phone or put it in silent mode.

Re:Just kill your local land line.

[SnowDog_2112]

This might not be an attractive option for some people. For example, dialing 911 from a cell phone doesn't always do what you'd expect. In many areas, it connects you to the state police, or even the highway patrol (the assumption being that you're probably on the road, I guess).

Likewise, dialing 911 from a landline and leaving the phone off the hook will usually result in somebody coming to investigate, as they can figure out where you are. Not always so with a cell phone.

In a medical emergency, those minor differences could turn into life-or-death differences. Some folks just aren't willing to take that risk.

We're not quite at the point where the majority of people are comfortable with losing their normal phone service. In my home, for example, I get lousy reception on my mobile phone -- if I'm talking on the mobile phone, I'm usually confined to finding the "right spot" in the house and not moving much. Even then, the difference in quality is clear (no pun intended).

There is always a work around

[kjfitz]

Spamming already exists on the gray fringes of legality/ethicality (is that a word?) I can't imagine that charging a penny a letter would slow down a dedicated spammer at all. They'd simply send them without paying and continue to spoof / hide / relocate as required.

This, like many laws aimed at criminals, would make things marginally more inconvenient for honest people while ignoring the criminals.

that's illegal too

[krog]

I believe that telemarketers are prohibited by law from blocking their phone number, so add that to the list of infractions.

(IANAL etc)

Still get calls?

[g(zerofunk.org)]

I was having a problem with calls at all hours of the day. I finally added the 'disconnected' tones to the first part of my answering machine message, which you can find from a google.com search, and since then I get maybe 2 calls a week rather then the 10 a day I used to get.
For anyone who wants to cut down on calls, without trying the approach of using the courts, I would higly suggest this method.
g

Devil's Advocate

[Alan Livingston]

Ok... This might be a bit trollish, but...

Someone needs to explain to me why "hilarity ensues" when an attorney sues a telemarketer, but it doesn't ensue when an attorney sends a cease and desist order?

Shouldn't the attorney have just called this poor landscaper up and asked him to stop making calls first?

Business Owner Too Dumb to Deserve $500

[nounderscores]

I don't know about getting the list. With an autodialer, the list might be simply "The Telephone Directory." After all, simply stomping through the numbers is a lot cheaper than buying a fully qualified list of customers. Some legit direct mail companies pay in excess of one or two million dollars for a list of a thousand names. (Eg, 1000 Rich professionals who have just gotten married. 1000 Rich professionals who have just bought a house etc...)

A landscaper who is too clueless to know that an autodialer is illegal in his area would probably NOT be able to afford a list.

I say sue the telemarketer. That way you have low court costs and better chance of winning.

Re:Andy Rooney sez...

[LotusNailo]

Maybe so but talk time is up while sales are down. I don't think the company likes that very much.

Only if the telemarketer is stupid..

[MikeFM]

I am pretty sure that many - if not most- small claims judgements are never paid off. It's usually recommended that you not even bother if you're going to need to pay for a lawyer or collection agency. It might be worth $20 if you could spare it - just to hassle the telemarketing folks, but I certainly wouldn't count on a pay off of even $500. Sure you'd probably win your judgement but would they ever actually pay you?

Does the fine seem a little high

[91degrees]

I mean, sure $500 is a reasonable amount for a single violation. Most businesses could afford that. But if a lot of people decide to sue, then it strikes me that this would be like the RIAA's recent claim of the GDP of several countries.

This is irritating, but do we really thin kthe crime is bad enough to charge an individual a potential $5 000 000 (assuming 10 000 irate victims)?

Re:Does the fine seem a little high

[cloak42]

That's the idea. If the fine adds up to a large amount when lots of people do it, it then acts as a deterrent. That's kind of the whole idea of fines. If it becomes dangerous for a business to keep paying fines of $500, then they need to stop their illegal behavior. It's that simple.

Whatever ,troll

[mekkab]

I live in Rockville, and I constantly get calls from that handyman service.

Guess who I DON'T call when I need my gutters cleaned?!

Just because you run a business doesn't mean you are gauranteed to make money and not have honest efforts to plug your business backfire in your face. And if you ignore the laws governing your conduct don't be surprised when you get slapped.

Now I know your retort will be "well! The law code is so hard that the average person can't understand it and can't afford a lawyer to double check the legality of every action! WAAAAAAAA!"

My response? He just got a lesson in the law. And it only cost him $500.

Life isn't fair. Get a helmet and an unlisted number.

P.S.- The Washington Post had a great article on all the scam handymen in the region. So while you say actually works hard for that $500 I say he ripped off some old lady while cleaning her gutters and "reshingled" her roof. Both of our conjectures have one thing in common: there is no proof of either of them.

Do we need MORE lawsuits?

[gosand]

Seriously, which is worse in this country, the annoying-ass advertisers/marketers or the legal system?

At first I was all for this attorney, but then I read his comment about filing in small claims court being "addictive". You know what? Instead of enacting revenge, and passing on all of the bad feelings that you accumulate, why not try to change things by starting with yourself?

Ironically, people who are angry all the time piss me off! Hey, the marketer had it coming, but do you think the $500 the lawyer got really did anything? If the guy is cold calling people, he doesn't have many scruples, and will get that $500 back somehow. He didn't learn any lesson. Now you might think that the solution is that EVERYONE should sue him, but it isn't. We've created this money driven society ourselves, so who can blame the people who try to capitalize on it. What, you think you are above it? Have you ever cheated on your tax returns, tried to screw some company because of a pricing error, voided a warranty on a product and tried to return it? Even if you have never been taken in by greed, now is not the time to start. Hey, it's tough, I know. But I have finally just become so sick of it that I am trying not to be like that. But in the U.S. it is very hard, because we are all about money money money, consume consume consume.

We are ALL part of this society, and the only way to change it is by starting with yourself. I am not about to cheer a lawyer for suing a telemarketer, any more than I would cheer Hilary Rosen for kicking Bill Gates in the nuts.

Agreed, also for Fax and Junk Mail

[T-Kir]

I signed my parents Pub up on this list and the Fax Preference System (and the Mail P S), and within two months the amount of sales calls and reams of wasted fax paper went down to zero... a customer of ours was lamenting to us about the same problems with his phone and fax line, and he wouldn't believe us that it worked (one month later though he was most impressed).

Ever since signing up to this opt out scheme, we've only ever had ONE sales phone call, and fortunately I was there to 'casually' inform them that if we were not removed from their (and any company shared) contact list, that they were liable for a very big fine, and that they were in violation of the opt-out list to which they are meant to adhere to and risked criminal prosecution for violation of (not sure if it was true, but it added significant weight to our argument)... it's a call that left me feeling very empowered for a change!

TPS Online - with links to the sister sites for FaxPS, MailPS and even e-mailPS... although I never bothered with the latter, considering the amount of e-mail sources that is way out of their control.

Re:Andy Rooney sez...

[TomorrowPlusX]

Well, you know, I've got nothing against the *person* calling me. I feel sorry for the schmuck. If by saying "hold on..." I can give the poor sob 10 minutes of peace in an otherwise completely hectic day of sullen, angry and/or sarcastic phonecalls then *GREAT*.

The important part is that if enough people do this stuff, the real culprit -- the companies PAYING for the advertising service -- will stop because it ceases to be profitable.

Telemarketing wouldn't happen if it didn't make money. We shouldn't punish those calling us but those paying them to call us.

Re:claim you're "recording" them

[TotallyUseless]

1st off, all he said was that he told them it was being recorded, he never said he actually recorded them.

2nd, wouldnt telling them *that they are being recorded* satisfy the requirement that they know *they are being recorded*?!?!

Re:Andy Rooney sez...

[Elvisisdead]

Just like saying b-o-m-b in the airport. Please don't do this. It's one thing to send back ads in the envelope. It's entirely another to force the building to be evacuated and put people through the distress caused by thinking that they may have been exposed to a potentially deadly virus. I know. My girlfriend was in the Hart Senate Office Building when it was evacuated due to Anthrax.