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Telemarketers to Target Cell Phones
sik puppy writes "According to this article on msnbc, telemarketers may soon be targeting cell phones." The article discusses how some of these will be accidental, but others will be in response to things like the do-not-call registry.
Nokia? Motorola? Anyone listening?
I thought telemarketing to cellphones was illegal for exactly that reason, the same as junk faxes.
I totally agree. My cell phone is not free. Are they going to reimburse me? Highly unlikely.
I am so sick of being a "demographic" and of being marketed to. Don't they realize that by doing this it only inflames me with regard to whatever bullshit they are selling? I go *OUT OF MY WAY* to avoid products that are sold in this manner. Fuck marketers and their respective companies.
And no, this is not meant as a troll.
Unless I missed something, the TCPA is still valid law, and it explicitly prohibits telemarketing of cellular phones, or any service where you have to pay by the minute.
:)
(47CFR64.1200)
(a) No person may:
(1) Initiate any telephone call (other than a call made for
emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called
party) using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or
prerecorded voice,
(iii) To any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio
common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is
charged for the call;
Violation of this constitutes an automatic $500 in statutory damages, for which you can sue the caller. Plus, a judge can triple the damage award if you show that the caller knowingly violated the law.
Also, if the person in the article was getting prerecorded messages advertising something, that's probably not legit either:
(47CFR64.1200)
(2) Initiate any telephone call to any residential telephone line
using an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message without
the prior express consent of the called party, unless the call is
initiated for emergency purposes or is exempted by Sec. 64.1200(c) of
this section.
With all the hoopla about the do-not-call list these days, people seem to have forgotten about how powerful the TCPA is. You can actually sue and extract money from the people who pester you, typically in a small claims court, which makes it easy. With the do-not-call list, you file a complaint with the federal gov't, which passes the complaint on to your state's attorney general's offices, which may act on the complaint when they get around to it, and the state keeps the fine. Tell me which one sounds better to you?
(Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. Don't take this as legal advice.)
This idea won't fly. The reason is simple: money. On landlines it costs nothing to receive a call, so consumers can complain but that's about it as far as the telephone carriers are concerned. Cel phones and SMS are a different story. When a telemarketer calls a cel phone or sends a text message, the phone's owner can point to a line on his bill and say "This unwanted call/message cost me $X.". Now the phone owner has proof of an actual dollar amount to go with his complaint, and he can demand reimbursement. If the phone carrier reimburses, it's going to turn telemarketing into a cost for the carriers and they're going to do something about it. If phone carriers refuse to reimburse, we'll see something like the junk-fax law passed ASAP. One way or another, when the telemarketers start generating provable costs to the recipients of their calls there's going to be a major backlash against the telemarketers.
Telemarketers, take note: if you won't compromise, if you insist that it's either no limits at all or nothing, you may find that the rest of us consider giving you nothing at all a perfectly acceptable outcome. :)
It seems to me that somebody could make a heck of a lot of coin by setting up a business specifically for the purposes of suing telemarketers.
You'd charge, say $20/offence, and require a form granting access to the customer's phone records and listing as much information about the call as possible (though time & date should be enough)... then go ahead and sue (maybe on behalf of hundreds of other people complaining about the same firm as well). Keep 90% of the judgement and send the remaining 10% to your client(s).
It sounds to me like you need the Anti-Telemarketing Counterscript.
-r
I believe there are some... and an increasing number that give you a certain number of (prepaid) incoming minutes that are included in the plan.
Don tinfoil hat: is it possible that the cellular companies instituted these plans precisely in order to be telemarketer-friendly?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Yes, and we know companies never use marketing tools that they fear we won't like. That's why webvertisers never use spam, pop-unders, stupid animated banners that cover the page....
How many millions did X-10 make from pop-unders? As they chuckled all the way to the bank, I somehow doubt they were shedding tears about my "annoyance and antagonism."
Making trouble today for a better tomorrow...
Arg, I'm tired of reading these turn your phone off responses, why should i have to take the burden of not being able to receive calls from others who know only to call if its IMPORTANT. You know IMPORTANT things cant just wait sometimes, things happen, the wives car won't start so you have to pick up Timmy from football practice.
But i should be the one to stop using my phone service because some companies cant go through the hassle of running their business correctly and ethically.
Hell, maybe people should move out of their house to their backyard to keep from getting a door to door salesman? --not the best analogy but good enough for this post