Block those annoying automated sales calls
Dollars & Sense
We now have a way to opt out of yet another of life’s annoyances: the pre-recorded telemarketing call. Those calls have been the source of more than one answering machine running out of recording time when the pre-recorded message went on too long or didn’t disconnect at the end. Equally irritating has been picking up the phone only to find a pre-recorded sales pitch and no identifying number on the Caller ID.
New Federal Trade Commission regulations now make it possible to opt out of receiving those pre-recorded telemarketing calls. Not only will there be a way to make that change if the phone is answered in person, but any message that’s left must also include opt-out information.
If you answer in person, you must be given a way to immediately opt out while the message is still playing. This will likely be accomplished by pressing a certain number on the phone or saying a certain word. At that point, your number will be added to the Do Not Call list and the call disconnected.
If you’re not home and your answering machine takes the call, the message will include a number to call (toll free). That number will take you to an automated 24-hour machine, and your opting out will be immediate.
Not all types of calls fall under this new regulation, however. Surveys and political calls will still be allowed, as will health-care messages.
Imagine: no more pre-recorded solicitation and sales messages.
The catch is that the calls will still be permitted until September 2009 if there’s an ongoing relationship between you and the caller. After that, the caller must have specific written permission from you.
This is where those privacy-notice fliers you get with correspondence from credit-card companies and others will come in handy. Read the fine print. They ask for your instructions on whether or not to give your information to third parties and affiliates they deal with. Fill out those forms denying permission and send them in as soon as you get them. It’s certain that telemarketers will consider “ongoing business relationship” to be a fuzzy line if you, by not responding to privacy notices, seem to give permission for them to call.