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Detroit Free Press Susan Tompor column: Next week, robocalls can cost $16,000Aug 29, 2009 (Detroit Free Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Greg Key felt harassed when he'd pick up the phone to yet another recorded message pitching a service to reduce the interest rates on his credit cards. Key, 57, connected to a live operator to let it be known that he had signed up for the National Do Not Call Registry. The operator hung up. "There's a reason people get on the Do Not Call list," said Key, a pilot and flight instructor from Adrian. "They don't want to be called." Consumers nationwide are voicing similar complaints. Beginning Tuesday, the phone might ring less. Beginning Tuesday, sellers and telemarketers who transmit prerecorded messages to consumers who have not agreed in writing to accept such messages will face penalties of up to $16,000 per call. Many types of such recorded calls would have to stop beginning Tuesday, whether or not the consumer has signed up for the Federal Trade Commission's National Do Not Call Registry. Consumers on the Do Not Call list were not supposed to get robocalls, but some companies broke the law. Now, a new penalty will back up the fighting words. I've already heard from one women's retail store telling me that I won't be getting any more recorded calls unless I give permission. The new rule prohibits telemarketing robocalls to consumers whether or not they have done business with the seller. I don't mind the alerts to discounts, so I gave permission for the store to keep making the calls. And I got another discount. Even so, many of us don't want to get yet another robocall. Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the FTC, summed it up well in his statement: "American consumers have made it crystal clear that few things annoy them more than the billions of commercial telemarketing robocalls they receive every year," he said. "This bombardment of prerecorded pitches, senseless solicitations and malicious marketing will be illegal. If consumers think they're being harassed by robocallers, they need to let us know, and we will go after them." Oh, sure, we won't get rid of all those calls. The change does not apply to debt collection calls that do not seek to promote the sale of any goods or services. Or certain health care messages. It does not apply to banks or telecommunications companies. Or political campaign calls. "Informational" recorded messages can continue: Notices that your flight has been canceled, notices that an appliance will be delivered on time, notices that school is closed for the day. But who minds a robocall about a snow day? To see more of the Detroit Free Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.freep.com Copyright (c) 2009, Detroit Free Press Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |