Are you tired of unwanted telemarketing calls? Now there’s a new
government tool to help stop unwanted calls. The national Do Not Call Registry
is a free list you can join to limit calls to your home and cell phone for five
years. If you register before September 2003, you should begin to see a sharp
reduction in calls beginning in November.
California residents can now sign up in advance on the Internet and their
names will be automatically added to the national list before it becomes
operational in the fall of 2003. By summer 2003, phone registration will be
available.
The new national Do Not Call Registry is managed by the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC). In the fall of 2003 the FTC will begin to enforce new
guidelines designed to help consumers stop unwanted sales calls. Under these
amendments to the federal Telemarketing Sales Rule, the FTC is establishing the
Do Not Call Registry and gaining new authority to fine companies if they call
people on the list.
Californians can sign up on a special web site (http://nocall.doj.state.ca.us).
Your phone number will automatically be added to the federal Do Not Call list
for five years, at which time you can renew if you choose. However, your
registration will not renew automatically—you must register again.
Free registration for the federal Do Not Call list can be done online or by
telephone. You can register online at http://WWW.DONOTCALL.GOV
if you have an active email address. If you live in a state west of the
Mississippi River (including Minnesota or Louisiana), you can call toll-free,
1-888-382-1222 (TTY 1-866-290-4236), from the number you wish to register. Phone
registration will open to the entire nation on July 7.
You’ll need to provide your name, telephone number and ZIP code. If you have two or more telephone lines, you will have to register each number separately. (Business numbers may not be included.) You can remove your listing from the registry or change your phone number at any time.
The registry will be used by telemarketing firms, which are required by law
to compare their phone lists to the registry every 90 days and make sure that
all the phone numbers of registered individuals are removed. The information may
not be sold or used for any other purpose. The California Attorney General’s
Office has said it will prosecute companies who use registry information in any
other way.
Placing your number on the Do Not Call Registry will stop most, but not all,
telemarketing calls. Some businesses and organizations are exempt and can still
call you even if you sign up for the registry. Charities, political candidates
and businesses with fewer than five employees are not bound by the law.
By registering your name, you only opt out of receiving calls from businesses
you don’t do business with. Companies are allowed to call current customers or
people who were customers in the previous 18 months. If you do not want to
receive sales calls from the companies you do business with, tell the companies
not to call you about offers. Take your business elsewhere if a company
continues to bother you with unwanted calls.
If you call companies to inquire about services or if you submit an application
for credit or other services, the companies you were interested in doing
business with are permitted to call you for three months after the time you
contacted them.
Starting in October 2003, telemarketing companies will be required to check
their lists against the registry and continue to do so every 90 days. October
2003 is the earliest date that telemarketers will be using the new list. After
that, they must stop calling people within 30 days of receiving an updated list.
If you signed up before October, but continue to receive telemarketing calls
after the list has been operational for two months, you should complain to the
FTC. (For contact information, see “Sources
of Assistance”.) Depending on when you sign up in the future, it could
take several months after sign-up until you stop receiving calls.
The FTC, California Attorney General’s Office and local prosecutors are
authorized to bring enforcement actions against telemarketers who violate the
law. The FTC will coordinate with the states to refer complaints. Telemarketers
who ignore the national Do Not Call Registry could be fined up to $11,000 for
each call they make to a registered individual.
Even if you enroll in the registry, you can still permit particular companies to
call you if you give them your written authorization. And you can still stop
specific telemarketers from calling by asking to be put on that company’s Do
Not Call list.
If a company does not comply with your wish not to receive calls—whether by
your request to it or because your name is in the registry—you can sue in
small claims court, even if the company is not based in the same jurisdiction
you live in.
Under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, you can sue telemarketers
for your actual monetary loss or up to $500—whichever is greater—for each
call received after you placed your name on the Do Not Call Registry or asked
the company not to call. If the court determines that the company knowingly
broke the law, the maximum penalty triples to $1,500.
Whether or not you add your name to the registry, the federal Telemarketing Sales Rule protects you from deceptive and abusive telemarketing acts and practices and prohibits telemarketing calls at night. Telemarketers must abide by these rules:
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This brochure was created by Consumer Action under a grant from the
California Consumer Protection Foundation.