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Telephone Consumer Protection Act
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If cold calling in order to locate potential new customers is an integral part of your company's call center solution, then chances are you're already familiar with the laws that regulate telemarketers in order to protect residential phone numbers from unwanted calls. Since the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 was signed into law by the first President Bush, federal law has provided some very clear dos and don'ts for any companies that use telemarketing as a way to drum up business.
The following is a list of a few of the important restrictions imposed on telemarketers by the TCPA if a consumer hasn't given the outbound or inbound call center prior consent:
- Telemarketers are restricted from phoning residence after 9PM or before 8AM, whatever the local time zone may be.
- Telephone solicitors are required to create and maintain a Do Not Call list. Anyone that they call who requests it must be put on that list. Each number is supposed to remain on the list for a minimum of ten years.
- In order to protect consumers, a call center solicitor is required to provide their own name, as well as the name of the company or entity that they are making the call for. The recipient of the call is also required to be given an address or phone number where they can contact that entity.
- Residences are not to be solicited by prerecorded messages or artificial voices.
There have been a number of important amendments that have been passed over the years in order to strengthen the protection of consumers by the TCPA. While consumers were previously required to request to be added to the Do Not Call list for each and every telemarketer who rang them up, the Do Not Call Implementation Act that was established in 2003 resulted in the creation of a National Do Not Call Registry. Additionally, the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 prohibits an outbound call center from sending unsolicited faxes in order to advertise their products or services, preventing fax users from being barraged with unwanted spam.
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