Color me skeptical, but I’ve heard this from a couple different people who swear it’s true. What’s the dope on this? Because if it IS illegal, I plan to put the fear of god into the “UNKNOWN” callers I get on my cell phone, 3+ times a day, EVERY DAY. gah.
I’m in Illinois, if it matters.
Also, I’m trying to find info on the new IL statewide do-not-call list that’s been rumored to have been set up (or will be shortly?). I tried the state of IL website but the search function doesn’t seem to work. grumble Any help?
It is illegal to make telemarketing calls to cellphones. Sometimes telemarketers’ lists of cell prefixes gets out of date. If you inform the caller that they’re calling a cellphone, they should hang up immediately. If they don’t, they’re with an unscrupulous scam organization. In this case, try to extract as much information about them as possible and complain to the FTC.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) prohibits both for-profit and non-profit marketers from using an automatic telephone dialing system (including predictive dialers) to call any device when the called party is charged unless that called party has given prior, express consent.
As long as a real human calls you on a cell phone, it’s legal. A computer cannot.
Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 prohibits telemarketeing to cell phones with the use of an automatic dialer, if the called party is charged for the call.
With nearly every plan, yes you do. Most people get a certain number of minutes to use on the phone and the meter is ticking whether or not the calls are incoming or outgoing.
On my plan, the only exception is for calling Customer Service.
This is intersting. I’ve been thinking that it must be illegal. I get 10+ telemarketing calls every day on my land line, but have never gotten even 1 on my cell.
Right, and all telemarketing firms use automatic dialers. The only case where a real human would be calling you is if you’ve given them your number before.
Man that just is not fair. We all have to eat, and while I am lothe to admit it, I to have done telemarkting. IT sucked, I felt like swear trash, AND I aspire to be a laywer and politiction.
On second thought, maybe I should be flpgged and put under the Jail:smack:
I used to be a telemarketer, and although we used an autodialer, I sold a couple concert tickets to a trucker on his cell phone once. He had his home phone forwarded to his cell.
Well, Mr2001, neither you, nor your autodialer had dialed his cellphone number. You had no possible way of knowing that his landline was forwarded to his cellphone number. By his own actions, there was an implied consent to receive any and all landline bound calls onto his cellphone. Legally, your company would have been in the clear.
So what do I do about these “No Caller ID” calls to my cell that are invariably either hangups or a recorded message? What information do I need to gather, who do I complain to, and how much do the offenders get fined?
Many states have “don’t call” lists (Minnesota’s just took effect this month) which requires telemarketers (other than non-profits and political groups [the politicians couldn’t ban themselves, could they?]) to buy the state list and not call anyone on the list. Over half of all residential phones have been put on the list already for the state. There is also an on-again-off-again national no call list going through the U.S. Congress. Get yourself on the call list if it is available where you are, if not call your state and national congresspersons to push for the lists.