How to Enforce Telemarketer Consumer Rights

The phone rings just as you are sitting down to dinner. It's a telemarketer, trying to get you to buy her company's new carpet cleaner. This scenario is far too common, but there are ways to prevent you from getting these annoying calls. Take the necessary steps to enforce your telemarketer consumer rights.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Know your telemarketer consumer rights. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act was passed and signed into law in 1991. Among several provisions, this act limits the times during which telemarketers can call, requires them to keep a "do not call list," prevents automated calls and recorded sales messages and unsolicited fax advertising.
2. Be aware that consumers can file suits against soliciting companies in state or even federal courts, if the federal court has jurisdiction. (Suits filed in federal courts, however, are usually class-action cases.) Although the Telephone Consumer Protection Act states that telemarketing companies who violate the law will have to pay damages of $500 to $1500 for each violation, the monetary amount could be adjusted to suit the cost of the damages.
3. Register in the "National Do Not Call Registry." This registry was created as part of the "Do Not Call Implementation Act" which is meant to enforce the "Telephone Consumer Protection Act." Visit the website for the registry and enter the numbers for which you want privacy (see Resources below). You may also register by phone, but you must call from the number you wish to register.
4. File a complaint at the website for the Do Not Call Registry if you continue to receive the same amount of telemarketing calls after registering your number. It takes 31 days for your registration to take effect, but after this time most, if not all, of the telemarketing calls should cease.
5. Make a request of every telemarketer that calls to place your name and number on their company's "Do Not Call" list. By law, the telemarketing company has to honor your request, cease all calls to your number and keep your information on this list for 5 years.

Tips & Warnings

• It is not necessary to register your cell phone number in the Do Not Call Registry. Telemarketers have no access to cell phone numbers unless the consumer provides it.