| Comment Number: | OL-100336 |
| Received: | 11/27/2004 9:46:57 AM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Keck |
| State: | AZ |
| Subject: | Trade Regulation Rule on Telemarketing Sales |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 310 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
I am opposed to allowing prerecorded message telemarketing to those of us who are on the do not call list, whether or not I am currently doing business with the company. In fact, I find the prerecorded messages to be even more intrusive and annoying for the following reasons: 1) I often cannot hang up on them until they are finished. If I hang up my phone and try to make a call shortly thereafter, the message is often still playing. 2) My home phone is automatically transferred to my cell phone when it is on, which means a telemarketing call uses my minutes. In other words, it costs me money to receive a commercial message that I don't want. 3) If I don't answer my cell phone or my cell phone is not on, the call is automatically transferred to the message service I subscribe to with my home telephone provider. When I listen to my messages, I cannot delete the message until the end. Further, I find that the current rule allowing telemarketers with whom I have a business relationship to call me is being abused by Citibank and by Quest Communications. I say this, because I am getting frequent calls from telemarketers, not actual employees of the companies with whom I do business. I am repeatedly being called with the same offers I have turned down numerous times. I ask that they not call me again, but so far it hasn't made any difference. I have every reason to believe that this practice will be even worse if prerecorded messages are allowed. Even if there were an electronic way to opt out of these messages, my bet is that the option would not be available until after the end of the message. I do not know why you would want to make this change, but if you do, please limit the message length to 10 seconds and/or require that the receiver can opt out within the first 10 seconds of the call. Thank you. Carol Ann Keck