| Comment Number: | OL-102009 |
| Received: | 11/27/2004 8:21:32 PM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Jeffrey Vance |
| State: | FL |
| Subject: | Trade Regulation Rule on Telemarketing Sales |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 310 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
This merely opens a loop hole that circumvents the purpose of the do not call list. The goal of adding my name to the do not call list would be to prevent telemarketing calls, especially during hours with my children between 5-8pm. By opening the pre-recorded call loophole, I would be subjecting myself to the very thing that I joined the DNC list to prevent! The use of these messages during the recent political campaign reached nearly epidemic proportion, with an average of 4-5 calls per evening! There is little difference between these pre-recorded messages and e-mail SPAM. They do not require a human being on the end of the phone, can easily be automated, and are purely invasive. Marketers, particularly those who _claim_ to have an "existing relationship" with me, already have a number of effective(read: non-invasive) ways of advising me of offers and solicitations that I can be interested in. Be these through US mail circulars, web sites, solicited emails, etc. they do not interrupt my dinner, waking up my children who go to bed early, or otherwise force me to interrupt my daily life only to hear a "click, pause, prerecorded message." Worse, by opening this loop hole, you provide an instant "call me!" list for this type of phone-spam - particularly from less reputable merchants that would be more than willing to stress the definition of our "existing relationship". The fact that a name is on the do-not-call list should be an indication to a reputable merchant that perhaps this is NOT the best mechanism for cross-selling or otherwise increasing the amount of business that they do with me as a customer! Please for once respect the purpose of this legislation - to protect the consumer from a particularly invasive form of marketing. I can not imagine that the founders of the nation would have had any tolerance for what two centuries ago would have constituted opening my front door, walking into my house, and ringing a bell until I gave them an opportunity to pitch their product. Why should we have to do the same now, and worse, not even require a real person (i.e. a telemarketer) to spend the time to do so!