Comment Number: OL-104186
Received: 11/29/2004 1:23:24 AM
Organization:
Commenter: Robbins
State: CA
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I have an unlisted, unpublished phone number, for which I pay dearly in extra fees to the telco. In the past 18 months, I have experienced a sharp increase in calls from "unknown" numbers and the numbers displayed are often the same numbers in rotation from a pool of numbers; these calls continue for up to 8 months from these same numbers. The law should be strict about disallowing telemarketing, charity or political calls to unlisted numbers. Unlisted means WE DO NOT WANT TO BE BOTHERED! Why can't the industry understand that? Not only that, but those pre-recorded messages take up the phone line until they are finished. In the off-chance that a real important telephone call - such as an emergency telephone call - is coming in at the same moment my phone line is being tied up by a pre-recorded message, that caller will obtain nothing more than a busy signal, or they will have to invoke the assitance of a telco phone operator to break through. Given the current business environment, where telcos are laying people off to ensure their own profits, an operator to assist with an emergency break-through might not be easy to get! Why is it that the FTC, having *finally* done something to help Joe Citizen out - namely, get the telemarketers to stop calling - now wants to "slightly" (quotes used for a reason, namely a huge mistrust of the intentions of government) reverse such a great deed? Could it be that the telemarketing industry has such a great lobbying body in Washington? Cynicism aside, please DO NOT weaken "Do Not Call". Once that Pandora's Box is open, other weakenings will take place to the point where the list will not have any teeth and will be nothing more than a Paper Tiger. My phone has stopped ringing. Please keep it that way.