| Comment Number: | OL-104569 |
| Received: | 11/29/2004 1:51:05 PM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Jonathon Merz |
| State: | WI |
| 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 believe the proposed hole in the Federal Do-Not-Call registry is a serious mistake. The purpose of the Do-Not-Call registry is to protect individual's from receiving unwanted calls that invade their privacy at inopportune times. Allowing recorded (or unrecorded) telemarketing calls from a company that has done business with an individual in the past is a complete and total defeat of that goal. When I make a purchase or complete some other transaction with a business, I am giving permission for the business to contact me regarding that transaction, but AM NOT giving that business permission to contact at any time with regards to anything else. For instance, when I have a prescription at my pharmacy, I receive a phone call with a pre-recorded message telling me that my prescription is ready. This is good, but I do not want the pharmacy to call me with a message telling me about their current sale. If anything, pre-recorded telemarketing should be strictly forbidden, only allowing human-to-human calls. The cost of an employee making calls would force the telemarketing companies to narrow their call lists to only those individuals who wish to receive such calls, thus greatly improving their efficiency and benefitting both the telemarketing business and telephone users. Additionally, the opportunity to opt out of pre-recorded messages when given at the end of the message is completely unacceptable. I believe that every pre-recorded message, should begin with such an option and should have a standardized message. The message should be something like: This is a pre-recorded message from [COMPANY NAME]. To opt out of messages from [COMPANY NAME], please press 1 now.