| Comment Number: | OL-107781 |
| Received: | 12/7/2004 12:22:09 PM |
| Organization: | Private citizen |
| Commenter: | Neil Bergman |
| State: | TN |
| 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 rule change can only be characterized as outrageous._____It would be an egregious breach of trust by the government, in direct opposition to the spirit of No-call lists, to allow anyone free reign to place unsolicited, prerecorded-message, telemarketing calls to those who have actively sought to avoid such calls._____If a business with whom I have had a recent relationship wishes to contact me, they ought to be held to contact through a human being. Nothing is so frustrating than answering my phone to find that, not only do I not care about the message, but complaining about the contact requires me to jump through hoops, often times requiring multiple phone calls to automated phone answering systems and company representatives with no ability (or for that matter, care) to assist me in registering my complaint._____I do not know the legality of automated calls from non-business callers with exempt status from No-call list laws(charity, politicians), but after receiving several such calls in the past year, I decided that any politician lacking the politeness to have real people phone me on their behalf automatically loses my vote. I'd rather not vote for anyone than to put my trust in a candidate who values only my vote and not my privacy. I hope that illustrates my disdain for unsolicited phone calls. If my opinion was a rare one, then No-call lists and the laws that give them strength would not exist._____To allow businesses to use such systems is a slap in the face to millions upon millions of Americans who have declared their desire to be left alone._____Long before the national No-call registry was in place, we in Tennessee had a state, No-call registry. Immediately after it's implementation, we stopped receiving tele-marketing calls. To say this was wonderful is a gross understatement._____No more missed calls from family because our only way to avoid the telemarketers was to let calls go to the answering machine. And often, we did miss important calls from those who refused to leave messages. The number one reason they hung up was because they thought we would not receive the message in time to act. That, when we were sitting right by the phone. It should not be incumbent upon individuals to pay for caller I.D. in order to screen out telemarketing calls._____I am not alone in the belief that automated dialers and automated messages should be illegal. Among the reasons for this belief is that I answer 10 phone lines everyday. When an automated message comes in, it's probable I'll receive multiple instances of the same message. I empathize with other receptionists and operators whose systems have consecutive phone numbers. These messages waste our time and take our attention away from OUR customers._____I worked a sales job in which a trainer said all our phones should be painted green as a reminder that almost every call was a potential sale. Telemarketing calls drain money by tying up phone lines otherwise used for legitimate business. And we, a small company, receive over a hundred each week._____On a personal and professional level this rule change will adversely affect me. I respectfully request that you scrap this rule change.