Comment Number: 525547-00031
Received: 11/1/2006 6:21:12 PM
Organization:
Commenter: Lemkin
State: WA
Subject: Telemarketing Sales Rule
Title: Request for Public Comment
CFR Citation: 16 CFR Part 310
No Attachments

Comments:

I've read through the policy and proposed amendment -- it's not completely easy to understand, but I believe I have the gist. As I see it, though, this policy would block my access to different services that I'd prefer having. For example, from my reading, it appears that my drugstore couldn't contact me automatically to let me know when a cheap generic was available. I understand that this may be considered "selling", but there's an awful lot of selling that I want, particularly from businesses that I have already chosen to do business with. Most of the time I'd generally prefer to be "called" by a machine speaking some kind of synthesized or pre-recorded speech than a person. Sometimes it's hard to understand the people who call commercially, maybe they've had a bad day (or are working in another country!!). Generally, the machine voices are pretty easy to understand. The bottom line for me is that I'd like to be able to get the full range of solicitations from companies with whom I do business, like my preferred air carriers or banks or pharmacies or cell phone carriers or contractors and I'd rather not have to jump through hoops to enable them to contact me. For that to happen today, I think that means letting machines do some of the work with pre-recorded calls, and I have no problem with that, for the reasons I've stated above. As for the abandonment rate -- I agree -- I hate it when the phone rings, I pick up and there's NOTHING THERE. That said, if I pick up and there's a voice offering me a first-class upgrade on a flight I'm taking for just a few of my precious miles -- well, I *want* that to happen, and I do not care if the voice is recorded or "live" (as I noted, sometimes the recorded voices are easier to understand than the live). I have signed up on the Do Not Call registry and I get very few unsolicited commercial solicitations or messages -- most of the calls I get are either from obvious idiots or fraudsters (which this legislation would not stop, either, they're already disregarding the fact that I'm on the national Do Not Call list). I *want* to be able to get calls from companies that I have a business relationship with. I'd prefer to get those calls without having to make a declaration for each company -- that's just a waste of my time. I'm an invester in commercial property. When I source a good contractor or vendor and use them, I absolutely want them to be contacting me regularly with information, services, or goods that might be of value to me. In the same way, I want to be able to receive messages from people or automated pre-recorded messages or the medium of their choice; from companies with whom I've chosen to do business. So, I'm opposed to both the first proposal (restriction) and the second proposal (new "abandonment" measuring). Thank you for providing this forum. Sincerely, J.D. Lemkin