| Comment Number: | 525547-00100 |
| Received: | 11/3/2006 1:54:18 PM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | George Xouris |
| State: | NJ |
| Subject: | Telemarketing Sales Rule |
| Title: | Request for Public Comment |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 310 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
There are certain situations where I receive prerecorded telemarketing calls, from companies with which I conduct business, that I welcome. Three that come to mind are: 1. I received a prerecorded message from my pharmacy, letting me know that a generic drug was available for the medication I'm on. While this was indeed telemarketing, it was very much welcomed because it saved me money. I wouldn't have known about it otherwise. By the way, I particularly liked that it was prerecorded as opposed to being a live person calling, because if I didn't want the offer, I could easily hang up without feeling any pressure or getting counters to my objections like I would from a live person! 2. I often receive prerecorded calls from airlines that I do business with with an offer to upgrade to First Class for a small fee (or miles). There have been times when, especially on a long flight, I took advantage of the offer. 3. My pharmacy also called me with a prerecorded message offering to enroll me in an auto-fill program for my Lipitor prescription. Since I am required by my doctor to stay on this medication for a long time, it is very convenient for me to have the pharmacy automatically fill the Rx every month, then call me to let me know when it's ready to be picked up. Now I don't need to remember to keep refilling my prescription. I agree with most consumers that cold call telemarketing is intrusive (meaning, coming from a company I don't do business with or have never even heard of). However, please keep in mind that there are many very real situations where a true benefit is being provided to consumers.