The story sounds like a scene from a horror film.
A telemarketing representative can’t accept rejection. He calls back.
This time, instead of reading from the assigned script in typical monotone voice, he’s armed with pranks, nasty words, even threats.
Terri Smith says it happened to her, and thoughts of the ordeal still rattle the 28-year-old financial analyst.
While living in Irving, Texas, Smith began getting telephone calls from an out-of-state magazine subscription company.
Using the usual “please-buy-something-from-me” spiel, representatives called repeatedly, asking her to accept their offer.
Smith always declined.
“This went on for a whole year,” Smith recalls. “They called multiple times throughout the day, every day.”
After hearing Smith say “not interested” one too many times, the callers began using a familiar tone, often asking for “Terri” instead of using her first and last names.
Smith continued to decline, so the representatives resorted to nastiness.
“It got to the point where they would say things like, `You’re really being an irate expletive deleted about this,’ and `Your credit-card company picked you as a preferred customer, but wait until they hear how difficult you’re being. We could get your card revoked,”‘ Smith recounts. “I finally had to buy five magazine subscriptions just to get them to stop.”
Smith’s callers were being more than a nuisance. What they were doing is illegal.
The Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule bans the use of threats, intimidation or abusive language to pressure a person into accepting a sales offer over the telephone.
Repeated calls to a person who has declined an offer are considered an intimidating and abusive practice.
The FTC and the Federal Communications Commission, two agencies that govern the telemarketing industry, track consumer complaints about product or service sales calls made to homes. But neither agency counts grievances for vengeful or abusive acts.
Since January, more than 1,700 complaints have been filed with the FCC that would be violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, a law created to strike a balance between protecting consumers and allowing businesses to use telemarketing as a sales tool.
The rules help to keep telemarketers’ revenge — various deeds ranging from repeated hang-up calls to leaving false messages on a home answering machine — from being a common problem, says Kevin Brosnahan of the American Teleservices Association.
“I’ve heard about things like this happening in isolated incidents, but I don’t think I’ve seen a stat on it that says it happens a lot,” Brosnahan says. “Something like this would not be taken well in the industry because people already equate telemarketing with fraud.”
Still, telemarketers’ revenge occurs, says Jason Catlett of Junkbusters.
“Some telemarketers aren’t aware of the laws that require them to respect people’s desire not to be called,” says Catlett, president of the New Jersey-based company that works to help people stop unwanted telephone calls, land mail and e-mail.
That’s because in some instances the company overseeing the telemarketing does not inform employees of the do’s and don’ts, says Cami Mitchell.
Mitchell, a 27-year-old staffing manager in Las Colinas, Texas, worked for a telemarketing company as a college student in New Orleans.
As a part-time employee, Mitchell says she was paid $10 an hour to call the homes of elderly people and try to sell them books.
“Most of the people we called were either blind or deceased, so … we would be asked to take them off the list, but no one ever told us how to do that, so we would just keep calling the same people over and over again,” Mitchell says. “I quit after one week, because I just couldn’t take it. I felt like I was taking advantage of people.”
Both the FTC and FCC rules include “Do Not Call” components so consumers can request to have their names removed from a call list.
“If you tell a telemarketer not to call you anymore and they keep calling, they’ve violated a federal law,” says Claudia Bourne Farrell of the FTC. “If it keeps happening, you can sue the company in small-claims court.”
Contacting a consumer who has asked not to be called could result in civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation for the telemarketing company.
Actually saying the words “do not call me again” is key. “You have to ask to be removed from the list,” Brosnahan says. “Saying you’re not interested will not ensure that you get off the list. That just says you’re not interested in that offer.”
Catlett says consumers should be patient and refrain from being rude to the person on the other end of the phone line.
“Telemarketers get constant abuse by someone who is called out of the shower to talk or tired of being called, and so under some circumstances, they snap,” Catlett says.
This is especially important since some callers have access to the consumer’s telephone number, home address and Social Security number.
“It’s not unusual at all for them to have that kind of information,” says Farrell, adding that many companies buy their lists from credit rating agencies.
A number of the lists also are compiled from department stores that get personal information when people buy merchandise, or from companies that use forms for contests.
The best thing to do to keep telemarketers’ revenge at bay is to simply be nice to the telemarketer.
“Remember, they didn’t decide to call you,” Catlett says. “A company’s computer did, and they’re just being paid $6 an hour to be tied to a computer and talk to the person who answers the phone.”
WHERE TO TURN FOR ASSISTANCE
If a telemarketer continually calls your home or uses threats or obscene language to pressure you into accepting an offer, there are steps you can take to stop the calls.
Ask the sales representative to place your telephone number on the “Do Not Call” list. You can also write the Direct Marketing Association and ask them to remove your name from the lists of any of their member companies.
If the calls continue, begin keeping a record, including the time and the name of the company the caller was representing, and file a complaint with the FTC, the FCC and the state attorney general’s office.
Some helpful resources include:
– Federal Trade Commission, Public Reference Branch, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., 20580. 1-877-FTC-HELP or 202-326-2222. www.ftc.gov.
– Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th St. SW, Washington, D.C., 20554. 202-418-0190. www.fcc.gov.
– Telephone Preference Service, c/o the Direct Marketing Association, P.O. Box 9014, Farmingdale, N.Y., 11735-9014. www.the-dma.org.
– Junkbusters Corp., P.O. Box 7034, Green Brook, N.J., 08812. www.junkbusters.com.
