| Comment Number: | OL-104294 |
| Received: | 11/29/2004 9:23:21 AM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Chris Shramko |
| State: | MA |
| 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 would like to see less access to my phone rather that more. My phone rings at least three times a day and no one is there when I pick up. Companies have used the fact that I cancelled a magazine subscription and asked not to be called again a 'previous business relationship' which gives them the right to call me. I am called monthly with surveys consisting of "Are you happy with your magazine subscription? Would you like to place a renewal order?". I have been called by three companies from florida with different names, but the same business address and the same supervisor for escalated complaints. It seems that all twenty-something companies at that location bought a mailing list. When an operator calls, and I ask to be places on a do not call list, I am, but only for that one virtual company. The same operator can call me from a different list the next day claiming she is calling on behalf of another company. I have been lied to several times by magazine services which claim I purchased the subscription through them originally, when I in fact ordered it directly from the magazine. I have been lied to several times by companies claiming my subscription was about to expire, when the magazines I value are purchased and paid for 10 years at a time. I have been lied to by companies claiming that Organization XYZ authorized us to call you on their behalf, when calls to XYZ reveal that they sold my name to no one and authorized no one to call me on their behalf (or so they claim). I have been called outside of the permissible hours (as late at a quarter past midnight), and the caller has apologized, stating that it was still a permissible time in their time zone and they were not aware of what time zone I was in. Abuse of the system is already rampant, and the legislation should be strengthened, not weakened.