| Comment Number: | OL-112537 |
| Received: | 12/30/2004 9:08:19 PM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | M. Rigan |
| State: | UT |
| 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 strongly oppose allowing additional pre-recorded messages to be used. In fact, I favor severely curtailing their use, or even better, an outright ban. If a merchant I frequent wants to inform me of additional offers they can send me a letter or advertise in traditional ways. My experience has been that their message continues, even after you hang up. I have gotten those type of calls in the past and have hung up after recognizing what it was. I few minutes later I have tried to use the phone and the message was still there, blabbing away, and tying up my phone line. In my opinion they represent a safety hazard, and no technology or telemarketing industry can GUARANTEE that when the consumer hangs up the message stops 100% of the time. My experience, again, has been that the recorded calls are very difficult to disconnect. Even a 99% disconnect success rate is not acceptable, as that 1% could represent a severely delayed emergency call. Even a 60 second delay can be the difference between life and death. Is the telemarketing industry or a merchant willing to assume the liability of a house burning down or a heart attack victim dying because the homeowner couldn't use their phone line due to a pre-recorded message tying it up? The last thing you want in an emergency is a recorded call tying up your phone line. That could prove to be disastrous.