| Comment Number: | 525547-00090 |
| Received: | 11/2/2006 5:55:34 PM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | William Eckert |
| State: | CA |
| Subject: | Telemarketing Sales Rule |
| Title: | Request for Public Comment |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 310 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
Please do not make it harder for companies I do business with to contact me. The proposed changes would make it harder for the companies and harder for me. It is consumer-unfriendly to make me sign up in writing to get automated calls from a company that I already do business with. The rule should be that they can’t call if there is no pre-existing relationship. If there is such a relationship, they should be able to call, but should provide an easy way to opt out. This is where the proposal falls down – it doesn’t make a distinction between a simple pre-recorded message and a fully automated system. An automated system is more useful to me, tends to be more understandable, can accept a request to opt out, and is easy to hang up on. A very consumer-friendly thing that some companies do now is if I call to buy something, and their agents are all busy, their automated system takes my number and let’s me hang up. When agents start to be come available, the automated system calls me back, greets me and tells me it’s putting me in queue for an agent.. Will they be allowed to do that if the proposed changes go through? Or is that considered an automated sales call? The rules should be sure to allow that. Finally, don’t place upon me, the consumer, the burden of writing or faxing my permission to get calls. At the very least, allow me to sign up using email or a web page. I haven’t sent a fax or a letter for a long time – I’m not sure I still remember how.