For some folks who don't know how to record phone calls easily, I thiought I would do a short tutorial on how I do it. First thing one needs is either a pair of phones operating on the same line with earphone jacks. I use Radio Shack 5.8 gig wireless phones. The ones I have are about 2 years old now but they have newer models of the same phone. They come in pairs and cost about $95 for the pair and the newer models can include an answering machine or you can buy them for a bit less without the answering machine. Mine don't have the answering machine. I didn't see any sense in paying for an answering machine because my calls are all forwarded to my cell phone anyway. I use one pair for my ATT line and one pair for my vonage line. Then I use a Radio Shack 17-855 recording controller. It is small, black and is powered with a single AAA battery which seems to last almost forever. It has two wires coming from it and one plugs into the earphone jack on the phone and the other into the microphone jack on my recorder. It also has a jack to plug in a pair of small earphones if you want to do that. I use all digital voice recorders rather than tape so I can download them into my computer through USB. That's important. The cheaper digital recorders don't have the USB connection. I have 3 Sony ICD-28 recorders and an Olympus WS-100 digital voice recorder. They hold about 27 hours of audio recording and then I can save the recordings to a hard drive and edit them if necessary. Of course I also use the system to record my Friday night conference calls and upload those to the internet and burn RSS feeds for them using feedburner.com so they can be uploaded and indexed in all the podcasting directories. Another use for taping the calls is to record calls with debt collectors (of course) and then upload those to the internet too. If one is using my 18 questions to ask debt collectors every time they call that can get pretty funny.
I found these listed at www.frys.com, as well, in case you're looking for some variety... http://shop2.outpost.com/product/4209324#detailed = plugs into the "old-school" 4-wire headphone jacks. I've had decent results with this style. http://shop2.outpost.com/product/1797565#detailed = plugns into the wall and records automatically to a cassette player. You could plug it into your computer, but I don't know how you would get it to record automatically that way. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2141764 is an interesting gizmo from Radio Shack and last, but not least, is the gizmo CreditWren was talking about: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103157 Some kinda fun...I just hope I don't need them any more.
I looked that one up on the internet and called RS and they do have some in stock at one store but being it was too late Sunday Evening before I called them I'll have to wait until tomorrow to go get one of them. Looks good for cell phones.
So, here's a question.... If you call someone who says "This call may be recorded for [whatever] purposes..." Does that automatically give you permission to record the call as well? If you don't want to be recorded, I guess you could hang up, but no where did they ask for your permission. Does the mere fact that you are still on the phone constitute some form of implied consent? In Washington State, the answer is "yes" So, it would appear to me that: 1) if you call a CA and they say "this call may be recorded...." AND 2) you record that THEN you can record the phone call without violating the privacy law. Now, if they call YOU, and you ask them if this call is being recorded, and they say YES, then that would seem to also meet the requirements (in Washington State, for example). So, if they answer "YES," then move on. There's no point in chasing them away. Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake - Napolean
What I normally do is wait until my answering machine starts announcing the usual crap that I'm not available and then pick up the phone and start talking. The conversation is then in the process of being recorded.
It really depends on the state. You need to check your state laws before you start recording. Some states say that both parties must explicitly consent (not implied by continuing the conversation). So, always check the laws. Some states make a big deal out of this kind of violation (as part of privacy laws), and some don't.
In the securities industry calls were always recorded as a standard practice, and as long as one of the parties announced "this is a recorded call" (at the beginning of the call) staying on the line was consent to recording. Since this was done throughout the country, I would surmise this legal position is across almost all states. The basis being the two recordings should be identical.
I found this http://www.digitalloggers.com/dli.personal.html listed on a collection agency message board at http://www.insidearm.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=9&threadid=6918 If it's good enough for them, it should be good enough for us, right?!
Know your stat law regarding taping. This site might prove useful; http://www.rcfp.org/taping/ There are others that are useful also. A
RE: the privacy laws... I wonder where you can get the little box that answers the call and says "Hello! You've reached my house. I'll be with you in minute and, by the way, all calls are recorded for quality control purposes, just a minute..." That should cover you in most states.
As long as that message is recorded in every conversation. I watched a guy lose a case because even though he could demonstrate that every call heard the message, it was not on the recording he submitted, and as a result the judge allowed the dismissal of the evidence based on that.
