FTC vs. Columbia House

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2005/07/columbiahouse.htm

"In addition, since 1995, the FTC�s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) has required companies to keep a company-specific do not call list and to honor consumers� specific requests that they not be called. Such a request must be honored even if the company has an established business relationship with the consumer. "
...
"Entities that hire third parties to telemarket on their behalf are responsible for ensuring that the telemarketers comply with federal law by downloading the appropriate area codes of data from the Registry; scrubbing their call lists every 31 days; making sure established business relationships are current before calling consumers whose numbers are registered; and honoring company-specific do not call requests."

 

The above settlement would appear to make clear that the FTC's position is that if you hire a telemarketer who violates Do Not Call, you are responsible. It wouldn't matter if the telemarketer is in India or on the moon.

 

The reason I have posted this is that I have seen an uptick in telemarketting cold calls, in volation of the Do Not Call list (from 2 unrelated companies vs. none for the last 1.5 years), claiming I had "requested" information on their products (I had not), and that they obtained my name and phone number from another company who had "qualified" the lead, although they would not identify this company. A search on one company revealed a number of fines and regulatory sanctions (none for telemarketting violations).

It appears that companies that have depended heavily on telemarketting are having to find pretenses to continue calling despite the very high numbers of phone numbers on the Do Not Call list. Since a "request" from a consumer allows them to call, despite a number being on the list, they are trying to create the appearance that they had such a request, or it was an innocent mistake if they didn't.

At the low end of the telemarketting spectrum, "free gifts" and "contests" have been used for this purpose for some time, but this is the first I have seen of blatant violating calls with no credible pretext.

The "cover" appears to be purchase of old telemarketting lists, claimed to be scrubbed of Do Not Call numbers (clearly no check is actually done, that would cost money), from other companies who don't actually make the calls. They are skating the line, knowing that most consumers will ignore an occasional violation. "Plausible deniability" in action.

 

So, a site advertising "free credit reports" is selling consumer information to telemarketers to use for cold calls to get around the Do Not Call list? I bet FTC would like to know about that misrepresentation.

What information on yourself did you provide to that site? What did they say they were going to use it for? Did they claim they needed it to verify your identity in order to provide you your free credit report?

 

The big lie seems to be what the consumer is claimed to have "requested". I guess if you request anything from anyone, they can sell your info to anyone who pays, who can then claim they can legally call you.

FTC has enforced violations of company's stated privacy policies. What did the "privacy policy" of the original site collecting the information disclose? Did they disclose that they would be selling or sending your information to other companies, who might then call you?

 

The use of the URL "factact.us" by itself for a "free credit report" that is not the FACTA required one would appear to be deceptive.