Bob's Do-Not-Call Protection Blog

Admittedly, Craig Cunningham had no place to turn as he ran up bills in the thousands with no intention of payback. That was before he discovered the hopelessly slanted TCPA, FDCPA and FCRA laws in his favor. Craig has parlayed that knowledge into an aspiring author on the yet-to-be-written "Tales of a Debt Collection Terrorist: How I Beat the Credit Industry at it's own Game" and with blogs like TCPA enforcement for fun and profit up to 3k per call. So how is it the FCC is awaiting comment on a Petition for Declaratory Ruling introduced by Craig requiring all cell calls to have the more stringent express written consent permissions - further inconveniencing businesses. So he can have some more fun?

B2B sales are down in the cash advance industry. TCPA related fines and settlements are up. Some B2B’s are questioning their business model – the one involving substantial outreach calling volumes. Compliance has become just too problematic. Reselling your leads? Those companies expect those prospects to be compliant. Proper compliance language on lead gathering forms? Ahh - huh? Still, business to business callers have critical advantages over business to consumer sellers. Like you don’t have to register for the National Do Not Call list. That would eliminate 75% of callable numbers. As predatory attorneys focus on easier pickings with B2B phone solicitors, additional protections for your company may be in order. 

Nationwide Insurance just issued a TCPA compliance questionnaire to their B2B vendors. Pass, and you get to keep selling for the company. Flunk, and you don't. Everyone failed. "Do your outbound calls constitute advertising?" Ahh what if they do - I'm B2B and that's O.K. right? "Do you make outbound calls that would be considered telemarketing?" Ummm - is this a trick question? B2B's are under TCPA scrutiny because 1. Predatory attorneys have shifted from prosecuting B2C's, who tend to be fairly well protected, to prosecuting B2B's, who still think they are immune from all compliance. 2. B2B's will fight with prosecutors - something they dearly love. Win or lose, prosecuting attorneys can cause the kind of mayhem that gets them up in the morning.

"Our company was not adequately protected against TCPA call restrictions when reaching out. We found out the hard way: Being out of compliance can be expensive and time-consuming. Now, my primary goal is to get the companies in our internet loan industry protected and compliant as much as possible so that we are not seen as easy pickings by predatory attorneys." 

B2B lead providers and callers are struggling with a rash of TCPA litigation. Sean Murray, Editor of the B2B internet loan publication Debanked admits, “Many of my clients are in court, or are answering some pre-litigation demand on the calling rules.” These laws are purposefully vague, traditionally slanted for the cell owner, and now include all wireless calls, not just consumer cells. These “hybrid” wireless numbers on websites (cell numbers used for both private and business communications) can be dangerous to solicit. And now we have the five states banning cell calls altogether. So let’s take a look.

Top TCPA prosecuting attorneys have discovered easy money with B2B's. Companies making calls to other businesses - most without any TCPA protections. Business to Business callers are now the #1 target of these lawyers. Companies selling factoring, low-end financing, B2B leads, software, employment specialists faxing doctors offices – heck, anyone marketing to other businesses. Don't want to cough up your client list to these guys? Prosecuting attorneys will threaten to sue you personally, piercing your corporate vail if you don’t. But then you may lose your clients. What's going on?

Professional TCPA Prosecutor Sid Childress would like to know why businesses selling internet loans, solar power, and marketing opportunities keep calling him. Or calling him back when he fills out their web forms. He's on numerous TCPA prosecution court filings in his home state. He's also on the Do Not Call List. He has additional call prohibition protections under the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act. Yet B2B companies keep the calls and money coming.

Is it a reassigned number issue - or a cell scrub problem - or an express written consent failure? asks the call center manager at a major marketing company. The potential violations are so closely related, who's to say where one ends and the other begins? When problems occur, individual vendors tend to scatter. Vendors specializing in data procurement, call fulfillment, dialer chores - trying to help with compliance, but not specializing in TCPA. In a compliance emergency, defense lawyers are busy tracking down responsible partners for promised call protections, while prosecutors continue to shake the money tree to see what falls out. A single compliance provider of record makes it easier to track down and solve these issues when challenged.

You can thank Senator Clair McCaskill for finally convincing AT&T to launch a service to help block consumer robocalls. The promise was made 3 years ago from a major telecom trade association but never came to fruition. And as you know, unwanted phone solicitations are the number one consumer complaint – and have been for some time. 

I can’t think of a faster way to run afoul of the Call Prohibitions: faxing and texting. We still don’t have any idea how judges will react to pre-existing relationship faxing - let alone unsolicited faxing. Other than things probably won't go well. And texting is clearly the quickest way to upset folks for significant fines. Marketers continue to be confused by "informational calling" vs "advertisement calling." Conducting a survey about your recent burger purchase may qualify as informational. But adding a fries promo coupon with the next burger purchase  – you've got a clear unrelated advertisement. The whole message becomes a sales call - subject to additional telemarketing restrictions. Easy for legal predators to prosecute in the fax and text game.