Bob's Do-Not-Call Protection Blog

Aren't businss-to-business (B2B) wireless calls exempt from DNC and TCPA List Scrubbing?

As mobile technology advances, businesspeople are becoming increasingly unchained from their desks. More often than not, when a businessperson gives you his number, it’s a cell phone, rather than a landline.

For businesses that want to make sales calls to other businesses, you can never be sure if the numbers you have are wireless numbers or landlines. The reason that’s a problem now is that—as of Oct. 16, 2013— the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) rule against calling cell phone numbers with automatic telephone dialing systems (ATDS) applies to business-to-business calls.

I just attended a webinar where 20% of the attendees were engaged in active TCPA Litigation. Boy did that get my attention. Speakers Nick Whisler from Mac Murray, Petersen & Shuster LLP; Geoff Mina, CEO and Founder, ConnectFirst; and Ryan Thurman from DNC.com offered up some critical compliance advice and tips—especially when put on the spot with unrehearsed real-world “we could go out of business over this” issues and answers. If you missed it, read on and re-visit with me…

Are you setting yourself up for Do-Not-Call and Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) lawsuits?

So you have your compliance policies, procedures and enforcements in place. Your team is making calls. But where is the most exposure to DNC and TCPA suits? – As a company letting call centers and fulfilment houses call on your behalf, you’re responsible for vendor oversight – but what do you even look for there?These are the groups that are most likely to sue you:

In addition to the state DNC rules and lists, many states have local telemarketer licenses and bonds. Because there are so many exemptions in telemarketing licensing—it’s worth looking into to see if you qualify for a few. Telemarketing Defense Attorney Eric Allen tells us more...

Telemarketing Defense Attorney Eric Allen, Allen Legal Services, PLLC is one of the top experts on defending telemarketers against consumer lawsuits and government investigations/fines. Eric talks about what you need to know regarding Caller ID and the Truth in Caller ID Act when reaching out through your call center, dialer vendor or fulfillment house to consumers and other businesses.

You’ve been assigned the compliance chores for your company. The first thing you found out was the Government’s definition of a telemarketer, “Anyone that uses the phone!” That was a shock to your boss, who’s been ignoring compliance policies for years. Always solves problems in house. And cut his teeth on communicating anywhere and anytime he wants.

With so much attention on B2B cell phone scrubbing after the October 16th TCPA cell law change, don’t forget about the National Do-Not-Call List. As the FTC was quick to point out at the most recent Washington D.C. Pace Summit: B2B telemarketers need to scrub out home-based businesses on the national DNC list, something few B2B call centers seem to do.

We get asked this a lot – and now may be the time to take a serious look at your traditional outgoing phone solicitation model, and confront that nagging question: "There must be some way NOT to follow the Do Not Call Laws, right?"

A lot of tech, software, and Internet companies were taken by surprise on Oct. 16, 2013. That’s the date the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) rule against calling cell phones numbers using automatic telephone dialing systems (ATDS) became“consumer agnostic.” 

With the October 16th 2013 Cell Phone Calling update – cell phones are no longer consumer agnostic ie it doesn’t matter if the phone is for business or pleasure. You’re not supposed to call cells with any kind of auto assisted dialing system, including predictive dialers or pre-recorded messaging. But there may be other hidden risks too.