Cell scrubs are all the same, right? As a call center manager, you probably don't give them much thought. Maybe an existing vendor is helping identify and archive your cells as required by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Maybe you're not identifying them at all. But take a closer look. Cell scrubbing can be an opportunity to take advantage of critical call prohibition safeguards.
If your call center is going down the Ringless Voicemail path, the theory is your cell calls fall outside the TCPA. The consumer doesn't pay for the call. The call never touches the wireless system. And voicemail is separately regulated as an Enhanced Information System not covered by the TCPA. If you're making standard phone calls, however, you'll need to look at cell scrubbing, DNC list registrations and reassigned number scrubbing for permission-based calls. And don't forget the calling method: Hand Dialing vs Automatic Telephone Dialing Systems.
On March 23'rd the FCC is holding a joint policy forum on illegal robocalls and private sector solutions to stop them. "Scam robocalls and deceptive spoofing are real threats to American consumers, and they are the number one consumer complaint at the FCC, " says Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai in the joint FCC/FTC release.
Call completion rates are down substantially since phone carriers started implementing "scam likely" ID procedures last November. As a result, phone marketers can't tell when their ANI's get replaced by the dreaded message - cutting down on successful call completions. Wouldn't it be nice to know your intended caller ID was actually being delivered - thus increasing successful events? Well, now you can. Read on.
Forget schemes to help penetrate cell phone inventories like ringless voicemail, avatars, and robocalls. Now, solicitors call consumers and merely hang up - hoping the prospect will call back on local caller ID. Claiming the consumer called them, "Ya, that's it. They called me your Honor. My call was never completed."
Although business access to the Do-Not-Call registry is up, (over 2,000 paid businesses and 15,000 unpaid), consumer robocall complaints continue to skyrocket. Technology and questionable call creativity continue to take center stage. What's up?
TCPA filings increased 17.6% in November over October 2017. About 38% of these plaintiffs have sued more than once under call prohibition statutes. The court's time continues to be clogged by frivolous lawsuits from hungry attorneys looking for a quick buck in the calling arena - culminating in a recent flu shot call suit. Yet record-breaking numbers of illegal robocalls continue unabated. What's up?
With all the recent changes in call outreach methods, we're taking a look at what's available, what might work for your call marketing efforts and the latest feedback from legal.
Unfortunately, texting to cell phones is now considered a cellular call, and treated under the more stringent TCPA interpretations. And B2C attorneys have moved over to the more lucrative and easier B2B prosecutions after the wireless laws changed October 16'th 2013 making them consumer agnostic. The text also leaves a "trail" you can't deny. And any kind of auto-assisted dialing or pre-recorded robocalling to cells is a B2B no-no now too - so texting surely qualifies as that!
You may have heard about the Illinois Action registered by the federal government and some states ending in a $280 million dollar civil penalty against Dish Network last June. The amount was decreased from the original $2.1 billion petitioned by Plaintiffs as the court commented, "this is a minuscule fraction of maximum possible penalties and damages." Fast forward to this month in North Carolina Court, and Dish may be on a path to finally pay up.
