Did a Utility Company Leave a Ringless Voicemail?

A ringless voicemail might hit your phone without even receiving an incoming call. This new marketing method, used by organizations such as utility companies or retailers, allows the business to show up right in your voicemail box without a chance to ever pick up the call.

This has led many consumers to wonder how to stop ringless voicemail because it can quickly fill up your voicemail box and is viewed as an annoying marketing tactic. In addition to being troubling and inconvenient, ringless voicemails may also be a violation of the TCPA.

What Are TCPA Laws?

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was put into place in order to protect consumers from invasive and aggravating phone calls. Numerous consumers suffered through daily and weekly calls from telemarketers and complained to their legislators until the law was put into place.

Some states and courts see ringless voicemail drops as a category of violation under the TCPA. One of the reasons this law might apply to ringless voicemails is that the use of an auto-dialing system is prohibited under the law. The technology believed to be behind ringless voicemails likely uses an autodialer to reach out to many numbers at once and dump the voicemails.

In August, a Nevada federal judge ruled that ringless voicemail messages counted as “calls” under TCPA. As a result, the court refused to dismiss a TCPA class action lawsuit against Budget Van Lines, allowing customers to seek relief for troubling ringless voicemails.

Consumers have had to deal with increasing numbers of ringless voicemail drops from their utility company, car dealerships, and other businesses who might not care how that process could violate the TCPA.

Utility Companies Responsible

A large category of claims related to ringless voicemail drops have to do with utility companies. Some of the utilies currently under investigation for their possible use of illegal marketing tactics include water companies, electric companies, and even solar energy providers.

When a ringless voicemail leaves a prerecorded message on the voicemail of a consumer, the use of an artificial voice could also trigger provisions under the TCPA. The only time that a utility, such as an electric company, could avoid legal violations under TCPA is if they were reaching out about information very closely related to the customer’s energy services or an emergency.

If the call purpose was instead to relay marketing information or provide other non-vital information in a prerecorded message, the consumer might start looking for ways to stop ringless voicemail.

How to Stop Ringless Voicemails

A utility company attempting to reach you with ringless voicemails means that your life is being interrupted and your voicemail being filled with information you likely did not request to receive. In this case, you might contact the company over the phone and ask to be taken off the call list, but this is not always a foolproof method.

Although companies are required to honor consumer opt out requests and must keep internal do-not-call lists, not every company abides by these TCPA regulations. You may be able to register your number with the National Do-Not-Call list, which is also covered by the TCPA. Companies are prohibited from contacting numbers registered with the list, and registration is free and never expires. However, like internal do not call list obligations, some companies may simply ignore the Do-Not-Call list requirements.

You may also be able to block ringless voicemail and other incoming spam calls. Many cell phones come equipped with internal call blocking features that you can turn on in your settings. Even if your phone does not have internal spam detection call blocking, you may be able to block individual numbers if you continue to receive spam calls or ringless voicemail from the same phone number. Many cell coverage providers also offer spam detection to customers. This feature may flag voicemails or incoming calls as “potential spam.”

Most consumers get frustrated when it seems there is no easy way to figure out how to stop spam calls. If you can’t find a way to block ringless voicemail and your efforts to determine how to stop these calls have proved fruitless, you might need to turn to legal action. You can report these intrusive calls and voicemails to the FTC, which enforces the TCPA. The FTC has an online portal for reporting TCPA violations. However, the agency cannot follow up on these individual violations.

While it may be helpful to report on the utility company that is harassing you, in order to get spam calls and ringless voicemails to stop, you may need to take other action. Victims of TCPA violations are allowed to pursue between $500 and $1,500 for each violating call or voicemail. Class action lawsuit claims have settled for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If you feel that you have received phone calls in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, this information should be shared with a qualified attorney to discuss your next steps.

Join a Free Ringless Voicemail Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you received a ringless voicemail from a retailer or business you’ve never shopped with or never authorized to call you, legal help is available, but it is important that you DO NOT delete the message.

See if you qualify to join this retailer spam voicemail class action lawsuit investigation by following the link below.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.