Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
Voicemail Drop Overview
A voicemail drop or ringless voicemail can be one of the most frustrating aspect of owning a cell phone today. A ringless voicemail or voicemail drop occurs when a consumer picks up their phone and doesn’t see a missed call, but notices that there is a new voicemail.
Consumers are more sensitive than ever to disruptive and unwanted calls coming to their phones. In the age of cellphones, robocalls and voicemails without a ring are starting to be used by telemarketers.
Are There Laws Against Ringless Voicemails?
The Federal Communications Commission and consumers have grown increasingly concerned about the practice of ringless voicemail drops. Ringless voicemail is a method in which an audio message that has been pre-recorded is put inside a consumer’s voicemail box without the phone ringing first. Companies use server-to-server communication to accomplish this.
Lawmakers have reportedly had to step in to create regulations every time that a new version of telemarketing or robocalls is created. Now some consumers are reporting complaints about voicemails that are left without the phone ever ringing first.
Is Ringless Voicemail Legal?
While there is currently no legislation specifically prohibiting the use of ringless voicemail marketing, many customers especially those on the do not call list, get very frustrated by companies who reach out using a voicemail drop [insert strong automotive merchandising link]. One US District judge in 2018 was the first federal judge, however, to declare that ringless voicemail could be classified as a call that violates the TCPA regulations.
How Do Ringless Voicemail Drops Work?
According to Stratics Networks, these voicemail messages are delivered often through a landline-to-landline session that leaves the voice message directly on the back end of the phone’s system so that no outgoing call is ever made.
Is Ringless Voicemail Telemarketing?
This relatively new telemarketing technique of leaving a voicemail message for a person on their phone without the phone ever ringing has led consumers to file complaints and has even attracted negative attention from federal agencies. According to RingDNA, telemarketers may believe that voicemail drops not violate Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
However, at least one court decision, as mentioned above, has already determined that this is not the case.
The use of making calls that end in voicemails without the phone ringing confuses and annoys consumers as the practice has become more common.
Who Is Using Ringless Voicemail?
Retailers who are attempting to contact consumers with ringless voicemails could be in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and could allow these consumers to file a lawsuit based on this disruptive and unwanted behavior.
Companies currently under investigation for ringless voicemail behavior include hotels, restaurants, department stores, gyms, and car dealerships.
If you are a consumer who never authorized these retailers to communicate with you or asked them to stop but the practice continued, you may have grounds to participate in a TCPA class action investigation into the use of voicemail drop.
