GE Capital TCPA Lawsuit Filed Over Stream of Autodialer Calls

A Colorado woman filed a GE Capital TCPA lawsuit against Synchrony Bank, formerly known as GE Capital Retail Bank, alleging that she was targeted by the company with a steady stream of autodialer calls.

The plaintiff, Sierra D., claims that she began receiving phone calls from Synchrony Bank within the last year. Synchrony placed calls to her cell phone using an automatic telephone dialing system and an artificial, or prerecorded voice.

According to Sierra, the calls were made without her express permission which is required for auto-dialed calls under the terms of the TCPA. Autodialers work in various ways, Autodialers may dial numbers at random or in sequence or may use a prerecorded voice.

The GE Capital TCPA lawsuit noted that the use of an autodialer for the calls placed to Sierra’s cellphone was evident by the time delay between Sierra answering the phone and her transfer to a live representative.

On July 14, 2017, after receiving an auto-dialed call from Synchrony, Sierra says she requested that the calls cease, withdrawing any prior consent she may have unwittingly granted.

Sierra claims that despite her clear request for the calls to stop, Synchrony continued making the automated calls to her cell phone number in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The GE Capital TCPA lawsuit claims that these phone calls were made in knowing and/or willful violation of the regulations outlined in TCPA regarding robocalls and autodialer systems.

Sierra filed her GE Capital TCPA lawsuit on Oct. 17, asking for an award of up $500 per call made in violation of the TCPA, and treble damages of up to $1,500 for violations made in knowing violation—that is, after she had already asked for the calls to stop.

Basics of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA, was first initiated in 1991. The TCPA was intended to protect consumers from unwanted solicitation through technology. The TCPA has always protected consumers from robocalls to landlines. As new technology such as cell phones has emerged, the TCPA has had to further expand. The federal regulations now include rules regarding unsolicited text messaging as well.

Reporting TCPA Violations

Reporting TCPA violations or filing a lawsuit over unwanted autodialer calls can help force companies to comply with TCPA rules. Reports of such violations may also reward consumers with a statutorily set amount of money per individual violation.  According to the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, reports of TCPA violations are extremely common. The FCC received more than 215,000 individual TCPA complaints in 2014 alone.

If you have received autodialer calls or calls made with prerecorded messages from a company like Synchrony/GE Capital without having first given permission to receive such calls, you may be able to report these violations and receive compensation per violation.  In order for a TCPA lawsuit to be most effective, courts need proof of each violation. Many successful TCPA plaintiffs kept messages and phone records of the robocalls placed to their phone.

Join a Free TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were contacted on your cell phone by a company via an unsolicited text message (text spam) or prerecorded voice message (robocall), you may be eligible for compensation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

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