Yelp Says Recording Sales Calls Doesn’t Damage Customer Privacy

A San Francisco judge was recently requested by Yelp to throw out a class action lawsuit accusing the company of illegally recording sales calls. Recording sales calls, according to Yelp, does not invade the customer’s privacy since Yelp monitors the calls without warning the consumer but claims that they only record the Yelp representatives’ portion of the conversation.

A solo attorney practicing in personal injury law alleged that Yelp contacted him numerous times about advertising his law firm services on Yelp. However, while his financial state and business practices were discussed directly with Yelp sales representatives, he said he was never told that the calls were being recorded. Recording sales calls may be a violation of California two-party consent laws.

Customers in California must be informed when they are being recorded and give consent to that practice. Typically, this is done by playing a recorded stating that the call could be recorded and that by remaining on the line, they have provided their consent.

Consumers who discover illegal practices for recording calls may be eligible to bring lawsuits against the violating company.

The attorney representing Yelp said that the discovery process yielded no results that the conversations of the named plaintiff were recorded. Yelp claimed that the named plaintiff should not be able to substitute in additional class representatives, and that the fact that Yelp only records the sales person’s ends of the conversations means that the lawsuit is inaccurate anyway.

California Invasion of Privacy Act

The original claim regarding recording sales calls had been adjusted to invoke the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA).

The attorney for Yelp said that that act protected private communications and that this meant that a plaintiff would not be able to invoke his privacy rights for only one portion of a conversation, particularly when it was the other side of the line being recorded.

The 2016 recording calls lawsuit says that the company policy at Yelp has allowed managers to interrupt sales representatives calls to prospective clients by recording and monitoring those calls without the consent of the consumer on the end of the line.  According to the recording sales calls lawsuit, this would constitute a violation of state laws of recording conversations, intercepting communications and wiretapping.

The named plaintiff intended to represent a Class of California business owners that have been contacted since 2015.

The recording sales calls lawsuit says that due to the revelations of financial and business information over these sales calls, the practice of recording sales calls could even yield the dissemination of private or sensitive business data, even if it is only the representatives’ portion of the call that is being recorded. The attorney representing the plaintiffs said that Yelp had not yet provided enough evidence that both ends of the calls were not taped.

California consumers who realize that they have been recorded without permission should investigate their rights to participate in a lawsuit. Lawsuits may hold the company accountable for engaging in practices that violate California statutes about when and how consumer calls can be recorded.

Join a FREE California Call Recording Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you live in California and you did not receive a warning when calling a toll-free number, your call may have been recorded in violation of California law, and you may be entitled to compensation. See if you qualify to file a California call recording class action lawsuit.

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