Brigette Honaker  |  December 8, 2020

Category: Legal News

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.

How do you stop harassing telemarketers?

At this point, many of us have become used to harassing telemarketers calling us all through the day, including those coming from car dealers and other companies. But we shouldn’t have to simply accept that our fate is to be inundated with calls from harassing telemarketers forever. Instead, we can choose to fight back against the rising tide of telemarketing calls and unwanted texts, and similar issues—and there are laws in place to help us do just that.

What Is a Telemarketer?

A telemarketer is a company that makes calls to consumers in order to encourage them to purchase or otherwise use their goods or services. Car dealers, for instance, often place telemarketing calls to encourage consumers to buy their cars, take advantage of a great deal, and more.

More and more, these telemarketing calls are placed as robocalls, and are automated. In many cases, telemarketing calls are not just advertising for legitimate businesses, but are actually scams designed to get personal information out of consumers in order to perpetrate fraud or identity theft.

A major issue consumers have faced is scams from telemarketers warning about their car warranty’s pending expiration, tricking consumers into thinking they have to purchase coverage for their vehicle, and refusing to give money back after the customer recognizes the scam.

Telemarketing itself is not strictly illegal—in many cases, it’s actually just annoying. However, telemarketing harassment laws are in place to help protect consumers against these calls.

What Are the Telemarketer Harassment Laws?

There are a number of telemarketer harassment laws meant to help protect consumers under the Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). These laws include a few significant basics that regulate when and how telemarketers can contact you:

  • Telemarketers cannot contact you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
  • Telemarketers must immediately inform you of the identity of the seller or organization, and identify the call as either a sales call or a charitable solicitation.
  • Telemarketers are required to disclose all material information about the goods or services they are offering through the call, as well as the terms of sale. They are specifically prohibited from lying about the terms of their offer.

Another law in place to protect consumers against unwanted solicitation using technology is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), first introduced back in 1991. Like the TSR, the TCPA has been adapted over time as new technologies and tactics have emerged from telemarketers. Now, the TCPA includes communications such as texts, robocalls, prerecorded messages, text coupons, and faxes.

The TCPA establishes fines of between $500 and $1,500 per violation, depending on if the violation was made negligently or willfully.

In 2012, the Federal Communications Commission added a new requirement to the TCPA for telemarketing calls and texts, necessitating “prior express written consent” for telemarketing calls to take place. “Clear and conspicuous disclosure” of the terms of the agreement must be given, and consumers must be allowed to opt in.

Moreover, a consumer must always be given a way of opting out of these communications, whether or not they signed up for them in the first place.

How to Stop Harassing Telemarketer Calls

What should I do about harassing telemarketers?The TSR is also what established the existence of the National Do Not Call Registry, a national list of numbers established in 2003 that companies are required to avoid calling, with a few exceptions. It is free for consumers to register their phone numbers with the list, and registration does not expire.

Calls from (or on behalf of) political organizations, charities, and telephone surveyors are still allowed under these rules, as well as calls that are purely informational (such as your child’s school informing you of a school closure). Also, businesses that you have a recent established relationship with (within 18 months) are still allowed to make calls.

As of 2017, there were more than 229 million active registrations with the Do Not Call registry, according to a report from the Federal Trade Commission.

Unfortunately, the National Do Not Call Registry does not and cannot stop all of these kinds of calls, even if they are illegal. It does reduce the amount of calls received, however, and it also provides consumers with a way to report violations.

If you have registered your number with the Do Not Call Registry and have continued to receive scam calls, you may be able to report these violations to the FTC. Telemarketers who disregard the rules of the National Do Not Call Registry can be hit with fines of up to $40,000 per individual violating call.

Every year, the FTC receives millions of reports about violations, and cannot respond to all of these reports individually—not only because there are so many of them, but also because it can be difficult or impossible to track where a telemarketing call is actually coming from. The FTC tracks the data these reports form and can take action, through both litigation and technology, to enforce its laws.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also responds to complaints about robocalls and scams. The regulator has reportedly issued millions of dollars in fines against robocallers through enforcement actions.

Although the FTC and FCC cannot track down and respond to each report of calls made by harassing telemarketers, there may still be ways to reduce the amount of these calls that you receive. One way to potentially eliminate robocalls from your life is to install call blocking software on your phone.

Many phones come with this software built in, and you may simply need to turn it on. If your phone does not have built in robocall blocking, your cell service carrier may also offer the service. Many carriers including Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile offer call blocking to customers.

Additionally, you may also be able to install a paid or free app on your phone to detect potential spam calls. These apps may allow these calls to come through but mark them as suspected spam calls, or they may send these calls straight to voicemail. However, these apps are not perfect and may allow some robocalls through, or may block calls you actually want to receive.

The FCC offers several general tips consumers can take to stop robocalls and avoid scams, including:

  • Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers as picking up a robocall may encourage further calls. If you do pick up a robocall, make sure to hang up immediately.
  • Similarly, do not follow requests to hit a button to stop getting calls or answer automated questions after answering a robocall. According to the FCC, this may be a tactic for scammers to identify potential targets.
  • Beware of calls which seem to come from your local area code. These calls are not automatically trustworthy.
  • Never give out sensitive personal information in response to unexpected robocalls or if you are at all suspicious about a call you receive. This includes account numbers, passwords, mother’s maiden names, Social Security numbers, and other important information.
  • Don’t trust a phone call simply because the caller claims to be a government official or even a company you do business with. Hang up the phone, verify the phone number online, or take other steps to verify the call.
  • Be cautious if you are pressured for information or payment during a call from an unknown number. This may be a scam.
  • Make sure to set a password if you have a voicemail account to keep your voicemails secure.

If you continue to receive spam calls despite taking these steps, you may be able to speak with a qualified attorney about your legal options. Filing a class action lawsuit against the telemarketers may be one way to recover compensation for your wasted time, as well as force them to stop calling.

Harassing telemarketers can be stopped.Car Dealership TCPA Violations

Some calls from your car dealership are allowed and do not violate the TCPA. For instance, if you take your vehicle to get fixed and your mechanic finds an issue they have to talk with you about, such as more work that they should do to get your car fixed, they are actually legally obligated to contact you in order to proceed with the unexpected repairs. This is a “transactional message,” and is not considered telemarketing or a TCPA violation. The same is true for recall notifications.

However, simply having been a previous customer for a business does not give a car dealership the right to call or text you with marketing and promotions, without your having first opted in. They must offer the opportunity to opt out in each message.

Should You Hire a Telemarketer Harassment Lawyer?

A number of car dealerships have been hit with litigation over TCPA violations in the last several years.

If you have been affected by spam calls, voicemails, or text messages from a car dealership or other harassing telemarketers, you may be able to file a lawsuit and pursue compensation. Oftentimes, when one consumer has been affected by spam calls and texts by a business, this is a good indicator that many others may have been affected as well, leaving room for class action litigation.

Filing a lawsuit can be a daunting prospect, so Top Class Actions has laid the groundwork for you by connecting you with an experienced attorney. Consulting an attorney can help you determine if you have a claim, navigate the complexities of litigation, and maximize your potential compensation.

Join a Free Car Dealership TCPA Violations Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

You may be eligible to join this lawsuit investigation into car dealership TCPA violations under the following circumstances:

  • You did NOT provide express permission in writing to the car dealership to receive the calls or messages.
  • You did NOT purchase a vehicle from the dealership that is contacting you.

We tell you about cash you can claim EVERY WEEK! Sign up for our free newsletter.


33 thoughts onHow to Stop Harassing Telemarketers Calling From a Car Dealer 

  1. Sylvia Jones says:

    Call me constantly harassment I have at least calls

  2. Dossett Rogers says:

    Add me. 10x calls a day, and letters mailed. I told them to take me off the list, doesnt work. Now I am getting letters. What a nightmare.

  3. Wayne Samuel says:

    They call every day. They claim they sent me material in the mail but they have not heard from me so they’re calling me to give me one last courtesy call before they close out my file. Yet they keep calling because I don’t have a file with them. The last auto I owned was back in 1995. I rent but I don’t own. Even when I press 1 to speak to them and tell them I don’t have a file with them and that they need to remove me from their list they keep calling. They are very disruptive. They give the impression it’s the wild west and they are beyond any laws. I would like to see them reined in!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. By submitting your comment and contact information, you agree to receive marketing emails from Top Class Actions regarding this and/or similar lawsuits or settlements, and/or to be contacted by an attorney or law firm to discuss the details of your potential case at no charge to you if you qualify. Required fields are marked *

Please note: Top Class Actions is not a settlement administrator or law firm. Top Class Actions is a legal news source that reports on class action lawsuits, class action settlements, drug injury lawsuits and product liability lawsuits. Top Class Actions does not process claims and we cannot advise you on the status of any class action settlement claim. You must contact the settlement administrator or your attorney for any updates regarding your claim status, claim form or questions about when payments are expected to be mailed out.