Emily Sortor  |  March 12, 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.

Call center workersAfter a daily barrage of telemarketing calls from car dealerships and other companies, you may wonder, “Is telemarketing illegal?”

Telemarketing is a solicitation means employed by a salesperson or sales department to enlist a possible customer into signing up for paid services or goods. It falls under the general category of direct mail marketing and can be employed using a landline or cell phone.

Telemarketing calls are often made using automatic telephone dialing systems (ATDS) and prerecorded messages, or a robocall. ATDS are controversial and are capable of storing programmed phone numbers or engaging in predictive sequential number dialing. Upon being picked up by the consumer, often a prerecorded sales pitch will kick in and attempt to engage the potential customer without the benefit of true human interaction.

According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the answer to the question “Is telemarketing illegal?” is a qualified no. While telemarketing is a significant public nuisance and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was passed in 1991 to address the growing invasion of privacy they represented to U.S. citizenry, all telemarketing is not illegal. There are strict rules to which companies must adhere to stay within legitimate bounds, however.

What Is The TCPA and What Does It Prohibit?

The TCPA was enacted in 1991 by Congress and is an amendment to the Communications Act of 1934. It restricts the use of ATDS and prerecorded messaging as well as the sending out of unsolicited marketing text messages and faxes.

Out of the gate, the TCPA necessitated that companies employing telemarketing establish a means to internally track consumers expressing a desire to not be contacted further. In other words, they needed to establish their own ‘Do Not Call’ list. Failure to maintain this list and honor requests not to be contacted for up to five years became prohibited under the law.

Telemarketers under the TCPA are also not allowed to call residents on landlines prior to 8:00 am and after 9:00 pm in the time zone where the consumer is located. The TCPA disallows ATDS and prerecorded sales pitches and voice calls to be directed to any emergency number such as 9-1-1, hospital emergency room, elder care facility or patient room in the care center, or physician’s office. It also prohibits calling to more than one line of a multi-line business.

Telemarketers are also prohibited from directing ATDS contact and prerecorded messages to mobile phones because consumers must pay for the service and data associated with the device.

Are There Exceptions to the TCPA?

Unfortunately, you will likely not be able to avoid all telemarketing. This is in part because telemarketers are often willing to risk violating the TCPA in the hopes of gaining new customers and making a profit. They often rely on the reality that many individuals may not know that telemarketing is illegal, or may not want to spend the time fighting them. 

Additionally, some calls that are annoying or unwanted are not actually prohibited by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. These kinds of calls include political organizations, survey companies, debt collators, and charities, explains Norton.

Businesses are also allowed to call, text, or fax you if you have previously given your permission for them to do so. In doing business with a company like a car dealership, you may have signed a consent form to be contacted without even realizing it. 

If you signed many forms during the course of a business transaction, you may have inadvertently opted into a program that allows the company to text and call you. Some businesses intentionally make these “opt-in” forms confusing or subtle so customers miss them. In other cases, businesses may just ask for your consent verbally — you may find that you said yes to text messages without having even signed a form.

Happily, you can withdraw your consent, and per the terms of the TCPA, the organization must honor this withdrawal and stop contacting you. If an organization continues to contact you after you withdrew your consent, it may be in violation of the TCPA.

How Has The TCPA Been Updated Over the Years?

As a cooperative effort to revise and enhance the TCPA, the FCC and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) established a National Do Not Call Registry that applies to intrastate and interstate calls. This list allowed citizens to register numbers and express the desire to not be called across the board to all companies engaged in telemarketing practice.

Seven years ago, the TCPA was revised again to require companies to get the express, written consent of a patron prior to contacting them via ATDS or robocall. Prior to this revision, many corporations attempted to utilize the excuse that they had a “prior business relationship” to skirt around the technicalities of the law. During this TCPA update, companies were also required to provide an opt-out option as part of any prerecorded message that would instantly identify the consumer as desirous of no further contact.

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.

Learn More

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

10 thoughts onIs Telemarketing Illegal?

  1. Kat Abdo says:

    I get 10 to 15 calls a day. Pls add me

  2. Kevin DeWayne McRae says:

    Please add me
    I’ve already registered on the Do Not Call Registry only to receive approximately 20-30 calls and text messages per day

  3. william says:

    Please add me I get 20 -30 per day.

  4. Michael Connolly says:

    IT GETS WORSE WHEN YOU OPP OUT OR JOIN THE DO NOT CALL LIST, PLEASE ADD ME

  5. Moneekia Hill says:

    Please add me to this claim

  6. Sharon D Barnes says:

    Every day calling stop it send me a claim form.

  7. Tranny Granny says:

    When you say your on the DO NOT CALL LIST. they laugh

    Why do you have to keep saying no STOP calling me.

    I am at the point all my landline calls are sent to my cell phone for records.
    Thanks to AT&T removing permanently from every person‘s landline the privacy manager.

    Now those people keep calling. More.
    Or your told Home Depot which you just purchased a brand new refrigerator dishwasher or stove has sold them your information NAME , ADDRESS , PRIVE UNLISTED NUMBER.

    Let me who how that info.
    They do because you just got through purchasing something

  8. Famata Niles says:

    Add me. I get this daily.

    1. Hilda Hall says:

      I get calls daily. Don’t know the company and haven’t done business with them. I let the phone ring until I get fed up and then answer. I tell them no I’m not interested and they have the nerve to hang up on me and call me back again the following day. I’m on the Do not call list. It doesn’t seem to work.

  9. Christopher Mckoy says:

    Add Me

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.