Originally published February 2 2004
FCC nails AT&T with $780,000 fine for phone spam telemarketing
violations of the do-not-call list
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
When people tell a company they don't want to be called anymore, they
mean it! AT&T is in the habit of not listening, it appears, and it being
fined $780,000 by the FCC for engaging in telemarketing activities that
violate the do-not-call regulations. AT&T's crime? Repeatedly soliciting
29 customers over the course of 12 months with 78 calls. If those
numbers sound small, remember that these are just the people who managed
to take their complaints all the way to the FCC. If AT&T was phone
spamming these 29 people, they were very likely calling up plenty of
other people, too, who asked not to be called.
Kudos to the FCC for
protecting the wishes of consumers who wish to be left alone in their
own homes and not bothered by annoying telemarketers. By punishing
companies for operating in a spam-like manner, the FCC is creating a
financial and legal incentive for organizations to engage in permission
marketing.
FCC Hits Hard With DNC Fine The fine show the FCC's commitment to
helping disgruntled consumers.
Instead, it's based on long-standing legislation that states if
customers specifically tell a company not to call them, the company must
respect those wishes for 10 years.
Previous violators of company-specific no-call lists have drawn only
warning letters from the FCC.
"It shows the FCC is serious and is going to hold companies
responsible for their infractions," says Glenn Gaudet, partner and
practice head of Reservoir Partners.
"That's a big impact on potential business prospects for a company,
and it's going to change the approach a business takes to reaching out
to customers," Gaudet says, citing as an example a real estate firm with
more than 500 offices that stopped calling customers altogether, for
fear of being fined by the FCC.
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