The best way to make sure your business never gets fined for a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) violation? Just pick up the phone and dial the digits using your fingers. Then use your own voice to talk to the person who answers. And, of course, before you do either of those things, you should have made sure that the person you’re calling didn’t already tell you not to call them to peddle your wares in the first place.
If you use any sort of “auto-dialer” or pre-recorded message? If you comb the phone directory without concern about the Do Not Call registry? Don’t say that I didn’t warn you.
Knowing permissible from impermissible will soon become even more important. The US House, in a rare show of near unanimous bipartisanship, passed the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act.
If you don’t remember your Schoolhouse Rock, the bill has moved over to the Senate and odds are in favor of it fast-tracking to President Trump’s desk for signing.
The TCPA was written in 1991 and has been in sore need of updating for quite a while. The SBRA takes the TCPA further and makes it much stronger. No more safe harbors for wrong numbers and no more safe harbor for reassigned phone numbers, either. The $10k fine for a violation should catch your eye, too. There’s a lot packed in this legislation. If you need help unpacking it, just give me a call or drop me a note.