The Do Not Call Registry or lack of it

Time-share operator Bluegreen and other companies have found creative ways around restrictions on telemarketing

You sign up at Malls, and try to win prizes. You fill out questioners, and surveys. It's all a ploy to get your name taken off of the Do Not Call Registry.

The fine print spells it out.

The loopholes are many, and there is not much that the public can do about it except not to sign up for anything that has a booth at the Mall or even your favorite grocery store near by. The fine print states you are allowing their affiliates to call you. They could have as many as 30 plus of these, it doesn't matter your phone will be ringing off the hook very shortly, and their is not much you can do about it because you gave them permission too.

"We're doing [the sweepstakes] to try and make phone calls," he says. "[The fine print] is there. They should read it, but most people don't."

So the business is blaming it on the consumer, and in the meantime the FTC which got a substantial decrease in complaints is now rising again.

"The loophole in the Do Not Call law allows firms to contact individuals with whom they have an "established business relationship". Such relationships can be established through a purchase, which gives the company an 18-month window to contact the customer. Alternately, marketers can contact consumers for three months after they make an "inquiry," an ill-defined loophole that critics say telemarketers are driving a truck through by way of sweepstakes, raffles, and other deceptive means."

So while it was nice for a while not to receive the calls during dinner time, many households are being flooded with calls again because of the loopholes in the law. It was just a matter of time before the dirtbags found ways around it, and the major cause is that Congress put the "established business relationship" clause in the Bill, and when they did that, it was like giving the telemarketers the ok to call. This is all they needed the most simple way to get around the deception.

So next time your at a Mall, or any type store that has those sign up tables or booths, run over and pick up one of their registry forms, and check out the fine print. If there are many people signing up, be sure to tell them what you already know about the failing Do Not Call Registry list.

The Link: The Do Not Call Registry