Are you getting those annoying telemarketing calls? Did you know that you’re leaving money on the table when you don’t answer the phone? People don’t want to pick up because they think it’s a nuisance call. This is where you can make your money.
It’s called the TCPA or Telephone consumer protection act. It allows you to cash in on the telemarketing industry by selling their lists of unsecured cell phone numbers. The secured number is typically a landline, so anyone calling them has to pay for the call as it’s long-distance, and they usually don’t answer it.
An unsecured cell phone, however, is free to call. Now the telemarketers are not allowed to contact you, so they developed a new way by obtaining your number from purchase sources or if you have ever “opted in” on their form of communication, be it TV or Internet or Radio, etc. They then sell that information to third-party companies who then resell it to other companies for a profit, and you can see how quickly it grows.
In turn, these companies develop a way to market to that list by having their service agents call or text your unsecured cell phone and offer you information on the product they are selling. Here’s how the TCPA works.
The TCPA prohibits telemarketers from calling you on your unsecured cell phone without your permission. However, the caller is not liable for this. It’s up to YOU as a consumer to take action and file a complaint against them by sending a formal letter of complaint to their home office.
Once you do this, it opens up an investigation from the FTC or Federal trade commission. Once that happens, if they are found guilty, then you as a consumer can file for damages from $500 to as much as $1500 per call/text/communication sent to your cell phone.
Now here is the catch 22. If you don’t report it and someone else does, all of those people that said it and their “class” receive the settlement. That means if you don’t file a claim, they can’t investigate your case. If they can’t research your case, then they can’t make them pay for damages to YOU as a consumer.
So now you must find out who is sending it to you and where their home office is. I recommend using Google and critical words like “who is” followed by the company name you received it from etc.
I did this with every lead that came into my office for over a year, until one of them contacted me asking to be part of their settlement class-action suit against the company they sent it to. Another way is just to answer the phone and act like you’re interested in their offer, then when they give you the fax number or email address, ask them to hold on while you go get a pen to write it Down. Once you have enough info, then you can take action against the company.
John Que Public 