Outbound Call Center Featured Article

FCC to Get Tough on Automated Outbound 'Robo-Calls'

By Tracey E. Schelmetic
TMCnet Contributor

While many companies have had success with automated outbound calling – so-called “robo-calls,” many others would appear to be doing little but annoying their customers and prospective customers. Used properly, automated outbound calling can remind customers of appointments, distribute important information and enable consumers to accomplish simple self-service transactions.

Used improperly, they become – well, a royal pain in the backside, a situation the Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)) has decided to try and remedy. Today, the FCC is expected to approve tougher rules giving consumers additional protection against unwanted automated outbound calls to home phone lines, USA Today is reporting. The agency, which says complaints about “robo-calls” are soaring, plans to accomplish this crackdown by closing some gaping loopholes in existing outbound marketing laws.

“We have gotten thousands of complaints,” said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski (News - Alert). “Consumers were still getting robo-calls they don't want and shouldn't get.”

If the agency's new rules take effect, many companies will need to get written permission from consumers before they can engage in automated outbound calling, even if consumers haven't put their home number on the Federal Do-Not-Call registry. It is already illegal to send many automated outbound calls to consumers' mobile phones.

The new rules will also eliminate the loophole that allows companies to call their existing customers with robo-calls without express permission. Even on legitimate and legal pre-recorded calls, companies will be required to make it easy for a customer to disengage from the call – not always the case now.

Not all exceptions will be removed, and even under the new rules, robo-calls from schools and other non-profit organizations and political groups will still be permitted.