Why You Need to Pay Close Attention to TCPA in 2016

by Marketing @Connect First
April 22, 2017

For many businesses today, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)—a law requiring consent prior to contacting customers—is taken more as a suggestion than a rule.

If your business has been following this less official approach to the TCPA, understand that you need to change your ways heading into 2016, as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actively registering consumer complaints and taking action to stop companies from making unsolicited phone calls.

Take the recent lawsuit filed against TD Bank as proof. On Oct. 26, 2015, TD Bank was hit with a punitive class-action lawsuit in the New Jersey District Court, following allegations that the company violated TCPA regulations. According to Lexology, the lawsuit seeks to classify all individuals who received unsolicited phone calls to their mobile phones from TD Bank’s automated dialing system. The case stemmed from an incident where a customer claimed TD Bank called his cell phone about a debt using either a prerecorded or artificial voice, despite the customer having denied his consent to do so.

The complaint against TD Bank contains multiple TCPA violations from other customers, although the number of people involved in the lawsuit is, as yet, undetermined. The size of the penalty against TD Bank will be contingent upon the actual number of plaintiffs.

Here is a breakdown of how the TCPA works:

This law, enforced by the FCC is designed to protect consumers against unsolicited telemarketing calls, prerecorded messages, text messages, automated dialers and faxes.

Businesses found to be guilty of violations could be forced to compensate a person or entity either for actual monetary losses imparted by each violation or $500 (whichever sum is greater). A court could, however, increase the amount of the reward threefold if the defendant is found to have willingly or knowingly violated TCPA regulations.

Keep in mind that there are some exemptions to the rules that allow for unsolicited calls under certain circumstances. For instance, calls made for debt collection purposes are not considered violations if they are made by live agents (which is why TD Bank is in hot water).

It should also be noted that earlier this year, new TCPA rules went into effect that allow telephone service providers to offer robocall blocking solutions to consumers—a practice that was banned under previous TCPA laws. Consumers can also legally revoke call consent at any time. Further changes to the TCPA ruling include continual consent, meaning consent now carries over from a landline to a wireless phone when a consumer ports his or her number. Furthermore, after a wireless number is reassigned to a different customer, a company can only make one unsolicited call to that number before additional calls are considered to violate the TCPA.

As you can see, there are many points of contention with TCPA regulations. So it pays to contract the services of a contact center provider, like Connect First, that has the expert knowledge and insight to prevent any TCPA complications.

Want additional information on how to keep your contact center TCPA compliant? Contact our platform experts today for an in-depth look at how our compliant solutions can work for you.

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