The history of telemarketing practices

Telemarketing has been around for decades. It is believed to have been formed in the 1950s where it enjoyed substantial growth. Because many of these calls are unsolicited, many people have complained about telemarketers. In fact, some of the practices were unfair, harassing and rude. For example, telemarketers were known to call late at night or early in the morning, exert undue pressure, refuse to properly identify themselves, make repeated calls even after being told not to call again, and engage in deceptive practices.

Due to the volume of complaints against the telemarketing industry in general, the government responded with increased protection for consumers and regulations for telemarketers. The Telephone Consumer Protection Law, enacted in 1991, established that telemarketers had to comply with the following rules:

– Do not call the residences before 8 in the morning or after 9 at night.

– Maintain an internal Do Not Call list

– Provide their name and the name of the entity on whose behalf they are calling

– Do not use artificial voices or pre-recorded messages

– Do not send unsolicited advertisements by fax

In 2003, consumers got another chance with the national Do Not Call registry. Once you registered your phone number on this list with the FTC, telemarketers, with the exception of a few nonprofit organizations, were unable to call you. In 2007, the Do Not Call Improvement Act allowed your phone number to remain on the list without expiring. This makes it an easy and unique process to avoid most telemarketing calls.

Regulation of the telemarketing industry is intended to protect consumers from unsolicited and unwanted calls. This is not to say that all telemarketers comply with the law or that there aren’t unscrupulous telemarketers that have unregistered numbers. If you keep getting calls from these types of telemarketers, you can look up a telemarketing number and request that they stop calling you or report the activity to the FTC.