Last week, I received a most annoying phone call. I work from home, so I am around the majority of the time. I answered the phone and the lady thanked me for staying at Fairfield Inn, a subsidiary of Marriot hotels. She wanted to let me know about special vacation packages I was eligible for. I politely told her that I was not in a financial position to take a vacation. She insisted on going over the package with me, so I politely explained that that I did not have time to listen. She asked when she could call me back. At this point I said quite firmly that I did not care to accept her offer and that I was on the Federal Do-Not-Call Registry and asked her to remove my phone number from her list.
This is where things got interesting. She declared quite defiantly that because I was their customer, they had every right to call me regardless of my presence on the Do-Not-Call list. I'm usually a pretty calm person but this really got me hot under the collar. I argued with her a bit and she continued to insist that it was her right to pester me at home because I had once stayed in one of their hotels. She was no longer trying to sell me anything except the fact that the Do-Not-Call list did not include her calling me. I finally just hung up and I honestly expected her to call right back to continue the conversation.
A word to companies who may not be technically violating the letter of the law but are truly violating its intent: People like myself may have been your customers in the past, but there is no way I will do any business with you over the telephone. I may even choose not to do any business with you in the future. If this is the way that you treat your customers, then I choose not to be one.
Today, a federal court has reversed the do-not-call registry per this New York Times article:
A federal district court has ruled that federal regulators overstepped their authority in establishing a national do-not-call registry, a decision that would appear to block the registry - containing 48 million phone numbers - from taking effect on Oct. 1. Under federal rules, telemarketers could be heavily fined for calling those numbers.
The ruling, issued on Tuesday in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma and made public today, found that Congress had not given authority to the Federal Trade Commission to establish the national registry.
It is amazing that in just a few short months, 48 million phone numbers have been placed on this list. I do not know how many phone numbers there are in the country, but there are approximately 109 million households (per the
U.S. Census Bureau). Many houses have multiple phone lines, but it would be a safe bet that at least 25% of all U.S. households have signed up for the Do-Not-Call Registry. If the issue was put to a popular vote, the registry would be overwhelmingly supported. The only people I have ever seen in opposition to it are those who do business as telemarketers (and even they don't like to be called at home).
Over at Free Republic, this thread was started when news of this development first came out. It is interesting to see how frustrated this news is making people. Someone posted the number for the court which made the decision and encouraged others to let the court know how they felt about it. Member xtargeter posted about his call to the court:
I called and the woman that answered sounded like she was in tears. I explained politely that I was upset with the ruling and she said they had been getting calls all morning and that some of the courthouse workers had received calls at home. Some of the calls had not been "very nice." She said that was going too far. I responded that I get numerous calls all day long, and that since I worked nights, I didn't appreciate getting them during the day when I was sleeping. She said she would pass the message on the judge.
Sounds like they didn't anticipate the storm.
There is no doubt that millions and millions of Americans who pay for their own phone lines in their home do not wish unsolicited sales calls throughout the day and into the evening. If you would like to call the court and let them know (politely please) how you feel about this decision, here is the number:
(405) 609-5000.
