Illegal robocalls: Who’s affected?
Are you getting unsolicited sales calls with prerecorded messages? Unless you have opted into these calls, you may be eligible to receive compensation from companies that allegedly broke the law.
You’d think by now that certain home improvement companies would have figured out they aren’t permitted to leave prerecorded voice messages to drum up business unless you give them permission and they provide complete information on who they are and what they want from you.
Yet, they are still at it. In fiscal 2023, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received 1.2 million complaints about unsolicited prerecorded calls.
We are not talking about scams here. We are talking about legitimate companies making illegitimate calls. If you take a little time to document illegal robocalls by recording the calls and taking a screenshot of the voicemail on your phone, you could receive as much as $1,500 per call. You don’t have to opt out of phone advertising. The companies have to ask you to opt in.
Do you qualify?
If, within the last year, you received prerecorded calls from home-improvement companies and documented them, you may qualify to receive $500 to $1,500 per call under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
Please fill out the form on this page for more information.
What the law says
The federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is meant to prevent annoying advertising calls and has been law since 1991. It was subsequently strengthened and made clearer, but some companies just can’t resist the easy chance to get their names into your head at minimal cost.
According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), this is generally what the TCPA says:
- An established business arrangement is no longer assumed to be consent to receive prerecorded robocalls.
- Companies are restricted from using an automatic dial system to a residential phone using random or sequential numbers unless you give permission.
- You can revoke your consent.
- Even with your consent, you must be called only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.
- Callers must provide their name, company and phone number or address.
- Companies must keep an up-to-date internal list of people who do not want to be contacted.
- Companies must honor the National Do Not Call Registry. To place your number on the Do Not Call Registry, visit DoNotCall.gov or call 1-888-382-1222 or 1-866-290-4236 (TTY).
- Robocalls are not permitted to emergency phone lines such as 911; hospital, medical, physician or services offices; healthcare facilities; poison control centers or fire protection and enforcement agencies; to patient rooms of a hospital, healthcare facility, elderly home or similar establishment; or any service for which the called party is charged for the call.
- Business-to-business cellphone calls fall under the same guidelines, though calls to commercial landlines are permitted.
Exceptions
Calls that are permissible without consent include:
- Non-advertising calls that are not prerecorded and are dialed manually to numbers not on the National Do Not Call Registry
- Prerecorded or autodialed messages that do not include ads or any kind of solicitation
- Political calls
- Charitable calls
- Debt-collection calls
- Purely informational calls
- Surveys
As the FCC explains, these permitted calls may not also contain a sales pitch.
Who’s calling, please?
Violators run the gamut from large home-improvement companies with telemarketing staff to small ones that aren’t caught up on compliance rules or can’t resist new automated call technology that is cheaper than a stamp and requires minimal staff.
Transgressors include companies that sell:
- Heating and air conditioning
- New and repaired plumbing
- Painters
- Windows
- Lawn care
- Pools
- Solar energy
- Gutter cleaning
- Chimney cleaning
- Power washing
- House siding
- Driveway repair
- Roofing
- Garbage removal
- Furniture and rug cleaning
- General repairs
- Gardening
- Flooring
- Remodeling
- Lighting
- Refacing
- Basement drainage and resurfacing
- Gutters
- Insulation
- Decks
- Garage door replacement
Please fill out the form on this page to see if you qualify for a FREE case evaluation.
Join an unsolicited robocalls lawsuit
If, in the past year, you have received unsolicited advertising or marketing robocalls from home-improvement companies and have documented the calls, you may qualify to participate in a lawsuit investigation.
Please fill out the form on this page to see if you qualify for a FREE case evaluation.