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By: Christopher R. Clark on Thu Mar 13, 2008

Perhaps you've heard a lot about the National Do Not Call Registry in the past couple of years, and despite being plagued by those annoying dinner-time calls from quick-clipped and warble-voiced young Midwesterners trying to bilk you and your loved ones out of precious dollars and cents, you’ve never taken any steps towards protecting yourself from unwanted harassment. I've been there myself, and always thought I would get around to doing something about it, but never did. All of that changed after 9/11 when my trusting and widowed mother, a God-fearing woman who, was bilked out of a substantial amount of her retirement savings by an unscrupulous telemarketer.

So how do you go about stopping yourself from being contacted by telemarketers, and what are some of the ways you can ensure compliance? Let's go through some of the steps.

First, register your phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry. 30 days from the point of registration, you will no longer be receiving calls from most telemarketers. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that only for-profit organizations will be restricted from contacting you – some organizations that are exempt from the legislation and are still permitted to contact you include religious groups, charities, surveying research organizations, political organizations or politicians, and any company you may already an existing business relationship with.

If you find yourself being contacted by a company not exempt from the legislation, the next step is to file a complaint. Some of the conditions that would allow you to file a complaint follow.
- A telemarketer not exempt from the Do Not Call Registry contacts you.
- A telemarketer contacts you providing erroneous or misleading information, and may be involved in a scam
- You receive a call within 1 year after you have been requested to be added to an company’s internal do not call list (companies that you have an existing business relationship with are included here)
- You receive a junk fax message from a company that you did not give specific written permission with a signature to send you fax advertisements (including companies with which you have an existing business relationship).
- You receive a solicitation from a company purporting to represent the National Do Not Call Registry and charging you a fee to join. The registry is a free service, and does not permit companies or any third parties to register consumers.

In the above cases, the next step is to file a complaint. To file a complaint, you must first gather as much information related to the telemarketer or business sending you junk faxes that has violated the legislation. Include the following information:
- The name of the company (if the telemarketer is representing another company, you can ask for name of the telemarketing company – often organizations outsource their telemarketing to third parties)
- The phone number of the company
- The date and time of the call or fax
- Your phone number or fax number


It's important to determine the nature of your complaint against the telemarketer so you know which organization to contact in order to file your complaint. At this time, complaints in the continental United States can be registered with:

- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will take complaints for registry violations, that is telemarketers who breech the Do Not Call Registry; and any business practices that might be categorized as deceptive, such as telemarketers engaged in scams or who make misleading claims.
- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will deal with any complaints related to junk faxes, telemarketing calls related to insurance companies, financial institutions (such as banks and S&Ls), telecommunication carriers, intra-state telemarketers, and companies who are non-compliant with an internal do not call list request.
- The Public Service Commission (PUC) and Public Utilities Commission (PSC) are state government agencies that regulate telephone and telecommunication services in most states.
- The Office of the Attorney General is an office within the California Department of Justice that will deal with complaints relating to telemarketing within California that appears to be fraudulent, a scam, or makes misleading claims. All 50 states have Attorney Generals, some determined by appointment and some by election.
- As well, Small Claims Courts will handle your complaint if you are called within the 12 month period after you requested to be placed on an internal do not call list.
Should it work out that the office or commission investigating finds merit in your complaint and proceeds successfully against the offending telemarketer or company, they may be fined as much as $11,000 for each violation. If, however, your complaint proves unsuccessful or is considered invalid, you may still register a complaint about other calls that you feel infringe on the legislation at any time in the future.

Do not forget that this information is specific only to the continental United States, and does not cover legislation in Canada or the UK. As well, legislation may change by state or even nationally as time goes on, so it’s important to keep yourself informed by visiting the above link to the Do Not Call Registry website time to time.


Christopher R. Clark is a retired hedge fund broker who lives in Austin, Texas with his family.