Robocalls & Robotexts – Know Your Rights

Robocalls & Robotexts – Know Your Rights

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FCC’s “Know Your Rights: The Rules on Robocalls and Robotexts”

**FCC rules limit many types of robocalls, though some calls are permissible if prior consent is given.

**Rules differ between landline and wireless phones; however, calls and text messages have the same protection under FCC rules.

**Wireless and landline home phones are protected against telemarketing robocalls made without prior written consent from the recipient.

**An existing commercial relationship does not constitute permission to be robocalled or texted.

**Consent to be called or texted cannot be a condition of a sale or other commercial transaction.

**Consumers can take back their permission to be called or texted in any reasonable way. A calling company cannot require someone to fill out a form and mail it in as the only way to revoke consent.

**All non-emergency robocalls, both telemarketing and informational, require a consumer’s permission to be made to a wireless phone. These calls can include political, polling, and other non-telemarketing robocalls.

**Telemarketers and robocallers are allowed to call a wrong number only once before updating their lists. This most commonly comes up when someone who consented to be called or texted gave up that number, which was reassigned to someone else. Callers have resources available to them to help them know ahead of time if a number’s “owner” has changed.

**Urgent calls or texts specifically for health or fraud alerts may be allowed without prior consent. They must be free, and consumers can say “stop” at any time.

**Phone companies face no legal barriers to offering consumers the use of technologies that block robocalls to any phone. The FCC encourages companies to offer this resource.

FCC FAQs Regarding Robocalls, Autodialed & Prerecorded Calls

What are the rules for robocalls?

FCC rules require a business to obtain your written consent – on paper or through electronic means, including website forms, a telephone keypress – or a recording of your oral consent before it may make a prerecorded telemarketing call to your residential phone number or make an autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing call or text to your wireless number.

What are the consent requirements for telemarketers calling my landline?

Businesses must have your prior express written consent before making telemarketing robocalls. Telemarketers are no longer able to make telemarketing robocalls to your landline home telephone based solely on an “established business relationship” that you may have established when purchasing something from a business or contacting the business to ask questions.

Are robocalls to wireless phones permissible?

Your written or oral consent is required for ALL autodialed or prerecorded calls or texts made to your wireless number. Telemarketers have never been permitted to make robocalls to your wireless phone based solely on an “established business relationship” with you.

Do all prerecorded autodialed calls to my landline violate FCC rules?

Not always. Informational messages such as school closings or flight information are permissible without prior written consent.

What other autodialed calls are permitted under FCC robocall rules?

Market research or polling calls to residential wireline numbers are not restricted by FCC rules, nor are calls on behalf of tax-exempt non-profit groups. The rules do require all prerecorded calls, including market research or polling calls, to identify the caller at the beginning of the message and include a contact phone number. All autodialed or prerecorded non-emergency calls to wireless phones are prohibited without prior expressed consent, regardless of the call’s content.

Can I opt out of autodialed calls?

FCC rules require telemarketers to allow you to opt out of receiving additional telemarketing robocalls immediately during a prerecorded telemarketing call through an automated menu. The opt-out mechanism must be announced at the outset of the message and must be available throughout the duration of the call.

FCC FAQ’s: Robocalls, Autodialed Calls & Prerecorded Calls

Have You Received Unsolicited or Unwanted Telemarketing Calls, Autodialed Calls, Robocalls or Text Messages?

If you have received unwanted, unsolicited or harassing telemarketing telephone calls, autodial calls (“robocalls”) or text messages and would like to speak privately with an attorney to learn more about your potential legal rights, please complete the form to the right or contact Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected]; John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected]; or send an e-mail to [email protected].

Kehoe Law Firm, P.C.

Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a multidisciplinary, plaintiff–side law firm dedicated to protecting investors and consumers from corporate fraud, negligence, and other wrongdoing. Driven by a strong and principled sense of social responsibility and obtaining justice for the aggrieved, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents plaintiffs seeking to recover investment losses resulting from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate wrongdoing or malfeasance, those harmed by anticompetitive practices, and consumers victimized by fraud, negligence, false claims, deception, data breaches or whose rights to minimum wage and overtime compensation under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws have been violated.