What the Do Not Call List Can and Can’t Do!

By Nicholas Pell

If your name is on the national “Do Not Call” list? Good. But why do you keep getting phone calls from marketers and other annoyances? It’s probably not because they’re breaking the law. Rather, it’s that the law regarding the Do Not Call list doesn’t do what most people think it does.

What the “Do Not Call” List Can DoThe Do Not Call list isn’t as simple as people think it is. In the first place, it can take up to 31 days to take effect. In that time, you could keep getting lots of calls. Only after that 31-day window passes can you file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
In the meantime -- and contrary to what you might have read online -- you can register a mobile number on the Do Not Call list. The FTC makes no distinction between a mobile number and a landline, so if you’ve been suffering from those annoying, pre-recorded sales calls on your cell phone, suffer no more -- just sign up.
If you do keep getting calls after the 31-day grace period is over, you can then file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. However, the problem is that it’s easy to “spoof” a phone number, making a call look like it’s coming from a different number than it really is. So if you report a number and it keeps calling you, it’s probably going to be easier to just block the number over and over than to keep making reports to the FTC. However, the FTC has successfully brought lawsuits against hundreds of companies for violating the Do Not Call list.

What the “Do Not Call” List Can’t DoBroad sectors of American society are not subject to the restrictions of the Do Not Call list. For example, if a non-profit is calling you, it’s because the list doesn’t apply to them. Unfortunately, most political organizations and charities are non-profits, so their calls will get through. Survey takers, profit-based or otherwise, can also call you on the phone. Companies you’ve done business with in the last year and a half can also call you, as can anyone you owe money to. You’re not going to be able to skip out on bill collectors by adding your name to the list.
If you do think a caller is violating the law, you can file a complaint in the same place you sign up for the list: at www.donotcall.gov.


*This information was written by the above writer.  I hold no claim to this information.  Thank you