Survey Campaign Legality

[hiadviser]

Hey everyone,

We are getting ready to setup some survey campaigns, mainly play a message and have the customer press 1 to talk to agent.

I was reading the Manager's Manual and stumbled upon this:
"It should be mentioned that if you are planning on doing this kind of
calling to consumers in the USA, as of September 1, 2009 you will have to have written permission
from each person you are calling allowing you to do so according to FTC regulations. "

Written permission? We have had these leads in our system for a while already, some sold, some not sold. Are we able to do this survey campaign with these leads still or is there something we have to do before it's legal?

Thanks.

[williamconley]

In the USA it is not legal to call someone and play them a recorded message unless you have their permission to do so (and can prove it, thus the reference to Written). There are specific exceptions to this rule, such as "if you are a politician", if your purpose is NONcommercial (which means you can't jump to commercial later ...) and a few others.

Unless your Attorney says "You're Good to Go!" ... don't do it.

PS: It is not "written proof" if you just put a reference in the fine print of an opt-in lead generation page or if they happen to be your customers already. It's also not viable to say "well, Fred down the hall says he's been doing this for three years and there's no problem". The Fed has recently and will continue to run Raids on call centers in various localities (like ... Orlando) where they just run in and grab as much equipment and $$ as they can and fine everyone involved. If you are at least honest about it (no fake callerids) you'll probably get a warning call from an Attorney General somewhere before a Raid, but that's not a requirement. Consider yourself Warned.

[hiadviser]

Glad I got some clarification haha. Thanks Conley.