In 1991, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was put into place. This addressed the issues at the time, which consisted of many spam and harassing phone calls occurring on land lines.
In today’s world, we are becoming increasingly less dependent on static phones, and many of us use only mobile phones. We are also highly dependent on the use of the internet, social media outlets and text messages.
It is legal for companies to engage on telemarketing, but since 1991 there have been restrictions put in place in order to protect consumers from harassment and constant marketing.
What rules are in place federally for telemarketers?
All telemarketers must make sure that they announce their name and the business that they are calling on behalf of. In addition, they must provide a telephone number that you can use to reach the business if necessary.
There are also laws in place that govern the times that telemarketers can call at. A telemarketer can only make calls between 8 am and 9 pm in the local time zone of the consumer.
Consumers also have the right to ask a particular telemarketer to not call them again, and the company must adhere to this request in all circumstances. The telemarketer must also tell you if they are conducting a sales call, and they should not try to trick you in this regard.
If you are dealing with harassment from telemarketers as a consumer or as a business in the state of Minnesota, you may want to take action in order to prevent this harassment from taking place in the future.