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While not as common as it used to be, telephone solicitors and telemarketers are an unwelcome nuisance on your phone. Calls encouraging a purchase, rental, or investment in something; encouraging participation in a contest, sweepstakes, raffle, or lottery; or soliciting charitable donations can take time, keeping you from doing something you’d rather be doing (which is likely almost anything).
There are two do-not-call lists. One is the national do-not-call registry located here, or you can call (888) 382-1222 to add your telephone number. If a telemarketer calls you when you are on that list, they are likely in violation of state and federal law. Additionally, each company engaging in telemarketing must have its own do-not-call list. If a telemarketer calls you, even if you are not on the national do-not-call list, if you inform them not to call you again, they must honor that request within a reasonable time, at most 30 days.
Telemarketers must have procedures to ensure that they abide by the federal do-not-call registry and the requirement for their own do-not-call registry. There are also restrictions about when the telemarketer can call you and what the telephone solicitor can say to you if you choose to speak with them.
North Carolina’s laws against phone solicitations and telemarketers are more robust than those of the TCPA. North Carolina provides a civil penalty of $500 for the first violation, $1000 for the second, and $5000 for every violation after that. Some exceptions exist to these laws, usually dealing with a tax-exempt organization, political campaigns, or polling. Still, even those parties cannot make a solicitation while they contact you.
If you are being harassed by phone calls encouraging a purchase, rental, investment, sweepstakes, raffle, lottery, or charitable donation, we may be able to assist you. It is important to log these calls, take screenshots of incoming calls, and ask your phone company for your phone records. Maginnis Howard takes these cases contingently, and all initial consultations on telemarketing scams are free. We have three conveniently located offices in Charlotte, Raleigh, and Fayetteville.
