Final Expense Phone Qualifying Is Working

[VolAgent]

Not only that, they will come after YOU. You are the person everyone was talking to, the number they got, everything. If you are in doubt, see Norwayguy's post. There are people pressing 1 just to get your info and file a complaint.

You can try to roll on the vendor, if they will let you.

Personally, if I was them I'd go after the buyers. Shallower pockets so easier to run out of business. If there are no buyers, then the vendors go out of business too.

 

[somarco]

Not only that, they will come after YOU. You are the person everyone was talking to, the number they got, everything. If you are in doubt, see Norwayguy's post. There are people pressing 1 just to get your info and file a complaint.

Yup. You are not the one with deep pockets, but you are the face on the milk carton, and they know where to find you.

 

[Josh]

Would it be legal if a live telemarketer answered and said, "Hi Mrs. Jones -- please listen to this important message about life insurance -- then into the message?

Almost. You need to have explicit permission to do it. "Hi Mrs. Jones, would you like to listen to a recorded message about life insurance?" or something more specific. Frankly, at that point the telemarketer might as well be making the pitch.

The way the law reads is "using a prerecorded message to sell" or something to that effect.

 

[Rearden]

See, now why can't a telemarketing company hire a half-dozen people on the cheap to introduce themselves and work into a recording about life insurance.

You wouldn't even have to teach them how to rebuttal or sound confident on the phone -- they can simply field incoming calls.

I would imagine the quality of leads would be just as good.

 

[360]

It would work just a well but lead costs would go way up. The reason press 1's are so cheap is that you can dial 100 lines at a time at about 1.9 cents per minute. Quality on them can be pretty good though as people are willing to press 1 and then leave their information on a voicemail for someone to call them back. Actually I'd say they are either really good or really bad, not many leads in the middle.

 

[nfl72]

I guess there are two side to every story. One guy on here states I am a dumb **** because I am paying way too much for my leads, yet in my personal mail box I have gotten about 15 mesages asking me where they are from and can they get some.

And to RouseMark,. I had to drive the 911 because my 740IL was in the shop and both my Lexus were being used. I did ride my 1919HD yesterday, barefoot with swim trunks on no helmet, oh and i was wearing a buzzzz

 

[Josh]

I guess there are two side to every story. One guy on here states I am a dumb **** because I am paying way too much for my leads, yet in my personal mail box I have gotten about 15 mesages asking me where they are from and can they get some.

Of course you did. There are plenty of agents willing to break the law to make some money. That doesn't change the fact that it's illegal.

 

[TDFnCali]

The way the law reads is "using a prerecorded message to sell" or something to that effect.

If thats the case, what if they aren't "selling" anything, just ask permission to ask questions about life insurance...then pass that to an agent who then "sells"??

 

[Josh]

If thats the case, what if they aren't "selling" anything, just ask permission to ask questions about life insurance...then pass that to an agent who then "sells"??

I don't mean to make this personal, but good grief. Yes, it is ***totally and completely illegal to use robocalls to send unsolicited recordings to people with the ultimate goal of selling anything***. There aren't loopholes or exceptions to that. If you read the FTC information it becomes abundantly clear. Even in this thread I've discussed this and pointed to the supporting information.

-http://autodialerservices.com/ftc-robo-call-ban/, I kid you not, that makes it very clear it's illegal AND it's support with information from the FTC website, you know, the people actually enforcing the law. Seriously, take some time and read it.
-I've shown where companies are being shut down for breaking the law using robocalls
-I've Pointed to the actual law ( FTC Issues Final Telemarketing Sales Rule Amendments Regarding Prerecorded Calls )

Again, there will always be agents (and FMOs) willing to break the law to make a buck, but that doesn't change the fact that they're breaking the law.

From the FTC website:

FTC Issues Final Telemarketing Sales Rule Amendments Regarding Prerecorded Calls
Rule Will Halt Prerecorded Sales Calls Unless the Seller Obtains Consumer's Permission
The Federal Trade Commission today announced two amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). One will expressly bar telemarketing calls that deliver prerecorded messages, unless a consumer previously has agreed to accept such calls from the seller. The other related technical amendment modifies the TSR's method of calculating the maximum permissible level of "call abandonment."

The amendments will not affect consumers' ability to continue to receive calls that deliver purely "informational" prerecorded messages - notifying recipients, for example, that their flight has been cancelled, that they have a service appointment, or similar messages. Such purely "informational" calls are not covered by the TSR because they do not attempt to sell the called party any goods or services.

"Just like the provisions of the Do Not Call Registry, these changes will protect consumers' privacy," said FTC Chairman William E. Kovacic. "The amendments now directly enable consumers to choose whether they want to receive prerecorded telemarketing calls."

The amendments announced today will be published in the Federal Register shortly, and are available now as a link to this press release on the FTC's Web site. They are the result of a rulemaking proceeding initiated in 2004 in which the FTC, responding to a petition from the telemarketing industry, proposed a change in the TSR to allow calls that deliver prerecorded messages to consumers with whom a seller had an established business relationship.

The nearly 14,000 comments elicited by that proposal overwhelmingly opposed such a change. Based on that record, in October 2006 the Commission altered its position and instead proposed a broad prohibition on the use of prerecorded messages whenever the consumer called had not previously given express written permission to the seller to place such calls to his or her number. The action announced today adopts the October 2006 proposal, with several refinements suggested by the more than 600 comments it elicited.

The New TSR Amendments

Specifically, the TSR amendments adopted by the Commission and announced today:

Expressly prohibit telemarketing sales calls that deliver prerecorded messages, whether answered in person by a consumer or by an answering machine or voicemail service, unless the seller has previously obtained the recipient's signed, written agreement to receive such calls;
Permit sellers to obtain the required permission for prerecorded message sales calls from a consumer in any manner permitted by the Electronic Signatures In Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN Act);
Exempt healthcare-related prerecorded message calls that are subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) from the prohibition on telemarketing calls that deliver prerecorded messages;
Exempt from the written agreement requirement all charitable solicitation calls placed by for-profit telemarketers (telefunders) that deliver prerecorded messages on behalf of non-profits to members of, or previous donors to, the nonprofit, but require that such calls include a prompt keypress or voice-activated opt-out mechanism;
Require that, by December 1, 2008, sellers and telemarketers provide, at the outset of all prerecorded messages, an automated keypress or voice-activated interactive opt-out mechanism so that consumers can opt out as easily as they can from a live telemarketing call;
End the FTC's current policy of forbearing from bringing enforcement actions against sellers and telemarketers who place prerecorded calls that meet certain specified conditions that would be inconsistent with the new requirements; but
Permit sellers, as under the forbearance policy, to continue for one year after the rule's publication to place calls delivering prerecorded messages to consumers with whom they have an established business relationship, after which no prerecorded message calls can be made to consumers without their express permission.
The prerecorded call amendment requires that any prerecorded telemarketing call must: 1) allow the telephone to ring for at least 15 seconds or four rings before an unanswered call is disconnected; 2) begin the prerecorded message within two seconds of a completed greeting by the consumer who answers; 3) disclose at the outset of the call that the recipient may ask to be placed on the company's do-not-call list at any time during the message; 4) in cases where the call is answered by a person, make an automated interactive voice and/or keypress-activated opt-out mechanism available during the message that adds the phone number to the company's do-not-call list and then immediately ends the call; and 5) in cases where the call is answered by an answering machine or voicemail, provide a toll-free number that allows the person called to be connected to an automated interactive voice and/or keypress-activated opt-out mechanism anytime after the message is received. The telemarketer, while complying with each of these provisions, also must be in compliance with all other requirements of the TSR and other federal and state laws.

The additional technical amendment the Commission has made pertains to the method of calculating the maximum allowable rate of call abandonment that telemarketers may have. Call abandonment is a side-effect of very efficient telemarketing equipment called predictive dialers. Predictive dialers place calls in anticipation that a salesperson will become available by the time one of the numbers called is answered.

Inevitably, a call will sometimes connect when no sales representative is available. The TSR sets a limit on how often this can occur. It requires that at least 97 percent of a telemarketer's calls that are answered in person - not by an answering machine - be connected to a salesperson within two seconds after a consumer answers. This is designed to minimize the number of "dead air" and "hang-up" calls that result when no salesperson is available to take the call. The amendment will retain the current three percent permissible abandonment rate, but will permit it to be calculated over a 30-day period, rather than on a daily basis as is now the case. The change will permit the use of smaller calling lists than before without an appreciable increase in call abandonments. It will enable all sellers to target their calling campaigns to consumers most likely to be interested in their offer, and will benefit small businesses that have smaller customer lists in particular.

 

[Rearden]

Josh, I got to know, are you sure it's illegal?