FTC bans robocalls and unsolicited automated telemarketing phone calls

Have you heard that starting today the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has put a ban on robocalls made by telemarketers? Telemarketers will now need written permission from the customer in order to practice this type of phone solicitation. Any telemarketer in violation of this new policy will face up to $16,000 in penalty charges per phone call.

NCH is excited at the thought of not having our day interrupted by robocalls. In fact, the chairman of the FTC, Jon Leibowitz, said, "American consumers have made it crystal clear that few things annoy them more than the billions of commercial telemarketing robocalls they receive every year."

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. Calls that deliver information, as opposed to selling something, will not be affected by this ban. So things like automatic reminders about appointments or something like a bad weather delay or cancellation can still be made with an automated system.

As a company that offers a software product that can perform robocalls, we worried at first about our sales. What would be the impact the ban on robocalls would have on our IVM Answering Attendant? While we realize some sales may be lost, we have a great deal of confidence in IVM as more than a just robocall-software product. The list of features and benefits IVM provides extends way beyond automated outbound calling, including:

• Call attendant - use as a automated attendant to facilitate directing and transferring incoming calls.
• Connect to telephone line(s) using a professional telephony board, voice modem, directly to a VoIP service, or to a PBX like Axon Virtual PBX.
• Corporate voice mail solution for anywhere from a single line answering message to hundreds of voice mailboxes. Recorded messages can be played at any time, forwarded to an email address, or accessed remotely.
• Interactive Voice Response system design your own advanced IVR system for anything from an information line to a phone-in customer survey. The possibilities are endless.
• Call Logging - all calls are logged with the date, time and caller ID information.

So no more, “Congratulations, you’ve just won a free vacation,” or “Would you be interested in trying new car insurance.” We could not be happier that these pesky messages we did not sign up for will no longer be interrupting our daily life, but why not explore the other possibilities IVM Auto Attendant software can offer your business?