Stickin' it to the Crooks

The following letter is in response to a complaint that I filed after receiving an unsolicited, pre-recorded commercial telephone call. My phone numbers are on the national Do-Not-Call lists. Additionally, North Carolina law prohibits pre-recorded solicitations, use of automatic dialers, calls outside of certain hours, and blocking of the company's information from Caller ID.

The call in question was offering information about lowering my credit card interest rate and said at the end that I should press one number to be removed from the calling list or another number to speak to a customer service representative. When I pressed the one number to be removed, a message said that I had made an invalid selection. When I pressed the other number, I heard a few clicks before an agent answered and asked for me to confirm that I wished to lower my credit card interest rate. I replied that I was, instead, interested in knowing her name, her representative number, and the name of her company. This caught her off guard and led her to eventually hang up on me.

In filing the complaint, I provided the date and time of the call, a synopsis of the call, and the phone number that appeared on Caller ID. The complaint form is available online at the DOJ's Web site, nocallsnc.com, though you have to print it and complete it manually before mailing it. The Attorney General's office took care of the rest! Get 'em, Roy!

State of North Carolina
Department of Justice
9001 Mail Service Center
Raleigh NC 27699-9001

Roy Cooper, Attorney General

May 29, 2007

RE: File No. 0705197, Ervin

Dear Mr. Ervin:

This letter is in reference to the complaint you filed with the Attorney General's Office, Consumer Protection Division, alleging violation of North Carolina's Do Not Call law. Your written complaint helped the Attorney General determine to seek a settlement with Card Member Services, the company from which you received an unwelcome telephone solicitation. A more thorough, and possible long term, investigation is under way into this matter. Among the terms we will be asking for will include:

• Fully comply with North Carolina "Do Not Call" laws and related federal statutes;
• Ensure proper training of all the company's telemarketing representatives calling North Carolina residents;
• Maintain written records of Do Not Call complaints from North Carolina residents for a period of five years; and
• Pay civil penalties and related investigation costs.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Without concerned residents like you, it would not be possible to enforce North Carolina's Do Not Call law. In the future, should you encounter any business practices that you believe violate the law, telemarketing or otherwise, please contact us at 1-877-566-7226.

With kind regards, I am

Very truly yours,
David Fox
Telephone Privacy Protection Specialist
919-716-6000
[e-mail address omitted here]
noscamnc.gov