May 28, 2009 7:59 pm US/Pacific
Consumers Want Annoying 'Robo-Calls' To Stop
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
CBS 5 Investigates has been looking into auto warranty "robo-calls" and reported on consumers and employees complaining about a Bay Area business allegedly linked to those calls and warranty sales.
After the story first aired, many viewers emailed to ask how to stop those calls.
Barbara Johnston of Alameda keeps her phone number on the Do Not Call list. But the phone keeps ringing.
"It's a woman's voice, 'we're calling about your auto warranty,'" Johnston said. "I want to get this to stop."
But they didn't. So the next time the phone rang, she told the representative their company was breaking the law.
"I said I just picked up the phone to tell you the same thing I told you the last time you called," Johnston said. "I am on the do not solicit list and this call is illegal."
But she never expected what she heard next.
"He said 'Well, I'm going to tell you what I probably told you the last time, how the f--- is that working out for you?'" Johnston recalled. She said the conversation left her angry and unhappy.
"That went right thru me like a knife," Johnston said. "I just don't expect to have phone calls in my own home and be spoken to in that manner, it's very upsetting."
So Johnston reached out to CBS 5 Investigates.
"I sent you the e-mail because we have to do something, this last call was ridiculous," Johnston said.
So how do you get those calls to stop? CBS 5 Investigates asked Consumer Action's Joe Ridout. "It's going to be very difficult as a practical matter to stop them," Ridout told CBS 5.
Difficult, Ridout believes, because often, those companies are already breaking the law.
"If they're coming from the United States, they're violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Do Not Call registry," said Ridout.
It is possible for consumers to sue companies for violations under the TCPA, but Ridout admits most people probably won't do it.
"It's unlikely that most people would want that kind of hassle," he said.
That's why the job usually falls to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is now suing two companies in connection to auto warranty "robo-calls."
State attorneys general are also pursuing cases and the Texas Attorney General recently filed suit against three companies he said are operating in or from California. One of those, Pacific Guard Warranty, was the subject of a CBS 5 investigation into auto warranty calls and sales.
California Attorney General, Jerry Brown, said his investigators also are looking into warranty call abuses but at the moment the effort is "very preliminary."
But he said California will be aggressive in pursuing violations of the state's laws.
"I think our laws are very strong. So if they can get 'em in Texas we can get them better in California," Brown told CBS 5 Investigates.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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