Notes

TELEMARKETING SALES RULES

•It's illegal for a telemarketer to call you if you've asked not to be called. In fact, the federal government has created the National Do Not Call Registry — the free, easy way to reduce the telemarketing calls you get at home. To register, or to get information, visit http://www.donotcall.gov This link will open in a new window or call toll-free 1-888-382-1222 (TTY: 1-866-290-4236) from the phone you want to register. You will receive fewer telemarketing calls within three months of registering your number. Your number will stay in the registry for five years, or until it is disconnected or you take it off the registry. After five years, you will be able to renew your registration.
•It's also against the law for solicitors to call you before 8 a.m. and after 9 p.m.
•If your number is not on the National Do Not Call Registry, you can ask a company to put you on its own do not call list. The company must honor your request.
•Telemarketers must tell you it's a sales call and who's doing the selling before they make their pitch. If it's a prize promotion, they must tell you that no purchase or payment is necessary to enter or win. If you're asked to pay for a prize, hang up. Free is free.
•It's illegal for telemarketers to misrepresent any information, including facts about their goods or services; the earnings potential, profitability, or risk of an investment; or the nature of a prize in a prize-promotion scheme.
•Telemarketers must tell you the total cost of the products or services offered and any restrictions in receiving or using them, or that a sale is final or nonrefundable, before you pay. In a prize promotion, they must tell you the odds of winning, that no purchase or payment is necessary to win, and any restrictions on or conditions for receiving the prize.
•It's illegal for a telemarketer to withdraw money from your checking account without your express, verifiable authorization. That means they must tell you the total number of payments, the amount of each payment, the date the payments will be submitted to your bank, and which account they will charge.
•Telemarketers cannot lie to get you to pay, no matter what method of payment you use.
•You do not have to pay for credit repair, recovery room, or advance-fee loan or credit services until after these services have been delivered. (Most of these offers are scams. Credit repair companies claim that, for a fee, they can change or erase accurate negative information from your credit report. Only time can erase such information. Recovery room operators contact people who have lost money to a previous telemarketing scam and promise that, for a fee or donation to a specified charity, they will recover your lost money or the product or prize never received from a telemarketer. Advance-fee loans are offered by companies that claim they can guarantee you a loan for a fee paid in advance. The fee may range from $100 to several hundred dollars.)
•If you have the slightest doubt about a telephone offer, wait until you can get information in writing and check it out!

Exceptions *
•Calls placed by consumers in response to general media advertising, like television or newspaper advertisements. (Calls responding to ads for investment opportunities, business opportunities other than those covered by the FTC's Franchise Rule, credit card loss protection, credit repair services, recovery room services, or advance-fee loans are covered.)
•Calls placed by consumers in response to direct mail advertising that discloses all the material information required by the Rule, except calls responding to ads for investment opportunities, business opportunities other than those covered by the Franchise Rule, credit card loss protection, prize promotions, credit repair services, recovery room services, and advance-fee loans, or for "upselling." (Upselling is when a company offers you additional goods or services after the initial transaction for which you called.)
•Catalog sales where you order merchandise from a retail or wholesale catalog.
•Calls that are initiated by the consumer and not made in response to any solicitation.
•Sales that are not completed, and payment or authorization for payment is not required until there is a face-to-face sales presentation.
•Business-to-business calls. But calls offering nondurable office or cleaning supplies are covered.
•Sales of pay-per-call services and sales of franchises. These are covered by other FTC rules.