TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: First Place, Web Promotion, Unsolicited Calls?

Re: First Place, Web Promotion, Unsolicited Calls?

Robert Bonomi (bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com)
Thu, 26 May 2005 11:42:13 -0000

In article <telecom24.233.6@telecom-digest.org>,
Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net> wrote:

> usenet@outshine.com wrote:

>> Has anyone recently received an unsolicited call from someone
>> representing "First Place?" They apparently make a Web promotion
>> product. Any information at all would be helpful.

> Yeah, feh ... can't remember which product First Place Software
> publishes ... WebPosition Gold, maybe?

> ... No, it looks like WPG was bought by WebTrends.

> Heh, but when I do a search on First Place Software, a sponsored link
> to WPG comes up, so I guess I was right!

>> Today I received an unsolicited call from them. The agent asked if I
>> owned outshine.com and then told me he had a product that would help
>> my site to make a lot of money. He asked me to open up a Web browser.
>> Unfortunately, I didn't give him a chance to give me a URL.

>> I told him to put me on his do not call list. He REFUSED. I asked
>> for his name. He refused. I told him he was violating at least US
>> law, and he needed to respond. He simply repeated, "don't you want to
>> make money with your site?"

> Idiots. Yup, WebTrends was the company that had a buggy log analysis
> product and couldn't help me fix the many bugs I had over a period of
> about eighteen months, and started sending me nastygrams about trademark
> infringement when I registered WebTrendsSucks.com even though I had just
> registered it, and never used it for email or a web site.

> WebTrends is at 851 SW 6th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97204. If you were
> on the federal DNC list, the FTC can fine them for the violation. If
> not, you may be able to sue them yourself under the 1991 Telephone
> Consumer Protection Act. I would not advise doing anything, however,
> unless you call a lawyer (except if you're going to file the DNC
> violation with the FTC).

If the marketing call came to his _cell_ phone, as he implies, then it is
a prosecutable violation _whether_or_not_ he is on the federal DNC list.

47 USC 227 expressly forbids marketing calls to _any_ "telephone
number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service,
specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier
service, or any service for which the called party is charged for
the call"

The failure to provide Caller-ID info is also an express violation of
the FTC "Telemarketing Sales Order".

The refusal to add one, when requested, to their
_internally-maintained_ DNC l is an express violation of the TSR also.

As is the caller's refusal to identify himself -- and the company he
is calling for -- when requested.

Complaints to the FCC _and_ the FTC are both in order. The FTC _can_
assess an immediate $11,000/violation (and you have three separate
violations to report) penalty. The FCC has to issue a
cease-and-desist order first, and then catch them in subsequent
violations before they can assess the same $11,000/violation.

A private lawsuit (small-claims) for the 47 USC 227 violation is also
practical. $500 minimum, as 'statutory' damages. 'Deliberate and
wilful' violation allows the judge to treble that amount.

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