Predictive Dialing: What's Behind the Hang-Ups?

Your phone rings in the middle of dinner. You race to answer it only to find silence or the "click" of the calling party disconnecting the call. This scenario is probably repeated in thousands of homes each evening. The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) receives many complaints about "predictive dialing" by telemarketers.

David Polino, President of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) explains, "Predictive dialing is when a telemarketer's automatic dialer simultaneously dials more phone numbers than the telemarketer can handle if all of the called parties pick up at the same time. Oftentimes, the first person to answer his or her phone is connected to the telemarketer, while the rest are disconnected.

FCC rules require that companies identify themselves to consumers and also that telemarketers maintain "do-not-call" lists for people who do not wish to receive telemarketing calls from a certain company. The practice of predictive dialing and the resulting abandoned calls often do not allow consumers to identify the company calling, and, therefore, do not afford consumers the opportunity to make a do-not-call request under FCC rules.

What can you do to avoid predictive dialing by telemarketers? Consumers in New York State who wish to avoid all telemarketing calls can be part of the "Do Not Call Register" by calling the toll-free number at the New York State Consumer Protection Board at 1-866-622-5569 or register on their website at www.consumer.state.ny.us

This information is general in nature and is not intended as a reliability report on any company, product, or service.