Consumer Groups Oppose DentalPlans.com Petition Seeking TCPA Clarity
Consumer groups opposed a petition by DentalPlans.com seeking a declaratory ruling by the FCC that renewal notifications don’t constitute a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and that the language in the company’s online enrollment forms and also used…
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by its customer service representatives satisfies TCPA disclosure requirements. “The determination the Petition asks the Commission to make is highly fact-dependent, but the necessary facts are not in the record, and it is quite likely that if the Petitioner placed its version of the facts in the record those facts would be disputed,” consumer groups said in a filing posted Monday in docket 02-278: “Contrary to the assertions made in the Petition, the text of the prerecorded calls in question … show that they are ‘advertising’ and ‘telemarketing,’ as defined by the Commission’s regulations, necessitating prior express written consent.” The filing was made by the National Consumer Law Center, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, Public Knowledge and U.S. PIRG. “DentalPlans’ renewal ‘notifications’ are clearly telemarketing,” said Deborah Bradley, a Maryland consumer who sued the company alleging TCPA violations in federal court in Maryland. “DentalPlans quite tellingly omitted the text of its prerecorded message robocalls from its Petition; the messages themselves easily illustrate that they are designed to encourage the purchase of property, goods or services,” Bradley commented. The Professional Associations for Customer Engagement (PACE) supported DentalPlans’ arguments. Congress and the FCC have recognized that not every call made using an automatic dialer or prerecorded voice “should be presumptively unlawful,” PACE said. “If the purpose of the TCPA was to curb unsolicited telemarketing calls, it is sensible that non-marketing calls be excluded from the TCPA’s restrictions,” the group said.