This article is centered on the situation a friend of mine (going to calling her Angela as I haven’t talk to her about using her name) is presently going through related to a home phone harassment issue from a local floor cleaning company.  In general the steps used dealing with phone harassment are similar to someone showing up at your door so this should be helpful to just about anyone.  Given how much time you can loose to things like this, I highly suggest reading this BEFORE you have an issue as being informed can really cut down on the time waited.

Before there is an issue

A REALLY good starting point is to surf over to the National Do Not Call Registry and submit your phone numbers.  This is a national registry that all business with the exception of some political organizations and non for profit charities legally have to refer to before calling you.  Their are some ways you can accidentally wave your rights even after signing up for this, but do your do diligence and this will help things considerably.

Once an issue comes up

First and MOST IMPORTANT!  For EVERY call or conversation you have regarding this issue, get the following information!

• Date and time
• Who are you talking to (employee ID’s are helpful but not always necessary)
• What company are they and/or do they represent
• The context of the calls

This will help in every step after and help you keep your facts straight.  It doesn’t matter if your talking to the police or Attorney General, if you have an issue, start jotting down notes so you can refer back to them.  If something turns into an issue, spend a little time jotting down notes regarding what you know up to that point.  Doesn’t have to be perfect, but the better and more consistent, the easier your life will be through everything else.

When you get a call from the harassing company

1. Ask the caller how they received your name and number
   1. If they inform you they received your name via a method that you know is approved by the registry OR you are not yet listed with the registry, be polite and jump down to removing your name from the list section.
   2. If they can’t tell you how they acquired your name and your on the registry, inform them of your status on the registry, let them know you do not appreciate unsolicited phone calls and that you would like to speak to a manager.  Most importantly, file a complaint with the registry at that point even if they promise not to do it again!
2. Removing your name from a list
   1. Always ask to have your name removed and listen to what ever they have to tell you after that.  Many companies that are calling you through correct channels will require their employees to have you acknowledge something before they are allowed to remove your name.  Now, you shouldn’t have to do this, however you can save yourself some time by just jumping through this hope if it’s their instead of dealing with additional calls or going through the rest of these steps.

What if they keep calling?

1. File a report with your local police department - This is where all those notes start coming in handy.  Your next step is your local police department to file a police report.  This takes some time and some police departments are less then helpful do to staffing shortages.  However this is critical ground work if they keep calling you.  This opens the door to a subpoena if things get really bad, but more importantly creates a public record that you can refer to and lets the company know your serious and everyone I have talked to on the legal side of things stresses this as what you need to do first!
2. Alert your phone provider of the harassment – Next, you should talk to your phone company.  They may or may not be able to do anything without a subpoena, however make a note of what they can tell you and what you might need so you can have everything together in case you need to come back to them later.
3. File a complaint with the BBB – I am a HUGE fan of the BBB.  While they do not have the power of the State Attorneys office, they tend to move quickly and show a good faith attempt at resolving the issue.  That being said, they are only good when the company in question cares about how they look.  In the case of Phone Harassment I would still file a complaint but also file a complaint with the Attorney’s General office of your state.
4. File a complaint with the State Attorneys General office - If you suspect the company of being a fly by night or being particularly a scum bag, get your complaint submitted ASAP!  The state Attorneys office will not represent you in court, however, they will independently investigate the issue and pursue the company through what ever means they find necessary.  Plus, their findings go into the public record which means you have access to them.  If you have to go to court, this is EXTREMELY helpful!  The initial police report will come in handy for the Attorney General, so make sure you have this documentation handy when contacting them.

If things still remain unresolved after all of these steps, well you just laid the grounds for a great law suite!  Now here is the thing.  I am not suggesting you sue a company over a stupid phone solicitation issue… however if you start down the path that makes this an option, companies do tend to take notice.  So while some of the items I am bringing up may seem excessive for unsolicited phone calls, if you follow these steps you will find you spend a lot less time dealing with these issues in the long run which is what this article is all about.

Now, back to Angela

In Angela’s situation a friend gave her phone number to the company.  Let me start by saying, that if she is on the no call list this does NOT give the company permission to call her, only Angela herself can wave her rights given to her by the list and only a company doing business directly with her counts.  Now this company has been calling her 2-3 times a day for the last couple of weeks.

What she could have done better

1. Well, she did not keep notes of the calls.  This is bad, however lucky for her they were not trying to hide their phone number.  So if needed she can get her call logs at the end of the month and have the call trail she needs.  It’s a lucky break, but don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
2. Early on she chose to ignore the calls when she knew it was from this company.  This dragged things out, even if the company would have been willing to stop, they didn’t know that she was unhappy with their calls. (or at least, they can make that claim)
3. She wasn’t sure if she was on the do not call registry so let the issue go on instead of cutting it off earlier if she was on the list.  Anyone can check their status with the registry, if you are, again, this shortens things as the government will do the followup for you.

What she did right

What she could have done better just lengthened the issue, but this is what really matters.  If you don’t handle things correct from the get go, don’t worry, just get thigns moving in the right direction is the first step.

1. Once she decided to deal with the harassment she notify the company twice to remove her from their list.  When telemarketers tried to tell her that they could not do that, she escalate to their manager and was told her contact information was removed.  This was perfect!  In this particular situation they kept calling, but generally this is where most company caused phone harassment ends.
2. After the first time the company failed to remove her she report the issue with the police department.  The second issue happened prior to them receiving the visit from the officer, however sense the officers visit the calls have dropped off.

Normally things NEVER go beyond telling a company to remove you from the list.  However seeing how things can progress I hope is helpful to others in similar situations.

In general, get informed.  We don’t need to deal with these distractions from our personal lives.

Other resources to help:

• An index of state statutes regarding cyberstalking

Hosting Sponsor:

Index of cities,A B C-D E-F G H-I J-L M N-O P-R S-V W-Z, Twitter page, Local FSHAC sites | About FSHAC.com

• Previous Entry: Prevent Furnace breakdowns
• Next Entry: Pre Seasons Pricing