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64 °F 5 Day Forecast Monday, October 20, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend October 3, 2003 Telemarketers would use no-call list Trouble is, the lists have been voided by federal court rulings By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune Jackson County telemarketing companies might not agree with the national no-call registry, but they plan to abide by it even though a federal judge said it violates free speech laws. "The national do-not-call list is a fraud," said Barry Engle, managing member of the Medford-based National Marketing Group LLC. Despite his belief that the list won’t stand up in the courts, Engle said he would refrain from calling numbers on the national registry if he could get a copy of it. A spokesperson for the Federal Trade Commission confirmed that the list, which costs $7,325 for all 50 million names, can no longer be purchased as of Sunday. A federal judge ruled the list violates free speech laws because it applies to businesses but not charities. Advertisement Callers to the Mail Tribune said they were receiving solicitations from telemarketers, even though they were on the federal no-call list. On Thursday, the Do Not Call Registry Web site was still allowing people to sign up at www.donotcall.gov . Engle said the list is fraudulent because there is no way to verify whether the person who submits a phone number is the person it belongs to. "My personal number is on the do-not-call list, but I did not put it there," he said. His company, which operates in 25 states, doesn’t call people on a separate Oregon list, which applies to 184,000 people. A total of 26 states have no-call lists. The Oregon list ended Wednesday on the assumption it would have been preempted by the federal law. "There’s no national list and no Oregon list right now (for telemarketers to use)," said Jan Margosian, spokeswoman for the Oregon Attorney General’s Office. "It’s a terrible mess." State officials are awaiting a ruling from the federal court system before deciding whether they need to restart the Oregon no-call list. Engle estimates that about 350 people in the Rogue Valley are employed as telemarketers, and he predicted a significant impact to the local economy if the national registry is upheld. In 2002, the telemarketing industry created $654 billion in revenue nationally and employed 6 million people, he said. If the industry is wiped out, Engle said, "it’s a serious threat to the economy of the United States." Erin Jimenez, administrative manager of Comnet Marketing Group Inc. of Medford, said her group makes calls for nonprofit organizations and isn’t subject to the rules of the national registry. However, her company asks for approval from its clients to confirm that they want to call numbers on the list. If they say no, Jimenez said her company doesn’t make those calls. Ray Quattrocelli, owner of Telepro Outbound Marketing in Medford, said the calls made by his company are for the purpose of determining whether a customer is happy with a purchase. "We are calling preexisting customers," he said. "They’ve already purchased the product and we’re just calling to see how they’re doing." As a result, the calls don’t fall under the government regulations, said Quattrocelli. Even so, if a customer tells his company not to call again, his telemarketers respect their wishes. "If they tell us to take them off the list, we do," he said. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] FCC offers tips for dealing with telemarketers If you want to stop a telemarketer from calling you, there are several tips from the Federal Trade Commission, the Better Business Bureau and the National Fraud Information Center: Tell the telemarketer to place you on the company’s do-not-call list, which is required by federal law. If the company does telemarketing for more than one company, ask to be placed on the do-not-call lists for all the companies. Write down the date, the company name, phone number and address. Also get the name of the caller and the name of the supervisor — information required by federal law. Send a letter to the company repeating your request to be taken off its list. If a telemarketer calls you back after you have requested to be placed on the do-not-call list, you can sue in small claims court. The FTC is also warning people to be alert for do-not-call scams. A caller will claim to place someone on a no-call list — usually for a fee. Don’t provide any personal information, such as Social Security number, bank accounts or credit cards. More information about Oregon’s no-call law can be obtained by calling the attorney general’s toll-free number, 877-877-9392, or on-line at www.doj.state.or.us . The Federal Trade Commission’s consumer response line is 877-382-4357 and its Web site is www.ftc.gov . Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! 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