AT&T Corp., which operates the federal government's “Do-Not-Call” registry, has agreed to pay nearly half a million dollars to settle charges that it called consumers who had asked not to be called back, the Federal Communications Commission said on July 9, 2004. It is the largest fine yet for telemarketing violations, but the agreement settles FCC investigations that could have resulted in fines as high as $55 million for the nation's largest long-distance carrier.
Last November the FCC suggested a fine of $780,000 after it found that AT&T had repeatedly called 29 consumers who had requested to be left alone, in violation of 1991 telemarketing rules. That amount was reduced to $490,000 after the company disputed several of the complaints. The agency also agreed to end a second investigation into AT&T's telemarketing practices that could have cost the company millions of dollars. An AT&T spokeswoman said the company admitted no wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
As reported in the May 24, 2004, issue of AdvertisingLaw@manatt, attorneys general in Florida and Minnesota have accused the phone company of violating state and national Do-Not-Call lists by deliberately sending erroneous bills to consumers to dupe them into calling the company so it could upsell them phone services. AT&T has admitted that it sent over a million consumers bills by mistake, but denied the errors were part of a deceptive marketing campaign.
Significance: Most of the recent attention in this area has focused on the national Do-Not-Call registry, yet at nearly $17,000 per aggrieved consumer, the fine levied against AT&T serves as an expensive reminder to telemarketers that they must abide by the rules governing calls to consumers who are not on the list as well.