New Telemarketing Law

Proves Difficult For Consumers

HARTFORD (AP) — Consumers are continuing to have difficulty taking advantage of a new state law that allows them to get on a “no-call” list so that they don’t receive solicitations from telemarketers.

About 200,000 Connecticut residents have signed up for the list since the state Department of Consumer Protection began taking names in August, said the department’s legislative liaison, Gordon Frassinelli. Getting through on the consumer protection hotline has been difficult since the program started and it “remains an issue,” he said.

The law takes effect Jan. 1.

“We’re continuing to get a large volume of calls on the hotline of all kinds, but especially these ‘do not call’ calls,” Mr Frassinelli said. “We expect that because this is a new program that the numbers are going to be big in the beginning. We expect Jan. 1 to be another jump, but the pace has got to slow down.”

Besides the hotline, at 800/842-2649, residents can also register online at www.state.ct.us/dcp. The department is urging consumers to register on the Internet if they can to free up phone lines.

Consumers must be residents of Connecticut to be put on the no-call list. But any business, no matter where it is located, must purchase the list and abide by the law if it wants to make sales calls in or to Connecticut.

Consumers can sign up at any time, but those who want to be on the list as soon as the program starts are already too late. The DCP stopped adding names to the first no-call list after Nov. 1, when 175,000 consumers had signed up. The list will be updated quarterly and residents who have signed up between Nov. 1 and March 1 will be included in the April 1 update.

Mr Frassinelli said businesses will probably take a few weeks to begin complying and consumers should expect to see unsolicited calls decline beginning in February. To sign up, a consumer must provide a name, address, and telephone number.

Getting on the list will not stop all calls. Exceptions include calls made with the consumer’s prior express written or verbal permission, in response to a consumer’s visit to an establishment with a fixed location, and calls by tax-exempt, nonprofit organizations.