Friday, Feb. 15, 2002 | 11:07 a.m.
She depends on the call center industry for her livelihood.
But even Floridian Marnie Feasel is fed up and says it's about time the federal government enacted a national "do not call" registry to keep telemarketers from calling her at home during dinner.
"Telemarketing is a real intrusion for us all," she said Tuesday during the 12th annual Call Center & CRM Solutions trade show that ran through Wednesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Feasel works for Gainesville, Fla.-based Alesys, which provides training for the call center industry.
"I know a lot of companies have to do it, but there's got to be a better way," she said. "But my guess is it will never pass because of all the lobbying efforts."
Consumer complaints have led the Federal Trade Commission to propose a national registry that would let consumers put an end to unwanted telemarketers from all companies with just one request.
Telemarketers who ignore the list could face fines of up to $11,000 per violation.
The FTC also wants to prevent telemarketers from blocking their identifications on consumer's caller ID systems, restrict calling times and change the way they sell credit card protection and promote contests.
Current rules require individual telemarketers to remove consumers' names from their calling lists when asked specifically. Several states have statewide "do not call" lists and similar legislation passed the Nevada Assembly last year but failed to get out of the Senate Commerce Committee.
But the American Teleservices Association, the call center industry's 2,700-member trade organization, says jobs will be lost and many telemarketing companies will be forced out of business under the proposed rules.
"It would have a very negative impact on the industry," said Matt Mattingley, director of government affairs for the ATA. "Would people go out of business? Absolutely. We have 5.7 million employees in a $660 billion a year industry and telemarketing already is image-challenged."
Mattingley said if the rule changes are enacted, many small companies would be forced to either replace expensive equipment or close altogether due to the slim profit margins in the industry.
"Small to medium operations would be impacted the most," he said. "The large ones would survive. But how many jobs is too many to sacrifice for a national do-not-call list, especially when the Bush Administration has called for people to work to jack up the economy?"
The industry maintains that the proposed federal list, as well as lists now in place in some 20 different states, don't do what they're designed to do.
Mattingley said that's because they allow too many exemptions, like non-profit and charitable groups, political fundraisers and companies with which a consumer has an ongoing relationship such as a bank.
"There was a study last year in Mississippi where 65 percent of all telemarketing calls were by non-profits and charities," he said. "Add to that all the exempt categories unique to different states -- Kentucky has 50 -- and the difference is we have created elite groups of entities who have full access to consumers. It's anti-competitive."
Mattingley said the new rules also would restrict the practice of "up-selling" whereby an operator will pass on a customer to a different representative who will "talk up" another product.
"That's like Delta Air Lines asking if you need a car rental or hotel reservation," he said. "The FTC rules as proposed would severely restrict the ability to do that. They want one call for one product for one sale. That's extremely inefficient and the consumer is the one who loses. Our view is that the list robs the consumer of choice."
Liz Crawford of Santa Ana, Calif.-based Advanstar Communications said her company is concerned because the proposed rules would affect the way it conducts business.
"Fortunately, our market is about 80 percent in-bound calls and it wouldn't have a huge effect on incoming call centers," she said. "But when you have downtime, like for-hire call centers, you'll have ebbs and flows in call volume and will begin placing outbound calls."
She said one industry that would be greatly affected is telecommunications, a heavy telemarketer.
Sprint Corp. spokeswoman Detra Page in Las Vegas said the company is still researching the new FTC proposals.
"Right now, Sprint is unsure of the impact but we expect a formal position on the rules next week," she said.
The FTC is accepting written comments on the proposed rules through March and will begin holding public hearings in June.
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