BizDevNews.com

When it comes to keeping kids safe online – especially from the harm of identity theft there, there are a number of things parents need to watch out for. Along with teaching them about keeping their personal identifying information like Social Security number private.

According to Intersections Inc., it’s important to screen for telemarketing calls that come into the home asking for a child. This is one indication that someone may have fraudulently used the child’s name or info. to make purchases or sign up for services.

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The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 CFR Part 310, has been amended to prohibit for-profit debt settlement companies from charging advance consumer fees before eliminating or reducing debts. The amendments apply to debt relief services sold over the telephone, whether solicited by debt relief company telemarketers or from calls made to firms by consumers responding to advertisements.

Debt settlement companies are also called debt relief, credit counseling, and debt negotiation service providers. The amendments’ disclosure rules, which include a ban on misrepresentations, go into effect September 27, 2010. The ban on collecting advanced fees goes into effect October 27, 2010.

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The government on Friday said it will soon curb unsolicited commercial calls and messages which have become an irritant for mobile phone users across the country. “The government is very clear that we want this to come to an end

and we are working with all stakeholders and very soon we will have a resolution to this problem,” said Minister of State for Communications Sachin Pilot.

“It is not fair for consumers to be inundated with such phone calls and SMSs and operators also must show responsibilty and not let the consumers get harassed in this way,” he added.

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Canada’s national telecommunications regulator has declared that the rules governing unsolicited telemarketing apply to financial advisors and insurance agents, too.

Back in 2008, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission issued a bulletin exempting financial advisors from telemarketing rules when contacting their existing clients. The CRTC reiterated that stance regarding insurance advisors in 2009. However, earlier this year the regulator said it was reconsidering its position, and invited public consultation on the issue.

After re-examining the issue, the CRTC ruled Thursday that not all telecommunications by advisors should be exempt from the telemarketing rules, “since existing clients may not expect to be called in all circumstances”. Calling clients about their existing investments is different from calling them to pitch new products, the regulator found.

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ALBANY, N. Y. – Telemarketers have been getting around the state’s Do Not Call Law by using prerecorded “robo-calls” calls and other tactics. Now an update to the law has been approved that, among other things, extends it to cover “robo-calls” and those that only leave recorded messages, according to Mindy Bockstein of the Consumer Protection Board.

“So, if a telemarketer leaves a voice message on an answering machine of a telephone number that was registered on the Do Not Call Registry, that could be deemed a violation.”

The new provisions also say unsolicited callers have to state the material terms of their offer at the outset of the call, and they cannot call before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m.

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Telemarketing professionals can maximise their campaigns by using a hosted predictive dialler, it has been suggested.

TMCnet.com writer Anshu Shrivastava claimed that companies can realise the true potential of telemarketing by exploring new technology.

She noted that telemarketing strategies have changed a great deal in recent years, with those who have stuck with “redundant, traditional” techniques failing to make the most of the platform.

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Telemarketing professionals can boost the success of their campaigns by ensuring their data is effectively sourced and cleansed, it has been argued.

Jane Evans, director of Jem Marketing, explained that proper data sourcing can improve the impact of B2B marketing campaigns across all kinds of businesses.

She added that “refined” marketing databases can achieve better returns on investment and can be used again and again in various B2B campaigns including telemarketing.

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ALBANY—The New York State Consumer Protection Board (CPB) hails the enactment of an update to the State’s Do Not Call telemarketing law that address new practices which “game the system.”

“New Yorkers have the right to avoid harassment from telemarketers,” said Governor David A. Paterson. “This law adds teeth to the existing law by expanding the definition of a telemarketing call to include prerecorded, unsolicited messages, and giving the Consumer Protection Board more authority to investigate companies using deceptive practices in the telemarketing industry.”

“Restricting telemarketing calls to the hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and applying the State’s Do Not Call Law to ‘robo calls,’ will help to further reduce unwanted telemarketing calls and safeguard the personal privacy of New Yorkers,” said Mindy A. Bockstein, chairperson and executive director of the CPB. “This new law, which also strengthens enforcement, provides all the more reason for consumers to place their telephone numbers on the Do Not Call Registry. I thank Governor Paterson for including this important pro-consumer issue within his legislative agenda and extend my appreciation to the Legislature for their support.”

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Government backed Business Link South East  is seeking an agency to provide its telemarketing services over a 31 month period to re-engage with existing business customers.

With a budget of between £150,000 and £850,000 across the length of the contract, the successful agency will promote the organisation’s current services and engagements with new start companies to promote the regional Business Link

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AKRON — Here’s one indicator that the economy is on the rebound — InfoCision of Akron needs to fill 700 job openings immediately.

The company is a leader in telemarketing, talking and making phone calls for Verizon, AT&T, Time-Warner and other business giants, and such non-profits as the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society.

“We raise more money over the phone than any other company in the world,” said InfoCision President Carl Albright.

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In this document, the Commission adopts amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR” or “Rule”) that address the telemarketing of debt relief services. These amendments define debt relief services, prohibit debt relief providers from collecting fees until after services have been provided, require specific disclosures of material information about offered debt relief services, prohibit specific misrepresentations about material aspects of debt relief services, and extend the TSR’s coverage to include inbound calls made to debt relief companies in response to general media advertisements. The amendments are necessary to protect consumers from deceptive or abusive practices in the telemarketing of debt relief services.

DATES: These final amendments are effective on September 27, 2010, except for SEC 310.4(a)(5), which is effective on October 27, 2010.

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Some weeks ago I wrote about the menace of unsolicited calls and text messages from telemarketers. I wrote that even though I had enrolled in the do-not-call register that should prevent the telemarketers from phoning or texting me, I got innumerable (around 15 a day) text messages advertising products (mainly property but also a ‘Sauna-Slim Belt’ which obviously isn’t selling because the telemarketers keep flogging it with a persistent desperation day after day) as well as several calls from people trying to sell a variety of financial services, including insurance.

Something, I said, needed to be done because there was a huge nuisance factor. Each time our phones beeped we checked to see who was messaging us only to discover that it was either someone called ‘JP’ who was “launching Kensington Boulevard Apart @ 2850/ft on DP next to Golf Course…” or Jyotish sending Hindi messages in Roman script (“CHANDRA MANGL ke MAHALAXMI YOG ka kya asar padega…”) bragging about its astrological prowess, a claim considerably weakened by Jyotish’s inability to predict how much we would hate receiving its unsolicited texts and how much abuse we would despatch in its direction.

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The telemarketing industry has witnessed some sharp rises in the growth chart. Studies conducted on call center units by various independent surveys have validated that. It’s true that last year the BPO sector was not really working wonders for the employees or for the economy. Things started to change for the better during the early months of this year. The first quarter, from January to March, paid great dividends to the telemarketing services. Encouraged by their success, the call centers went all out in the second quarter to attain something bigger than it was last time. The efforts were not less than what was desired. However, things didn’t turn out well for the BPO service. The spike of the first quarter was followed by a dip in the next.

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VanillaSoft has successfully completed the expansion of its planned infrastructure and has also chosen Terremark Worldwide (News – Alert) as a trusted partner for its North American hosting facility. A part of the expansion included bringing a new data center on line.

Ken Murray (News – Alert), president of VanillaSoft, stated, “As our foot print expanded into multiple countries and time zones, we found ourselves a 24/7 365 day a year operation. This required not only a new data center but a new partner with world class facilities and service. Terremark and their global presence are the perfect fit for us.”

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Voicentric Ltd, the UK’s leading Life Sciences telemarketing agency, today announced the record-breaking growth of its multi-lingual telemarketing services into Europe and North America – with over 90% revenue coming from repeat business.
Expert in complex product propositions and value proposition messaging, Durham based Voicentric help global Life Sciences companies understand, test and successfully roll-out, multi-lingual telephone-based marketing, sales and customer-contact campaigns into universities, major pharma and biotech companies. They specifically undertake:

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Amidst protests against telesales calls and messages, Bharti Airtel has proposed to impose a termination charge on bulk messages, which will help control the practice of telemarketing companies interfering with the privacy of subscribers.

Termination charge is the fee companies pay to one another for carrying out calls or messages on their networks. Most of the telecom firms, including Airtel, Tatas and Aircel, sell bulk SMSes and air time to telemarketing firms.

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Readers are calling the Tulsa World to complain that telemarketers are ignoring state and federal Do Not Call List registrations or to ask if their registrations could have expired.

State registrations used to expire in two years and federal registrations in five years, but recent legislation made both registrations everlasting.

“Real telemarketers honor the lists as they want to keep doing business here,” said Julie A. Bays, assistant attorney general with the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Unit.

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FTC Amends Telemarketing Sales Rule: On July 29, 2010, the FTC announced new amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule that will prohibit debt relief companies from collecting advanced fees.

Effective October 27, 2010, businesses that sell debt relief services over the phone will be prohibited from charging any fees until either (i) the debt relief company successfully renegotiates, settles or reduces, or improves the terms of at least one of the consumer’s debts; (ii) the consumer and creditor have agreed to a written settlement agreement, debt management plan, or other agreement; and (iii) the consumer has made at least one payment to the creditor pursuant to the agreement negotiated by the company.

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