The junk-fax telemarketer’s right to free speech ends at the portal to your fax machine. Though this concept has been given little more than lip service by a small number of rogues, Canada’s lawmakers have finally adopted rules with sufficient teeth to affirm the right to life, liberty and security of the office or home fax machine from intrusive telemarketing.
As of October 1, companies that send unsolicited faxes on behalf of corporate or not-for-profit advertisers must provide caller identification in easily legible typeface at the top of the first page so that recipients who don’t want such faxes have an easy way to let the sender know.
Telus Communications Inc. can disconnect phone service after two days following the issuance of a second notice to telemarketers who fail to comply with cease-fax demands. “We (adopt) a tough line with telemarketers who don’t play by the rules,” comments Telus spokesperson Shawn Hall of Vancouver.
The sender-ID requirement and other revisions to the rules governing junk faxes, recently implemented by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), come none too soon for recipients who quiver with impotent rage over their inability to put a stop to the endless stream of solicitations from fax broadcasters who simply ignore their requests.
It’s not often that the private sector looks to government to create more regulations. But there is something particularly inspiring about the nature of junk faxers’ line of work. Many businesses have come to regard them as having earned a rightful spot in a particularly toasty corner of hell.
“It’s the scourge of the 21st century,” says Valerie MacLean, vice-president of consumer affairs of the Better Business Bureau of Mainland B.C.
Telus, which provides phone service in B.C. and Alberta, told the CRTC hearing that it received 2,977 complaints about fax and voice telemarketing from 1996 to 2000. Bell Canada, which serves the more heavily populated Central Canada, said it received 6,362 complaints.
Better Business Bureaus in Alberta and B.C. receive hundreds of complaints annually about unwanted faxes.
One Calgary business complained about incessant fax-machine calls to a cellphone that its employees keep by their bedsides for overnight client emergencies, each call incurring a rise in the sleep-deprived worker’s blood pressure and a cellphone charge payable by the business.
Many businesses resent having their fax paper and toner wasted (not to mention having the machine tied up by garbage while important faxes wait to get through).
“This approaches criminal conduct,” says a Surrey, B.C., businessman.
“They called at 11:58 p.m., 1 a.m. and 5:13 a.m.,” complains a Calgary woman whose fax machine is in her downtown apartment. “I am ready to litigate.”
A Delta, B.C., businesswoman points out the hours she has spent on the phone trying to stop the faxes. “I bill out my time at $100 per hour,” she says. “I have invoiced the company.”
“Many of the complaints . . . focused on the difficulties encountered by consumers in registering (their) dissatisfaction and preventing continued unwanted contact,” the CRTC said in its May 21 ruling.
The BBB’s Val MacLean says it’s not enough to have legislation unless there’s enforcement. “Any company that doesn’t comply with the regulations should be shut down,” she says. “It’s a violation of privacy.”
The CRTC heard considerable debate over the creation of a U.S.-style national-do-not-call registry. Balking over the cost, it opted for a compromise. It ruled in favour of beefing up enforcement and requiring telemarketers to develop improved-access do-not-call lists.
Effective October 1, fax companies must provide a unique registration number to each and every business or person who calls and requests that their name be added to a do-not-call list. The callers’ names and phone numbers must be added to the list within seven days of the call. The telemarketers must retain this information for at least three years. CRTC rules will continue to restrict calling hours from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends (the called party’s local time).
The rules continue to require that fax calls identify the person or organization the fax is made on behalf of, plus the name and address of a responsible person the called party can write. The fax must display the originating phone number or an alternative number where the call originator can be reached.
Other new rules:
* The unsolicited fax must contain the fax originating date and time, along with the contact information.
* Agents sending faxes must provide contact information about both the agent and client.
* Contact phone numbers must be toll-free and identified as numbers where a do-not-call request can be processed.
* The sender must provide the information at the top of the first page of the fax in a 12-point font size or larger.
* The do-not-call telephone number must be staffed during business hours with an after-hours interactive voicemail backup.
“The commission recognizes that there must be a balance between the right to privacy of consumers who are subjected to unsolicited calls and the right of the telemarketers to conduct their business,” the CRTC ruling says.
“We have a team of people who work with any of our customers who are having a problem with telemarketing,” says Hall, of Telus.
In addition to individual telemarketers, the Canadian Marketing Association maintains a do-not-call list. To register, fax your request to the CMA at (416) 441-4062 or register online at www.the-cma.org. Being on this list won’t eliminate all your unwanted faxes because not all telemarketers are CMA members.
Fax Relief
If you can’t make the faxes stop, call:
* Telus: 1-866-617-6355
* CRTC: 1-877-249-2782 or 1-780-495-3224 (if your phone utility fails to solve the problem).
(Brock Ketcham is the director of trade practices for the Better Business Bureau of Southern Alberta. He can be reached at brock@businessedge.ca)
