“But what time should they call?” We can firmly bet that on more than one occasion you have thought and even said this phrase out loud after one of these nuisance business calls. Telephone operators, insurers, banks, alarm sellers… Telephone marketing is very popular with service companies. But, like everything, it must adjust to legality.
Unless we are on the Robinson list, receiving a commercial call is not illegal. And it doesn’t matter if we are not very interested in what is on offer or if it surprises us at the wrong time. However, there is a schedule for telemarketers to follow during these calls.
What the Commercial Calls Act Says
Telephone calls for commercial purposes are considered a method of distance communication regulated by the general law for the defense of consumers and users. The aforementioned section relating to commercial communications is found in Article 96, the second section of which is the one that cites the authorized hours for calls of this type:
“In the case of telephone communications, at the beginning of any conversation with the consumer and the user, the identity of the employer must be explicitly and clearly indicated, or where applicable, the identity of the person on behalf of which the call is made, according as well as to indicate the commercial purpose of the same. Under no circumstances will telephone calls be made before 9 a.m. or after 9 p.m. or on holidays or weekends.” Article 96.2 of the general law for the defense of consumers and users and other complementary laws.
Therefore, the time allotted for making these calls is Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.therefore excluding weekends and public holidays.
Now well, the main telephone operators have stricter ethics in terms of schedules. Virtually the majority of companies have signed an agreement by which they undertake to make only sales calls from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.thus respecting the time slot from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. for lunch (or siesta).
What to do if you receive a call at the wrong time
All companies or independent professionals wishing to make offers or advertisements of any kind by telephone must comply with the law and respect the aforementioned times. Therefore, it should not be possible to receive such a call. However, It can happen.
The company that calls you after 9:00 p.m., on a public holiday or on a weekend will commit an illegality. Therefore, not only can you claim it on this call, but you can file a formal complaint with the consumer authoritieswhether state, provincial or regional.
But be careful, because there are circumstances in which it might be legal to receive a call from a business. And these are all those occasions where the goal is not commercial. To give an obvious example, let’s imagine that you have previously contacted your operator for a WiFi problem in your home; in this case, the company can call you after 9:00 p.m. to inform you of the solution. However, this is generally not common.
Most after-hours “sales” calls are scams
Unfortunately, phone scams still abound today. Yes many of these scams pose as companies for commercial purposes. And given the criminal purposes of these calls, it is clear that respecting the time limit set by law is a minor detail for those who are at the origin of it.
For this reason, it is important that, as a general rule, Beware of calls asking for personal information or suspicious offers. But if it’s outside office hours, even more so. In this area there are other tips to consider such as using a call filter, not returning the call, asking for credentials that prove to be the company they pretend to be and, as we have already stated, do not offer our personal or payment information.
Joining the Robinson list will avoid calls at all times
Let’s go back to the case of calls which are legitimate, but which do not interest us. Yes, as a rule we do not want to receive commercial calls of any kindThere are ways to block calls on Android, but the best method is to join the Robinson list.
This can be done online and from your mobile, you just need to register on the Robinson List website. It is an easy, fast and completely free. And while it won’t be immediate and it may take a few weeks to appear on this list, when you’re inside any company will know and won’t be able to contact you. And it’s that making calls to a number that’s on the Robinson list is illegal.
Likewise, there is another point to take into account and for which we can receive calls: save our number in a database. Whether it is when registering in an application, web page or any other service, if we are asked for the telephone number, we must verify that the boxes for receiving offers have been unchecked so that they cannot call us by telephone for these purposes.
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