In EMC’s case, that heavily promoted its drawing through direct mail, printing ads, and television commercials, which drew millions of consumers in order to complete an entry form. The entry form required consumers to give their phone number, so the company could contact them if they were “the next successful winner. “

Armed with this particular list of numbers, over the past several years EMC made innumerable telemarketing calls to consumers who entered the sweepstakes, a lot of whom were registered over the DNC. When the FTC came knocking, EMC had an excuse.

The FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule allows an organisation to call a consumer in the Do Not Call Registry for about 18 months if there are an “established business relationship” with the consumer and he or she has not asked the firm to give up calling. EMC argued that the consumer’s submission of a completed entry form, and EMC’s acceptance with the entry, created an “established method of trading, ” and that the calls use were therefore exempt in the DNC restrictions.

Sadly for EMC, a sweepstakes entry by itself is not sufficient to establish a business relationship to qualify for the DNC exemption. In fact, this FTC has consistently maintained the positioning that simply obtaining a consumer’s contact number - without anything more- does not establish a relationship that would exempt a marketer from the Do Not Call principles.

What EMC could have done was to create a different entry mechanism for its sweepstakes to enable it to use the “Written Permission to Call” exemption to the Telemarketing Sales Rule.

The Written Permission exemption permits dealers to call any customer who expressly agrees to receive calls by or on behalf of the seller, even in the event the consumer’s number is relating to the DNC. This consumer’s express agreement must be in writing and must are the number to which calls may be made and the consumer’s trademark. The signature may be a valid electronic signature, if the agreement is reached online.

Obtaining some sort of consumer’s express written consent to receive a telemarketing call is a challenge, because to comply with the rule, every request to call ought to be “clear and conspicuous, ” along with the consumer’s assent must get affirmative.

In order to be “clear and conspicuous, ” language granting a seller permission to call consumers should not be buried in a thick jungle of words during a confusing website privacy policy, or otherwise printed in small, difficult to examine type. First, when looking at a listing of sweepstakes contests, one might be overwhelmed with the plethora of contests that they need to choose from. Hence, it is important to spotlight the ones that you intend to participate in depending in the prizes that are being offered.

Additionally, enroll in as many contests as possible pc focus area that you have decided upon so that your probability of winning are greatly improved. You will also ought to enter the contest as much as is allowed because many people give it a try only a few times then toss in the towel. Therefore, if you are set on winning then you need to be consistent with the times that you enter the contests.

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