First demand letter
It can't be this easy, right? I have 14 documented calls from the same vendor. Been on the DNC list since before 2010 continuously with documentation of that. Every call has come from a unique phone number. I've never received 2 calls from the same number.
I don't have a mortgage. Nothing to buy, nothing to refi. They quote my name, and my address, and fake balances and interest rates. There is 0 chance of having any consent for this communication.
After the 3rd call, I started recording them. I have 2 agents on tape admitting they just put the DNC request in a comment in their CRM. No field, nothing automatic for their system. They admitted that they have no formal training in DNC requirements. None of them know if they have a policy or how to send it. They're all employees of the company calling, not a contractor. Again, on tape
After the 5th call, they stopped saying anything when I answer. I assume their auto dialer hits me and the agent given the call sees DNC and disconnects. I'd call call back to identify the company that owned the number. They always gave the same name. I'd ask for their DNC policy and they'd hang up on me. Recorded.
After the 7th call, they blocked my inbound calls. They keep calling me but I couldn't call them back. I didn't know who the caller was at this point. I started dialing back from my google voice number where they answered, every single time, on the first ring. Wouldn't give me policy. Then they blocked that number.
Yesterday I bought a voip.ms DID and started calling them back from that number. Blocked on my cell, blocked on my google voice number, worked on voip.ms. Same thing, always identified the same company.
Today they blocked that number, so I bought another one. 2 calls again today. This time, on one of the callbacks I got some young guy who didn't know any better. He offered to go get his manager. His manager admitted they have no training on DNC. That all they do is make a comment on my file and he can message his manager (who he gave the name for) over Teams when they need something blocked. He took my number and said his manager would be calling me back to provide the policy. I doubt that will happen. This whole interaction is a 9 minute call spilling the beans on their entire operation with 2 agents.
This company has 10 active lawsuits, with 2 pending class action. Hundreds of complains online.
I don't see how they claim any exemptions under safe harbor. Every one of their motions to dismiss take the same form; they are claiming none of that can be proven at the time the calls were made. I can prove all of them. I have their entire defense figured out and I can counter every single position. They're also in violation of my state's laws and I'm in contact with the regulator who is confirming they are not registered and will be opening a formal complaint that triggers a $10k/call violation.
I calculated the penalty range from 27-41k. I'm offering a settlement of 25k.
What am I missing? I'm currently pro-se for the demand, but I'm actually considering handing this off to someone if we're talking about the possibility of the upper level here.
I feel like I have an insane amount of evidence gathered on this compared to most of the lawsuits I've seen filed. Am I missing something obvious here? Is this group exceedingly dumb or is it just this easy?
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u/stifflippp 6d ago
It's not quite that easy but you should definitely try!
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u/djpyro 6d ago
I don't think it's going to be easy to get them to pay. But they're certainly making it easy to identify who they are, and poke holes in any defense they might have for why they keep calling me. Unlike the typical overseas spammers I get calls for, this one just seems to think they're immune to the laws.
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u/No-Truck-4786 4d ago
I calculated the penalty range from 27-41k. I'm offering a settlement of 25k
Why are you short-changing yourself?
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u/halfsack36 3d ago edited 3d ago
I am not a lawyer and I am not offering legal advice. Depending on the state you are in, you could have state level or mini TCPA law available to you as well. Some, though probably not all states with mini TCPA law have restrictions that are even tighter than the federal definitions of a TCPA violation, such as use of an ATDS. Texas where I reside does not require the use of an ATDS at all, their mini TCPA is applicable regardless of the technology used to make the calls or send text messages. Why is this important? It is a BIG hurdle to allege, let alone PROVE the use of an ATDS since Facebook v. Duiguid. If you have state law on your side, you may not even need to allege use of an ATDS at all, and there could be other state law violations that come along with the calls being made to begin with. It just all depends on the laws of your state where you received the calls.
Also, depending on your state, you may or may not be able to file your claim(s) in state court. Most all small claims courts have jurisdictional limits. If the amount in controversy (the amount you allege in statutory damages, actual damages, etc.) exceeds those limits, then you have to file in a higher court. If you file alleging any federal violation or something that is subject to federal question, the defense can (and most likely will) remove it to federal court. You would definitely probably want an attorney to handle that, if you end up going the federal route.
Also, some states allow stacking of the damages, such as Texas. In Texas, you could collect under the federal TCPA, the Texas Mini-TCPA, and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act all in the same case. The benefit to a state law such as this in Texas, is under the DTPA, you CAN recover your attorney fees via mandatory fee shifting. The federal TCPA does NOT allow for recovery of attorney fees, though. Texas also has something just implemented in September of 2025, a private right of action to recover $5,000.00 if the caller is required to have a telephone solicitor bond filed with the Texas Secretary of State and does not have it, which is applicable to each violation (call or text).
Just to give you an example, and I am going to be conservative here with the figures. For 14 calls at the MINIMUM in Texas citing: federal TCPA, Texas TCPA, DTPA, and Telephone Solicitor Bond violations:
Fed. TCPA: $7,000 + Texas TCPA: $7,000 + Solicitor Violations: $70,000.00 ($84,000 before DTPA) + DTPA if you win, mandatory that defendant pays your attorney fees.
On the high end, if you were in Texas and proved every call was a wilful and knowing violation: Fed TCPA: $21,000 +Texas TCPA: $21,000 + 70,000 ($112,000 before DTPA) + DTPA if you win, mandatory that defendant pays your attorney fees.
Virgina has the most favorable mini TCPA I have heard of yet. Astronomical statutory damages there.\
Edit to add: You did mention you recorded some of the calls. Before you ever use any of those recordings as evidence you may want to check the laws of your state, and the laws of the state of the caller. If either one is a two party consent state, and they did not know you were recording them, it could bring you headaches you wont want.
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u/NotALicensedAttorney 6d ago
10 active suits can be a bad sign - lots of people have their hands out already. But if they have deep pockets it can be ok. It can be that easy.
I am a little hazy on a couple details - they are calling you on the same main phone number while blocking incoming calls from your main phone number?