Calls drive customers away

Jack sent me a gripe that hit home with me: Automated, or robo, phone calls. These bug me so much that I canceled my home landline a couple of years ago because the only calls I got to it were marketing calls from computers — everyone else preferred using my office or cell phone. These calls were usually disguised as “surveys” — one of the loopholes used to get around the rules of the National Do Not Call Registry. Others came from political or religious groups, which also get a pass on the rules.

“During the election, I was getting 3-4 calls a day, some on my cell phone,” laments Jack. “I thought they would stop now that the election is over. How wrong I was. I got a call from TaxCut saying ‘Thanks for using us in the past! We are sending you a copy of TaxCut 2008 in the mail.’ I liked TaxCut and planned to buy it yet again this year. Well, not anymore. This year I will find someone else’s product to purchase.”

I agree with Jack. When someone interrupts my day like this — when I know they could get their message across via e-mail or something less invasive — I feel like the only power I have over the situation is my ability to choose whom I do business with.

“I have been on the National Do Not Call Registry since it started,” says Jack. “But companies can get around it by claiming a relationship with me just because I once bought their product. By that reasoning, everyone — the pizza place down the street, McDonald’s, the supermarket, and the gas station –- can call me at will.”

I forwarded Jack’s letter to TaxCut to see if at least in this case there was anything else Jack or the rest of us could do, rather than cower, take our business elsewhere, or cancel our landlines.

Denise Sposato, director of communications and communities, responded. “Courtesy calls were placed to prior-year TaxCut customers, with whom we have an existing relationship, alerting them to the mailing of TaxCut software to their homes,” she explains. “At this time of year, everyone receives an overabundance of mail and packages. So our prerecorded TaxCut courtesy calls were designed to bring attention to its pending arrival and to make sure prior-year clients understood clearly that we appreciate their business. Please be assured that we are diligent in making sure that our courtesy calls, as they relate to ‘existing relationships,’ meet individual state requirements. State requirements for ‘existing relationships’ can vary from 6 months to one year to as much as 18 months.”

As for opting out of these calls? Denise explains that there was an opt-out at the end of the phone call. Of course you would have to stay on the line long enough to get to that bit. “And if the call gets to you via voice mail,” she explains, “the recipient would need to return the call and follow the instructions to opt out from receiving further messages. Also, each year within the TaxCut Software Registration, there is an opt-out clause. Consumers can also always update their communication preferences on our Web site.

Denise went on to explain that many customers appreciate the courtesy reminder calls. But she also understood that Jack didn’t. So she took care of removing him from any further phone contact.

Got gripes? Send them to christina_tynan-wood@infoworld.com.