Compliance

COMPLIANCE WHEN THE LAW AND BUSINESS COLLIDE

THE LEGALITIES

The information provided in this webinar is for educational purposes and should not be construed as legal advice. Participants should not act upon the information provided without the advice of independent counsel. Participation in the webinar does not create or constitute an attorney-client relationship.

SO, WHAT IS COMPLIANCE?

Focus: Telemarketing Annoyance

Focus: Telemarketing Fraud

WHY DEAL WITH THE HASSLE OF COMPLIANCE?

December 2011: Illinois-based company paid the

FTC $500,000 for not acknowledging customers requests to be put on company-specific DNC lists and for transmitting deceptive Caller ID names.

April 2012: Federal Judge ruled that a company

must pay $30 million in civil penalties and

give up more than $1.1 million dollars to the FTC in ill-gotten gains.

August 2012: Jiffy Lube had to pay

$47 million in the Text Message Span Lawsuit.

And the cases and verdicts continue across the country…

PLAYING NICE WITH THE FTC AND FCC

A Guide to Clear and Compliant Marketing for…

• Direct Mail• Email• Telemarketing• Text Message

Needs to be designed

DIRECT MAILPRIMARY FOCUS: CONTENT & DISCLOSURES

• Have Hud work with Eric and create a non-compliant piece with an advertisement that might be true but hard to prove, NO clear disclosure, no asterisk, requires a special disclosure but does not have one and uses the word ‘free’ too freely

• This image will be the CORRECT version of the piece to the left. This version will be perfectly compliant. Eric will explain the differences and WHY the one on the left is so bad.

EMAILWHY IS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GETTING INVOLVED?

FBI: Real cost of SPAM and related scams was

over $485 million in 2011 alone.Dealers did not cause the

problem, but must play by the same rules.

EMAILSPAMMING YOUR WAY TO A $16,000 PER EMAIL FINE

First Priority:

Work with Responsible Vendors

Monitor what others are doing on your behalf: direct mail!

Tell Recipients how to opt-out and honor

opt-outs promptly

Tell recipients where your location

Identify Messages as

advertisements

Do not use false or misleading header

information

Break These Rules:

$16,000 per EMAIL

TELEMARKETING AND TEXTING

TEXTING: HOW AND WHEN IS IT ALLOWED?

Wait a second… are you telling me that I can’t

contact my customers via text at all?!!

Without prior express written consent, a dealership (sales and service) cannot text their customer…• To let them know their car is ready

for pick up• To let them know a car they

wanted arrived at the dealership• To set up or confirm an

appointment• For follow up on services or

potential sale• To confirm services rendered• …for any reason!

TELEMARKETING: CAN I STILL CALL MY CUSTOMERS?

IF YOU FOLLOW FTC AND FCC GUIDELINES…YES, YOU CAN STILL CALL

Legal v Illegal CallsFTC and FCC Compliant…if you follow the rules• Live Telephone Solicitation• Prerecorded Calls• Use of an Autodialer• Calls to wireless numbers• Text messaging (Considered

a phone call!)

Non-Compliant Calls• Caller ID Blocks• Failure to obtain prior written

express consent• Not honoring DNC• Deception and fraud

IF YOU FOLLOW FTC AND FCC GUIDELINES…YES, YOU CAN STILL CALL

First Priority:

Work with Responsible VendorsLive Telephone Solicitation:• Insert bullets on what

makes this legal … provide dealer examples

Prerecorded Calls:• An emergency• No commercial purpose

for the call (notifying a customer their car is ready)

• Is a commercial purpose that does NOT introduce an advertisement or constitute telemarketing (INSERT DEALER EXAMPLE CALL HERE)

Autodialer and Cell Phone Calls:• Prior express WRITTEN

consent of the party called

GETTING PERMISSION!

Prior Written ConsentConsumer acknowledgement (recognized as a valid signature) that he or she will receive communications from your dealership. Acknowledgement is for each communication channel, i.e. text consent does not cover pre-recorded calls

This can take form in:• Email• Website

Submission• Text Opt-In

Written Consent Agreement must:• Clearly and

conspicuously disclose the consequences of consent

• Cannot be ambiguous

• Cannot come with a ‘catch’

Things to Watch Out For• Established

Business Relationship Does Not Apply

• Burden of Proof is the dealers. GUILTY until Proven Innocent.

DMEautomotive’s TOP 5 BEST PRACTICES TO REMAINING COMPLIANT

Work with Responsible Vendors

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