STIR IT UP

Well we certainly stirred things up with last week's Tip of the Week about dealers receiving demand letters threatening Class Action lawsuits based on Can-Spam, TCPA and Do-Not-Call practices claims. The common thread of these allegations are that consumers are receiving unsolicited texts and emails from Dealers. As we mentioned, a few dealers had previously reported receiving letters like this.

It's Worse Than We Thought

Did we say a "few"? Practically as soon as our email went out, we started hearing from other dealers who had received similar letters. Of course, they weren't certain as to what, if any, next steps they needed to take. Being that these are being sent by law firms with experience bringing class action cases, we strongly recommend both investigating your practices in this area and consulting with experienced resources on your reply.

A Few Pointers

In our conversations with various dealers, we did learn a few things that we'd like to pass on: first, we encountered some businesses that had a credit application or other verbiage on their website that included a consent and acknowledgement from the customer that it would receive text or emails. That same verbiage didn't always carry over to the company's Facebook page or other social media platforms, though. It's important to look at all of those intake sources and make sure that adequate language is present.

Secondly, although claims being brought for wrongful use of auto-dialers are on the decline, there is still danger, so don't simply assume that you or your service provider don't use an auto-dialer. It's still a good idea to obtain the consumer's consent to be contacted in that manner, even if it's not something that you believe you are doing today.

Lastly, don't rely on your service providers to keep you out of trouble. Some are well versed in the compliance aspects in all of this, and some simply aren't. Keep in mind that the service contracts that you are signing with service providers in all likelihood place the ultimate compliance burden on you, not them, so ask them hard questions and make sure they fully understand your process.

This is the first time we've repeated a Tip of the Week in quite some time, but given the traffic we received, we thought it wise to once again remind our audience to understand what their credit applications, consent disclosures and pre-qualification campaigns say on this subject and make sure you are protected.  If you have any questions please email us at info@ignitecp.com