The American Teleservices Association (ATA) will increasingly address regulations that affect inbound telemarketing, as the regulatory field for outbound solicitations has stabilized.
“The ATA has been predicting for a few years now that once issues around outbound telesales were addressed to regulators’ satisfaction, a new interest around inbound sales, customer service and technical product support would emerge,” said Tim Searcy, the organization’s CEO in a statement. “The new legislation the ATA is tracking confirms that interest is growing at the state level.”
These state bills include Oklahoma’s HB 2783, which would enact the Service by an Actual Human Being Act, New Jersey’s A.B. 2089, which requires companies using automated answering systems during business hours to provide live representatives – and make their availability known to callers; and Rhode Island’s HB 7760K, which not only requires cell phone companies to provide customers with toll-free numbers to live representatives, but mandates that they document the time spent resolving issues raised by the customers and credit customers with one dollar per minute spend resolving the issue or dispute.
The ATA represents call centers, trainers, consultants and equipment suppliers involved in sales, service and support via the telephone, e-mail and Internet channels.
