Do you give consent.... (allowing your phone calls to be recorded)

[David Rose]

My personal "pet peeve" ....

I'm sure you've all experienced calling a business, government agency, vendor and so on and heard the following message or something similar....

"To insure the highest level of customer service, this call may be monitored and recorded."

In fact, it's pretty common place these days for may businesses to use CRM (Customer Relationship Management) technology to record your calls, but what they don't tell you is that you have a choice and in some states such as California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington, it's even illegal if both parties do not give their consent.

In short, you don't have to give your consent and you may want to be aware of your rights should you choose to record these types of phone calls yourself by following the same rules.

Here's a link to ConsumerAffairs.com that will give you some helpful insight.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/01/taping_calls.html

[Jennie]

Only time I experience these issues is when dealing with financial institutions..

[David Rose]

It's very common here in Pennsylvania. I have calls like this on a weekly basis. In fact, I got a call from a restricted number where the representative stated she was from a local government agency, stated this call will be recorded...., asked for my social sec #, and verification of my address, and birth date then waited for my reply, which was a click as I hung up.

Sorry, but I just think it's wrong to be subjected to this; especially, when someone wants you to give out personal identification information. It's no wonder that identity theft has grown substantially in the past decade.

[Jennie]

Hmmm can't imagine a state rep asking for your ss #...that sounds more like an identity theft phone call...The ONLY entities that get my SS # are financial institutions and the IRS.. everyone else can head for the cliff edge.

[William Palumbo]

I never knew you had the option of the conversation being recorded or not. I am in Illinois, so I see that I do. I never really minded it, because most times it was me calling to complain about something, or to rectify a problem, and I thought it probably was best to have it recorded, so there is a record of what was said and who said it. On the other hand, I do not give out personal information, like SS# over the phone...and for sure NOT over the internet...Bill

[David Rose]

I think it's an interesting topic and it's good to be aware of the rules for your respective state.

For instance, I just had to file a home owner's insurance claim on my townhouse in Virginia over the Christmas holiday. My tenants called saying the kitchen floor was covered with water when they returned from a two day trip. When filing the claim, I was asked pretty straight forward questions that you might expect covering the who, what, when and where. However, I was again asked these same questions and then some the next day by the adjuster, and later the home office claim's department representative who releases the check. All three representatives stated that the call would be recorded. I remember the same scenario with the other drivers insurance company a few years back when I was rear-ended traveling back to Washington, D.C.

Now these are definitely situations where I think it pays to know your rights about recorded phone calls and to be cautious. Otherwise, honest good natured folks can be taken advantage of and have their words used against them.

[Darrell Ward]

If telemarketers record their calls, then they have some interesting ones from me. I always trash talk them, waste their time, ask sexual questions, cuss them, etc. All kinds of crazy stuff. Sometimes, they just keep going with the presentation, sometimes they get angry, or they hang up. I'm like, "Hey, you called me, so it's not harassment". They never call anymore. I miss the fun. Wonder why? :D