Resource Center - Industry Articles
Don’t Let a Quantum Leap Land You in Hot Water
by Jeff Ward, July 16 2010
Call tracking represents a quantum leap forward for the automobile industry. It enables dealers to accurately measure marketing ROI; identifying the source of marketing responsible for each lead. It records your calls for review of customer experience and employee call-handling skills. There is no better training tool for building appointment-setting skills. But, unlawful use of this recording technology can result in civil or even criminal liability.
Fortunately, you can benefit from this technology without landing in hot water. Recording a telephone conversation requires the knowledge of at least one party and sometimes all parties to the call. The regulations vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. It‘s critical for car dealers who use Call Tracking to be aware of all call recording laws – state and federal.
Federal law allows the recording of calls with the consent of at least one-party to the call. Thirty-eight states, and the District of Columbia, also permit individuals to record conversations that they are a party to without informing the other parties that they are doing so. These laws are referred to as “one-party consent” statutes. And as long as you are a party to the conversation, it’s legal for you to record it. But be careful!
Twelve states require the consent of all-parties to a conversation. Those jurisdictions are California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington. You may sometimes hear these referred to inaccurately as “two-party consent” laws. But state law mandates that if there are more than two people involved in the conversation, all must consent to the recording. This could conceivably make the call a “three-party consent” or “four-party consent”…well, you get the picture.
A good example of how to abide by this rule is CallSource’s call recording protocol. Before each call is connected, the caller is automatically notified via a recorded message. You know the message: “For quality of service, this call may be recorded.” Courts have consistently held that remaining on the line after such notification constitutes consent to the recording. CallSource also provides a sample Acknowledgment of Recording form for employees, or agents of a company, who might answer a recorded call.
Even if you are in a one-party notification state, it is best practice to notify your employees and agents of the recording. To ensure that Call Tracking’s quantum leap forward doesn’t land you in hot water, always assume you need two-party consent.
To summarize: It’s best to cover your assets and follow CallSource’s lead. Make the necessary forms available to your personnel and be sure your Call Tracking service provider notifies all callers, at the beginning of each call, that their calls to your business may be recorded.
Jeff Ward is Regional Sales Manager for CallSource
This article is meant as a general introduction to laws concerning telephone call recording and its implications. It does not take the place of legal advice from a lawyer in your state when you are confronted with a legal problem. For more information about recording laws go to: http://www.rcfp.org/taping/. Dealerships who have questions about call recording should contact a local attorney.
