Toyota robodialer? Wth!!

If are an usan and you want to push back you could send a registered letter stating that you are on the do-not-call list and you do not wish to receive any more of these calls. They know what the do not call list is and they know the consequences for violating it. Let them find the 'bot.

 

Well, I don't think Toyota is alone in this. I've been receiving robo-calls from my local Honda dealer for many years.

 

The Do Not Call List does not apply in this case, since businesses you have done business with within some specified length of time are exempt. (As are charities and political organizations.)

However, if you specifically request that business (or charity or political organization) to put you on their own Do Not Call list, they must comply and after that it is illegal for them to call you.

Send them a certified letter (cheaper than registered, which is intended for things of monetary value and includes insurance) with return receipt requested, or hand-deliver a letter, asking them to stop calling you. The next time they do they are in violation of the law. The law applies the same if you make your request verbally, but in writing it's easier to prove, though it may be impossible to prove who made the call if they have blocked their caller ID, as solicitors and beggars usually do.

I've had these kinds of calls, but never from Toyota. They usually sound like out and out scams. I no longer answer my phone if the caller ID does not identify a phone number.

 

That call was illegal. TCPA law supersedes the federal do-not-call list. According to USC Title 47 Chapter 5 Subchapter II Part I 227:

(b) Restrictions on use of automated telephone equipment

(1) Prohibitions
It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States, or any person outside the United States if the recipient is within the United States—

(A) to make any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party) using any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice—

(i) to any emergency telephone line (including any “911†line and any emergency line of a hospital, medical physician or service office, health care facility, poison control center, or fire protection or law enforcement agency);
(ii) to the telephone line of any guest room or patient room of a hospital, health care facility, elderly home, or similar establishment; or
(iii) to any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call; ​

(B) to initiate any telephone call to any residential telephone line using an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message without the prior express consent of the called party, unless the call is initiated for emergency purposes or is exempted by rule or order by the Commission under paragraph (2)(B);
​

(2) Regulations; exemptions and other provisions
The Commission shall prescribe regulations to implement the requirements of this subsection. In implementing the requirements of this subsection, the Commission—
​

(A) shall consider prescribing regulations to allow businesses to avoid receiving calls made using an artificial or prerecorded voice to which they have not given their prior express consent;
​

(B) may, by rule or order, exempt from the requirements of paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection, subject to such conditions as the Commission may prescribe—
​

(i) calls that are not made for a commercial purpose; and
(ii) such classes or categories of calls made for commercial purposes as the Commission determines—

(I) will not adversely affect the privacy rights that this section is intended to protect; and
(II) do not include the transmission of any unsolicited advertisement; and
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(C) may, by rule or order, exempt from the requirements of paragraph (1)(A)(iii) of this subsection calls to a telephone number assigned to a cellular telephone service that are not charged to the called party, subject to such conditions as the Commission may prescribe as necessary in the interest of the privacy rights this section is intended to protect.
​

(3) Private right of action
A person or entity may, if otherwise permitted by the laws or rules of court of a State, bring in an appropriate court of that State—

(A) an action based on a violation of this subsection or the regulations prescribed under this subsection to enjoin such violation,
(B) an action to recover for actual monetary loss from such a violation, or to receive $500 in damages for each such violation, whichever is greater, or
(C) both such actions.
​

If the court finds that the defendant willfully or knowingly violated this subsection or the regulations prescribed under this subsection, the court may, in its discretion, increase the amount of the award to an amount equal to not more than 3 times the amount available under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph.

​

In other words, you are the victim of a crime. According to TCPA law, the prescribed fines are paid to the victim. If you find out who the caller is, you can file a small claims suit against them. You will likely win, especially if you record the messages for playback in court. Fines due you are $500 per call (or up to $1,500 per call if it is shown that the caller knew the calls were illegal). If your phone bill does not show who called, it is not complicated to file a police report and get a subpoena for the phone records. Additionally, you can also sue for breach of contract and punitive damages in the same law suit.

 

The problem is that if they've blocked caller ID, as they usually do when making that kind of call, it may be impossible to prove who made the call.

I have found that calls that do not show a caller ID number are always junk calls, and I no longer answer them. If it should happen that a legitimate caller has blocked his caller ID, he can leave me a message.