July 1, 2002

Call Compliance helps cos. avoid Do Not Call fines

GLEN COVE - While a measure included in the new state budget boosts fines for violators of the state's "Do Not Call" Telemarketing Law, a Long Island company is offering a solution for telemarketers that don't want to get caught slipping up.

Call Compliance, a Glen Cove-based technology firm, has developed a mechanism that automatically blocks outbound calls to numbers on the state's mandated Do Not Call lists.

TeleBlock, a product Call Compliance patented in December 2001, is housed within a telephone carrier's network infrastructure. When a marketer dials a number that appears on a state DNC list, the call is blocked and the marketer receives a "restricted" message.

The system helps telemarketers avoid violations of the law and hefty fines, said Alison Garfinkel, president of Call Compliance.

"All a company has to do is go to the their telephone carrier and request our product," Garfinkel said.

New York is one of 26 states with a DNC law.

The measure went into effect in April 2001, and about 300,000 Long Island residents have signed up. The state's Consumer Protection Board enforces the law. Maximum fines have recently been increased to $5,000 per violation from $2,000.

Robert Brous, CEO of Great Neck-based brokerage firm HD Brous, said his company has made use of Call Compliance's product for the past two years.

"It's a safety net for us," Brous said. "It's become a standard part of our telephone service."

Call Compliance, which was founded in 1999 and has about a dozen employees, declined to disclose its annual revenues.

But Garfinkel said obtaining a patent for TeleBlock has helped it make "inroads" into the compliance industry.

Telemarketing has made inroads of its own into the U.S. economy - it's a $661 billion industry.

"Just because people find it annoying doesn't mean there is too much telemarketing," said Jim Conway, vice president of government relations at the Direct Marketers Association.

According to the DMA's 2001 economic impact study, New York grossed about $48 million in sales revenues from the marketing industry, which employed more than 432,000 people.

The State Department of Labor included telemarketing in its top 25 occupations projected to have the most job openings on Long Island through 2008.