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Day one checklist after a TCPA demand letter
The letter arrived today. Here is what to do before you go home, in order. Twelve items. None of them involves calling the sender, paying anyone, or hiring anyone. Today is about stopping the bleeding and protecting your records.
Why these twelve and not more
On day one you know almost nothing. You do not know yet whether the calls in the letter happened, whether your vendor made them, whether you had consent, or whether the sender is who they say they are. Every item above is something you can do without knowing any of that, and every one of them protects you whichever way the facts fall.
The two that matter most are stopping contact with the listed numbers and freezing your records. Under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3) and § 227(c)(5), a court can increase statutory damages from $500 to as much as $1,500 per violation where the conduct was willful or knowing. A demand letter is notice. Calls made after notice are hard to describe as anything else.
What day one is not for
It is not for deciding whether the letter is real. That takes a registry check and a bar lookup, which you do with a clear head on the records sheet. It is not for working out what you owe. That takes your own call data, which you do not have in front of you yet. And it is not for a reply. A sender who put a 30-day deadline in the letter is not expecting an answer in the first 24 hours.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow is the records sheet. You pull your call logs and dialer exports, match them against the numbers in the letter, and find out whether the calls happened as described. After that you can run the exposure worksheet with real figures instead of the sender's.
Short answers
Should I call the number on the letter to ask if it is real?
Not on day one. Verify the sender through a state business registry and, if a lawyer signed it, the state bar directory. A phone call to the sender gives them information and gives you nothing you can rely on.
Is it safe to delete old call logs now that I have stopped calling?
No. Once a claim has been made, deleting related records can be treated as destruction of evidence and can be punished by a court regardless of whether the underlying claim had merit. Keep everything.
What if the deadline in the letter is only a few days away?
Put it in your calendar and work through the records sheet faster. A short written request for more time, sent before the deadline, is common and often granted. Ask your lawyer to send it if you have one.
Do I have to tell my insurer on day one?
Find the policy and read its notice clause on day one. Many general liability policies exclude TCPA claims, but some cover them and most require prompt notice. Decide with your broker or lawyer in the first week, not after the deadline.