OTTAWA – Breathe E-Z Homes Ltd. has been slapped with a $2,000 fine for violating the country’s national do not call list (DNCL).
The Commission said that it received “numerous complaints” in relation to telemarketing telecommunications made by the company between September 5 and November 11, 2009. After receiving a notice of violation on January 7, 2010, Breathe E-Z argued that it had not committed any of the violations set out in the notice. It claimed that all of the calls it made during the period covered by the notice were to persons with whom Breathe E-Z had an existing business relationship and who had not made a do not call request directly to the company, or the calls were exempt because they were made based on the express consent of the persons receiving them.
In its representations, Breathe E-Z acknowledged placing calls to consumers whose numbers appeared on purchased, pre-qualified lists based on their consent to receiving telemarketing telecommunications in relation to a free prize (qualified contact lists). It also submitted that it had initiated calls to these consumers as part of its product promotion strategy, in order to offer them delivery of the free prize with a demonstration of one of Breathe E-Z’s products (free prize calls).
But the Commission said that according to the rules, ‘telemarketing’ means “the use of telecommunications facilities to make unsolicited telecommunications for the purpose of solicitation,” and ‘solicitation’ means “the selling or promoting of a product or service, … whether directly or indirectly and whether on behalf of another person”. Accordingly, an offer to view a product or a product demonstration constitutes solicitation, and the follow-up calls made by Breathe E-Z to consumers on the qualified contact lists were telemarketing calls.
