September 17, 2014 – Ottawa-Gatineau – Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced today that Thrift Magic has paid a $250,000 penalty as part of a voluntary settlement over violations of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules. The company also agreed to correct its previous telemarketing practices. Thrift Magic collects used clothing donations from consumers and sells them to their thrift stores in Ontario and British Columbia.
Acting on complaints submitted by Canadians, the CRTC investigated Thrift Magic for alleged violations of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules. The CRTC found that Thrift Magic had made unsolicited telemarketing calls to Canadians whose numbers were registered on the National Do Not Call List (DNCL). Thrift Magic also failed to register with the National DNCL operator and subscribe to the List, and made calls outside the permitted calling hours.
In addition to paying an administrative monetary penalty, Thrift Magic will implement a comprehensive compliance program to ensure that similar violations do not occur in the future.
The CRTC is continuing to enhance its monitoring to ensure telemarketers follow the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules and to reduce the number of unwanted calls to Canadians. The CRTC can discuss corrective actions with individuals, companies or organizations engaged in telemarketing, which may lead to a settlement that includes an administrative monetary penalty and other corrective measures. The CRTC can also issue warnings and citations, conduct inspections and issue notices of violation.
To date, the CRTC’s enforcement actions have yielded over $5 million in administrative monetary penalties, which are remitted to the Receiver General for Canada, and $741,000 in other payments.
The National Do Not Call List was launched in 2008 to protect Canadians from unsolicited telecommunications. To date, Canadians have registered more than 12.5 million numbers on the List.
Canadians can register their numbers at no charge, verify whether a number is on the List or file a complaint about a telemarketer by calling 1-866-580-DNCL (3625) or visiting www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca.
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