Macy’s Credit Sued For Prerecorded Calls: Retailers Back in the TCPA Crosshairs?

Retailers have had a rough few years as Amazon and COVID have more or less crushed the idea that people want to go to the store for stuff.

One of the few bright sides is that there have been relatively few TCPA suits targeting our favorite retail brands recently.

But that may be about to change.

On June 16, 2022, Macy’s Credit was sued in a new TCPA class action in California. The allegations are that Macy’s used prerecorded calls in an attempt to collect a debt from consumers who had never consented to those calls. (The allegations are unclear whether this is a skip trace situation.)

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The TCPA, of course, caries a $500.00 per call violation and the Complaint alleges there are thousands of class members–if not more.

The class is defined as:

All persons within the United States who received any collection telephone calls from Defendant to said person’s cellular telephone made through the use of any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice and such person had not previously consented to receiving such calls within the four years prior to the filing of this Complaint.

This filing is a good reminder to those in the retail sector and those collecting consumer credit debt that the TCPA is still out there, looming. Even if it hasn’t knocked on your door for a while.

Remember–prerecorded calls (including outbound IVR and ringless voicemail) are big trouble these days. Move toward texts–particularly human selection, triggered or AI enabled texting–to assure greater TCPA flexibility.

One last note–the calls at issue are from 2020. So violating the TCPA today can spell trouble well into the future.

Complaint here: Macy’s Complaint