Jun 10, 2015
I received an auto-dialed phone call this morning. After a pause, 'Denise' from "Smart Construction" pick up and told me that they were doing home improvement projects in my area and if I would be interested in them stopping by for a free consultation. I asked her where she was calling from - she informed me that while the main office was in SF, she was calling from their satellite office in Rhonert Park. I asked her for the phone number for the main office to call them back and she gave me (650) 825-5307. After I told her she was violating the Do Not Call law and to remove our number from her phone list, she hung up. I immediately called back the main office number. The man who answered confirmed that yes, it was Smart Construction. I told him that I had received a solicitation call from 'Denise' who had hung up on me. He confirmed that they were offering free consultations on home improvement projects. When I told him that I was on the 'do not call list' and that he had broken Federal Law, he insisted that they were not selling anything but instead offering a free consultation. Therefore, he said they were not violating the law. He also added that this was an exempt 'non-profit' business. He refused to remove my name from the calling list since they were not operating from a phone number list (I presume they were just using an automatic dialer for my area). He ended up being quite rude. By the way, the firm's official name under Yelp is Smart Renovation & Design (link for your review here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/smart-remodeling-and-design-san-francisco?hrid=gv5JOWuXeCX5E5YM9GXJOg). Please join me in reporting this individual and their phone numbers to the FTC's Do Not Call Violation list. Each violation is up to a $16,000 fine and they clearly deserve it. And, if you so feel moved, adding your Yelp comments to this firm would also be nice 'payback' to their phone call which interrupted your day.