For Washington businesses
Is your Washington business getting spam texts and robocalls?
Merchant services, business loans, SEO pitches, recorded sales calls. Washington law doesn’t make an exception for businesses, and companies that break it can owe money for every text and every call.
Free attorney review. No cost to you. Takes about a minute.
What Washington law sets for each one
$1,000
for each recorded sales call to a phone in Washington, including recorded voicemails
$100
for each marketing text to a Washington cell phone without clear advance permission
$0
up front. The review is free, and there’s no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
The company can also be made to pay attorney’s fees. Every case depends on its facts, and no result is guaranteed.
Why Washington businesses have claims that others don’t
Most people know about the national Do Not Call list. What fewer people know is that many federal telemarketing protections mostly cover personal phones. So companies that sell to businesses often act like the rules don’t apply to them.
Washington is different. Two state laws have no exception for businesses.
- Marketing texts. Washington’s Commercial Electronic Mail Act, known as CEMA, bars a business from sending marketing texts to the cell phone of anyone in Washington unless that person clearly agreed in advance. It doesn’t matter if the phone belongs to an owner, a manager or an employee.
- Recorded sales calls. A separate Washington law bars using a machine that dials numbers and plays a recorded or artificial voice sales message. It applies to calls meant for anyone in Washington, and a recorded message left on voicemail counts.
Companies that help send these messages, like some lead sellers and marketing vendors, can be responsible too when they know what’s going on.
Read our plain English guide to CEMA or the full text of the law.
Sound familiar?
Business owners get buried in sales texts and robocalls, and most assume nothing can be done. If these hit your cell phone or your business line in Washington, you may have a claim.
- Merchant services, credit card processing and “lower your fees” offers
- Business loans, cash advances and equipment financing
- Google listing, SEO, website and reviews pitches
- Recruiting texts, staffing agencies and lead sellers
- Software, phone systems, insurance and payroll offers
- “We’d like to buy your business” and real estate offers
What to keep
- Screenshots of the texts, showing the number and date
- Recorded voicemails, and your call log for the robocalls
- The company name, website or callback number they gave
- Which phone they reached, and whose it is
Please don’t delete anything. Even if you don’t have much saved, tell us anyway. We can often find more.
Questions from business owners
Does Washington's text message law cover business phones?
Yes. The law bars marketing texts to cell phone numbers of people in Washington unless they clearly agreed in advance. It has no exception for business owners, employees or company phones.
What about recorded sales calls to my business line?
Washington bans using a machine that dials numbers and plays a recorded sales message. That law applies to calls meant for anyone in Washington and has no business exception. It sets $1,000 for each call, including recorded messages left on voicemail.
We get live sales calls all day. Is that covered?
Usually not for a business. Washington's live telemarketing rules leave out business to business calls. But if the same company also texts you or uses recorded messages, those may be covered. Tell us everything and we'll sort it out.
Isn't this just part of doing business?
Plenty of owners think so. Washington's Legislature decided otherwise. Unwanted marketing texts and robocalls cost businesses time and tie up the lines customers use to reach them.
Who would bring the case, me or my company?
It depends on whose phone gets the messages and who pays for it. We'll figure that out with you. Either way, the review is free.
What does it cost?
Nothing up front. If we take the case, there is no attorney's fee unless there is a recovery.