You’re Receiving FCC Consumer Complaints—Now What?

When businesses first reach out to Numeracle, they often have the same question: We just got an FCC complaint—now what?

Most of these businesses aren’t bad actors, but in an era of increasing spam and scam call labeling, even upstanding companies can end up flagged in the FCC’s Consumer Complaints Data Center, a database that provides consumers visibility into suspected illegal callers. It provides useful information for future FCC enforcement decisions or can be used as evidence against you when it comes to whether or not your calls should display warning labels like ‘Scam Likely.’

Is there a way to make these complaints disappear? The short answer is no. Once a complaint is filed, it’s there for good. But here’s the good news: a complaint doesn’t mean your calls will be slapped with a spam or scam label. If you understand why it happened and what to do next, it can help you build a stronger calling strategy.

Just don’t ignore it—let a few complaints pile up, which can cause real issues. Whether you've just gotten your first complaint or trying to avoid one altogether, here’s what we recommend.

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Visibility Is Your First Line of Defense

Step one is digging into the complaint. Feedback can be frustrating, but it’s often a window into how your outreach is perceived.

Are you calling the same contact two or three times a day? Reaching out outside regular business hours? Originating too many calls from the same number, causing it to show up with a spam label?

Resolving FCC complaints starts with visibility—getting a clear picture of your dialing practices, campaign performance, and how customers experience and interpret your calls. Many businesses are surprised to find their name in this FCC database simply because they don’t fully understand how their calling operation actually works. 

Numeracle helps you see it all: full visibility into your calling practices, right down to how each number appears on customer phones. Integrating this data into the Numeracle portal offers an additional source to suggest improvements to your outbound calling to course-correct for the future. This level of insight is the first move toward a stronger calling strategy—and keeping your name off the complaint list. 

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Identity Verification & Reputation Management

Once you have a clear picture of your calling operation, it’s time to focus on mitigation. Numeracle guides companies through many best practices, but it won’t guarantee that spam labels won’t harm your calls; you’ll need to incorporate a more comprehensive solution that focuses on protection and correction in addition to the prevention dialing practices provide. 

1. Verify your identity. If you haven’t gone through a Know Your Customer (KYC)-based vetting process, your business identity is vulnerable. Carriers may struggle to confirm the identity behind your calls, and bad actors could register numbers under your name and use them illegally without your knowledge. Numeracle’s compliance-based vetting process validates your identity and ties it directly to the numbers you use for outbound calls. It’s the foundation for building a strong, lasting reputation for both your numbers and your brand.

2. Improve your number’s reputation. Many businesses overlook simple mistakes in how they call customers, which can quickly lead to more FCC complaints. With complete visibility into your calling operation, Numeracle’s customer experience team will work with you to ensure your dialing practices are up to standard. These changes can significantly boost contact rates—and keep you out of hot water. What’s more, you can improve the reputation of those phone numbers by protecting them from labels and removing any should they arise.
   
   

Stay Out of the FCC’s Crosshairs

Although complaints can’t be removed, monitoring FCC complaint information empowers you to better understand some underlying data that could impact your call perception and reputation. Numeracle has been here since day one to help you cut through the confusion and put you in the driver's seat to understand your reputation across the calling industry. 

FCC customer complaints can be stressful, but they’re not the end of the road. For many businesses, they’re the wake-up call that pushes them to take a closer look at their calling operation—and build one that’s secure, reliable, and commercially successful.

Even if you’re not in the database yet, don’t wait for complaints to start piling up. Get complete visibility into your calling operation, plus strategies to protect and improve your performance, with Numeracle today.