Stop the Calls, Part 2: send the stop request in writing, not on the phone

"Can you hold for a second while I pull up your file?"

That's what they say after you've already asked them to stop. Call eleven. Same pitch, different number, and suddenly you're negotiating with a stranger who is writing nothing down. If Part 1 gave you the 22-second script, this part is the next move: put the stop request in writing, from an address you control, with a date on it.

General information, not legal advice.

Why the phone version fails

On a live call the broker can say "got it," transfer you, or hang up. You have no proof they heard you. Their dialer can keep your number warm while someone else in the room starts the next batch.

Spoofed local numbers and brand-looking caller IDs make it worse — you can't even tell which company you just asked.

A dated email (or letter) changes the shape of the record. Before it, the call is a nuisance. After it, every contact happened after a written instruction to stop, from a party who kept a copy. That is the line that makes most rooms move you off their dialer — you became more expensive than you are worth — and it is the line a regulator or a lawyer can actually read.

The written stop request

Send something close to this. Fill in your facts. Keep a copy of the sent message.

Subject: Cease and desist — stop all contact

This is a formal notice to stop all contact with me and with [business name], through every channel — phone calls, texts, voicemail including ringless voicemail, email, and mail.

Put my number(s) and email(s) on your company's internal do-not-call list. This instruction covers your affiliates, agents, lead vendors, and anyone contacting me on your behalf.

Any consent you claim to have is revoked as of the date of this message.

Please reply in writing with: (1) a copy of your written do-not-call policy, (2) the full legal name and address of the entity that placed these calls, and (3) the source of my contact information.

Contacts so far include: [date, time, caller ID, what they said].

Do not contact me again.

We keep a fuller template you can copy: cease-and-desist letter template.

How to send it so the date sticks

1. Use an email address you control — not a web form on their site, not a chat widget, not a "reply to this SMS."
2. Address it to the company name they gave you on the call (Part 1's script asked for that). If they refused a name, send it to whatever email or address you can document from their website or a prior message, and note "company name refused on [date]."
3. Keep the sent copy and, if you can, a delivery or read receipt. Screenshot is fine when the platform won't give you one.
4. Attach or paste three lines from your call log. Free CSV: call log template.
5. If the same shop dials again after the email, add that date to the log. Don't argue on the phone. Point them at the written notice and hang up.

The rights behind the letter (scoped honestly)

• The FTC's Do Not Call guidance says that when you ask a specific company to stop calling, put the date in writing. That guidance is written mainly for consumer lines. Business lines get less protection, which is why a company-specific written request matters more than arguing on the phone. (FTC Do Not Call FAQs)
• The National Do Not Call Registry does not cover business phone numbers. Register a personal cell at DoNotCall.gov if brokers are hitting that line. The shop line still needs the company-specific written stop.
• FCC rules let you revoke consent to autodialed or prerecorded calls and texts to a wireless number in any reasonable manner. A dated email that says "consent revoked" is a clear record of that ask. (FCC guide to unwanted robocalls and texts)
• Callers making telephone solicitations are generally required to maintain a written do-not-call policy and make it available on demand (47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(d)). Asking for that policy in the letter is part of the record, whether they send it or not.
• The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (47 U.S.C. § 227) covers some calls and some lines, not all of them. Whether it applies to your situation depends on the type of call and the type of line. A dated stop request plus a call log is a record you can use to report the calls or bring to a lawyer — not a promise about coverage or outcome.

For the wider map, see Know Your Rights.

This week

1. Finish the Part 1 script shortcut and the four-field log if you haven't.
2. After the next repeat caller, send the written stop the same day — don't wait for call twenty.
3. File the sent copy next to the log.
4. If a new "company" starts dialing with the same pitch, treat it as a new shop: script first, then a fresh dated email with the new name.

Next part: what to put in the call log so the dates survive when the caller ID keeps changing.