Front Page › Tools & Templates › Template
The call and text log
The single highest-value thing you can do on the first unwanted call is write it down the same way every time. Here is the format, and a spreadsheet you can download.
Almost every person who ends up with a real complaint has the same regret: they started writing it down on call fourteen. The first thirteen are gone. A log is worth building from the first call because it costs you ninety seconds and it is the difference between "they call me constantly" and a dated record of twenty-two calls from six numbers over eleven days.
What to record, and why
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Date and time | Time-of-day restrictions exist in the federal rules and in a number of state laws. A time-stamped pattern is also what makes "constantly" measurable. |
| Number that called | Rotating numbers is a tactic. Logging each one is how a rotation becomes visible. |
| Channel | Call, voicemail, ringless voicemail, text, email. Different rules attach to different channels, and revocation has to cover all of them. |
| Company named | Whatever they said the company was. Note if they refused to say, or if the name changed between calls. |
| Caller name | Usually a first name. Log it anyway — names repeat across "different" companies. |
| What they said | One line. "Pre-approved for $150k", "said we applied", "said this is the second attempt". |
| Did you ask them to stop? | The most important column. A dated request to stop is what makes later contact meaningfully different from earlier contact. |
| Recording or screenshot? | Whether you kept the voicemail or a screenshot of the text, and where it is saved. |
The log
The CSV opens in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets. Keep it somewhere that timestamps itself — a cloud drive is better than your desktop, because the file history is itself a record.
Then what
A log on its own does two things. It makes a written request to stop — a cease and desist — land differently, because you can attach the pattern to it. And it is the thing every complaint form asks for: dates, numbers, what was said. Where to file walks through which agency actually wants which complaint.
The reporting is open. The network isn't — yet.
MCAFax is being built to do the thing you can't do from inside the room: make the phone stop. Members will check any broker against a shared, member-built database and send cease & desist letters from their own Gmail, with delivery proof on every one. Some laws, like the TCPA, put statutory damages on illegal calls — whether they apply to yours depends on your situation, and business lines get less protection than home ones. We're not a law firm. Sign-ups aren't open yet; the newsroom is, and it's free to read.