While call-blocking AEs and apps help protect consumers, they can harm the reputations of legitimate businesses, organizations, and institutions. What happens when one of your organization's numbers gets blocked? Suddenly, your call agents will find it much more difficult to connect with leads and existing customers.
Carrier redress requests help remove blocks and inaccurate labels, giving your agents more opportunities to reach their goals.
Importance of Redress Requests
The FCC requires voice carriers to use reasonable analytics to stop unwanted robocalls that pester, or attempt to scam, consumers. If one of your numbers behaves suspiciously, AEs will likely block it to protect consumers. Blocks can also come from FCC complaints and reports directly from consumers.
The industry needs call-blocking to stop bad actors from scamming people. Over time, blocking numbers should improve consumer confidence, making it easier for businesses to connect with leads and customers.
Unfortunately, your numbers could get blocked even when you don't have nefarious plans. Perhaps your dialer uses a number too frequently. Perhaps consumers don't like how some of your agents talk to them. These and other situations can get numbers blocked even when they belong to legitimate businesses.
When that happens, you need carrier redress requests.
Carrier Redress Rules Explained
Ideally, you should see the block removed within a few hours. In some cases, it can take two or more days. Industry requirements say the block issuer must redress the problem within a "reasonable amount of time." What counts as reasonable can vary depending on factors like whether voice service provider analytics flagged the number or consumers reported the number for attempting fraud.
Theoretically, carrier redress requests get handled quickly. That doesn't always happen, though. Even when carriers agree to unblock numbers, it can take a lot of time to submit requests when your call center uses hundreds or thousands of numbers.
If that happens, the voice service provider should give you an update within 24 and keep you in the loop as it works toward a solution.
How Call Blocking Notifications Work
As a business that relies on outgoing calls, you need to know as soon as possible when a number gets blocked. Call-blocking notifications make it easier for you to identify blocked numbers and request a redress from the carrier or third-party app.
When a service provider blocks your call, it should include pertinent information in the SIP header. The header will include one of four codes:
SIP 603
A SIP 603 code tells you that someone refused to answer a call from your number. It doesn't give much information beyond that, though. For example, it doesn't tell you why someone refused the call.
Consumers have plenty of good reasons to reject calls. They might want to avoid the safety issues of answering a call while driving. They might be too busy with work to answer the phone.
Rejecting your call doesn't necessarily mean the person doesn't want to talk to your agent. They just don't want to talk to the agent at that specific time.
SIP 603+
A SIP 603+ code can give you more information about the block. The code gives the service provider fields to explain:
- The cause for rejecting the call.
- Where the call was blocked, including the originating network (LN), transit network (TN), and originating private network (LPN).
- Where and how to submit a redress request.
SIP 607
A SIP 607 code tells gives you more precise information about why the call was rejected. It can originate from the called party or user agent. More often than not, blocks that generate 607 SIP codes come from AEs.
SIP 608
SIP 608 codes come from upstream intermediaries that block calls. The SIP header should include information about how to contact the intermediaries to place a redress request.
How to Redress Blocked Calls
After you receive a blocked-call notification, you should immediately pull the affected number from rotation so it doesn't prevent agents from connecting with leads. Then, you can remediate any dialing practices that might have contributed to the block and contact the appropriate parties to show you've made a good-faith effort to follow ethical dialing practices.
You can find which company or service blocked your call by looking at the SIP header. The SIP header should include their name and contact information. You should also contact the FCC to keep regulatory bodies informed.
Depending on how many numbers you own and how many blocks your numbers receive, redressing blocked calls could take a lot of time.
Caller ID Reputation can handle all of your carrier redresses for you. The remediation add-on service ensures carriers and regulatory bodies receive and process requests as soon as possible. Learn more about the benefit of call blocking redress by starting a free trial or contacting Caller ID Reputation now.
