What Is a TCPA Demand Letter and How Should You Respond?
For most businesses, TCPA trouble doesn't start with a lawsuit. It starts with a letter — a demand letter from a plaintiff's attorney claiming you called or texted their client in violation of the statute, and proposing that you settle before it becomes litigation. How you handle that letter matters.
What a demand letter contains
A typical TCPA demand letter identifies the phone number, alleges one or more calls or texts made without consent or to a registered number, cites the statutory damages of $500 to $1,500 per contact, and offers to resolve the matter for a specific sum — usually less than the cost of defending a lawsuit. That pricing is deliberate: it's set to make paying look cheaper than fighting.
Do not ignore it
Ignoring a demand letter rarely makes it go away. Professional plaintiffs and their attorneys file suits routinely, and a non-response often just accelerates the move to litigation, where your exposure and costs both climb. At the same time, you should not respond off the cuff — anything you say can be used later.
The realistic paths
- Involve counsel who knows the TCPA before responding. This is not a letter to answer yourself.
- Pull your records — consent, scrub reports, call logs — for the number in question. Your defense lives or dies on documentation.
- Assess whether the number was scrubbed and whether you had consent. If you can show a clean scrub and valid consent, your position is far stronger.
- Decide, with counsel, whether to settle, negotiate, or contest based on what your records actually support.
The through-line is documentation. A business that scrubbed the list and kept the report is in a completely different position than one that can only say "we think we scrubbed it." We cover that in how long to keep your DNC records and what actually happens after you call a DNC number.
Scrubbing before you dial is what keeps these letters rare. Scrub your next list free.
General information about how these letters typically work, not legal advice. If you receive one, talk to a lawyer.