How to file a TCPA complaint and what happens next

Last updated 2026-07-09

What is a TCPA complaint and who handles it?

A TCPA complaint is a formal allegation that someone violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227, by calling or texting you without proper consent, using an autodialer or prerecorded voice, or ignoring your request to stop. ^[1]

Three paths exist. They do very different things for you.

Regulatory complaints go to the FCC or FTC. These feed databases that inform enforcement actions, but the agencies do not personally recover money for you. They track patterns across thousands of consumers and build civil penalty cases against repeat offenders. The FCC proposed a record $299.9 million fine against one auto warranty robocall operation in 2022, built largely on aggregated consumer complaint data. ^[2]

State attorney general complaints run alongside the federal ones. Most states have their own telemarketing statutes. Some AGs are aggressive filers. Others rarely act on individual complaints. Filing with your AG is free and takes ten minutes, but don't count on it producing a check.

The third path is a private lawsuit. This is the one that pays you. The TCPA is one of the few federal statutes with a private right of action that does not require you to show actual damages. ^[1] You can sue in federal district court or, depending on your state's small claims limit, sometimes in small claims court. That last option gets overlooked constantly.

Most people should do all three. File the regulatory complaints to create a record, then ask a TCPA plaintiff's attorney whether a lawsuit makes sense. The regulatory filings cost nothing and can strengthen your case later.

What evidence do you need before filing?

Evidence is everything. Agencies and courts both want documentary proof, not your memory of what happened.

Here is what to collect right now:

Evidence type	Why it matters	Where to get it
Call/text logs from your carrier	Confirms date, time, originating number	Request from carrier; may cost a small fee
Voicemails	Proves prerecorded voice or specific message content	Save to a backup before they auto-delete
Screenshots of texts	Shows message content, timestamp, sender ID	Screenshot and email to yourself right away
Any opt-in records (or absence of them)	Establishes whether consent existed	Your own email inbox, website sign-up confirmation
Do Not Call registry confirmation	Proves you were on the list at time of call	donotcall.gov registration record
Any written opt-out requests	Proves you revoked consent	Keep emails, texts where you said stop

Do not wait on this. Voicemails disappear. Carrier records older than 18 months can be hard to pull. The moment you think you have a viable complaint, screenshot everything and send yourself copies.

One thing complainants forget: the FCC's rules define an "automatic telephone dialing system" and a "prerecorded or artificial voice" very specifically. ^[3] If you are complaining about a live-agent call to a cell phone, the analysis got harder after the Supreme Court's 2021 ruling in Facebook v. Duguid, which narrowed the ATDS definition to systems that use a random or sequential number generator. ^[4] Whether your call involved actual autodialing changes how you frame the complaint.

Got texts? Check whether the sender used a short code or a 10-digit long code. Short codes are almost always high-volume automated systems, which helps you on the ATDS question.

How do you file a TCPA complaint with the FCC?

The FCC accepts complaints through its Consumer Complaint Center at consumercomplaints.fcc.gov. ^[5] It is free and takes about ten minutes.

Select "Phone" as the issue type, then "Unwanted Calls" or "Robocalls/Telemarketing." You'll be asked for the date of the call, the number that called you, what the call was about, and whether you asked to be removed. Fill in as much detail as you have.

The FCC forwards your complaint to the named company if it can be identified. The company has 30 days to respond. ^[5] You get a copy of that response. This is useful for a private lawsuit, because now you have a written statement from the company about its calling practices.

The FCC does not mediate disputes or award you money. If the company's response is weak, you can submit a rebuttal, but the FCC will generally close the file at that point and roll the data into broader enforcement work.

Be specific in the description field. Write "Company called my cell phone at 8:47 a.m. on [date] using a prerecorded message offering an auto warranty. I am on the National Do Not Call Registry and did not give consent." Generic descriptions get generic responses.

The FCC also runs a separate formal complaint process, which carries a $540 filing fee and follows adjudicatory procedures. ^[5] Almost no individual consumer goes that route. The informal complaint is what you want.

How do you file a TCPA complaint with the FTC?

The FTC handles complaints about calls and texts under the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the FTC Act, not the TCPA directly. The two overlap a lot, and the FTC actively pursues robocall cases. ^[6]

File at reportfraud.ftc.gov or donotcall.gov. The donotcall.gov form is built specifically for unwanted telemarketing calls. You'll enter the caller's number, when they called, and whether they were selling something.

The FTC feeds this into its Consumer Sentinel Network, which law enforcement agencies nationwide can access. ^[11] No personal payout here either. It builds the enforcement record.

When the same number hits thousands of people, FTC investigators see the clustering. That is how the agency builds its big cases. The individual complaints are the raw material.

For text spam, forward the offending message to 7726 (SPAM). That is a carrier-level reporting system that feeds FTC and FCC databases. It takes five seconds.

Can you sue directly in court under the TCPA?

Yes, and this is where the real money is. The TCPA's private right of action under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3) lets a plaintiff sue for the greater of actual monetary loss or $500 per violation. If the court finds the defendant willfully or knowingly violated the statute, that rises to $1,500 per violation. ^[1]

The "per violation" language is why TCPA cases balloon. A company that sent 10,000 illegal texts faces $5 million to $15 million in statutory damages. That math is why so many cases settle. You have seen settlements like the Credit One TCPA settlement and the UnitedHealthcare $2.5M settlement reach those levels.

For a single plaintiff the numbers are smaller but still real. Called you 50 times after you said stop? That is $25,000 to $75,000 in potential statutory damages before attorney fees.

The statute of limitations is four years under 28 U.S.C. § 1658, the general federal four-year period. ^[7] Courts have consistently applied this window to private TCPA actions. Do not wait.

You can file in federal district court without an attorney if you want, though TCPA plaintiff's attorneys almost always work on contingency. They take a percentage of the recovery, and you pay nothing upfront if you lose. For smaller cases, some plaintiffs win in state small claims courts where the dollar amounts fit the jurisdictional limit. Small claims filings usually cost $30 to $100, and you represent yourself.

Class actions are the other route when a company violated the TCPA at scale. The Cash App TCPA class action settlement and the Albertsons Safeway TCPA settlement show how class recovery works. Individual payouts are small. Total liability is enormous. To join a class action, you usually just file a claim form during the claims period. Watch your email and mail for notices.

State courts are open too. Many states have their own robocall and telemarketing statutes with separate remedies that stack on top of TCPA claims.

What happens after you file a regulatory complaint?

The honest picture: regulatory complaints rarely produce a direct outcome for the person who filed.

With the FCC, the most you typically get is a written response from the company within 30 days explaining its calling practices. Sometimes they admit the error. Sometimes they claim they had consent. Either way, you get to read what they say, which helps if you later sue, because their statements are on record.

The FCC uses complaint volume to prioritize enforcement. The agency's Enforcement Bureau has tracked over 200,000 robocall and unwanted-call complaints in recent annual reporting periods. ^[2] Yours is one data point in that pool. It matters collectively. It rarely triggers individual action.

The FTC works the same way. Your complaint enters the Consumer Sentinel Network, staff review patterns, and cases build over months or years.

If you are hoping a government agency will fight your battle over a single complaint, adjust that expectation now. The regulatory complaint is a record-building tool, not a dispute resolution service. The private lawsuit is the dispute resolution service.

Some state AGs are more responsive. California, Illinois, and Texas run active telemarketing enforcement units that have brought cases off consumer complaint clusters. Filing with your state AG in parallel costs nothing and sometimes moves faster than the federal agencies.

How do TCPA class action complaints work and should you join one?

A class action is filed by one or a few named plaintiffs on behalf of everyone who got the same type of illegal call or text from the same company. If the court certifies the class, the case proceeds for all similarly situated consumers. You usually don't have to do anything to be included, though you can opt out if you'd rather pursue your own claim.

The headline numbers sound large. Individual payments are often modest. The Truist Bank TCPA class action settlement and the Kaiser TCPA settlement both had claim deadlines that required class members to file a claim form to get paid.

Get a class action notice by mail or email? Read it carefully. There is always a claims deadline. Miss it and you get nothing, but you also lose the right to sue individually. That is the more costly outcome.

When should you opt out and sue on your own? If you got dozens or hundreds of calls from the same company, per-violation damages in an individual suit could far exceed your pro-rata share of a class settlement. Talk to a TCPA attorney before the opt-out deadline. Most give a free consultation.

If you need local help, a TCPA lawyer in Kentucky or in your own state can help you weigh individual versus class participation.

What are the most common reasons TCPA complaints fail?

A handful of patterns show up over and over in complaints that go nowhere and cases that get tossed.

No evidence. You remember the calls but have no records. The carrier log is the floor. Without it, the defendant simply denies the call happened.

Wrong kind of line. The ATDS restrictions in 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A) apply specifically to cell phones. Prerecorded calls to residential landlines fall under a separate provision, § 227(b)(1)(B), and the defenses available differ. ^[1]

Documented consent. If you ever filled out a web form, entered a sweepstakes, or gave a callback number to the company's affiliate, there may be a consent record you forgot about. Defendants raise consent as their first defense almost every time. The FCC's one-to-one consent rule, which took effect January 27, 2025, tightened what counts as valid written consent by tying it to a single named advertiser instead of a broad lead-generation category. ^[8] Calls made after that date under old-style blanket consent are weaker on this defense.

The clock ran out. Four years sounds like plenty, but people sit on complaints. Calls older than four years likely close the door to federal court.

The caller was exempt. Government agencies, non-profits, and emergency calls carry varying exemptions under the TCPA. Debt collection calls sit in complicated territory after CFPB rulemaking and court fights that are still moving.

The Duguid problem. After the Supreme Court's 2021 decision, calls made from a human-managed list without random or sequential number generation may not count as ATDS calls, which kills one of the strongest TCPA claims. ^[4] It gutted a lot of pending cases. If your complaint involves texts or calls from a contact list, ask an attorney how your circuit is handling this after Duguid.

How does the Do Not Call Registry connect to TCPA complaints?

The National Do Not Call Registry is run by the FTC under 16 C.F.R. Part 310 and is separate from the TCPA, but the two work together. ^[6] Registering your number protects you against most telemarketing calls. If a company calls your registered number without your express invitation or an established business relationship, that is a violation you can report at donotcall.gov.

For TCPA private lawsuits, DNC registration matters but doesn't decide the case. The TCPA's cell phone protections apply regardless of DNC status, because the ATDS and prerecorded voice restrictions turn on consent, not registration. DNC violations are a separate cause of action under 47 U.S.C. § 227(c), which also carries $500 per call in damages.

You need to have been on the registry at least 31 days before a call for DNC protection to apply under FTC rules. ^[6] Keep a screenshot of your registration confirmation.

One nuance: the established business relationship exemption lets companies you've done business with in the past 18 months call you even if you're on the DNC list, unless you've told them specifically to stop. That 18-month window resets every time you make a purchase.

For more on stopping unwanted calls at the source, see our guide on how to stop robocalls.

What damages can you realistically recover from a TCPA complaint?

Statutory damages under the TCPA are $500 per violation for standard violations and $1,500 per violation for willful or knowing ones. ^[1] "Per violation" generally means per illegal call or text.

"Willful or knowing" does not require the defendant to know the law. Courts have generally held it means they intended to make the call, not that they knew the call broke the rules. That distinction matters, because it puts the $1,500 rate in play across most deliberate calling campaigns.

Actual damages are rarely pursued. They are hard to quantify and usually smaller than the statutory amount. The statutory floor is the whole point of the private right of action.

Attorney fees are not automatically awarded to prevailing TCPA plaintiffs, unlike some other consumer statutes. ^[1] That is why individual cases with only a few calls are hard to place on contingency. A case with 10 calls is worth $5,000 to $15,000. After a 30 to 40 percent contingency fee and litigation costs, the economics are thin. Cases with hundreds of calls or class potential are far more attractive to plaintiff's counsel.

Small claims court sidesteps the fee problem, because you represent yourself. If your state's small claims limit is $10,000 or more and you got enough calls, this is a real path. California's small claims limit is $12,500 for individuals as of 2024, for example.

The TCPA does not provide punitive damages beyond the statutory trebling for willful conduct. What you see in TCPA settlements is almost always the per-violation math across a large class, not a punitive award.

What should outbound sales teams do when they receive a TCPA complaint?

If you run an outbound team and a complaint lands on your desk, treat it seriously from minute one. This section is for operators, not complainants.

Document your response internally first. Pull the call records for the number in question. Verify whether consent existed and was properly logged. Check whether the number was on the DNC registry at the time of contact. Read the call scripts for any prerecorded elements.

Do not call or text the complainant again. Ever. Any further contact after a complaint reads as willful conduct and strengthens their case if it reaches litigation.

If a third-party lead vendor supplied the consent, get their documentation now. The FCC's January 2025 one-to-one consent rule means you have to be named specifically in the consent record, not bundled into a generic lead form. ^[8] If your vendor can't produce that record for the specific lead, you have a consent problem.

Talk to TCPA counsel before responding to any demand letter. A letter saying "pay me $X or I'll sue" is common in this space. Some come from serial litigants who file dozens of cases a year. Others come from consumers with real claims. Your attorney can tell the difference and advise whether to settle, dispute, or ignore.

For ongoing compliance, tools like LeadCompliant's free TCPA compliance checkers let you run consent verification and DNC scrubs before a call goes out. Building that paper trail upfront costs far less than defending against a missing one later.

See also our coverage of TCPA news for recent enforcement trends that affect outbound dialing strategy.

How has recent FCC rulemaking changed the TCPA complaint landscape?

The FCC has been busy. Two changes in particular reshape how complaints get evaluated today.

The one-to-one consent rule. Effective January 27, 2025, the FCC amended its TCPA rules to require that written consent for telemarketing calls and texts identify a single, specific seller by name, not a category of businesses or lead-generation partners. ^[8] The FCC's order stated that consent must be "logically and topically associated with the interaction that prompted the consent." This closes the lead aggregator loophole, where one box checked at a mortgage comparison site got shared with dozens of lenders. Complaints about calls made after January 27, 2025 under old-style blanket consent are now much stronger.

Revocation of consent. In late 2024, the FCC adopted rules confirming that consumers can revoke consent through any reasonable means, and that companies must honor the revocation within a reasonable time not to exceed 10 business days. ^[9] Keep calling or texting after a clear opt-out, by any channel, and you are unambiguously in violation. This changes how complaints are read. If the consumer said "stop" in any reasonably clear way and calls continued past 10 business days, the willfulness element is essentially made.

The TRACED Act of 2019 gave the FCC authority to impose per-call forfeiture penalties without a prior warning and extended the statute of limitations for FCC enforcement to four years. ^[10] Before TRACED, enforcement moved slower and hit softer.

Put it together and the current climate is more hostile to sloppy consent practices than at any point in the TCPA's history. Complaints filed today land in a regulatory context where the rules are tighter and the FCC holds more enforcement tools than it did even three years ago.

Frequently asked questions

How do I file a TCPA complaint step by step?

Go to consumercomplaints.fcc.gov for calls or texts, or donotcall.gov for telemarketing calls. Pick the relevant category, then enter the caller's number, date, time, and what was said. Also consider filing at reportfraud.ftc.gov. None of these cost money. If you want personal financial recovery, you need a private lawsuit in federal or state court, ideally with a TCPA plaintiff's attorney.

How much money can I get from a TCPA complaint?

Statutory damages are $500 per illegal call or text and $1,500 per call if the violation was willful. Regulatory complaints to the FCC or FTC pay you nothing directly. Only a private lawsuit or class action settlement produces a payment. Individual cases with dozens of calls can reach five figures. Class actions can reach millions in aggregate, though individual payouts in class settlements are usually much smaller.

How long do I have to file a TCPA lawsuit?

Four years from the date of the violation, under 28 U.S.C. § 1658. Courts have consistently applied this four-year period to private TCPA claims. If you are close to that deadline, consult a TCPA attorney immediately. Waiting past four years almost certainly bars your federal claim, though some state law claims carry different limitations periods.

Can I file a TCPA complaint for text messages?

Yes. Texts to a cell phone using an automatic telephone dialing system or a prerecorded message are covered by 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A). You can file with the FCC, the FTC, or forward the text to 7726 (SPAM) from your phone. For a lawsuit, screenshot the text right away with the timestamp visible and save the sender's number. The rules after Facebook v. Duguid (2021) affect how ATDS is defined, so consult an attorney.

Does filing an FCC complaint do anything?

It creates a formal record and requires the named company to respond in writing within 30 days. That written response can be useful evidence if you later sue. The FCC uses aggregate complaint data to build enforcement cases against high-volume violators. It does not pay you money or mediate your dispute. Treat it as a record-building step, not a resolution.

Can I sue a robocaller in small claims court?

In many states, yes. TCPA damages of $500 to $1,500 per call fit within small claims limits in most jurisdictions. California's individual small claims limit is $12,500, and many other states sit at $5,000 to $10,000. You represent yourself, pay a filing fee of roughly $30 to $100, and present your evidence. This works best when the caller's identity is clear and you have documented records of each call.

What is the difference between an FCC complaint and an FTC complaint for robocalls?

The FCC enforces the TCPA directly, covering cell phone calls, texts, and fax transmissions. The FTC enforces the Telemarketing Sales Rule and FTC Act, which overlap with the TCPA on most telemarketing calls. Both agencies take consumer complaints and feed them into enforcement databases. Neither pays you individually. Filing both is free and takes minutes, so there is no reason to pick one over the other.

What counts as express written consent under the TCPA?

Written consent has to be a clear, affirmative agreement to receive autodialed or prerecorded calls or texts from a specific, named sender. After the FCC's January 2025 one-to-one consent rule, a generic checkbox on a lead generation form listing dozens of potential advertisers is no longer enough. Consent must identify the company that will contact you. An electronic signature, checked box, or typed agreement can qualify if it meets these requirements.

How do I find out if I'm part of a TCPA class action settlement?

Check your email and postal mail for class action notices, which are legally required to reach known class members. You can also search PACER (the federal court records system) for TCPA settlements involving companies that called you, or check settlement administrator sites like kccllc.net and epiqsystems.com. Missing the claims deadline means you lose your right to payment and usually your right to sue individually.

Can a company call me if I have an existing business relationship even if I'm on the DNC list?

Yes, for up to 18 months after your most recent purchase or financial transaction with them. This is the established business relationship exemption under FTC rules for DNC protections. It does not apply once you have told the company in writing to stop calling. After that written request, any further call is a violation regardless of the relationship.

What should I do if I get a TCPA demand letter from a consumer?

Pull call records immediately to verify what happened. Check consent documentation and DNC status for the number at the time of contact. Do not call or text the consumer again. Consult a TCPA defense attorney before responding or agreeing to anything. Some demand letters come from serial litigants. Others are legitimate. Your attorney can assess which it is and recommend whether to settle or dispute.

Does the TCPA apply to calls from non-profits or political campaigns?

Partially. Non-profit and political calls are exempt from the Do Not Call Registry provisions. They are still subject to the ATDS and prerecorded voice restrictions when calling cell phones without prior express consent. Political campaigns using robocalls to cell numbers without consent can still face TCPA liability under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b), even though DNC rules don't reach them.

How do I prove a call was made with an autodialer after Facebook v. Duguid?

The Supreme Court's 2021 Facebook v. Duguid decision narrowed the ATDS definition to systems that use a random or sequential number generator. Proving that now takes evidence about the defendant's dialing technology, usually obtained through discovery in litigation. Short codes for texts are strong circumstantial evidence of automation. Expert testimony on the calling platform's technical setup is common in post-Duguid cases. This is why TCPA attorneys matter for individual lawsuits.

Can I revoke consent to be contacted and how does that work?

Yes. Under the FCC's 2024 rules, you can revoke consent through any reasonable means, including replying STOP to a text, saying stop on a call, or sending a written request. The company must honor the revocation within 10 business days. After that window, any further contact is a TCPA violation. Keep records of your request with timestamps, whether it was a text reply, an email, or a verbal statement you documented.

Sources

1. U.S. Code, 47 U.S.C. § 227, Telephone Consumer Protection Act: Private right of action, $500 per violation statutory damages, $1,500 for willful violations, and coverage of cell phones, prerecorded messages, and ATDS
2. FCC, Rules and Regulations Implementing TCPA of 1991, 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200: FCC regulatory definition of automatic telephone dialing system and prerecorded or artificial voice under TCPA implementing rules
3. Supreme Court of the United States, Facebook Inc. v. Duguid, 592 U.S. 395 (2021): Supreme Court narrowed ATDS definition to systems using random or sequential number generators, excluding contact-list dialing from ATDS coverage
4. FCC, Consumer Complaint Center: FCC informal complaint process is free; company must respond within 30 days; formal complaints follow adjudicatory procedures and carry a filing fee
5. FTC, National Do Not Call Registry, 16 C.F.R. Part 310: DNC registration protects consumers from most telemarketing calls; 31-day waiting period before protection activates; 18-month established business relationship exemption
6. U.S. Code, 28 U.S.C. § 1658, Limitations on Actions: Four-year statute of limitations for federal civil actions including private TCPA claims
7. Congress.gov, TRACED Act, Pub. L. 116-105 (2019): TRACED Act of 2019 granted FCC authority to impose per-call forfeitures without prior warning and extended FCC enforcement statute of limitations to four years
8. FTC, Report Fraud Portal and Consumer Sentinel Network: FTC accepts consumer complaints about unwanted calls and texts through reportfraud.ftc.gov and feeds data into Consumer Sentinel Network for law enforcement