Here's My Number, So Text Me Maybe

In our increasingly cellphone-dependent world, most consumers are familiar with the feeling of relief that comes from receiving an appointment reminder for an otherwise forgotten appointment, a delay notification for a flight before one leaves for the airport, or an automated payment notification for a bill that might otherwise have gone unpaid. To the average consumer who has grown accustomed to such conveniences, it would seem like poor and outdated customer service for a business not to provide such notifications. Yet businesses that provide such notifications by text message often find themselves facing millions of dollars in liability—not from customers who have asked not to be contacted by phone—but instead from the very customers who provided their cellphone number as their preferred method of contact.