Stop requests · FloridaYou told them to stop calling. The calls kept coming.

Last reviewed October 18, 2026 by Jackson McMillan, Florida attorney

Short answer: If a company keeps robocalling or texting you after you withdrew consent, or keeps making sales calls after you asked to go on its do-not-call list, it may be breaking federal law. Federal rules let you revoke consent by any reasonable means and give companies up to 10 business days to honor it. Florida law separately bars further sales calls.

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How do I take back my consent to robocalls and texts?

Tell the company clearly that you don't want more calls or texts, in a reasonable way. Under the FCC rule in force since April 11, 2025, replying "stop," "quit," "end," "revoke," "opt out," "cancel," or "unsubscribe" to a text counts automatically, and so does using the call's automated opt-out or the opt-out website or number the caller provides.

This rule is about consent to robocalls and robotexts: calls and texts sent with an autodialer or a prerecorded or artificial voice, which generally need your consent under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Once you take that consent back, further calls of that kind can violate the law (47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(10)).

Other methods, like a voicemail or an email to the company, can also count when they reasonably show you want the calls to end. A company cannot insist that you use one exclusive method. It may send you one text confirming your request.

There is one important limit. If you agreed to calls as a term of a signed contract, such as a loan or service agreement, revoking that consent on your own can be harder, and the federal appeals court over Florida has limited revocation in that situation. Make the request anyway, and keep the contract.

My advice is simple: reply STOP to texts, say "stop calling me" on calls, and keep a screenshot or a note of each request. No method comes with a promise that a court will accept it, but those are the clearest ones.

How long does a company have to stop, and is that changing?

Under the federal rule, a company must honor your request within a reasonable time, no more than 10 business days. A call or two in the days right after you say stop may not break the rule. Calls and texts that keep coming after that window are what matter, so note the date and time of your request.

One planned change is not in force yet. Part of the FCC's 2024 rule, called "revoke-all," would make a stop request apply to all of a caller's robocalls and robotexts, even unrelated ones. That part was delayed to January 31, 2027. The FCC has also been considering other changes to how stop requests work. If a new rule takes effect, I will update this page.

For now, the rule described in the previous section governs.

What if a salesperson keeps calling after I said stop?

Companies that make sales calls to homes must keep their own internal do-not-call list. When you ask to stop, they must record your request, honor it within 10 business days, and keep it for 5 years. This applies even to companies you've done business with, and it covers live sales calls, not just robocalls.

The rule also requires a written do-not-call policy available on request, staff trained to use the list, and callers who give their name and the company's name (47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(d)). If a seller hires a call center and the call center ignores your request, the seller is responsible. Personal cell phones can be protected; a phone used mainly for business may not be.

Asking a company to stop also matters if you're on the National Do Not Call Registry, the free federal list for people who don't want sales calls. A company you've recently bought from or contacted can usually call you despite the Registry, but once you ask it to stop calling, that exception ends. My Do Not Call list guide covers the Registry rules.

To sue over sales calls that ignore a do-not-call request, you generally need more than one violating call from or for the same company within 12 months (47 U.S.C. § 227(c)(5)). One call after your request isn't enough under the federal law.

What does Florida law add once I've said stop?

The Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA) says that once you tell a seller or its caller you don't want calls, texts, or voicemails, it may not contact you again on behalf of that seller. That applies to sales calls and charity fundraising calls. It does not cover debt collection, political, or survey calls.

The rule appears in Florida's statute on telephone solicitation (Fla. Stat. § 501.059(5)). Unlike the federal internal-list rule, it is not limited to calls to homes, and it covers texts and voicemails by name.

For texts, Florida adds a required step. Before you sue for damages over text solicitations, you must reply "STOP" to the number that texted you. The sender then has 15 days to stop and may send one confirming text. You can sue only if you did not consent and the texts keep coming more than 15 days after your STOP (§ 501.059(10)(c)). See spam texts in Florida for more.

A Florida claim carries a fee risk that a federal claim does not. Under the FTSA, the prevailing side recovers its reasonable attorney's fees and costs from the losing side (§ 501.059(11)(a)), so a consumer who sues and loses may be ordered to pay the company's fees. I weigh that with you before any FTSA claim is filed.

What if a debt collector keeps calling after I said stop?

The answer depends on how they're calling. Recorded or autodialed collection calls to your cell phone need your consent under the TCPA, and you can take that consent back. Florida's collection law also limits collection calls of every kind, barring calls so frequent they amount to harassment and late-night calls without your permission.

Giving your cell number to a creditor, for example on a credit application, is usually treated as consent to calls about that debt. Revoking it the reasonable ways described above means later robocalls about the debt can violate the TCPA, subject to the contract limit noted earlier. Debt calls are not sales calls, so the Do Not Call rules and the FTSA generally don't apply to them.

Florida's Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA) covers original creditors as well as collection agencies. It bars harassing call frequency, calls between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. without your consent, and contact after the collector knows you have a lawyer. It allows up to $1,000 in statutory damages per case, not per call, and gives you 2 years to sue. My debt collector harassment page explains those rules, including how a written request to stop works with collection agencies.

How do I prove I told them to stop?

With a record made at the time. A screenshot of your STOP reply shows the date, time, and number. For a phone request, write down the date, time, number called from, the name the caller gave, and your exact words, right after the call. An email or letter asking the company to stop creates its own record.

• Keep the confirmation. If the company texted back confirming your request, that text proves it received it.
• Log what came after. Every call and text that arrives after your request is part of the claim, so record each one: date, time, number, and what it said.
• Save voicemails. A recorded voice after your request is strong evidence for a robocall claim.
• Note the 10-business-day mark and, for Florida text claims, the 15-day mark after your STOP.

My guide to documenting spam calls has a call log template you can copy.

What can these claims be worth?

For robocalls after you revoked consent, the TCPA sets your actual losses or $500 per violation, whichever is greater. For sales calls that ignore a do-not-call request, it allows up to $500 per violation. In either case a court may increase the award up to three times, to $1,500, if the company acted willfully or knowingly.

Florida's FTSA uses a similar structure: actual damages or $500, whichever is greater, with a possible increase up to three times for willful or knowing violations. A judge can also order the calls to end. For do-not-call claims, a company can defend itself by proving it had reasonable procedures in place to prevent violations.

Real-world value depends on how many calls came after your request, how well you can prove the request, whether a recorded voice was used, and whether the company can be identified and can pay. I don't promise numbers. The federal TCPA has no provision for attorney's fees, so winning under it doesn't shift your fees to the company, while the FTSA shifts fees to whichever side prevails. You don't pay me unless you win. I take these cases on contingency: no attorney's fees and no case costs owed to me unless you recover money. If a case is lost, a court can sometimes order the losing side to pay the other side's court costs, and some Florida laws, including the security deposit and deceptive practices statutes, also let the winner recover attorney's fees from the loser. I explain that risk before anything is filed, and every term is in a written agreement before you sign.

How long do I have to sue?

For federal TCPA claims, generally four years from each call or text. Florida's FTSA doesn't state its own deadline, and the courts haven't settled which one applies, so don't count on more than four years. Collection claims under Florida's FCCPA must be filed within 2 years, and some federal collection claims within 1 year.

Because each call has its own deadline, a long run of calls can be partly time-barred while the recent calls are still fine. Start saving records now and get advice while the calls are still recent.

What to do today

• Make your request clearly: reply STOP to texts, say "stop calling me and put me on your do-not-call list" on calls, and use any opt-out the caller offers.
• Record the request with a screenshot or a written note of the date, time, number, and what you said.
• Keep everything that follows: call log screenshots, voicemails, and texts that arrive after your request.
• Find any contract where you may have agreed to calls, like a loan, phone, or service agreement.
• If it's a collector, also read my debt collector harassment page, because the deadlines are shorter.
• Send it to me. Request a free case review with your proof of the stop request and the calls after it. I'll tell you whether the company crossed a line the law draws.

Sources: 47 C.F.R. §§ 64.1200(a)(10), 64.1200(d); Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. §§ 227(b), 227(c)(5); Fla. Stat. §§ 501.059, 559.72, 559.77; FCC, Strengthening the Ability of Consumers to Stop Robocalls, 89 Fed. Reg. 82518 (Oct. 11, 2024) (effective April 11, 2025); Medley v. Dish Network, LLC, 958 F.3d 1063 (11th Cir. 2020). Last reviewed October 18, 2026.