Michigan Robocall Law: The Recorded Sales Call Ban and Your $250 Claim

Michigan’s flat ban on recorded sales calls

Most states let a seller use a recording if it has your written consent. Michigan’s statute is blunter. MCL 445.111a(1) says: “A person shall not make a telephone solicitation that consists in whole or in part of a recorded message.” The Attorney General’s robocall page puts it plainly: “A robocall cannot be used in a telephone solicitation call.”

The ban turns on what counts as a “telephone solicitation.” Under MCL 445.111(m), it is a voice call meant to get you to buy, rent, or invest in goods or services during the call. Three kinds of calls are left out:

• Calls you invited or permitted before they were made.
• Calls to an existing customer, meaning someone who paid the company within the last 12 months, unless that customer asked not to be called.
• Calls that only ask for a face-to-face meeting without pushing you to decide on the phone.

A “telephone solicitor” includes anyone doing business in Michigan who calls from inside or outside the state, whether by automated dialing and announcing device or by a live person (445.111(n)).

Other Michigan rules for telemarketers

Under MCL 445.111b, at the start of a call the caller must state his or her name and the full name of the organization the call is for. On request, the caller must give a phone number for that organization. A real person must answer that number whenever solicitation calls are going out, and must be able to describe the organization and the call. The caller may not intentionally block caller ID.

MCL 445.111c lists unfair or deceptive practices, including:

• Calling you after you asked not to be called by that organization (445.111c(1)(g)).
• Leaving a voicemail that falsely says you have a current business matter or account with the caller and asks you to call back (445.111c(1)(h)). That is the classic “final notice” message.
• Charging your card or bank account without an express verifiable authorization (445.111c(1)(d)).
• Offering a prize that requires payment (445.111c(1)(e)).
• Failing to follow the recorded-message ban or the identification and caller ID rules (445.111c(1)(f)).

Michigan’s do not call list is the federal list

Michigan’s law told the Public Service Commission that if the federal government created a national do not call list, the federal list would become Michigan’s list “as long as the federal list is maintained” (MCL 445.111a(5)). The federal registry exists, so a telemarketer may not call a Michigan resident whose number is on the current federal registry. Sign up at donotcall.gov or call 1-888-382-1222.

What a Michigan claim is worth

Under MCL 445.111c(3), “a person who suffers loss as a result of violation of this section may bring an action to recover actual damages or $250.00, whichever is greater, together with reasonable attorney fees.” The statute also keeps any other state or federal claims you have. Knowing or intentional violations can be a misdemeanor, with up to six months in jail or a $500 fine, though that criminal penalty does not apply to the recorded-message ban or the identification rules (445.111c(2)).

Two honest limits. First, $250 is modest, although attorney fees help. Second, the phrase “suffers loss” invites a defense argument that an unwanted call alone is not a loss. We did not find a Michigan appellate decision settling that point. For many Michiganders the federal claim is where the value is.

Using Michigan law alongside the TCPA

A recorded sales call to a Michigan resident is often a federal TCPA violation too, because prerecorded telemarketing calls generally need written consent under federal law. The TCPA pays $500 per violation, or up to $1,500 if willful or knowing. It does not preempt Michigan’s stricter rule (47 U.S.C. 227(f)(1)). The Michigan claim adds a fee award, which the TCPA does not have. See our pages on prerecorded voice calls and revoking consent. The Attorney General’s page notes that under FCC rules, revocation can be made in any reasonable way and must be honored within 10 business days.

Michigan enforcement against robocallers

Attorney General Dana Nessel runs a Robocall Crackdown Team and has been active in multistate cases.

• Avid Telecom (2023). On May 23, 2023, Nessel and a bipartisan group of attorneys general sued Michael D. Lansky, LLC, doing business as Avid Telecom, its owner, and its vice president. The complaint alleges Avid sent or tried to send more than 24.5 billion calls between December 2018 and January 2023, including more than 7.5 billion to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. Nessel said Michigan residents received more than 1.2 billion robocalls in 2021, about 500 million of them scams. These are allegations, not findings.
• Spiller judgment (2025). In May 2025, Nessel and seven other states won a court order permanently barring John Spiller, whose companies included Rising Eagle Capital Group and JSquared Telecom, from the telecommunications business. The order requires him to pay more than $600,000 in fees and costs for violating a 2023 court order.

What to do next in Michigan

If a sales call plays a recording, save it or write down exactly what it said. Under Michigan law that alone is a violation. If a caller would not give a company name or callback number, note that too. If you have already asked a company to stop and it keeps calling, write down the date of your request. Then report the call to the Attorney General and consider whether the federal claim is worth pursuing with our case value calculator. Our call log template helps you keep track. The 50-state guide covers Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin.