The FCC Automated Opt-Out Requirement

When a predictive dialer connects more calls than it has agents to take, some of those calls get dropped, the consumer answers and no one is there. The FCC requires that a dropped outbound autodial call still offer the consumer an automated way to opt out, without waiting for an agent who never arrives. This is separate from your Abandonment rate limit: even calls that count against your drop allowance have to hand the consumer a removal option. Skipping it turns an ordinary dropped call into a compliance problem.

Building the opt-out in VICIdial

VICIdial gives you the pieces to do this cleanly. Instead of playing a dead-air drop, route dropped calls to a Call menu and have that menu run the cm_dnc.agi script. The script lets the consumer press a key to be added to your suppression list, and it writes them straight to the Internal DNC so no campaign on your system dials them again. Set the campaign Drop Action to send drops into this menu rather than to a plain message or hangup. Pair it with a sensible Drop rate target so you minimize drops in the first place while still honoring the opt-out on the ones that do happen.

This requirement is one of the FCC-specific items that goes beyond the FTC baseline. Our VICIdial compliance overview puts it in context, and it connects directly to suppression hygiene, so it pays to also understand the federal Do Not Call list that your opt-outs feed alongside your internal one.

The dropped-call opt-out flow

Here is what happens to a dropped call once the Call Menu and cm_dnc.agi script are wired up.

flowchart TD
  A[Predictive call connects] --> B{Agent available}
  B -->|Yes| C[Send to agent]
  B -->|No| D[Call dropped]
  D --> E[Route to Call Menu]
  E --> F[Run cm_dnc.agi]
  F --> G{Consumer presses opt-out}
  G -->|Yes| H[Add to internal DNC]
  G -->|No| I[Play message and end]

VICIfast wires the dropped-call opt-out menu for you, so every drop offers the FCC-required removal automatically. See pricing to get set up.