IS TCR REGISTRATION A SCAM?

In a previous post, I mentioned that I wasn’t going to vent, but the situation has become unbearable, and I feel compelled to speak out. I have now been rejected three times, each for a different reason. Not once has the reasoning been consistent. How is this possible? If the application needed correction, why wasn’t it flagged in the first or second rejection?

The way this process has been executed is clearly detrimental to small businesses. I am considering taking legal action against TCR. You may argue that TCR is simply enforcing FCC regulations or adhering to the TCPA, but I believe that the manner in which these laws and policies are enforced may be grounds for civil litigation. Possible claims include restraint of trade, antitrust violations, and unfair business practices. Collusion also comes to mind.

Furthermore, I believe RingCentral should be held accountable (civil action) for the damages caused. They are selling SMS services under the assumption that every customer qualifies, yet I have been unable to utilize the service after purchasing it through my subscription. My account manager assured me that if I followed the TCR instructions, my application would be accepted, which has proven to be false. Each time I correct one issue, another reason for rejection seems to appear, making it an endless cycle.

At no point was I made aware of the high likelihood that my application would not be approved, and the lack of transparency in this process is unacceptable.

I feel your frustration completely. Like I said above, I’ve been in this process since July and been rejected once a month since then. Like you, every time it’s for a different reason. You would think they would tell you all issues with your application up front as to not waste your time and the reviewers time… but no. Different reason every rejection and they’re very canned responses so the best you can do is interpret it the best way possible and submit it again. TCR support through RingCentral will not give advice, they will only basically regurgitate the same response you receive. I believe I’ve been paying a fee since July for texting (a small fee, yes but a fee nonetheless). And this week I paid a second time to file, despite it being a resubmission and never asking me to pay another $15 previously. 

Like you, this is also affecting my business and my job. I have people I have to report to and explain that I’m doing my absolute best but there’s only so much I can say before just reflects poorly on me no matter what because this project shouldn’t take over six months to execute. At the end of the day, it affects our ability to communicate with our clients and the longer it takes, the worse off we are. 

I’m beyond frustrated and at this point I’m not going to shut up about it until my application is accepted or I end my contract with RC and move on elsewhere to a company that handles TCR registration better. I said it elsewhere I believe, but I’ve seen online companies that guarantee TCR registration within 48 hours and others that say at least within a week. Honestly anything less than six months would be a godsend at this point. 

I just got off the phone with another TCR ‘expert’. He said, ‘NO WAY THIS BRAND WOULD EVER BE APPROVED AND TO  CREATE A DIFFERENT WEBSITE’. That is insane. I tailored my submission EXACTLY as they told me to. This is a racket if I ever saw one!

Can you contact me directly via DM with details about this exchange?
I want to understand better what happened here. 

Please DM me directly. I want to understand what has happened and get this in front of the right people. 
 

I am in the same situation. I have escalated multiple times and spoke with 2 different supervisors, both promising call backs that never come. My last call to the TCR team was on 1/29/2025 and I was promised a call back by noon on 1/30/2025. So far no call back and no responses to multiple emails to 2 TCR supervisors. My only option now is to call back in and waste another hour explaining the history of my issue to yet another person. Curious if i will get some traction here!

Hi ​@MacFoxValey, . I’m flagging this internally and will personally follow up to make sure your case gets the attention it deserves. You won’t have to keep chasing this—I'm on it, and I’ll keep you updated as soon as I have more info. Thanks for your patience!

We are having a terrible time with this TCR process. The TCR “experts” all have differing opinions of what needs to be done or put on the website etc. After a multitude of reviews they keep coming back with new things we need to do. 

THREE MONTHS….THREE MONTHS the entire team has been without texting, now someone tells me we can never be approved for texting and someone else said we can, who to believe.  
llynch’ comment is right….it might be easier to move as we could get approved in 48 hours with other companies since they have a dedicated team that handles it for you.
I sent an email to our account manager with ring after an hour on the phone and an hour on chat.  

PCI, your experience matches mine to a T. We submitted the original request back in October and its been a roller coaster of denials and changes that previous support people didn’t tell us to make. Very frustrating. 

Well I’m back. Over the weekend my registration was rejected for the 8th time. Also for all the times I’ve been told I’d be contacted by an “expert” or this was being escalated: NO ONE contacted me and my application was rejected in the meantime.

This time the reason being: “opt-in message must contain brand name, HELP, opt-out, message frequency and associated fee disclosures. Opt-out message must contain brand name and indicate that no further messages will be sent. HELP message must contain brand name and contain support contact (email, phone number, or support website)”

Ok. Here are my opt-in, help, and opt-out messages. 
[OPT-in MSG]  (Brand name): Welcome to Scholarship Updates! Message and data rates may apply. MSG frequency is recurring and varies. You may receive 2 msg/week. Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel. Read full terms and privacy policy here: (full web link here)

[OPT-out MSG]  (Brand name): You have successfully been unsubscribed from (Brand Name) updates. You will not receive any more messages from this number. Reply START to resubscribe. 

[HELP MSG]  (Brand name): Thank you for contacting (Brand name). You can reply for assistance via text. Email (employee name) at (email address) or give us a call at (phone number) or further assistance. 

So tell me what the heck is wrong here? They gave me a rejection but I’ve done EVERYTHING outlined in that rejection notice already. The brand name is in EVERY opt-in, opt-out, and help message. Message frequency and associated fee disclosure is in the opt-in message (plus a link to our privacy policy & terms+conditions). Opt-out says no further messages will be sent. Help contains support contact NAME, phone number, and email! the only help contact I didn’t list was the website BUT it says *or* so I guess I can slap that on the help message too.

It’s honestly like they enjoy wasting our time at this point. These messages are perfect per their guidelines. Yet I have to go back to my Executive Director and say I was rejected for the 8th time in 8 months for no apparent reason. I’m absolutely fed up. Done. 

Hi ​@PCI, I’ve reviewed your cases, and I’ve sent you a direct message to assist you further.

Thank you for the message that you will have someone contact me. I also had reached out to my account manager Friday and received an email back.  At this point I have received no communication on fixing the situation, just that we are checking into it and will let you know. I will admit my patience is fading quickly.

Yeah I’ve been told multiple times that people are looking into it, but haven’t been contacted directly either. I think it’s honestly just a response to keep people docile and keep them waiting. 

Following up on what I said yesterday just to keep a running tab on my progress. I received PMs from Becky and Mary letting me know they were trying to find the right person to connect me to. Becky said someone named Brian should be reaching out… He hasn’t lol 

I’ve resubmitted making what tiny changes I possibly could based on the trash feedback I received on my previous rejection. Because I can’t waste time letting my application sit in limbo, it needs to at least be sitting in review while I wait for no one to contact me… fingers crossed for this 9th submission! 

And so it continues, I still have not received a phone call back from our account manager Ruth, just an email saying someone would be in contact, and they did reach out said everything was done and good to move forward days ago.  THEN ANOTHER ISSUE now we are back at square 1.

As a communications company that sells texting you would think RingCentral would have professionals handling TCR that can provide accurate feedback.  ​@Mary-Community_Moderator  I would appreciate a phone call, someone who can do something. This back and forth is ineffective and frankly extremely frustrating.

I can’t figure out if this is by design for if we are just the minority. 

​@PCI ​@llynch 

As you might imagine, our teams are working hard to get to everyone. 
Lauren, I have reached out to Brian to see if he can get to you ASAP. 

I’ll work with Mary to escalate for you ​@PCI 

Brian has now reached out to me. Thanks!

Piling on here. I’ve been trying to get registered for business SMS since October 2024. I had submitted my last try at getting registered in late December 2024. Received a rejection email yesterday complaining about the insufficiency of the text next to the opt-in checkbox on my website.

That exact text had been complete according to the rules in December when I submitted the registration. Now the rules say that not only does the check-box need to specify how to opt-out but also how to get help and specify message frequency and that data rates may apply. The tech confirmed that this was a change and that it had been implemented by the evil geniuses at TCR the first week of January 2025, after my registration was submitted. Of course it was five more weeks before they delivered the bad news.

It seems that the real purpose of TCR is to cause people to lose their minds chasing after moving goalposts. I am beyond frustrated with this terrible process and the impact on my business operations.

If there is ever a civil action taken as a result of this, count me into the class. 

Please DM me and I’ll take a look at your situation. 

My web site is updated and I submitted the change. Of course it cost me another $17.03. Will it be another six weeks for review? Who knows.

I finally got approved! I can’t believe it actually happened. I want to thank vanessa.perez@ringcentral.com. This person is on your side and wants to help. If you want a step by step of how I got approved, hit me up. 

Hey, I would love it if you would share those tips here. Either in this thread or a separate one. Reach out to me if you would prefer to do the latter.
I think customers understanding this is possible goes a long way in educating!
I’ll share your feedback with Vanessa and her leadership!

I have been submitting applications since Nov 24 and have had all of them rejected. The moving target of what is required and the lack of details on how to fix the problem are maddening. I spoke to someone in January and luckily they let me know about the updated requirements and had me update them. This was 1/8/25 and I am still waiting to get an approval but expecting a rejection. We don’t send mass texts, just conversations with customers, this is beyond frustrating.

Create a business website. I did this on my own using a premium Canva account. It costs maybe $30 a month. To purchase a domain name, I used Turbify. This costs $40 for two years. To create my forms (consent check box, privacy policy, terms of service), I used Jotform. Jotform is free up to 5 forms. There are Youtube videos on how to use all of these products.

For reference, check out my website at https://kelleywhitehurstinsuranceagency.com/

• To create a TCR compliant website, I looked at the categories listed on the TCR application. I considered the reasons I had been rejected on previous attempts. I knew they wanted three things above all:
  • Check box used specifically for SMS Consent. When a customer fills out a request for a quote, they are required to give me permission to contact them through SMS texting. With that in mind, I created a Jotform quote request. https://form.jotform.com/250343157200039 The consent language is very particular. Here’s what I used: 
    • By selecting 'Yes', I am opting into SMS from a web form or other medium. I agree to receive informational and marketing SMS messages from (business name). This includes SMS messages for appointment scheduling, appointment reminders, post-visit instructions, and billing notifications. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. PRIVACY POLICY (link your privacy policy)
  • Privacy Policy. This information must be prominently displayed or linked on your website. I put my link at the bottom of the page. I am an insurance agent, so my policy is tailored accordingly. Here’s a link to my privacy policy: https://form.jotform.com/250365633050045 The privacy policy MUST include ***No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.*** 
  • Terms of Service. This information must be prominently displayed or linked on your website. To see my terms of service entirely, check out the link https://form.jotform.com/250364713984059. As a Farmers agent, I have ‘terms of service’ that I am required to follow already. I included that language on a Jotform. Take note of the SPECIFIC language at the bottom of the terms of service: By opting into SMS from a web form or other medium, you are agreeing to receive informational and marketing SMS messages from (business name). This includes SMS messages for appointment scheduling, appointment reminders, post-visit instructions, lab notifications, and billing notifications. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. See privacy policy at (link to privacy policy). Message HELP for help. Reply STOP to any message to opt out. 

For all other aspects of the application, Ring Central provides adequate advice. I hope this helps at least one person.