Some businesses file the letter and wait to see if anything happens. This is what happens, in order.
Before the deadline
The offer in the letter is open. A business can resolve, dispute with records, ask for an extension or negotiate. All four are done in writing to the reference on the notice. This is the only stage at which the business controls the outcome.
When the deadline passes
The offer is withdrawn. At LAC the file, which already contains the call recordings, the call-level schedule, the registry lookups and the letter itself, may be referred to one of the TCPA law firms we partner with. The business does not get a second letter from us, because there is nothing further to say.
The letter becomes evidence
A demand letter does more than make an offer. It puts the business on notice. Every call made to the recipient after the letter is a knowing violation, and a court can award $1,500 for each one rather than $500. The letter is also evidence that the business knew about the conduct and did nothing, which bears on willfulness for the calls that came before it.
Complaint, service and discovery
A complaint sets out the same calls the letter did, under 47 U.S.C. § 227 and any state statute that applies. The business is served and must answer or default. Discovery then opens the dialing programme: the logs for every number called, the vendor contracts, the consent records, the scrubbing history and the scripts. A single recipient’s claim is often amended into a class claim at this point, because the records show everyone else who received the same calls. The business pays its own lawyers through all of it.
Judgment and collection
A judgment under the Act is for statutory damages, calculated per violation, and is enforced like any other federal judgment. Many general liability policies exclude it. A default judgment, where the business never answered, is entered on the plaintiff’s figures.
What ignoring the letter does not do
It does not make the claim go away. The federal limitation period is four years from each call. The deadline in the letter is the end of the offer, not the end of the claim. It does not keep the matter private either. A filed complaint is a public record, and the business name appears on it.
The alternative
Respond before the deadline. Resolve what stands, dispute what fails, and attach the records. The steps are at I received a letter. Now what?, and the arithmetic behind the decision is in should you settle a TCPA demand letter. Nothing here is legal advice.