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They Kept Texting After I Said STOP: Your Rights Under the TCPA

Companies must honor your STOP within 10 business days. Why texts after STOP matter, what the law sets for them, and what people do when they keep coming.

By the Make Spammers Pay team · Updated

Short answer: once you reply STOP or otherwise tell a company to stop, federal rules require it to honor that request within 10 business days. Courts have often treated contacts after a STOP as important evidence, and a court can award up to $1,500 per violation instead of up to $500 if it finds the violation willful or knowing.

What the rules say

Two parts of the TCPA rules matter here.

  • You can revoke consent any reasonable way. Under FCC rules that took effect April 11, 2025, replying STOP, QUIT, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE or REVOKE, saying stop on a call, or sending an email or letter all count. The company has to honor it within 10 business days and can’t make you use one specific method.
  • Companies must keep an internal do-not-call list (47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(d)). A company that makes sales calls has to have a written do-not-call policy, train its staff on it, record your request, and stop contacting you. It also has to tell you who is calling.

One part of the 2025 FCC rule, which would make a single STOP cover every kind of message from the same company, has been delayed until January 31, 2027. Until then, your STOP still covers the kind of messages you were getting.

Why contacts after STOP matter so much

The TCPA allows up to $500 per violation and lets a court award up to three times that, $1,500, when the violation was willful or knowing. It is hard for a company to argue it didn’t know you objected when your STOP is sitting in its own message history, often with its own “You have been unsubscribed” reply right under it.

Contacts after STOP also bear on the most common defense, “you consented”: a STOP is a written record that you took consent back.

The tricks you’ll see

  • A new number every time. Same script, same pitch, same “first name only” sender. Match them by the message text, links and callback numbers.
  • “You applied with us.” A made-up prior application to suggest consent. Ask when and where. They rarely answer.
  • “Reply YES to continue.” Don’t. A YES can be treated as new consent.
  • “We’re a different company.” Affiliates and lead sellers pass your number around. The company that benefits from the calls can still be responsible for calls made on its behalf.

What to do when they keep going

  1. Screenshot your STOP and their unsubscribe confirmation with the date showing.
  2. Screenshot every contact after it, with the number, time and message in one frame.
  3. Don’t click links or fill in forms. Landing pages often have terms with arbitration clauses. Filling anything in can hand them an argument you agreed to it. Take a screenshot instead.
  4. Don’t show interest. Asking once for the company’s legal name and website is fine. Asking for a quote is not.
  5. Identify the company through the state business registry so you have a legal name and registered agent.
  6. A written demand letter usually lists every contact, restates the revocation, asks the company to preserve its records and gives a deadline to respond. People often send it by email and by mail with tracking. Whether to send one, and what to ask for, is your decision.
  7. Keep logging. Every contact after your demand letter adds to the count.

What if my phone already blocks them?

Blocked calls and texts still happened, but you can’t screenshot what you never saw. Your carrier’s records often show them. For future contacts, silencing or labeling unknown senders instead of blocking them keeps a record of each contact. Blocking is your choice.

Example

A funding company texts you twice. You reply STOP on March 19 and get “You have been unsubscribed.” On April 2 and April 21 it texts again from two new numbers with the same script.

  • 2 contacts before STOP × up to $500 = up to $1,000
  • 2 contacts after STOP × up to $1,500 = up to $3,000, if a court finds them willful or knowing
  • Most the law sets for these counts: $4,000. That is not a prediction; what anyone recovers depends on the facts, and many claims end with no money.

If your number is on the Do Not Call Registry, those counts come under the Registry rule as well. See what counts as a Do Not Call violation.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Make Spammers Pay is not a law firm.