A public registry of one-sided recording practices. Every entry sourced, sworn, and verified. Every claim backed by evidence the company itself made public. We don't host your call. We document the asymmetry — and broadcast it.
FORMAT: Editorial Registry + Podcast
METHOD: Sworn testimony + corporate evidence
STATUS: IN PRODUCTION
§ 01The PremiseWhy this exists
The rules they impose on you don't apply to them.
For decades, customer service has run on a quiet asymmetry. Companies record every word you say. The moment you record back, the rules change.
▌ THEM
"This call may be recorded for quality and training purposes."
No opt-out. No human to negotiate with. The disclosure plays once, fast, before you reach a person. Your voice, your account number, your tone, your frustration — all captured, stored, and used as the company sees fit.
▌ YOU
"Sir, recording this call is against our policy."
No basis cited. No supervisor needed. The same company that recorded your last twelve calls without asking will refuse, threaten to disconnect, or actually hang up the moment you announce reciprocity.
Don't Record Me is the first public, editorial registry of this asymmetry. We collect the evidentiary breadcrumbs the companies left in the open, match them against verified consumer testimony, and publish the pattern.
§ 02The Editorial StandardWhy you can cite us
A registry only matters if it's unimpeachable.
We're not a complaint forum. We're not a Yelp for grievances. We're a journalism-grade public record. Every entry passes the same five tests before it ships.
01
No Anonymous Submissions
Every submitter verifies identity. Real email, confirmed address. We may publish pseudonymously to protect the submitter, but we always know who's behind the testimony — and we're prepared to stand behind it.
02
Sworn Under Penalty of Perjury
Submissions are signed declarations, not vibes. Every claim a submitter makes is one they're prepared to repeat in court. That bar filters out 90% of low-effort venting and produces a record that holds up.
03
Corporate Evidence, Independently Captured
For every entry, our editorial team independently captures the company's IVR disclosure and policy excerpts. We don't take the submitter's word for what the company said — we get it ourselves, on the record, by calling.
04
Three-Source Minimum
No single complaint becomes a published file. Patterns become files. We require at least three independent verified submissions before a company is added to the registry. Your one-off bad day doesn't ship.
05
Right to Comment, Always
Before a file goes live, the named company gets fourteen days to respond. Their statement — or their silence — becomes part of the public record. No surprise publication. No gotcha.
06
No Raw Audio Hosted
We never host or publish your customer service recordings, period. Submissions are testimony, not tape. The only audio on this site is what we lawfully captured ourselves: corporate IVRs and editorial commentary.
§ 03How It WorksFrom submission to publication
Slow is the brand. Slow is what makes it citable.
Every submission moves through five gates. Each one filters out content the registry can't legally or editorially defend. The whole thing takes 30 to 60 days. That's the point.
01USER
Submitter Verifies
Real email + identity verification. State of residence captured for jurisdictional context.
▸ No anonymous tips
02FORM
Structured Testimony
Company, date, channel, what was said. Sworn declaration under penalty of perjury.
Company gets 14 days. Their response (or silence) joins the record.
▸ No surprise files
05SHIP
Publish & Episode
Entry goes live. Podcast episode produced when 3+ submissions confirm a pattern.
▸ Permanent file ID
A complaint posted today might publish in 30–60 days, after every gate clears. This isn't Twitter. It's a public record built to survive scrutiny — by lawyers, by journalists, by the companies named.
§ 04Anatomy of a FileWhat an entry looks like
Each file is a brief. Built to be cited.
A draft preview of what a published entry looks like. Company, tier, four pillars of evidence, verification methodology, and the episode. Replace "American Excess" with any of the dozens of companies our submitters have named.
dontrecordme.com / file / 2026-001
FILE 001
▌ FILED 2026 · CASE 001 · INDUSTRY: FINANCIAL SERVICES
American Excess(legal made us do this)
Records all inbound customer calls. Refuses customer recording. No documented opt-out mechanism. 14 verified submissions corroborate the pattern.
▌ Tier IDisclosed but Forbidden
Submissions
14
Verified
11
Years
2019–26
Asymmetry
9.2/10
Company-stated policy (public)
"This call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance and customer service training." IVR disclosure, captured 03/2026.
CSR-stated reciprocity refusal
11 of 14 submitters report representatives stated recording the call would be "against policy" or refused to continue if informed.
Opt-out mechanism
No documented mechanism for the customer to opt out while continuing the call. 0 of 14 submissions resulted in successful opt-out.
Jurisdictional inconsistency
Submitters in two-party consent states (CA, FL, IL) report identical IVR disclosure as one-party states. No state-specific consent flow.
Notice what's missing: raw uploaded audio. The "audio" of this entry is the editorial podcast episode. Submitter testimony is sworn. The IVR was captured by our editorial team in a one-party-consent state. Everything documented here was lawfully obtained.
§ 05The ShowEach file becomes an episode
Two hosts, one file, no holds barred.
Sarah and Marcus walk through one file per episode. They read submitter testimony aloud, weigh the evidence, debate the tier classification, and confront the law. Reply All meets Consumer Reports. Rigorous, never gossipy. Never airing your call — only ours.
EPISODE 001 · COMING WITH LAUNCH
"Princess from the Philippines"
Betty stepped away while her phone dialed the card company. Missed the IVR disclosure. Asked the rep — Princess, in a Manila call center — whether the call was being recorded. Princess said no. The IVR said yes. What happens next is the registry's first file.
Hosts: Sarah & Marcus22 MIN ▸ FILE 001 ▸ AMERICAN EXCESS
▌ The Format
Two co-hosts, one published file per episode. Cold open, evidence segment, law segment, right-to-comment segment, tier assignment.
▌ The Audio
Submitter testimony is paraphrased — never aired. The only call audio you'll hear is what we captured ourselves: corporate IVRs, lawfully recorded.
▌ The Cadence
Monthly at launch, biweekly at scale. Each episode is a permanent companion to its file in the registry.
§ 06The ClassificationFour flavors of asymmetry
Not all asymmetry is created equal.
Every file is classified into one of four tiers, each with a documented evidentiary standard. The tier is the editorial team's verdict — and the company's worst-case label.
Tier I
Disclosed but Forbidden
"This call may be recorded." Try recording back and they'll terminate, refuse service, or threaten you.
Tier II
Opt-Out Denied
You ask not to be recorded. They have no mechanism to honor it. The recording continues anyway.
Tier III
Undisclosed Capture
Recording without disclosure, or buried in 47 pages of terms you never meaningfully consented to.
Tier IV
Asymmetric Application
Operating across consent regimes and applying whichever rule benefits them, not you.
Launch Notification
Be on the list before they are.
The legal architecture is done. The editorial standards are published. The first three files are in production. When they ship, submissions open to verified members — and you're already on the list.
▌ Logged. We'll be in touch when the doors open. Until then — keep your records.
§ 07QuestionsAsked and answered
The questions we keep getting.
Two reasons. First, in many U.S. states it's illegal to record a call without disclosing it to all parties — meaning a recording you uploaded could be evidence of a crime, even if the company on the other end has been recording you for years. Hosting it would put both you and the registry on shaky legal ground. Second, raw audio is dramatic but not citable. A journalist or lawyer wants verified policy, sworn testimony, and editorial methodology — not a clip of someone yelling at a CSR. We optimize for the second thing.
No, and that distinction is the whole product. A complaint board publishes whatever someone types. We require verified identity, sworn declarations, three-source minimums, independent corporate evidence, right-to-comment, and a 30–60 day editorial process per file. The submission funnel rejects the vast majority of incoming material. What ships is closer to a journalism beat than a Yelp page.
You'll know before publication. Every named company gets a fourteen-day right-to-comment window before a file goes live. Your statement — including a flat denial — becomes part of the public record. After publication, we maintain an open correction process: substantive evidence that we got something factually wrong gets reviewed by an editor not on the original team, and corrections are noted publicly with the date. We're not in the business of getting it wrong.
A Tier is the editorial team's classification of how the company's recording asymmetry manifests. Tier I means the company discloses but forbids; Tier IV means the company applies different rules in different jurisdictions. Each Tier has a documented evidentiary standard, published in our methodology section. The classification is editorial judgment, applied consistently across files. Companies that disagree with their tier can — and should — submit comment.
Three reasons. First, it forces the editorial team to argue the file out loud, which is the best test of whether the case is actually solid. Second, it makes the registry portable — most people will never read a database, but they'll listen to a 22-minute episode about a company they bank with. Third, it's the natural form for narrative-driven consumer journalism, which is what this is.
Neither. The asymmetry we document exists at companies of every size, sector, and political leaning. Our criteria are factual: did you disclose, did you allow opt-out, did you treat the customer the same way you treated yourself. Companies that get the answers right won't appear on the registry. Companies that get them wrong will, regardless of who their CEO donates to.
The legal architecture is done. Insurance is in place. The editorial standards are finalized and published. The first three reference files are in active production — IVR captures made, submissions verified, right-to-comment notices in progress. The pilot episode is being produced in parallel. When the files ship, submissions open to verified members. Subscribers get notified at each milestone.