# CON-088 — Customer-care contact must be reachable from the point of consent

> The call-to-action must give the consumer a way to reach a person — a support email, phone number, or help page.

- **Rule ID:** CON-088
- **Layer:** Consent flow (`CONSENT_FLOW`)
- **Checks:** `consent disclosure text`
- **Severity:** HIGH — Rejected by at least one carrier or provider, and a common cause of failure at the rest.
- **When it bites:** Gates approval — get this wrong and registration is refused
- **How it is detected:** AI judgement over the crawled website or policy page; AI vision over a consent artifact (screenshot, scan, MMS media)
- **Fix type:** Fix the website — no form edit clears it
- **Required by:** CTIA, T-Mobile, AWS
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/consent-flow/con-088/

## Why this rule exists

A consumer who wants to ask a question before agreeing, or to complain afterwards, needs somewhere that is not the messaging channel itself. Where there is nowhere, the complaint goes to the carrier instead, and carrier complaints are the input that throttles a campaign. CTIA lists it as a call-to-action element for that reason rather than as a courtesy.

## How to fix it

Add a support email or phone number to the consent block, or link a contact page from inside it. Use the same contact that your HELP auto-reply gives, so the two agree. Done when a consumer can reach you without having joined the programme first.

## Example of a compliant value

```text
Questions? Email support@acmecoffee.com or call 415-555-0134. Reply STOP to unsubscribe, HELP for help.
```

## Common mistakes

- Pointing only at the HELP keyword is circular for someone deciding whether to opt in — they cannot text HELP to a programme they have not joined.