Air carrier captain reported ATC was unhappy with them when they flew a company obstacle clearance d...

Narrative:

Since we were not cleared for a specific SID from ZZZ we felt the company procedure was the best course of action. We were surprised to hear from the controller that a published procedure that we were executing was not allowed.our filed flight plan from ZZZ started with a direct route from ZZZ to ZZZ VOR. We requested our clearance from center after we had taxied out to [the] runway. We were given a clearance of 'as filed' from center. I knew we could not turn direct to ZZZ VOR as the terrain to the east of ZZZ rose quickly and we could not maintain terrain clearance in the climb. ZZZ outlines a procedure for a takeoff from [the] runway with 'no SID' assigned. We opted to do that procedure as we were not cleared to do a specific SID. We took off and executed the procedure. Upon contact with center the controller asked which departure procedure we were doing. I told him that we were executing the company obstacle departure procedure. He then informed us that what we were doing was not legal and to expect a phone call. We acknowledged the controller however he never requested a telephone number from us nor offered a number for us to call.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported ATC was unhappy with them when they flew a company obstacle clearance departure procedure instead of a charted departure.

Narrative: Since we were not cleared for a specific SID from ZZZ we felt the company procedure was the best course of action. We were surprised to hear from the controller that a published procedure that we were executing was not allowed.Our filed flight plan from ZZZ started with a direct route from ZZZ to ZZZ VOR. We requested our clearance from Center after we had taxied out to [the] runway. We were given a clearance of 'as filed' from Center. I knew we could not turn direct to ZZZ VOR as the terrain to the east of ZZZ rose quickly and we could not maintain terrain clearance in the climb. ZZZ outlines a procedure for a takeoff from [the] runway with 'No SID' assigned. We opted to do that procedure as we were not cleared to do a specific SID. We took off and executed the procedure. Upon contact with Center the controller asked which departure procedure we were doing. I told him that we were executing the company obstacle departure procedure. He then informed us that what we were doing was not legal and to expect a phone call. We acknowledged the controller however he never requested a telephone number from us nor offered a number for us to call.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1414600
Time
Date	201608
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Air carrier captain reported ATC was unhappy with them when they flew a company obstacle clearance departure procedure instead of a charted departure.