Phone surveys.

Pigman

Is anyone else getting pestered by people asking 'for just a few minutes of your time' to conduct confidential surveys via telephone? I've never been called by them but today I managed to get three calls from three seperate companies which makes me believe that some sneaky so and so has put my details on a database which is available to these companies. How could this happen and more importantly how do I get them to stop ringing?

All suggestions and personal experiences with these time-wasters will be read with interest

sceptre

It's not with Lansdowne is it?

Sounds like another day out for the Data Protection Act.

Ask to speak to their Data Protectio Officer. Failing that get a contact number (and fax number) and address for the company. Fax them a nice letter saying that you want off their list.

Can't remember if you're entitled to find out where they got your phone number from, but certainly worth a try (in order to get off the original list). It's not like spam where they can easily hide themselves - it is actually worth going after these people.

Stephen

Some guy from Lansdowne marketing or whatever the fup they're called rang me a few weeks ago asking about "IT issues". He basically asked me questions about dell, ibm and microsoft for 10 minutes. I took the opportunity to give MS the lowest score in every question

phobos

I got a call from some company in London a few months back. It really freaked me out. My step father answered the phone, and called me a few seconds later. He didn't have time to tell me who it was so I just took the call. A guy from (can't remember the name of the company, but he gave it), started asking me questions about computer games, and my opinions regarding certain genres/costs/availability/media etc. Then he started asking me questions about my income, and household income, and whether we had a widescreen TV, Digital, more than 1 computer, and stuff like that. I wasn't happy so interrupted him with several of my own questions.

Such as what was
his name
his contact number
why he rang me
who he was doing research for
and
not to ring me again.

He assured me that his survey was legit, and gave all details I required. He told me that he was doing reserach for Electronic Arts, but couldn't disclose any further information (which was fair enough). But I did ask him not to call me again, and terminated the survey prematurely. He made it quite clear that I wasn't obliged to answer anything I didn't want to. So I didn't and skipped about 25% of his questions. I did this because I felt they were too intrusive, and some of which because I wanted him to know that his questions were non appropriate. He told me that he had gotten my number from a random phone dialler that the company used. I think that's bull, because he could have rang an elderly widow, living on her own, in the middle of Connemara. How many calls would they have made before they found someone that was able to answer those questions on the survey intelligently. Stuff like choice of processors, and graphics cards etc.

Anyway about 2 weeks the phone rang again, and it was the same guy, who appologised for ringing, because I had asked not to hear from the company again. He got me out of bed, to ask me what was my favourite radio station. I snapped "2FM" back at him, and was about to tell him to Fuk off. But resisted, because I felt vulnerable standing there in my boxers

;-phobos-)

castie

yeah i got that lansdowne crowd onto me at 7am before english paper 1 ffs so i told her im doing my lc leave me alone and as of yet ive recieved no more calls
if she asks have u time say no im busy for the next few months and i think they wipe your number

BeatTun

that landsdowne place tried to ring me about 5 times not long after i bought a new car, and i just kept saying No look call me back in 20 minutes im having a ****.

they did actually call back a few times
wot a **** job to have

leeroybrown

Presuming you have caller ID and that they havn't blocked their number take their number and put it up in phone boxes as a prostitution service then register it with another load of spamming companies.

rumpelstiltskin

Well, I've done this kind of work before in the UK. And I have a friend who now does it for a company in Dublin (not landsdowne).

Basically, it's a horrible job, and I don't think anyone likes doing it, but when you need money it's easy enough to pick up. In a day I would call about 100 people.
Companies basically want to find out crap about people, so they go to a market research company like landsdowne to run a campaign for them.
So everyday, I would go in and start making calls, all of which were dialled from my PC. Some would be dialled off a database, and some are just randomly made up (if it's a survey for Bord Bia or something, you don't need a certain age bracket or anything, so anyone, even old widows in Connemara will do).

So if you are receiving 3 calls in the same day from 3 different companies, then it's probably just the same business calling you on 3 different campaigns.

If you asked to be taken off the database then they are obliged to do that for you. Anyway, if you don't want to do a survey or listen to a marketing call, just say so, there's no point being a prick to the guy that's ringing you, as all he is doing is sitting at his desk and reading a script from the screen.

THE END

By Me

Victor

Originally posted by phobos
Then he started asking me questions about my income, and household income, and whether we had a widescreen TV, Digital, more than 1 computer, and stuff like that. I wasn't happy so interrupted him with several of my own questions.

Sounds like a crafty burgular.

Some of these things come from loyalty cards and competition entries. If you don't want to be contacted, fill in the form with the option that is least desirable to marketers (lowest income, new resident, renting, etc).

BEAT

I scream like homer simpson and hang up right away
hehehe