June 4th, 2007 in Communication
How To Avoid Phone Surveys
They always call during dinner, don’t they!? I’m a generally patient person and don’t mind constantly telling phone surveys to beat it, but you may want to get off their lists for good. And with good reason.
Someone who worked at “the largest phone survey companies in the country” told Consumerist.com how to get rid of those phone survey callers calling back.
Sadly, it appears the only real way to get off their list is to say something like, “If you ever call me again, I’m going to contact my lawyer”.
You’ll get an apology and be blacklisted from all of our systems. Of course, you’ll have to do it with each company that calls you, but it should help make dinnertime a bit more peaceful.
How To: Avoid Pesky Phone Survey People – [Consumerist]
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Comments
Paul Agapow says on June 4th, 2007 at 8:44 am
It may go without saying but *never* answer one of these surveys. A few years back on a long slow night my girlfriend took one of these calls and completed a survey. For months afterwards, we were plagued by calls everyday to answer surveys about all sorts of things. No amount of firm disinterest, threats or repeated pleas (”we will never do another phone survey ever again”) stopped the flood.
What eventually did was me telling the surveyer that it was a work phone number. Stopped it dead in its tracks. This may however only work in Australia.
Jackie says on June 4th, 2007 at 10:03 am
You could also say that you work for Nielsen or Arbitron. They both survey people for ratings and it’s considered a conflict of interest to take one of them thar surveys.
Michael says on June 4th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
I worked graveyard shift for quite some time, so I slept in the morning. Arbitron kept calling me. No amount of arguing would stave them off. They simply would go on with “we are not selling anything”, etc. Finally, after I screamed in the phone that I would never take their survey, and if they called again, I would file a complaint, they stopped calling.
Another method that might work: If you have a low income (or if you want to claim that you do), some surveys will leave you alone. Apparently, they only want to interview you if you have money to burn.
Steve says on June 4th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
The “Work Number” answer works in the US as well, with the same results as the “I’m calling my lawyer” but without seeming so litigious.
It also works with charity solicitations (who are also exempt for the Do Not Call registry.)
Phil says on June 4th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
In the UK, we have the ability to sign up to the Telephone Preference Service. Once on the list, it is illegal for anyone to call you. I used to get lots of calls then they stopped almost immediately once I signed up. Surely this should be available worldwide?!
http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/
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Joe says on September 19th, 2008 at 1:04 am
This is fake, all the phone survey companies are located outside the US… And they don’t worry about legal threats… They’re just not under US jurisdiction…