2706502080

I got a call. I do not live in kentucky and none of my utilities are in kentucky and I do not work in kentucky and  I do not shop in kentucky nor do I go to kentucky. So why should they call me? This is harassment. Pure and simple.

Received call, answered and they hung up. Some survey!

I understand how that is frustrating. Our auto-dialer cuts off after so many rings. It was probably an AARP survey if you are over 45. That is our big one right now. Otherwise it was most likely about your newspaper. I believe those are all the projects we have right now. If it is AARP they wont tell you. We aren't allowed to tell the sponsor till the end. I know that is tedious, especially for us. But that's isn't our rule, its AARP's. And anyone who takes part figures out quickly that it is about AARP.  BOth the surveys are both rather interesting. The newspaper surveys are my favorite to conduct.

Are you crazy?  Do you think it's ok to just pick up the phone and start calling random people?  Be mad at yourself for having a [***] minimum wage job.  If you are that sensitive and don't like people yelling and hanging up on you then DON'T CALL IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!

I don't know who is making minimum wage but it isn't me. We dont call random numbers, we call the number companies give us for the most part. AARP gives us most of the numbers we call for them. We call their members and ask about the company. Don't get pissed at us. Get pissed at the companies that YOU use that hire us. Major companies. AARP, Papa Johns, Gannett Publishing, Con Edison, and many others. Its not like we call random numbers and ask people random questions. What would be the point of that? We get paid big bucks by big companies. Sometimes we call all the numbers in an area, such as for their newspaper publisher Gannett. Otherwise the numbers are given to us by the company.

Also, it isn't so much that people yelling makes me mad. It is the pure ignorance of it. Most of the people who do the surveys have post-graduate educations. People that are smart enough to realize that we aren't selling anything, and people who know that over the phone interviewing is the most effective and efficient way to conduct research. After we get our quota for the day the results are made in to summary reports and immediately sent to the company. That allows the company to have to quickest access to their consumers opinions. It is much quicker than mail surveys because many people do not participate and throw it away, and it could take weeks for a person to fill it out, send it in, and the company would have to hire people to sort it out. Over the phone the answers are instant and candid. We are able to fill in the answers as we go, and ask further questions if an answer is too vague.

As others have said in this forum, I pay for a phone and I want to be left alone from any and all calls from research groups, political groups, charities, etc. In the last two days I have been called no less than five times from this organization.  When I see my caller ID from someone I don't recognize, I don't answer.  But it is extremely aggravating to have to go to a phone just to verify that I don't want to talk to you!  You may be a legitimate business, but I for one do not appreciate your endeavors!

I understand why you are upset, I know that it has to be frustrating for you. It simply isn't our fault. Complain to the organization you are involved with that hired us. AARP is probably why we are calling if you are over 45. Also, doing a short survey is the best way to ensure we dont call again.

It isn't "our" endeavors. We are simply a middle man. It is the companies that hire us.

I don't answer my phone EVER!! I have an answering machine, ALL calls are screened, I also have caller ID. thorobred research can call I won't answer... and especially, now that I know it's for AARP. Many things that AARP supports politically, I do not. I love my answering machine and caller ID, if I don't want to talk to you, I won't.

today is Saturday and the call came in about six p.m. from someone who called me by my first name pnly, then said they were calling to followup a letter from Medicare about a survey on satisfaction with Medicare. I said no such letter received,  was the survey voluntary, asking if i needed a wheelchair in the last six months was a little personal, and besides, doesn't Medicare already know this?  i did ring off but can see this as a waste of taxpayer's money.   If not a scam call

Every year at this time we are hired by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to follow up on surveys that were sent in the mail. The surveys were sent back in February and CMS calls everyone whom the didn't get a survey back from. The reason for the survey is so CMS can learn more about the medical care people with Medicare receive. CMS may, in fact, already have some of the information, but the purpose of a survey is to combine everyone's information into a summary report and no answers are seen individually. It isn't a scam and you can verify the legitimacy of the survey with Medicare directly at
1-800-MEDICARE.

As far as the AARP surveys, all I can say is the interviewers who call do not like AARP anymore than you most of you. Many of the people I interview don't like AARP because of political views. The point of a survey of this sort is to express your opinions. Research studies are one of the only ways you can make a difference in the marketplace.

Any call you get from this number is not a scam and does not ask for personal information such as credit card numbers or social security numbers. The most personal thing some of our surveys ask is about broad income ranges; not all of our surveys, however, ask for your income. Also, any question you are not comfortable asking can be skipped, all you have to do is tell the interviewer you are not comfortable with the question.

Thank you for taking time to explain.....I have several questions, as follows:
1) Why is Medicare (CMS). Unable to consolidate case-by-case information by using CMS computers?  
2) How much does CMS Medicare pay for the telephone surveys by your company?    Tax and/or social security money?

I am sure it is hard work to do cold calling like this, but why.?????why would anyone  answer your questions and why would Medicare think answers over the phone are accurate?  Yes and no sound alike over a cellphone......very odd stuff, big waste of tax money

It isn't all exactly case-by-case information. The survey asks if people feel as though there doctors spent enough time with them and how satisfied they were with specialists they may have seen and if they have any trouble getting their prescriptions filled or if they can't afford their prescriptions. Also, surveys allow people to remain anonymous. Interviewers are in no way connected with the products and services they ask people about. This also helps guarantee that information remains unbiased because of who may be collecting it.

As for your second question, I'm not told how much companies pay for these surveys. As you can probably imagine, money, and especially government money, is kept very hush-hush. I'd like to think that maybe the government has special funds for research. It is a nice chunk I'm sure. Tens of thousands, maybe more. AARP pays an unbelievable amount, but I'm not sure how much. This Medicare survey will end the end of this month. AARP has signed a year long contract with Thoroughbred Research Group.

Believe it or not some people really enjoy being phone interviewers. As for me, it pays a lot of money and is also good with my college hours. I'm just doing this job because it works around my college hours. I also find the entire business and the way it works kind of interesting. I like talking to different kinds of people, some are really nice. Most of the people who participate in surveys are well educated and realize that over the phone surveys are the absolute most efficient way to do research. Answers from surveys are immediately combined in to summary reports and get results to companies faster than      any other kind of survey. For example, when a survey is mailed out there is always a chance it can be lost in the mail, and it can be a lengthy process for mail to be shipped and shipped back. Plus people often forget, and many take days or weeks to fell them out, if ever. It is proven that most people are more likely to tell the truth when their answers are instant and candid.

Calls can be monitored to verify accuracy. We also use rather high-tech equipment to ensure all respondents can be heard clearly. If I'm ever unsure that I have inaccurately recorded a question I will ask the respondent if I heard them correctly. Things can always be adjusted if a respondent can not hear, and if an interviewer is talking too fast they will gladly slow down if asked.

Many people bash phone surveys, but many of these people have also never participated. What people need to understand is this business is legitimate and effective. We do surveys for many companies. Among them are AARP, Papa Johns, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Con Edison, Colombia Gas of Ohio and all the affiliates, Wendy's, Lee Enterprises, Gannett Co., and others. The people you talk to are real people with real feelings. They do not choose who they call, but they do have a job and pay taxes, and that's better than what most of America is doing.

I'm happy to answer you questions even if I'm not very helpful. I just wish more people would try to be educated in the business of marketing research instead of remain ignorant.

keeps calling and will not leave message.

2 comments:  first, running to grab a ringing phone only to have the caller (your company) hang up is INCREDIBLY frustrating.

Second, if you want to be taken seriously as a business, proofreading your comments for spelling, grammar, & punctuation before posting is highly recommended.

I already told these people to stop calling me - they actually tried faxing something through my phone or were trying to get into my computer. I will report them to the FCC and have them shut down.

Stop calling my damn unlisted number - I'll be running an ad in every national newspaper to find all the people you call and have a class action suit filed in federal court.

Whatever you have been TOLD your company is, you are, in fact doing Telemarketing. Collecting research for various companies is an aspect of marketing. I am signed up for a number of companies which do focus groups for various companies, which is pretty much the same thing you say you're doing... collecting opinions. The difference is, when I participate, I get PAID... quite a generous fee for an hour of my time. The companies that your company is working for are trying to get the same results for FREE. Reading through the posts, I nnotice that in response to the overwhelmingly negative reactions, the employee answers are so often "I'm just doing a job, like the rest of you out there." I'm sorry, but just because someone is paying you to do something REALLY annoying, uninvited, and unwanted by the recipient, your job is not just like any other job. You are being paid to intrude upon and annoy people, whether you like to hear that or not. You are not wanted, and so, from the very start, you're at a disadvantage. It isn't a job to be proud of. Of course, everyone needs to make a living, so if this is how you do it, accept that what you do is VERY unpopular and makes people angry. Don't act so surprised about negative responses, and react as if we're the ones being unreasonable.

...just one more thing... I live in one of the boroughs of New York City. Quite often, when taking the subway into Manhattan, small groups of kids come onto the train, put down a boom box, and start yelling "Show Time! Show Time!". Then the music goes on. Then they take over the car and each one takes a turn dancing or doing some type of gymnastic feat on the bars. They announce beforehand that we should move our feet and all packages out of the aisles so we don't  get injured or kicked. This takes about ten minutes and at the end, one of them goes around with a hat. Some people like it, because it can be entertaining, and give them money. Some people, I guess, don't like it. Some people, like me, have a variety of reactions depending on the day. The main problem for me, is that it happens almost every time I take the subway, and it gets old. How many times should I be expected to pay for something I wouldn't pay for under any other circumstances? Also, sometimes, I have things on my mind and have already paid for my ride, and feel as if my personal space has been hijacked, AND I'm being asked to pay for the privilege. But last week, I witnessed something really irritating. At the end of one of these performances, when the guys didn't get as many contributions as they would have liked, they started to grumble pretty loudly and express their annoyance at not being appreciated for the hard work they had just done. I mean... REALLY! Did any of us ASK you to do it? Did any of us have a choice in whether we had to watch or not? We were trapped— some of us for the second or third time that week– and you should be happy you got ANY money at all! I sort of feel like a similar thing is happening here. We don't ask you to call us. Many of us really don't WANT you to call us. You intrude upon and invade our spaces. You expect us to give you our time and attention, often when we're busy doing something else, like having dinner, or reading or studying or napping or maybe just trying to have some peace after a hard day at work... but if we protest, you get defensive and behave as if we're being totally unreasonable and/or selfish. The idea that if we weren't so "ignorant" about why we were getting these phone calls in the first place, we would be more reasonable and sit through your 15 minutes of hell, is not only ridiculous, but insulting and disrespectful. When I have a conversation with a representative from my cable company, they ask if I would mind taking a short automated survey after the call, and if I don't want to, I don't have to. The rep never knows so I don't feel put on the spot, and that CHOICE usually makes it OK most of the time. They get they're information, and I don't feel steamrolled into anything. Because of the way your company works, and the tasks they expect you to perform, it's simply not rational to expect anything other than a metaphorical door slammed in your face. If you get an occasional person willing to participate, you should count yourself as very fortunate.