210-522-9215 / 2105229215

what part of RANDOM number is obviously not getting through. If you dont want your phone number attached to your address... deal with that. Obviously your stupidity means you are more likely to be asked to participate. If you cannot show some sympathy to a fellow human being who just wants to ask a few questions about what you do ANYWAY... how can you be upset that someone else is doing their job. THAT KEEPS US OF THE GOVT CHECK! PAYING OUR BILLS AND TRYING TO SURVIVE IN THIS ECONOMY! COME ON! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO GET A DECENT JOB THESE DAYS WHERE YOU ARE NOT TRYING TO SELL SOMETHING... OR SCREW SOMEONE OVER? Ok... I get it.. youre tired, hungry, stupid... and you dont feel like doing a stupid survey. DO YOU THINK WE WANT TO BE CUSSED OUT OVER AND OVER? NO! All we want is to help the community you live in... and earn a decent wage! So we call at inappropriate (inconvenient) times... WE CAN MAKE AN APPT WHEN YOU HAVE A FEW MINUTES.. or you can call back and get done... OR JUST CALL A STUPID 800# and REMOVE YOURSELF FROM YOUR CUSS A DAY SCHEDULE! YOU HAVE OPTIONS! morons...

still getting calls?

Add Cgreenblatt@scarborough.com to the list... Im not sure what she passed from.. but your hearless [***] could just as well attribute it to Cancer as well... I hope you can live with your well wishes you spineless cold [***]. Very cold... hope you live to regret what you posted, or thought.. We will still be calling to help you out in life via media research... cause we are good kind hearted people.

we arent collecting debts... Did you call the 800 number? or hang up when they said they CANNOT REMOVE YOU FROM A LIST THAT DOES NOT EXIST?

they call between 9-10 because they are A allowed to.. and B many people arent home before then. But you can make arrangements for an earlier time at YOUR convenience. Or is that too difficult for you? There is also an 800# you can call to have the number removed from a computer the interviewers arent allowed access to. But if thats a problem and you dont want a couple bucks for saying a couple yes' or no's... they can always just call back when it would be more convenient for you.

My apologies, I DO look like a freaking idiot, thank you! I'm wrong. Surveys are exempt from having to maintain internal do-not-call lists but there's nothing to stop Scarborough from implementing a VOLUNTARY one -- it will prevent your victims from getting mad at repeat calls. Folks, while surveys aren't required by law to maintain internal do-not-call lists, you are under *NO* obligation to answer surveys at all. If they refuse your request to be put on voluntary do-not-call lists that they can create if they so choose, blow their ears off with your favorite sound-maker of your choice -- whistles can be great fun. Or play a tune on your telephone keys. Or hand the caller to your baby. Or put them on hold.

I wonder why Directv doesn't just have their boxes send the viewing info back and put Nielson out of the business without bothering us with constant phone calls.

How to Deal with Telephone Surveys: A GuideSo, you're receiving calls at all odd hours from a bunch of strangers asking to take a telephone survey? Fantastic! Here is your chance as a red-blooded American to do your civic duty by showing your support for your local media! You should feel honored that a random dialer punched up the numbers that happened to correspond to your home! It must be fate! These surveys normally take around 15 minutes, however the length may vary depending on how detailed you want your answers to be. So if you can spare that small segment of time to help your community, then do it - it might turn into a nice little conversation with a friendly stranger that you wouldn't otherwise have!If you cannot spare the 15 minutes, we all understand life can be busy sometimes. You could be heading to bed (sometimes we call between 9-10pm - no later - because people are winding down from their day and might be more likely to have the time to spare), you could be eating dinner, you could be running errands or any other of the myriad valid reasons to not be able to take a phone survey. Just let us know, and we'll gladly set up a time to work around your busy day. We all realize that we are interrupting your life to ask about your local media preferences, so we strive to be as accommodating as possible.There are times when you simply do not wish to participate in the survey - the ability to say "no" is a basic human right, and we fully understand when we hear it. However, this is our livelihood, we have mouths to feed, bills to pay, and our employment is performance-driven. The more surveys we complete, the more productive, and thus valuable, we are as employees, and the more secure our job is. So, if we hear "no", sometimes we try to find out if there are any misconceptions as to what we do that we can overcome so we can record your opinions and not have to bother you again. If you simply do not wish to take a survey, there are ways to keep yourself from being called again, and I will get into those later.First though, I would like to address why we cannot just accept "No means no". As a research company, we need to ensure that we are getting a diverse sample of opinions from as many different people as possible. This includes people who do not want to take the survey. If we simply hung up and blocked every number from being called again just because someone said "no", then the only demographics we are covering are those who are more likely to participate willingly, like the elderly and low-income households. Their opinions are important, of course, but are most effective when combined with opposing demographics. This is how market research works. So, if we hear "no", then we need to see what we can do to try to turn it into a yes - the only thing we're trying to get you to buy is the idea that we are doing this to help your community. That is the entire foundation of our business model. We are not selling your information, the only time we have your personal information is when you provide it to us (or in the case of an address, it may be listed in a public source such as a phone book or any other public record). We do not care what race you are, what your income level is, what your age is, or anything like that. We only care that we are able to get the opinions that fit your demographic (which is partially determined by the above factors, which is why we may ask for them). It's a crazy world out there, and some of us are terrified of letting too much personal information out there. We understand that, and that is why we treat any information we get from you with the utmost respect and care.There are some times when I dial a number that has already been dialed 12 times with no answer, and I think to myself "Why won't they just pick up?", or someone would hang up before I even get a chance to tell them who I am. Or they will hang up before I can tell them how to get their number removed. I get frustrated, because I know these people will just continue to be called, pushing them closer and closer to the brink of sanity like some of the other commenters here. I get it. You don't like being called by someone you have no prior business with. You don't want to share your opinions. You don't want to be bothered. It's none of my business to know why, but I know that if I don't try to probe a little bit for the tiniest hint of what's keeping you from talking to me, then all that is going to happen is you're going to hang up, I'm going to code it in our system, and someone else will just try to call again tomorrow (sometimes sooner). Obnoxious? You bet! I am not disagreeing. But in this specific business, we have to be persistent. We need to keep calling until someone picks up, we need to keep calling until we complete the survey, we need to keep calling until we get our job done. Do I feel bad about it? Not in the least, because for every person who is unreasonable or unreachable, there are plenty more who are willing to share common decency and handle the situation of "being asked questions over the phone" like a reasonable adult.The most effective ways to get us to stop calling are as follows:-Take the survey. It's not that difficult. We ask about what radio stations you listen to, what newspapers you read, what locally owned websites you visit, and what kind of television service you have. Then we match the information to your demographic by asking some general questions about your background. That's it. How is this deserving of all the hate I see on this board? It confounds me.-Set a callback appointment, and try to commit to it. I've seen it happen too many times where someone asks to be called back tomorrow at 5pm, then they don't answer, so they get thrown back into the random dial pool...wasting all sorts of time because now we're trying to reach that person when they are unavailable.-If there is a valid reason why we need to stop calling the household, let us know and we will make it happen. "I don't do surveys" and "Take me off your list" do not count - all you are doing there is letting us know that you fit the specific demographic that we need opinions from the most, so we will be even more persistent.If all else fails, it has been noted that you can call 1-800-753-6043 and *ask for a supervisor* to get your number blocked from our dialing system. I sincerely hope that after reading this guide, less of you opt for that final option.Hopefully we'll speak soon! ;)

Another thing I wanted to mention - the Scarborough survey is used to shape the services you get in your community. If all we get are a bunch of surveys in your area from old people who don't listen to the local rock station, then guess what's eventually going to happen? The rock station will see that, according to our report, they are not getting the level of listening they need to continue as they are. So, they will change to try to get more listeners. The local rock station will convert their format to mellow jazz, and the old people will absolutely love it. We're kind of a big deal in that way. Our report influences what you receive on the local scale. So, if you like your rock station, please let us know so we can let them know they can hold off on the Kenny G a while longer.

A. Nonie Mouse (I see what you did there),Of course there are complaints against our company. We call people and interrupt their everyday lives to try to get 15 minutes of their time for a survey. The reason why you may consider us "one of the more reviled survey companies in America" is because we call a lot of numbers, talk to a lot of people...more than most other survey companies, because we do not have a "preferred demo" as you put it. We work to include all demographics, and since we still try to get surveys from the people who initially turn us down, there's bound to be dissenting voices. Show me a survey company who has zero complaints, and I'll show you a survey company that is selectively dialing preferred demos and getting biased (in other words "useless") results.With my second post, I was using a general example. Local media companies look at our data, and see who's getting more business. If Media Company A is getting more mention in the survey results than Media Company B, then Company B may decide to adjust their services in order to get more business. However, if Company B is actually in good standing within their community, and the problem is just getting survey results from their customers (maybe the general demographic gets paid $300/hr on average and don't think a 15 minute survey is worth their time), then there's no way for Company B to know this - they change anyway, and may be met with unfavorable results. It's our job to try to make sure those who like Company B are being included just as much as those who like Company A.A lot of what I'm seeing here is a resounding "what's in it for me?" mentality. What's in it for you...basically, having your vote counted toward which local media companies are successful, and which ones aren't. We sometimes do throw cash gifts your way as a show of good faith - tell me how many other companies do that, especially considering the shifting economy of the past decade.But ultimately, your opinions help keep local businesses alive and competitive, instead of saying nothing and letting Walmart move into town to put the corner store out of business. Or, if you prefer Walmart, then we still want to know - if our survey shows that more people prefer the services offered by the bigger institutions then it's more likely that they will succeed. We're not trying to direct traffic, we're just observing it and telling the companies what we see.I won't say anything of the FCC because frankly I don't know about that. What I do know, however, is that many people will misinterpret certain regulations to make their point, as is often the case with the DNC list.