Got a call, she stated that she was calling for ComEd and was doing a follow up on repairs that ComEd did. She had my name and cell but I'm going to block them anyway cause I wasn't aware of any outages or corrections done to property damage
The Blackstone Group is a TELEMARKETING company that cloaks itself as a survey company to bypass the www.DoNotCall.gov laws. I've reported them twice to the donotcall.gov registry and will be reporting them to my Attorney General's office.
The Blackstone Group
360 N Michigan Ave # 1500
Chicago, IL 60601
312-419-0400
www.bgglobal.com
This is not to be confused with the New York based private equity firm with the same name.
They are a market research firm and are exempt from the do-not-call laws. They may, however, be a front for a telemarketing company. After going through their website, They seem to be legit, but why take a chance?
Here are some suggestions:
1) Try to find out the name of the company that paid them to do the research. They may not tell you. If they do, and you are a customer of that firm, you can either complain, or take you business elsewhere.
2) Demand to see their Do-Not-Call policy in writing. By law, they have to provide you with this on demand.
3) Ask the caller if they are providing payment for this survey. I go to focus groups occasionally, and they always pay me for my time and opinion. What is the difference here? Blackstone is being paid to learn about people's opinions which they want to get from you for free. Why shouldn't we be paid also?
4) Demand that they add you to the do-not-call list of both Blackstone Group and the company that sponsored them.
I never participate with these companies. Why? I do not know what they will do with the information. It may be used to provide telemarketers with more ammo to call me or try to sell me.
THIS NUMBER KEEPS CALLING--- DOES NOT LEAVE A MESSAGE ON ANSWER PHONE ---- I DO NOT ANSWER CALLS I DO NOT RECOGNIZE. WHO ARE THEY? HOW DO I MAKE IT GO AWAY