I'm also an OU alum - never answer the phone and a message has never been left. Once again, I'm going to make an assumption ... because I'm a member of the OU alumni association, I have told them preferred method of contact is email or snail mail. Any REAL donation requests have come through the mail, once or twice a year. As a result, I treat any calls from OU as a scam and don't answer the phone- no matter haw
I received call July 13, 2015 from male with very heavy foreign accent & very difficult to understand asking me about my connection with OU--when last time I was on campus? , what my connections with OU were?, etc. but also referring to me as an alumni. I explained that I was retired from OU having worked there for a number of years as Office Manager/Accountant and that I found the call asking for donations very strange--not the way I was familiar with donations being obtained. So I ask him some questions--he stated he was a student calling from the Call Center and said he had a very thick accent (his words, not mine) because he was a foreign student. In response to my question as to his major he told me Civil Engineering (he finally had to spell CIVIL as I was unable to understand him) I told him I was very skeptical about his call. Having worked as the accounting person in an academic department I was familiar with donations from alumni and told him in all my years of working at OU our department had never made calls to alumni asking for donations. Donations were usually sent to the department after the Director/Professor/Students had hosted some function were alumni interested in a particular area of research were invited to discuss various projects Professors/students were involved with. When I asked to speak to his supervisor (who I was able to understand) his name was Conrad. I could hear more chatter in background as if there were other calls being made. I stated that I would NVER, NEVER make a donation over the phone from a cold call and was told that "a donation did not have to be completed tonight" but would like to nail down an amount. I refused the offer. They said they would send me info in the mail (we will see what/if I receive anything). I thought they were going to ask for an address which I was not going to provide since they seemed to already know all this info about me (even though some was wrong--I am not alumni).. I told them I knew a lot of people in Dept of Engineering & that I would check this all out---which I plan to do.
I get these calls every year and they are the most persistent donation seekers I have encountered! They will continue to call until you actually pick up the phone! They ask for donations specific to the college you graduated from, but the students themselves are not enrolled in that particular college. I told them last year I will never give to OU as long as they do not grant in-state tuition to children of OU grads who live out of state. Just got my first call yesterday, so hopefully call blocking will help!
I'm also an OU alum - never answer the phone and a message has never been left. Once again, I'm going to make an assumption ... because I'm a member of the OU alumni association, I have told them preferred method of contact is email or snail mail. Any REAL donation requests have come through the mail, once or twice a year. As a result, I treat any calls from OU as a scam and don't answer the phone- no matter haw