I have received two calls in two days from two completely different numbers, leaving the same recorded message "OK, this is Mike Colton . . .") until they realize they're talking to my voicemail recorder. They pose as legitimate pollsters, and if you play along a couple of times when they call, you will eventually be asked for a donation to their "Informed Electorate" PAC. Then they call you frequently. Don't know them; definitely don't trust them......
Caller ID says "JOHN INFORM ELE". They leave a message. The beginning is cut off which makes me think it is either pre-recorded or an operator was not connected until after a machine heard my outgoing message. Their message is "... a yes or a no. Ahhh did you yourself vote in the last presidential election?" The voice was male, did not sound computer generated, and had an American accent.
They also called twice in 30 seconds which apparently is a method that telemarketers use to force a call through under some circumstances. That's a red flag.
If this was a real survey there would be a long preamble about the survey company. I don't think the lost initial segment was long enough for a preamble. Strike two.
The name on caller ID doesn't sound like a survey company. Strike three.
The initial question sounds a tad too direct. I suspect a "Can we have some money?" was coming up quickly. Strike four.
I call back after hours (using *67 to block my number). I transcribed the following so that no one else need call them,
"Thank you for calling the customer service line for Informed Electorate. This call may be recorded fow qualiy assurance. For better assistance, please, select from one of the following options:
Press 1 on your phone to find out who Informed Electorate PAC is and why you received a call.
Press 2 on your phone to get our website so you can look up more informtion about Informed Electorate PAC.
Press 3 on your phone to be put on our do-not-call list.
Or press 4 on your phone to talk to a live customer service representative.
Option 1 (find out who they are and why you received a call):
"OK, in a nutshell we're calling for a non-partisan Political Action Committee called Informed Electorate. As the name implies, we want to inform people on different current political issues, and get your opinion on those issues by using short 40-second one to two question surveys about once a month. Our organization's purpose is to make our voice matter more in the political world. So when we call back we hope that you can at least hear us out and answer our first one question survey. You can get more detailed information by going to our website at www.votethewill.org You can simply hang up or push 1 to return to the main menu."
Option 2 (get our website):
"Our website for Informed Electorate PAC is www.votethewill.org This will give you a bit more information about what we're doing, why we're calling, and why what we're doing is so important. You can simply hang up or push 1 to return to the main menu."
Option 4 (live customer rep):
"We apologize that we were not able to take your call at this time
Our normal hours of operation for the customer service department are:
Monday through Thursday 9:30 AM to 6 PM mountain standard time with a lunch from 3 to 3:30
and Friday 7:30 AM to 4 PM with a lunch from 1 to 1:30.
We are closed on Saturday and Sundays.
Otherwise, please, call back during our normal business hours so that we may assist you. Thank you and have a wonderful day."