"Me" posted on Sept 2007 research companies are exempt from the do not call list.
That's NOT true. Those companies will tell you the same thing, too. Look CLOSELY at the FTC code, and it does NOT say "research" companies are exempt. If you want to get specific - they'r soliciting for information. But in fact... government surveys and non-profit research are the ONLY exempt! I went head to head with a research CEO, and finally conceded I was correct.
Just got a call from this number at 4:30pm on a Saturday.
I picked up and they asked "Is Aushtha there?" In hindsight she may have been asking for "Arthur", but having just woken up and with the thick african-american-southern-US accent I couldn't really make it out well. I said "I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong number" she said "Thank you" and they hung up casually. (It's just a matter of dialect that I'm not familiar with speaking to and understanding over a cellphone on a cold-call.)
This is the first time this number has called me.
There was no automation, no hostility, no rudeness on their part.
It wasn't until after I hung up that I decided to look into it.