"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.
Wow there are a lot of people who really get bugged by these phone calls lol. Well if you don't know who it is then don't answer the phone- it's that simple. Any time you answer the phone and you don't know who it is, it's you're own fault if you get irritated. The call center I worked for in sherwood, AR had about 100 "interviewers" on the phone at all times, give or take 20. Most of the people working there are high school and college students, and a few elderly people who are retired and just want a little extra income. Trust me, the people on the other side of the line want you to hang up on them, I hated it every time someone wanted to do a survey. Luckily for me I wasn't on the phone for that long, cause I got to supervise. For all of you who are angry about this, calling the head office wont do anything. The only way to get them to stop calling you is, when you first realize who it is, ask to be taken off of their calling list. They should do it, but if you're rude to them or act like a dick, then the individual interviewer usually gets pissed and puts you on to get called again.
Now, if they call your cell phones, tell them that it is against FCC regulations to do surveys on cell phones and ask to speak to the floor manager, not the supervisor, and tell them you're going to press charges. That'll get you taken off of a few other companies' call lists as well. As for giving out your personal info- we have everything on the screen in front of us, your name, phone number, address and a few other bits of info- but we still had to ask for it for "verification." If you get a call from flake and you're afraid to give out your personal info, then oh well cause we had it all on a screen in front of us- we get it from your phone/tv/internet providers. If you want to get rid of them, the last thing you need to do is yell, cuss, or do anything that would piss them off cause, trust me, 95% of the time, that'll get you put back on the call list. Hope this helps.
oh, but if you do go ahead with the survey, the company ships out a bunch of free stuff to random participants like ipods, dvd players, tv's, etc. but odds are like 1 in over a million that it'll be you. so don't let that convince you.
http://fw-mi.com/
http://www.marketstrategies.com/fwmi/Default.htm
Flake-Wilkerson Market Insights has joined
Market Strategies International
http://www.marketstrategies.com/
800.420.9366
Market Strategies International
333 Executive Court, Suite 100
Little Rock, AR 72205
Phone: 501.221.3303
Fax: 501.221.2554
Go to their Contact Us webpage and there is a link to a Do Not Contact webpage.
There you can fill out a form that should guarantee you will receive a lot more telemarketing calls in the future, as well as spam.