I had them call me today. They were quite polite... When you don't speak English to them. I ALWAYS answer the phone from a number I don't know in Spanish. Hell, my Spanish sucks too, any High School first year Spanish class student is better than me; But that's besides the point here. I always answer the phone with a 'Hola' and say nothing more. Let them do the talking. All you need to know is two more words, 'No' and 'Si'. They figure it out real quick that you don't speak their language(those racist b@stards!) and quickly hang up.
i used to recieve constant calls to my cell phone from this number and never answered. until one day i left my phone in my room while i was downstairs for a minute and my boyfriend heard it ring...picked it up with a stupid "old lady" voice lol and no answer.
then he just kept saying hello with his normal voice and still no answer just silence. They never called again after that buuuut now i'm getting annoying [***] phone calls from some 866 number now.
Received a call from this company yesterday evening. The lady explained that they were hired by Duke Energy to conduct research about their company and their website. It was a paid survey for $10. These people are a legitimate research company. I requested the name of their company and their website (http://www.stoneresearchservices.com/aboutus.htm) before agreeing to the survey. Received the survey tonight via e-mail, and it was very simple to complete. You just might be surprised if you answer the phone.
While I am not thrilled that my phone number was shared with this research company, I was pleasantly surprised that they wanted to pay me for my time. Also, if you want to be removed from their calling list, just give them a call at (888) 896-4866 and request to be removed. They honestly have nothing to sell and didn't ask any personal questions. And if you are afraid to give your email address out for SPAM reasons, give them a disposable email address like mailinator or spamgourmet.
I don't like bogus 800-888-866 calls any more than the next person, but this one seems legit to me. They aren't a bill collector, debt collector, salesperson, charity begger, etc. Hope this helps someone!
Anwered the call a night or two ago. They said they're doing reserach for electric companies and they seemed to know mine. Better, they offered $10 for completion of an online survey that would come via my email. So far, however, no sign of any email.