Do you respond to telephone surveys?

I usually just say I'm not interested, and hang up, but I got a call from a woman working for a very well-known PO polling company (read: commissioned call center) about fifteen minutes ago, and she sounded so hesitant, apologetic, and downright scared that I decided to respond. Maybe her approach was all a ploy? Anyway, I told her right away that I wasn't a German citizen and therefore couldn't vote, but that I was politically opinionated, so she'd have to decide whether it was worthwhile interviewing me. The poll turned out to be all about telecommunications (land lines, cell phones, fax machines, Internet access and use), so I actually found it interesting. How do you react to such calls? I fear that I'm usually impolite.

Could it have been her first day? or maybe she has social phobia?

I get nervous if i have to call people that i dont know, or have to speak to someone that i havent met yet.

I dont get phone calls with surveys though?

I have a radio station that keeps calling me to rate the songs, but I did it once and the call lasted about 15 minutes! and they always call right when I get home, and the kitties MUST be fed! I tend not to answer the phone at all for unknown numbers, so they usually don't catch me

I totally screen my calls, so my answer is "no"
I'm too shy to talk to people I don't know.

We have call display and don't often pick up calls from numbers that we don't know. Occasionally, though, I'll pick it if I'm not up to my eyeballs in something, and if it's a survey, I'll often participate. (If it becomes a telephone solicitation, game over, NOW.) I figure at least some of the surveys are worth participating in -- if they are gathering marketing information, it can't hurt to have my/our habits and preferences reflected in their results. The worst that can possibly happen is I spend 10 minutes on the phone and nothing changes. And some of them are interesting.

I am on the do not call list ....

If the survey sounds interesting or reflects some aspect of life that I want to have a say in (like, whether or not we pre-empt good television shows like House for stupid baseball games or where do I think my tax dollars should be spent), then yes, I take the survey. Like another poster said, if it turns into solicitation, I end the call. I want my opinions and needs to be taken into consideration -- if I don't speak up, I can't complain later on. (Pretty much the same reason I have for voting, actually. If you don't vote, you don't have the right to complain about the results of the election -- unless, of course, you're not eligible to vote. In that case, complain away! )

Last time someone called for a survey, they asked for someone in the house over the age of 18 and I wasn't 18 yet so I just said sorry nobody here old enough and hung up. Now I only answer the phone if I know it is for me.

Depends which polling company it is and what they are calling about and what I am doing at the time. If its something I am not interested in at all I will say no, if it turns into a solicitation I just hang up, but if it is something I am interested in I will generally take the time to answer

We are on the do not call list-

I don't...I always say I'm heading out the door for work..but I am never rude, I just don't feel like talking to a stranger.

I respond with hanging up....hehehe

I have a feature on my phone that does NOT allow anyone with a private/blocked number to come through.Also, if I have a # come across that I don't know......I'll let the machine get it.

you are so funny, Nikki! we are on the do not call list, because seriously we used to get 5 telemarketing calls a day and it was so friggen annoying! this has nothing to do with this thread, but one time I haven't slept for a day and I was out in the snow in a santa hat and a dominos guy drove guy and I said something like "Domino's sucks, pizza hut is better.." I didn't say that more than once it was just because I was delerious. and that was when I was 16.

Originally Posted by Miagi's_Mommy

you are so funny, Nikki!

we are on the do not call list, because seriously we used to get 5 telemarketing calls a day and it was so friggen annoying!

this has nothing to do with this thread, but one time I haven't slept for a day and I was out in the snow in a santa hat and a dominos guy drove guy and I said something like "Domino's sucks, pizza hut is better.."

I didn't say that more than once it was just because I was delerious.

and that was when I was 16.

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It works You soo have to try it sometime- it really freaks them out! I'm on the do not call list- but sometimes those sneakly little punks get through anyways, and when they do, I LOVE to mess with them and thoroughly freak them out / Oh and I agree- Pizza Hutt ROCKS!!!!!!

Since I'm on the "do not call" list, I only get the political ones. Last week, once called and asked who I am voting for and told her that it was nobody's business, but my own.

One surveyor asked for the male head of the household. I told her that he doesn't speak English and, unless SHE spoke Catinese, he wasn't going to be able to answer her questions. Opie wasn't inclined to get out of my bed, anyway

We don't have a "Do Not Call" list here, but you can put your numbers, address, etc., on so-called "Robinson lists" to block unsolicited calls, faxes, mail or emails. I hate to talk on the phone, because I'm hearing-impaired, and even with a special phone I have trouble understanding callers, and usually hang up or put Jamie on the phone (he loves to meow into the phone!), but sometimes I get a guilty conscience, because I like to read survey results, and I feel sorry for the call-center employees. We don't bother with caller ID (extra charge), because I don't hear the phone unless I'm sitting right next to it at the computer, and hubby can't be bothered answering unless he's expecting a call. Label us "anti-social".

I am not bothered by these calls because, I don't have my own phone (at the present time).
when I had a phone, I was on the Do Not Call list