Abt Associates review: Harassing phone calls 54

Company calls EVERYDAY even after we repeatedly request no calls. NO SURVEYS!

They repeatedly call my house. We have asked them to stop but they don't. They called on 6/19/2009 and I told them they called me 3 times so far this week. She denied the fact that her company called. I told her I have caller id and I know for a fact that they have called. She was very argumentative. When I again asked that they stop calling, she snapped at me.
I have turned them in to the do not call registry and of course the do not call registry did nothing.

If a company cannot train its callers to be polite even in the face of a negative attitude, then they have no right to be making cold calls (even for beneficial polls) in the first place. If the caller became (or could have been perceived as) argumentative, hostile, or snappish, then he or she should not have been in his or her position. Period.

I have been receiving these calls all week. I've had telephone issues, so the first 3 or 4 days that they called non-stop (probably 15 times), in all fairness to them, they heard nothing that I said. (It was a speaker problem on the mouthpiece of the phone.) I was very nice the first 2 times that I spoke with them. I told them that I was not interested in taking a sports programming survey. I also told them the first 2 times to take me off of their call list, and they informed me that they do not have a "call list" to remove me from. Finally, the 3rd and last time (a few moments ago - hence the reason I'm researching the company), I was not nice. I told them that I would spend more time researching how to pursue harassment charges against them than I will ever take for a survey. As far as the comment about it being quicker to take a survey "beneficial to society", please inform me, how are my sports programming preferences beneficial to society - I'm really not attacking you, I just don't think you know what the company is like. It doesn't matter that it is quicker to answer a survey than research reporting them, because the fact of the matter is, based on my experience with them thus far, if you answer one, they'll probably call for the rest of your life - after all, you answered their questions:(

this is in response to calmdown. First of all, I gave them plenty of time to give me a reason for the call. The first and second time they called and told me they were conducting a survey and what the survery was, I told them I was not interesting in participating and asked that they stop calling. They told me no. I was very nice the first 2 times they called. I asked them twice to stop calling but they would not. I have rights too. They should have stopped calling after the first time I asked them to stop. If they are requited to stop calling when they are asked, then why did they keep calling?

More often than not, when we call a household, one person will answer and refuse the survey, but when we call again and reach someone else, they will take the survey.

Improving sports television programming may not benefit you directly, but companies need to know about the consumers awareness of programming in order to improve their market strategy. SRBI also does many government/federal surveys in order understand a wide variety of things such as: the amount of those with and the experiences of those with Asthma, The Health Departments have contracted us to find out about individual awareness of certain illnesses and how they can create better programs for adults in children to increase their awareness.

We do call until someone answers. We do not leave messages and sometimes you will get a busy tone when you return a call to the number on your caller ID. This is because we have so many on going studies that you must ask the person on the phone with you for a specific verification phone number. They should give that to you if you need or want it. Also, to verify our company you can stop by the firm in New York, New York or visit http://www.srbi.com

I cannot speak for those who conduct themselves rudely over the telephone, we are monitored and apparently that person wasn't being monitored at the time. But how would you feel if you were in college, trying to make it on your own, forced into this sort of job because employment opportunities are terrible right now, you are required to make a quota for completion, and before you can even introduce yourself or the company, someone wants to tell you how scummy you are, how low your IQ must be, and generally very nasty. All because you are trying to improve how their tax dollars are spent. We are everyday people who receive the same phone calls- sometimes 6x a day or better. I've never been rude to a single one- not even a telemarketer. They have never been rude to me. Karma.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.- Newtons Third Law of Motion. However, this can be applied to everyday situations.

to advocate_srbi - perhaps you should train your callers not to be rude to the people they are calling. I politely refused to participate and that is when an srbi person got rude with me. Yes, I understand things are tough. They are pretty much always tough for c0llege students. However, I an not interested in taking sports surveys. In addition, when I ask that I not be called anymore, I expect that the srbi person will accept that and not call anymore. No need for srbi employees to refuse or be rude about it. They need to understand that I work too.

These people just called my house 3 freaking times just TODAY! I'm SO sick of these calls. I told them that no one here is interested and we don't have the time. Yet they STILL call!

Listen up, Advocate_srbi, The very next time your company calls my house, I'm getting my attorney on the phone and we will file a class action lawsuit for harassment.

Ridiculous!

Will not cease calling at all hours of the day

Advocate_srbi, with all the lame excuses that you are giving, people also have lives, and you dont forget there are 1000's of other BS companies calling homes thinking they are making a difference, but infact just annoying the [censored] out of people. Leave them alone and talk to friends/family etc if you want to know what people want to watch on TV or whatever. All you care is the $$ you make from the research, nothing more..

I have found only one way to deal with these intrusive, rude, unwarranted, and continuous calls. I got an endless string of these calls and asked each time to be taken off their list. I got no response, just a continued spiel, ignoring me completely. On the last call, I used a very shrill, ear splitting police whistle and had to keep this up for about a minute before they gave up. I have had no calls since. I don't know what Advocate_srbi has been smoking but he is way off base!

I agree with Advocate. There are a few things I will add however.

1. Employees are trained not to be rude. They are also told before they even start employment that if they don't have an abundance of patience, then this job is not for them.

2. Advocate is right, they are monitored, and if that rude employee was monitored, then he was immediately fired. If that employee was not monitored, chances are that it is only a matter of time before he is caught being rude and fired.

If an interviewer is being rude to you, you should call the company and inform them of the incident, giving them as much information as possible and they will investigate the issue and take care of the offending employee.

I also agree with Calmdown, you people are just ridiculous. Especially you Kathryn. You seem like you make a living off of lawsuits. To you, I suggest you get a real job. And to you, Stopthecallsnow, there is not a single person on this planet that can honestly say they do not have 5 minutes to spare. Ok, so you got a crappy sports survey, I will give you that much, that does suck and doesn't benefit you.

However this company does more than sports surveys. They do a lot of health studies that do benefit you, so if anyone gets a call on behalf of the department of public health or the CDC, I suggest you take a few minutes out of your time.

The main reason being that, for the health studies, they only have so many phone numbers that they can call, and if your number is randomly generated for the health studies it cannot be replaced with another. Basically what that means is that if you refuse to participate, then your area of the state will not be properly represented. Imagine if everyone in your area refused to participate, then the government would look at that and say, "Well, it seems everyone in this area of the state are 100% healthy and have absolutely no problems whatsoever. Let's cut spending and cancel health programs in that area and spend it in areas that do need it."

You might be saying "What do I care if a few programs in my area get canceled?" Well, that's fine if you don't care about health programs such as free clinics for financially challenged individuals, or CPR training programs, or Child and Babysitting Safety programs, or first aid training programs. But if that's the case I hope you are not surprised if you start choking or cut yourself on something and no one can help you because they are not trained to and have no idea how to help. And Kathryn seems the type of person that would sue you for performing the Heimlich and cracking a rib, so if she starts choking its probably best to just leave her alone with her closed windpipe.

@Annoyed with Stupid People

For one thing- the government is not that damn stupid to think, "Oh gee, nobody's answering the ABT SRBI surveys, they must be healthy! CANCEL ALL BENEFICIAL PROGRAMS!"

And if this company is relying on only a few numbers for surveys, then their research is absolutely horrible and it shouldn't be used. Yeah, so they're calling my house and let's say they're also calling a few of my neighbors. Well, no one here has a debilitating mental illness, so what? Is the government going to suddenly close down all mental health institutions? Of course they're not.

This time last year I was in college. Suppose ABT SRBI called me and a few other people in my college town. Would they cancel Medicare in that area because everyone they talked to was under 30? No.

So, your logic is flawed and therefore null. I suggest you learn more about our government and statistics before you go off making such ridiculous claims. It would also be nice if you weren't such a jerk to the other people who have been posting here.

@Advocate_SRBI
I'm sorry that you were apparently "forced" into such a job while you're in college. I understand being in a bad job. I worked in a dining court throughout the majority of my years at college; though it's interesting because I had a choice to work there. I know that times are rough, and they're hard for a college student, but I don't believe you are forced to work at such a place.

Anyway, you wanted to point out that you're just a lowly college student trying to make money with SRBI, but consider that I'm a college graduate and I'm trying to start my career. A lot of the jobs I apply for have to be done online. I'm on a dial-up service because no one can afford Satellite Connections and Wireless isn't available out here. So, whenever your company calls- they knock me offline. Do you know how many times I've had to restart an application because of this damn company?

You're trying to make money? I'm just trying to get a job.

When ABT SRBI did not get a pick up, they used another number whocalled.us / [protected] and bothered us again on that one. Who on this planet likes being invaded by ash hats by phone during their busy day, on behalf of gluttonous corporate piggery who is tring to rip us off more. This isn't society, this is telephone war lords stomping my life, and one day, these "people" and their marketing goons will find out the hard way what we'd like to have happen to them.

BTW that was not neutral of me, or others in this household, it is totally in agreement with the complaint. You should see what's on the other harassment boards about this compiggery.

'employees not trained to be rude' is such a BS cop out from a criminal minded sleazebag. You invade our privacy and our right to PEACEFUL ENJOYUMENT OF OUR LIVES, IN THE PRIVACY OF OUR HOMES, you get treated the same as some Jehovah's witnesses trespoassing - we call th e police, or we shoo them off at the end of a gun (lgela BYW) if need be. We can't do that over the phone, so we scream "LEAVE US ALONE, YOU TELEPHONE HOME INVASION PIGS"... and then they feel that they can call us anything they want. It's like a rapist who thinks he has a right to rape just because he suddenly has caught a victim who didn't have sense to run away. Boy they hide behind that telephone because they know if in person, they'd be shot on sight, no questions asked.

... and we threw out our TV in favor of more intelligent programming that can never be found over the airwaves. Why the heck are they calling US of all ppl, using an illegal home invasion ploy, when we could care less about the bilge they arrange to fly over the airwaves.

Personally I don't take surveys over the phone. I couldn't care less about what you want. So, when you call and I say don't bother me, leave me the heck alone. This crap about someone else answering at the same number is bs since there are many single people out there and just who do you think will answer the second time, or third time or the tenth time. If someone says no, no means no. My 4 yr old knows that! I guess you think we are all just sitting at home hoping a solicitor will call or someone like you. If I'm busy, don't push it. Your arguing with me isn't a tactic that promotes cooperation.

I think a fun thing to do with calls like this is to talk to the person as long as you can without actually answering the survey. Ask them about their company. What its for. Ask them where they live, everything about themselves. Ask them more about their company. When they ask a question, ask questions about the question.

Lead them on and see how long you can keep them on the phone before the hang up. Be very polite and nice while you are doint this. Its very fun.

All of you need to get a life. If you don't want telemarketers calling you, you can always disconnect your phone...

Why on earth should I give up my valuable time for free so a company can get paid?

While I don't plan on doing anything crazy or time consuming to make them stop, I figure enough, "No, thank you's" should eventually get the job done. If not, there is contact information on the site for a bunch of people I could call if it came to that.

You all who are scared of phones calls are a bunch of pussies, you listen to what they say, tell them you are not interested and request to be on the "do not contact list" and tell them you have a nice day.

Abt SRBI does not sell anything so the DO NO CALL LIST does not apply, the FCC will also tell you not to put in bogus complaints. I work there and get this ignorance all the time, usually you are being called to do a survey on major issues around the country or a survey about your health for your local health department to better evaluate the healthcare in your state or county.

WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO DO IS STOP COMPLAINING ALTOGETHER AND FIND A REAL SOLUTION TO STOPPING THIS COMPANY FROM RELENTLESSLY CALLING DAY AFTER DAY. COMPLAINING WILL DO NOTHING TO STOP THE CALLS. ]

IF SOMEONE KNOWS OF A WAY TO TRULY GET THE CALLS TO STOP, OR KNOWS SOMEONE WHO DOES, THAT PERSON NEEDS TO SHARE THAT INFORMATION WITH THE REST OF US.

i work for them and we dont give a [censor] if you take the survey or not.! we still get paid for sitting on the phone. wether you listen hang up or ramble. Money Money Money Money!

meant to also pot this: I am a former Abt SRBI employee, I was fired due to the fact they didn't want t give me daytime hours. but anyway the problem your having is because the do not call list applies only to telemarketing (solicitation), they aren't trying to sell you anything, it's generally survey research usually for government owned clients relating to your health or government reviews. The reason they cant put you on the DNC list is because there isn't one for survey research, and don't tell them your not interested either, they will only code it as a cbu (call back unspecified), especially if they ask you if your busy and you say yes. you got 6 ways to get them to stop 1. tell them you don't want to be called again 2. tell them your terminally ill (gets the employee to not lose hours as they treat us like slaves and work is scarce) 3. say your a kid (17 or so works) and this is your personal line and your parents have their own 4. say you are not a resident of where you live(usually they are calling for a specific region or city) 5. say they reached a cell phone or 6. say this is your business line. But remember if you hang up on them before the end of their intro, they code it as a hang-up and will call you back in 90 min. because the computer picks numbers at random so they have no control over who they call, or when the number pops up. the employees here get no commision just 8 bucks an hour to be treated miserably, as we worked in a moldy building, had our "down time" tracked, (they timed our bathroom trips and limitd them) we get no leave time or sick time (i worked up to the day i gave birth, i tried to work that day too because i was scared i'd be "let go" or fired) . And to top it all off SRBI employees are just as miserable conducting surveys as you are getting the call to take them, we get nothing but hounded if our co-op is bad and sent home after only 2 hrs of working if we can't produce enough completed surveys for them.

@FED-UP! (I posted this on another complaint too) am a former Abt SRBI employee, I was fired due to the fact they didn't want t give me daytime hours. but anyway the problem your having is because the do not call list applies only to telemarketing (solicitation), they aren't trying to sell you anything, it's generally survey research usually for government owned clients relating to your health or government reviews. The reason they cant put you on the DNC list is because there isn't one for survey research, and don't tell them your not interested either, they will only code it as a cbu (call back unspecified), especially if they ask you if your busy and you say yes. you got 6 ways to get them to stop
1. tell them you don't want to be called again
2. tell them your terminally ill (gets the employee to not lose hours as they treat us like slaves and work is scarce)
3. say your a kid (17 or so works) and this is your personal line and your parents have their own
4. say you are not a resident of where you live(usually they are calling for a specific region or city)
5. say they reached a cell phone or
6. say this is your business line.
But remember if you hang up on them before the end of their intro, they code it as a hang-up and will call you back in 90 min. because the computer picks numbers at random so they have no control over who they call, or when the number pops up. the employees here get no commision just 8 bucks an hour to be treated miserably, as we worked in a moldy building, had our "down time" tracked, (they timed our bathroom trips and limitd them) we get no leave time or sick time (i worked up to the day i gave birth, i tried to work that day too because i was scared i'd be "let go" or fired) . And to top it all off SRBI employees are just as miserable conducting surveys as you are getting the call to take them, we get nothing but hounded if our co-op is bad and sent home after only 2 hrs of working if we can't produce enough completed surveys for them. Also fyi, if you get the calls every 15 min. it's because your phone made a busy signal on the other end and the computer labels it as "busy" until it reaches you so it keeps calling, until it reaches a household and a comment code is written/taken

Also @ abt-srbiworker, you sound like a newbie, just remember you level 1's are the first to get the boot at x-mas time, and all they will say is "Happy Holidays" but if you do fairly well (at least 5 complete's a night) they will just cut your hours until you get 6 hours per week! no joke, it's always a very un-happy holiday for srbi employees who don't have a 2nd and 3rd part-time jobs, if you look around you'll notice only the zombies seem to come to work not miserable around x-mas time, and that's only if they aren't sick. and by zombies I mean the ppl you see who do nothing but work and sleep they got 2 - 3 jobs to carry them through and take maybe 1 day off a week. and if your in the Florida call center, beware of the mold and mildew in the building it will make you very sick, the company will report it's pish-posh but then you got to wonder why people walk around with surgeons masks on and allergy pills and inhalers.

here is some food for thought for those of you complaining about the calls. First we call for the cdc brfss survey. Look it up google brfss and you will learn something. Second complaining to the fcc will not work. First we are not selling anything so the do not call list does not affect us. Also google fcc and abt srbi together and you will see we have done surveys for the fcc so obviously they dont think we are a bad company. If you see our number simply answer as a business when asked if you are a business say yes you are out of our computer simple one call solution. Have a good day.

I have a college degree and work at an srbi call center because this is the best paying low level job here. I take pride in my professiona manner and I find it frustrating that people don't understand that these are not malicious calls. The only reason SRBI still does ESPN surveys is because they were grandfathered in from the company who used to work in this space. SRBI predominantly sticks to government and university studies. As for the dialing, we don't have a call list but once a number has been randomly dialed it is kept in the system. For any kind of research study to be valid, you have to have a random sample. This ensures your findings can be generalized about for the larger population. If people had a basic understanding of statistics this would mean more to them. Then again, as much as I appreciate what we do it's frustrating to be villianized by respondents just for making an honest dollar. I wish that there was an easier way for respondents to opt out but when we say their opnions are valuable it's because they really are. SRBI gets paid by research institutions to produce data. The CDC, gov agencies both federal and state as well as universities don't have the manpower and resources to do important survey research. SRBI on the other hand is equipped to make thousands of calls to potential respondents on their behalf. We aren't emotional masochists and I wish I didn't have to call people who hate me and yell at me but I have to obey company protocol if I want to keep my income. I think a lot of these complainers don't realize their own social and economic privilige. I am proud of the work I do for SRBI and I treat every single respondent with respect. Very few of them do the same for me and try to understand what I'm trying to do. I regret that our protocol requires us to commit this so called "harassment" as I'm sire it seems like that to some of you, but it really just boils down to the fundamentals of statistical survey research. Once your number has been randomly generated, *it cannot be replaced.* The irony is that my degree in political science actually provides a substantial background in social science research but this isn't exactly what I thought my postgraduate life would be like. SRBI research associates who are rude and unprofessional drive me nuts and I work had to do my best to be patient and understanding with what my job requires me to do. If someone calls you to do an ESPN survey I almost don't blame you for getting angry but please please remember that the person on the other line has no control of policies and procedures. If you get called for a health study keep in mind it's for the CDC and most of what we know about health behavior data we get from the BRFSS study, a 26 year old ongoing study conducted in all 50 states. SRBI employees are basically the grunt workers of American survey research. Speaking of American, at least these jobs haven't been outsourced! Seriously, If I coded things incorrectly and said "do not cal back" for everyone who hung up on me I'd lose my job and my ability to procure food. Reading these comments make me really sad and make an already difficult job even harder.

I also once worked for S.R.B.I. and have good memories of the time that I was
gainfully employed there. I loved the staff, and the job was interesting and never tedious. We were paid a decent wage, and never had to do anything questionable, it was a good company and a good place to work. Btw, I was at
the LongBranch facility, and I often look back and wish I were still there.
W.T.P.

I just got this call, too. It is 8:35 PM and that ### woke up my 2 year old and when I told her ignorance that she copped an attitude..."I din know you had a kid" and I did NOT spell didn't wrong, her useless slang was also inapropriate. I bet she also "din" know my name. It is HIGHLY inapropriate to call ANYONE at 8:35 at night. I thoought there were laws about that. I DO, however, have the solution...air horns. I KNOW from teenage experience at a call center that when this happens a number CAN and WILL be TERMINATED from the "system". It is a safety precaution because it WILL blow out an eardrum and DESTROY some systems. I am telling you, when a caller gets a bloody ear, they remember that number and put out the warning NOT to call it. I am on my way in the morning to go get me one cuz when I moved it accidentally got left behind. Now that theese calls have started back up again (after a really nice 35 day vacation and a changed number) I will be pimpin hearing aids one unwanted call at a time! Have a nice sign language class you SRBI ###! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I almost want to post my phone number just so I can personally thin out the herd...

At abt SRBI we DO NOT HAVE A "DO NOT CALL LIST". All of the numbers are generated RANDOMLY by a computer. Unless the call is labled as a HARD REFUSAL aka. you "Curse at them", or a number 22 aka. a "Business", then they will continue to call. JUST SAY THAT YOU ARE A BUSINESS! Then the calls WILL STOP!

Child Safety Survey: Just tell them that you have NO children! DO NOT HANG UP! If you hang up or say that you do not have enough time, then they WILL call back in 3-5 days. If you say that you are NOT INTERESTED, then they WILL call back as well! it is called coding calls as an UNSPECIFIED CALLBACK! AKA. Code 7.

just took an opinion poll. The caller was civil, identified herself very clearly, responded to questions I had about the firm and the questions neutrally and helpfully, and the poll itself was very well-designed (I've taken an interest in these things) and very unlike the usual crap push poll robo-calls I hate so much.

I am on a no-call list, so I was skeptical, but this was a good experience.

If ABT SRBI is a legit survey firm, why would they want input from me? I"m so fed up with their harassing calls, I wouldn't give them the time of day. For that matter, why would they want input from anyone they have to harass and bully. I've read a lot of inane b.s. about how my number was picked at random, etc. How did their computer manage to randomly pick both my landline and cell numbers. If the computer does not get any answer on one number, it calls the other. Random, I don't think so. If I block one of SRBI's numbers, they use a different one. Right now, I have four different SRBI numbers blocked but I'm sure they have more they will use. I do report each offending call to the FTC on the grounds that I've asked these idiots repeatedly to stop harassing
me. Their attitude is that I will eventually wear down and answer their survey. Not going to happen! They may claim to be exempt from the DNC restrictions but no company is
exempt from the laws governing harassment by telephone and these people richly deserve to be called to account by the Florida attorney general. I advise everyone who is being harassed by ABT SRBI to complain to their own state's attorney general and to report every call to the DNC registry if they have requested SRBI to stop callling.

The biggest problem with phone surveys is not the fact that we "harass" people, but that fact that the same people ### about there being no jobs in this country are the ones who hang up the phone or even worse, treat someone like they are a second rate citizen for performing important research. I am never calling to sell, but people are stingy with their time and it can mean someone getting their hours cut. You cannot tell the FCC on us because we are a legitimate company. I have more of a chance getting an FCC complaint in about canvassing Jehovah witnesses that you would at trying to take down a harmless research company.

you sound not unlike a sociopath. it's a quick survey and you may be helping someone keep a job. Not your problem right?

Do any of you all actually know what the DNC Registry is? Hmm, well lets take a look shall we?
"The National Do Not Call Registry is intended to give U.S. consumers an opportunity to limit the telemarketing calls they receive."
Now...Lets take a look at the definition of telemarketing!
Telemarketing: A method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent face to face or Web conferencing appointment scheduled during the call.

Abt SRBI conducts surveys, they DO NOT sell anything! So for those of you who are ignorant enough to report them to the DNC Registry you are not accomplishing anything! So for the few minutes you could have taken to participate in a survey, (one for which if you participate, you will not be called again) you are taking that time, and wasting it by reporting it to a registry who can not help you at all!

Congrats on your brilliance guys, I think it deserves a round of applause!

So I'm getting calls multiple times a day... even though I'm on the Do Not call list. My favorite are ones that come every single day at 8:30 pm... when my 18 month old is asleep. I don't mind if you call me once, I'll politely tell you no thank you and remind you that I'm on the do not call list. But when you call me 15 times over the course of three days, and then try to deny to me that you did (even though I have caller ID that logs the times of the call), well, then maybe I'm not so nice at that point.