240-453-2908

calls several times a day everyday. last call, they played elevator music to fill up my voice mail box so I couldn't recieve any voice mails. You would think we would all be protected from this kind of activity. Lets hope some mental nut finds out who they are and takes the problem in their own hands as we are being forsed to do.

They have called me every night now for a week, even at 6:47pm on Sunday. How can I get them to stop.  I have an unlisted number for a reason.

Hi all, I work for WESTAT and am here to say they are a LEGAL LEGITIMATE company. We conduct important government surveys. The data collected from subjects is always confidential and used strictly for government info. Many government programs rely on the data we collect so that thay may know how to proceed with certain programs. I hope this eases everyone's minds and maybe you all will open up a little and help us out by completing the surveys. Do it for your country! Do it to get your opinions heard by our government....they DO pay attention to the people.

Westat is NOT a government agency, they are an employee owned company that does research fro the government...along with businesses, foundations & local and state agencies. If research is all they are doing, why the personal questions not pertaining to the research they claim they are doing???????

This is a legitimate survey for the Department of Transportation.
I did a travel diary; received the info in the mail and checked
the website to make sure that it was an actual government action.
The people on the phone were very polite and professional with
all of the calls.

Just received a call from this number.  It was pertaining to the Dept of Transportation survey referenced above in another post.  The lady was very professional.  As a note, they did already have my address (and of course my phone number).  I balked at providing the names of my daughters and she was quick to say that they didn't need names for the kids.  I'm supposed to receive the travel diary next week so we'll see.

They called last night at 1 minute to 9PM.  I asked them to please not call me as I'm not interested.  Woman was persistant and just kept talking.  I advised I was on the do not call list and she stated that she did not care as she was doing a survey.  Suvey people are just as annoying as those telemarketers!  They should not be allowed to call the people on the do not call lists!!!!

you may work there but I tell you like the woman on the phone. go to hell

westat is a legitimate company. Westat.com is their website. I worked for them(dont any more) They conduct surveys for the government about health,transportation systems, smoking,the swine flu, and about anything you see national statistics for.
The way to get rid of them is tell them you are going to report them,you'll call your lawyer,  ask for a project managers name and phone number. Threaten will legal action and you will be removed. The person calling cant remove you, its all done on computer behind the seens. The people are hard working trying to make a honest living, not taking handouts from welfare.Although I hate westat because they treat their employees like [***], the employees for the most part are good honest people. And no its not against the law and is exempt from the do not call list because they call for the government and aren't telemarketers.If you live in California or Minnesota and are a smoker, you might want to do the survey to protect your rights. California no longer allows smoking in public places, beaches, golf courses, etc and cities are banning smoking even in your own home, all because of the California smoking study. Sounds a bit like Hitler to me. If you want to protect your rights, this is how to do it, and you wont hear that in the news.

westat is a legitimate company. Westat.com is their website. I worked for them(dont any more) They conduct surveys for the government about health,transportation systems, smoking,the swine flu, and about anything you see national statistics for.
The way to get rid of them is tell them you are going to report them,you'll call your lawyer,  ask for a project managers name and phone number. Threaten will legal action and you will be removed. The person calling cant remove you, its all done on computer behind the seens. The people are hard working trying to make a honest living, not taking handouts from welfare.Although I hate westat because they treat their employees like [***], the employees for the most part are good honest people. And no its not against the law and is exempt from the do not call list because they call for the government and aren't telemarketers.If you live in California or Minnesota and are a smoker, you might want to do the survey to protect your rights. California no longer allows smoking in public places, beaches, golf courses, etc and cities are banning smoking even in your own home, all because of the California smoking study. Sounds a bit like Hitler to me. If you want to protect your rights, this is how to do it, and you wont hear that in the news.

westat is a legitimate company. Westat.com is their website. I worked for them(dont any more) They conduct surveys for the government about health,transportation systems, smoking,the swine flu, and about anything you see national statistics for.
The way to get rid of them is tell them you are going to report them,you'll call your lawyer,  ask for a project managers name and phone number. Threaten will legal action and you will be removed. The person calling cant remove you, its all done on computer behind the seens. The people are hard working trying to make a honest living, not taking handouts from welfare.Although I hate westat because they treat their employees like [***], the employees for the most part are good honest people. And no its not against the law and is exempt from the do not call list because they call for the government and aren't telemarketers.If you live in California or Minnesota and are a smoker, you might want to do the survey to protect your rights. California no longer allows smoking in public places, beaches, golf courses, etc and cities are banning smoking even in your own home, all because of the California smoking study. Sounds a bit like Hitler to me. If you want to protect your rights, this is how to do it, and you wont hear that in the news.

The reason they say they are not held by the rules of the DNC list is that they are not "soliciting". If you take the time to find out about them, rather than reading all the lame ways to avoid the calls, you will find that this is how the state of the public infrastructure has come to be the gridlocked mess it is. The National Household Travel survey is legitimate, as is the California Health survey, the minnesota attitudes toward smoking, et al. If someone tells you they can't take you off a list, it's because there isn't one. Out of all the available numbers in your area, they select a random group. They don't know until they call that it is a residence or a business. The reason the cell phone questions, the DOT wants to reach that group of people who only use a cell phone vs a cell and land line. no one mentions the fact that there is cash in those envelopes you threw away, your loss. The reason they call a number over and over with no message, is because it there has been a message left previously, and the point is not to bother people, it's to do legitimate social science research on populations, driving habits, fears regarding letting your kid walk to school or being hit by a car...anyone have a complaint about people speeding through their residential neighborhoods? this is where the info is entered into the big vat of problems this society has. If a company is not willing to be transparent and let you research them, then they are probably a scam......don't be stupid people. PS, this company recently fired me...doesn't mean the research isn't legitimate. Have a voice instead of complaining about the state of things in America.....Do you know who "They" are, of They say, they  recommend....it is YOU! Speak up and quit whining about someone wanting your opinion. Also, you know how we don't give children aspirin because of the link to Reyes syndrome? Westat research discovered that connection doing a health study. C'mon, people...how jaded can we be? Also, if you have a rude person on the phone, complain to them, they are being monitored and if they don't handle your call and objections appropriately, they are gone, as there is a level of professionalism that is expected from the employees, and if half the people here got the info they say they did about not being able to stop the calls, they probably don't work there anymore!!

If they continue to call after you tell them to remove you from the list they are in violation of Federal law, and willful violation of the law makes them criminals.  Since this is a group of people conspiring to violate Federal law as a means of achieving financial gain  they may be in violation of the RICO law.  Therefore, they are NOT legitmate.  A business license and a building are not the only things needed for a business to be operating legitimately.  Ethical conduct and an earnest effort to comply with the law are also key factors in legitimacy.  Think about it.

They are legit.. this is how we as citizens are able to receive statistics on different subjects. Go to their website, and stop thinking the world is after you. They are in no violation b/c they are government assignments and research studies. Duh?? Did any of you go to college? Take a stats class... maybe then you'll understand. Your participation may be crucial because you are the sample from that area!!

These folks are real pushy. They claim to be conducting a survey for the University of California system. After they left THREE voice messages, I answered their next call and asked them to take me off the list. They refused and persisted in asking me questions, which I refused to answer. I just filed a complaint with the National Do Not Call Registry. If they call me again, I will ask them to hold and leave them hanging.

Them why don't you leave messages and act professional, What have you got to hide. I am reportiing you guys on the DO NOT CALL List. You are annoying!

Hi Ex-Westat employee.

Would you please email me at Josch799@yahoo.com. Maybe you can help me.  

I am also an ex-Westat employee.  I worked there for 10 years. Then I got sick and disabled and they fired me. They refused job accommodation and did a number on me.  I have heard other ex-westat employees relay   similar experiences. You get sick, you get fired.   Do you know of other instances like this happening? Or other people being fired without cause?

Like you, I also have mixed feelings about working there.  The people in my group were great, hardworking, smart and sincere. The work environment, however, was not good.  It was like working in a factory, from the dingy little offices with the crappy carpeting to the way that work was structured. Luckily I was a higher grade, so I rated an office with a window.

Unless you were a vice president (and they have a lot of them) you are treated like crap. Just an expendable number. When I worked at Research Blvd, there were 2100 employees, packed into little cubes or small dingy offices.

Part of Westat's problem is that it was a very small company until about 15 years ago and then they won some huge government contracts and  became a gigantic company.  As a result, people with little managerial experience who were with the company when it was small, rose to high managerial levels in the company when it became huge. Their lack of experience and people skills really shows.

When I worked there, the top managers readily stated that Westat's  employee owned moniker is only done for marketing.   All of the power is in the hands of the vice presidents.  Westat touts extra employee-owned benefits, but I had much better benefits from regular for profit research firms than employee-owned Westat.

Like dental insurance. One thing is for sure, if you work at Westat for any period of time, your teeth will rot, since that employee owned company does not offer their employees any type of dental insurance.

Plus Westat is super cheap when it comes to salaries. They use a large number of Chinese aliens in the Health Sciences workforce. The Chinese are gross underpaid and kept in "slavery" by the Green Card.   Some of my Chinese friends left Westat in frustration, because Westat was so slow processing their residency applications (even though Westat promised to actively help them when they were hired. A friend who worked in personnel, told me that this was done purposefully by Westat, to keep labor costs down. When I was there, there were a few chinese physicians and engineers working in health sciences and being paid at the same salary as low level programmers.

Overall, it's a very conservative company that is extremely regimented.  They make a big distinction between program and systems people, with the systems people being subordinate to the program people. An inordinate amount of time is spent on task lists, with little thought and emphasis on project outcomes and goals.

If you can please contact me.
Thanks

If you couldn't tell, I'm a complete moron.

Callled at 8:45 pm Sun eve. Said they were a research firm doing a survey for USC on health issue in CA. My number was randomly picked, wanted to know name, address age sex and number in household. I declined. He said that we could do the survey with no name, but wanted address, city ect. Questions would involve, race, living conditions, sexual activity etc. I declined to answer the survey they said they would call later during the week.

Keeps calling my home and I have told them I am not interested