734-647-0000

This is a University of Michigan trunk line.  All U of M calls (hospital, clinic, university admissions, finanial aid, professors offices, etc., etc.) will go through this number or a similar trunk number which will show up on caller id.  U of M workers know this trunk number is what shows up on the receivers caller id.  If it's appropriate, they will leave you a message with a call back number that will get you to the person or office who called.  Unfortunately, if you don't have voicemail, you won't know who to call.

734-647-0000 keeps calling, states as part of an economic survey. First offered $5 to answer questions; went to $10, now at $15. Caller ID may say Univ. of Michigan but calling ID can be faked. Wants bank account number for direct deposit of their "payment"- DON'T DO IT!!!  This is big time fishing- give 'em a number and watch your account evaporate.

This is not a scam, it's a economic study and they pay you by check and you can refuse the money.

This is not true, they will not ask you for direct deposit number. It is not 'phishing'.

734-647-0000 is for ALL University of Michigan outgoing lines. This is not just admissions, hospitals, tickets, etc, It is for all of UM.

Got a call today at 4pm or so;(07/14/2012)..No mssge left

4th time they have called - I told them to remove me from their call list - states they are from University of Michigan wanted to do a survey on the economy.  Very pushy when I tried to tell them NO!

For those of you being offered money for an economic survey, it is legitimate. It's the Reuters survey of consumer attitudes and has been running for decades. Their Institute for Social Research conducts several prominent studies.

And btw, they're pushy because their research sample is scientifically selected and randomized, and they can't replace people who don't want to participate.

Also for Michigan Radio (based at Univ of MIchigan)

Actually it is not a scam as I have been paid by them twice. I am now completing a stop smoking program with them in which they are paying me $40. It is 100% legit.

For those of you who are being offered to do a study on the economy, it's completely 100% legit. When you hear on the news about "consumer confidence" or "sentiment", it's from research like that that they get their numbers. This is pure academic research, which is why they're allowed to call you even if you're on the Do Not Call list. The same thing with charities, they're allowed to call as well. So you can whine all day about "Why are you calling me? I'm on the DNC list!", it means absolutely nothing.

How did they get your number? It was randomly generated. Yes, the computer decided which area of the country needed representation and then randomly picked a phone number in that area. Your number. If you choose not to do the research study, no, they can't just call someone else. Why? You are the ONLY PERSON representing your area.

You have 2 very simple options:

1. Do the survey. Receive a check in the mail after the month is over.
-or-
2. Don't answer your phone. After the month is over, they move on to a completely new set of people and you won't be called again.

By the way, if you DO do the survey, it's very easy. No right or wrong answers, they just want to know what you think is going to happen. Are gas prices going to go up or down? Things like that. Give short, to-the-point answers, don't rant/rave/go off on a tangent, and it will be over before you know it AND you were paid for it.

This is the public-facing "number" from all calls coming from within the University of Michigan. They maintain their own internal phone system, with tens of thousands of phones. Any call originating from any of those phones and going to a phone outside the university's internal network will appear to come from this number. This does not include calls from within the Hospital system, which come from 734-232-0000.

Your answers become part of an important survey of citizen attitudes that affect how government money gets spent. Your answers are completely anonymous - no one will ever see that you gave any particular answer. Answer the questions, take the money, influence government decision making and spending far more than your vote ever will, because they take a small random sample of people in the entire country - maybe 1500 people.

This was likely for a survey - U Michigan does a lot of them. Phone numbers for surveys are randomly generated across a statistical sample of locations in the country. From each area code, a sample of exchanges is taken (the next three digits of your number), then the last four digits are just random numbers. Anyone who has done survey research by telephone knows that the computer will call a lot of disconnected numbers and fax machines, looking for a live human for you to talk with.

It's not personal - it's science :-)

It's not a scam. The U does pay out the money. It's part of the expense of doing a survey - paying people off to participate, in order to increase what's called the "response rate". That's the percentage of your randomly-generated phone calls that actually answer and do the questions. If it's too low, your survey results aren't as accurate, so they work hard to raise that response rate by offering more and more money, calling back people who had refused when the offered money was less.

Except that it was probably someone who works at the university who was calling you from their office looking to buy what you were selling.

You just blocked a sale. Nice work.

The phone numbers they use are randomly generated. The protocol for a survey includes getting a minimum percentage to answer the questions, in order to have valid results. Generally that's around 70%. If they haven't reached that number of the phone numbers that were generated, they have to keep going back and offering more and more money until they get enough to validate the study. You can game it for more money, but at some point they reach 70% and will stop calling you. It's not personal. It's science and the results often affect how our government spends our money - answer the questions and you get to influence policy very directly. You'll be 1 in 1500, rather than 1 in 6000000 when you vote.

This was the University of Michigan athletics department. They left a short, polite message. Every year I take the group down to see a volleyball game, and they were calling to see if I was interested again this year.

Left a message regarding Michigan Basketball.  I purchased tix last year, and Steve wanted to discuss my experience at Crisler Center, and if I was planning a return visit this year.

I work for UM and anytime you get a call from anyone at the University, that's the number that will show up on caller ID.