866-532-6067

Great..Left a voice mail. " press 2 " Thats it..

Obvious robocaller. Recordings claims to be a polling firm (not named) doing research on behalf of a "major company" (also not named), then asks to "Press 1 for..." — that's when I hung up.

This robocaller has called my house 3 times in the past week, it claims it is a polling organisation.  I hang up after the 3rd word.

Apparently calls are from Advanis Inc from Alberta, Canada. They claim they are only doing research, but that is questionable. They appear to be a member of Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA). The Advanis call says you can press 2 to get their contact info - but the contact info they give is false and the phone number is for a conference-call system. BUT here's the good news. MRIA posts contact information of their members... and when you call Joe Sauer, the contact for Advanis his voicemail gives his personal cell phone number to call in case your call is urgent.  This is GOLD. So.... if you have received calls from this number and you are angry, or just want to get even, call Joe on his cell phone and tell him. Here's his number: 780-267-[removed].

Raoul is correct. You can also call Advanis at 1-888-944-9212 and you will get someone at reception. Do not call the number that the Auto Dialer tells you to call. Because they are a "Gold Seal" member of the MRIA they must adhere to the Charter of Respondent Rights, Article 7.

Article 7  "Your decision to participate in a study, answer specific questions, or discontinue your participation will be respected without question."

Simply put, call them and tell them to stop calling you or email their contact person for Advanis on the MRIA website. They are located under the Corporate Member Directory under Advanis located in Alberta.

If this does not work, contact the MRIA directly.


Best of Luck.

Late evening call 8:32PM

May 11, Vancouver...I wasn't home.  They left a recording.

Got a call from them at 8:16 last night (I was not home).  They did not have the option of leaving a message.  That's OK though, the next call they make to me will get my own "robo-answer", letting them know I am on a do not call list, and that I block ALL suspicious calls.

almost 1 day later - same recording
8:29 PM PDT  Vancouver

These [***] called me, too.

I too am on the Do Not Call list and have received calls from this auto-dialler "representing major Canadian companies";  
Raoul and Hoping To Help Out are correct.  It is Advanis that's making these phone calls - note, it is NOT Advantis with a T -  and the contact info for Advanis, if you'd like to make a direct complaint is on their website at http://advanis.ca/ 
Also, if you're on the Do Not Call List (DNCL) in Canada, you can file a complaint online at https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/plt-cmp-eng

Advanis Inc is not very responsive and does not seem to honor do-not-contact requests. But they are quick the change the cell phone numbers of their staff that we discover. Joe Sauer clearly got lots of calls from those of us who do not appreciate calls from his company - so he got a new number. Guess what? I have it! Let's give it back to Joe and Advanis and show them what it's like to be constantly annoyed and called even though you don't want to be! His NEW CELL PHONE number is: 780-267-[removed]. And guess what? The national do not call registry doesn't prohibit consumers from calling businesses in retaliation - so there, Advanis! We have our loophole too!

Hello,

In response to your post, Makret Research firms, such as Advanis Inc., and telemarketing firms are legislated under seperate laws. The do-not-call registry is only for telemarketing instances, however, it does not prohibit companies from calling on behalf of market research.

We do, however, honour all of your requests to not call back, and we assure you we follow the MRIA code of ethics.

Thanks!

Advanis Marketer,

While it is nice of you to monitor these forums and contribute, I am sorry to say that it is not easy to trust what you post. For better or worse, companies like Advanis are grouped into one category in the minds of consumers: Telemarketers.

If you look at how your system calls people, it is not fundamentally different than how the scam artists call claiming one has won a free trip. I grant you that members of MRIA are different in that their intent and motivation is different. However many consumers, me being no exception, completely resent the fact that your organizations were provided any exemption under the do-not-call registry. We do not feel that your right to perform market research for-profit should trump our right to choose not to receive your calls.

Yes, some companies do respect and honour DNC requests. But you must appreciate that there are dozens of MRIA members and it isn't fair that a consumer should have to suffer a call from each and every one of them to request a 3-year DNC.

Quite frankly, the person who registers for the national DNC registry is not a good person for you to call since they are already of the mindset that unsolicited calls are not welcome.

Consumers want to be able to choose who is allowed to call them. Period. Regardless of whether you are selling something, asking a question, or offering a newspaper subscription. Your reason is irrelevant. If you are a business, you should be governed by the national registry. Period.

So yes, in the mind of the consumer, Advanis is viewed as an evil scam artist. And that is why no matter how many times you tell us what rights you have under the law, it isn't going to change our opinion.

Regards,

Paul

Hi,

You make a valid point, but what you have to understand is Market Research is essential! We act as the bridge between consumers and businesses. We ensure that a company doesn't waste money on a product or service if the public has no need or does not want the product. It is our job to ensure many things produced by companies meet the publics satisfactory levels.

Your opinions are extremely important, because the people we survey represent the much larger population. We can't survey everyone, so if you receive a survey, you are representing millions of people around the globe.

In saying that, it is of upmost importance to point out what rights you as respondants have, so I have listed them below.

                                              Charter of Respondent Rights

Your participation in legitimate marketing, social or public opinion research is very important to us. We value your honest feedback and your time. Your opinions help companies develop new products, make existing ones better, and improve customer service. Your views also assist governments and non-profit organizations in advancing laws and policies that are in the public interest.

Our relationship with you is based on respect, trust and goodwill. When you participate in research conducted by our firm, or by any other corporate member of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA), you can be assured that:

Article 1  You will always be told the first name of the person contacting you, the research company's name and the nature of the study.

Article 2  You can verify that the research you have been invited to participate in is legitimate in one of two ways. You can either obtain a registration number and the MRIA's toll-free telephone number for any research registered with MRIA's Research Registration System or you can obtain the contact information of the research director who is conducting the study.

Article 3  You will not be sold anything or asked for money.

Article 4  Your privacy and the privacy of your answers will be respected and strictly preserved in accordance with the organization's privacy policy and applicable federal and provincial laws.

Article 5  You will be contacted at reasonable times, but if the time is inconvenient, you may ask to be re-contacted at a more convenient time.

Article 6  You are entitled to know the approximate duration of the interview.

Article 7  Your decision to participate in a study, answer specific questions, or discontinue your participation will be respected without question.

Article 8  You will be informed in advance if the interview will be recorded and the intended use of the recording. You may choose not to proceed with the interview if you do not want it to be recorded.

Article 9  You are assured that the highest standards of professional conduct will be upheld throughout all stages of the study.

Advanis Market Researcher:

Again, very kind of you to respond and provide constructive comment/references. I am fully aware of your point-of-view that market research is essential. But you have to understand that others hold another point of view. I do not think it is essential and do not think that it is so imperative that I should be subjected to it (regardless of whatever rights are dictated as being mine). Let us agree to disagree on this point.

Let me try to boil things down to a couple, slightly more concentrated points:

(1) Consumers are invited to participate in your surveys, but never to help shape the rights you claim we have. Granted, I understand why. We would ask for concessions that would cripple how you operate. You need to put your interests and those of your industry first, and then find a nice box and paper to wrap it in. It is your dictator-like tone, such to say "you don't know what you want, WE know what is best for society/business, so here, have a few rights and you should feel better" that is so distasteful.

(2) You need to realize that a very specific type of consumer exists. I think you've missed this before, and/or your industry wants to deny their existence: The person who does not want to hear from you and will never answer any of your questions. I know this person exists, because I am one. It wouldn't matter if the existence of the world was held in the balance of my answering a question or not. The moment you ask for my opinion I will shut you down. Knowing that, two things should be apparent: (a) I should have the right to somehow proactively opt out of any/all market-research (b) You should want to know this BEFORE you call me and learn the hard way. The way to do this is have market research more rigorously regulated by an independent 3rd party, such as being included in national DNC registries.

I hope that you give some consideration to this. I know it seems odd to be told that I am so stubborn as to remain silent even if my opinion is one of a limited sample and could represent the voices of a million people around the globe. But that is not a responsibility that I accept or feel _any_ obligation to honour. Call me selfish - maybe I am. But that is my right. I maintain that I want a way to prevent you from ever contacting me. So, please do not be surprised if even knowing what your motivation is, and that you have packaged some "rights" for me, that I call your agent an 'evil scam artist' and hop online to forums like this to share my experience. You'll further just have to accept that in spite of all that you have posted, I fundamentally do not trust your industry. Let's be honest, you don't do what you do out of the goodness of your heart. You turn a healthy profit with the information you collect.  

Here's a crazy idea. Maybe if MRIA members actually care, perhaps you could arrange to have MRIA maintain a DNC list that all members have to honour. It's not perfect solution, but then at least informed consumers could register for that, and could avoid having to deal with DNC requests with each individual MRIA member organization. It would be a step in the right direction.

I too have received unwanted calls. I used to take what I thought was the easy way out and let the answering machine screen my calls but realized that is no good as my number goes straight back into the caller queue. I tried hanging up but apparently, this can be misconstrued as a simple technical error/disconnection and the number again goes into a queue. So, in effect, I was just creating more trouble for myself.

I can't bring myself to be rude or mean to the callers. They have to follow all the company rules right to the letter or they're terminated and quite frankly, I'd rather they were working as telephone interviewers or whatever than sitting on the welfare lines (also known as my hard-earned taxes). They have no control over what numbers are called either or what numbers are re-called. And they can't take an unsure answer and code it in as a refusal even when they are pretty sure the person really doesn't want to talk to them. These things apparently show up.

I met a woman who is a telephone interviewer and she told me most of the above and also shared how stressful the job is and how she would rather be doing anything else but the jobs just aren't there. She said she so wished that people would treat her as they would like to be treated and gave me a few valuable tips. I follow them and they work!

Now, I just tell the person "No thank-you, I'd rather not participate." Usually, they will thank you for your time and wish you a good afternoon or evening or whatever. I just say "Same to you and goodby." It takes just a few seconds and they won't call you back. At least they've never called me back.
I'd also mentioned to her that I don't like them asking me for my financial information nor for my voting habits or political support plans. I just politely tell them I'd rather not answer the question and they go on to the next question.

Now telephone sales in another story. I tried the same thing on these vacation calls and magazine sales calls and they start giving me the hard sell. I just tell them I'm sorry and have to hang up and I do.Gently.

Oh, and I forgot. Why isn't someone getting a petition together to force the enforcement of a DNC list for telephone survey companies as well? It might be hard because political parties use the services of telephone research companies too. The last three calls I got, not all from this number, though, were political opinion surveys. I'd sign one. As this lady told me, she would welcome it rather than be calling people that don't want to be bothered. I'd sign it, I just don't know how to get one going.

Why wouldn't a person just politely refuse the survey? A simple 'Thanks but I'm not interested' takes a second or two. It's clean and civil. And a telephone surveyor (as opposed to a telemarketer) won't call you back. I find it a whole lot easier than dodging the phone, lying about wanting them to call back, fuming through my favorite show because they dared to call, all that other unproductive stuff. Been there, done that.

When our friends or family call during dinner or while we're putting the kids to bed, we take the time to say, "Listen, I'm busy right now, call ya later." This is no different. "Hi, sorry but I'm not interested, Have a good night."

These are Professional Privacy Invaders. Get a whistle and when one of them comes on the line give them what they deserve - A GOOD BLASTING. Sounds like this clown is one of them.

Their entire so-called job is based on invading our privacy. Nobody deserves the slightest bit of civility for that. And funny thing, the whistle also tends to STOP THE CALLS.

An airhorn works too!

Hello,

Sorry I have not posted in this forum in awhile. First, I would like to say that I do do this out of the goodness of my own heart, and not for the money (sure, it's a nce thing too). I do this job; however, that pays at a rate of $8.75/hour because it is my strong belief that some of these surveys are of vital importance.

I have done surveys that help people get accustomed to tobacoo-relief products and aids to encourage and help them quit, while asking them questions to help improve our governments Ministry of Health Department.

I have also conducted a survey on cancer research, as well as global warming.

Sure, I get called on to do customer appreciation and CSR surveys, and, though not as important (to me, at least) as the previous surveys, they play a vital role in help shaping a companies customer service department.

Implementing a DNC that includes Market Research would be a very drastic thing. I have come across people that are enthusiastic about partaking in surveys, and then again, some who are not. I understand completely both ways, because (and it's kind of a paradox) I myself dislike doing Market Research surveys unless they are vital or on an important issue to me.

Most telecommunication agents I know are very respctful of our clients. If you ask us to never call again, we will put you on our DNC list and we won't call you again. We are, however, instructed to take you off that specific survey if you say don't call back or I don't and won't have time. Our systems automatically place you into another survey group.

Sometimes, I would like to side with the respondant, but being in this industry is tight-neck and we must follow standards and rules. It's true it is very stressful, but I love it. I get to meet unique people everyday!