They're easy to hang up on. If we MUST have an exception to the Do Not Call status, this is probably not the worst imaginable.

Know the one I'm learning to hate? Customer satisfaction surveys. For some reason, every company in the world seems to think I can be guilt-trepped into spending twenty minutes playing a video game on their fucking website, answering page after page of poorly worded, leading questions in a choose-one-of-five answer format... As if I owed them pre-digested data for market research.

No. If you want to know what I think, ASK ME. Do it like a human being, with some respect and with some brevity. And that's if you must... Your employees just provided the service to me, remember? Why don't you ALREADY know how I feel about you?

Filed a car insurance claim last month for the first time in my life. They've been after me ever since, trying to get me to go to their website. So finally I load the page.

It begins with a Turing test.

No! Won't.

Filed a car insurance claim last month for the first time in my life. They've been after me ever since

Ha! I went through that when someone hit my car a few years ago. It was her insurance company that kept calling me about my customer satisfaction. I was polite, but I wanted to say "I'm NOT a customer and someone who IS a customer almost totaled my little car while we were stopped and she put her foot on the gas when the light turned green, even though she was like six cars back, and I had to harass you to get you to give me the money owed to me for car repairs and the freaking MRI I had to have, not to mention the work I had to miss because I couldn't lift my left arm above my waist without horrible pain, so, no, I'm not all that satisfied with your company."

I lost my health insurance when I got laid off early last year, so I had to shop for insurance for the first time in my life (I had it through my employers since I was 19). I went on one of those websites that will compile all the best quotes based on your criteria. I chose one, filled out the application for that one only, and proceeded to get phone calls from every company whose quote was listed on the site. Annoying as hell, but ultimately my fault, I guess. One guy finally told me that that's what they do on those sites, even if you only fill out the application for one company. You have to put in some info to get the quotes, so they will therefore call you to annoy the holy hell out of you. I did get really good at the "I was just shopping, thanks"/quick-but-polite-hang-up maneuver.

Did you try 310.497.7255 from his website. Looks like his business

From some Government PDF of registered people running for office.

PETER LUKE THOTTAM Democratic
2242 LOUELLA AVE
LOS ANGELES, CA 90291
(310) 497-7255 (Business)
WEBSITE: www.peterthottam.com
E-MAIL: peterthottam@gmail.com
Attorney/Businessman/Educator

Try this number too (626) 966-0200
its from
http://start.cortera.com/company/research/k3m5jsr4j/thottam-properties-a-california-ltd/

I almost never answer my phone unless I am expecting a call.

The one I hate is charity type thing - comes up as FOP on caller id - Something Something Police offers. But it really has little to do with the police - they do give a little to various things that support police (like teddy bears for children at crime scenes), just enough to be legal. Most of the donations go to overhead. They will call like 3 times a day for week or so, then give up for awhile.

Funny. I just received an email from someone claiming to be from the electric company. They want me to fill in a survey about the customer service call I made. I don't remember making a call.

Don't do it Kendra, it's a phishing scam! They use those things to get your info and then you get slammed with all kinds of spam.

I am SO good now at telling people NO THANKS and hanging up! That's all I do. If I answer the phone and it takes more than 2 seconds for a real person to come on the line, I HANG UP. I NEVER take calls that interrupt one that I'm already on; I figure if it's someone I know, and it's important, they'll call back. If it ISN'T important but they call back anyway, I'll ask if I know them personally. When they say "no" I say, "well, then, I wasn't expecting your call", and hang up. Easy! I remind myself and others that hey, I had got my phone for MY convenience, not YOURS. Thanks!

Did you try 310.497.7255 from his website. Looks like his business

Repeatedly. Only voicemail.

And the 626 number is some apartment rental voicemail.

The Louella address is probably his home.

I'll mail this blog item there. Or maybe I'll drop by.

This is why Caller ID is a beautiful thing. When the phone rings and I don't recognize the name or phone number on the screen, I let my answering machine pick it up for me. Saves me both time and agita! :-)

I'm dying to hear what his response is, should he respond!! I pay all of my bills over the phone after having had some payments lost in the mail. Its very convenient. I call when stuff is due and have peace of mind that my payment is made. What I don't like is at the end of the call getting transferred to a customer service survey. At first there was an option asking whether or not you wanted to hold. Now when done they just say, "thanks for calling. Hold for the customer satisfaction survey." If my rep was really nice or did something special, I'll hold. Otherwise, I hang up. It annoys me that I can't even pay a bill without being asked to hold.

We get endless calls selling condos as 'tax breaks'. They've been calling for 8 years now. I once demanded to know how they got our unlisted number and they told me that they got it from the address list of DH's employer, procuring such lists and selling them is a business here. It's outrageous that employee lists including addresses and phone numbers can be traded like that. Japanese law is extremely wishy-washy about things like this, they won't come down firmly on the side of the consumer being hounded, it's seen as interference with business. I think will be a long wait before we get a 'do not call' list.

They are really persistent and stubborn. They know by now that I hate them and will hang up, so they pretend to be DH's friend when they call, but I saw through that after one call. 8 years....I recently got the address and phone number of the main office and I have a mind to call them and aggravate the crap out of them all day a couple days a week.

BTW in the US I had an interesting experience starting 2 years ago when I registered for phone service ( we have a home in the US). The woman on the phone for AT&T wasn't used to Japanese names, she mis-registered our last name with an 'i' on the end instead of an 'a'. All the other utilities and services we deal with have our name correctly spelled. 95% of our junk mail, catalogs, insurance offers, and all the other crap we get deluged with has our name spelled with an 'i' on the end. Coincidence? I think not. What gives any of these people the right to violate my privacy so that they can do more business?

Amy - I love when I get the opportunity to praise someone's good service. I work with clients day in and day out, and when one of them emails my manager to tell him I was a pleasure to work with and very helpful, it makes me feel like a million bucks. It also doesn't hurt to have those emails around come review, and raise, time.

I ask people for their manager's contact information specifically to tell them about my good experience. They usually get excited and the managers are always happy, too (b/c it reflects on the kind of place they're running).

Interesting Article about the above Peter guy. The more I read about him the more I dislike

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_15230118

Know the one I'm learning to hate? Customer satisfaction surveys.

I got one of these from Waldbaum's delivery service a few weeks ago. It started "We miss you! Where have you been? Was it something we did?" Like I hurt their feelings when I stopped doing my father's grocery shopping online.

So I sent them back an e-mail, basically apologizing that my dad's slow, agonizing death spiral has meant more time in the hospital, less time for shopping online for groceries. I haven't heard back.

Is this him?

PETER L THOTTAM Born 1971
(949) 509-7470

How great to hear that robo-calls are illegal in CA! I hope you're going to bend your considerable research skills to telling us how best to report them to ensure maximum financial damage to the perpetrators.

Condolences to you, monica.

"Turns out political robocalls are illegal in California."

Thank God for government intrusion in private interactions.

I pity people making sales calls, so I can't bring myself to do this, but I have always wanted to answer the phone, in the deepest, most rumbling low voice I can summon "Hi. What are you wearing....?"

Some old numbers from the wayback machine
2001
530 Kendall Avenue, #6
Palo Alto, CA 94306
Home:(650) 852-9554
Mobile: (650) 248-7260

In 2002 he started using his current number.

From 2004
H: 949.509.7470

A long time ago I received a survey from the sewer service. They wanted to know if I was happy with them. I wrote back and said that I only thought of them the four times a year I had to send them a check, and as long as that was true, I was happy with them.

The poop goes away when I move the little handle. I guess, yeah, I'm happy with the service.

I've gotten robocalls from Republican primary candidate Meg Whitman in spite of my being a registered Democrat for almost 40 years.

Cynically: if she can't call the correct people, can she run the state?

I think you should have charged the idiot the rate for interrupting sex, since he's a repeat offender. You go, girl!

@Kendra: where they ask you for your bank account number, put KISSMYASS. Phuqing phishers!

Scam: Telemarketers with No Number or Location

I suggest to always press "1", or whatever number leads to the live representative. Lay the phone down if you don't want to use any of your time. Say "Wait a second while I turn down the TV" if you want to burn a bit more of their time. String them along with false stories if you feel like it. You owe them nothing, and they have already broken the law. Give them no real information.

They call hundreds of people with robot dialers to get one live response. If everyone pressed "1", they would be out of business. They couldn't handle all of the responses.

Know the one I'm learning to hate? Customer satisfaction surveys.

Me, too, but for a different reason. I refuse to do Customer Sat Surveys online for the reason you stated, but now I won't do them over the phone, either.

The reason is this: When I am given a rating scale of 1-5, I assume the default "acceptable" level is 3. Not 5. Everyone wants to be ranked as closely to 5 as possible, so if you rate them lower than that, they will badger you on "How can we improve that number?" I argued for 20 minutes with a Survey person for Toys 'R freakin' US for crying out loud. I told her, "You aren't likely to be able to get a 5 from me, because your prices won't allow you to hire twice the employees and pay them twice the salary so that you can get really competent people working for you. This is NOT a criticism. I go into a Toys 'R Us with a set of expectations based on their normal clientele, their products, and their prices. They generally meet that expectation. That gives them a "3". If they are particularly helpful, they get a "4". RARELY, you will find someone who practically wets themselves to help you, and if they don't drool on your shoes in their enthusiasm, THEN maybe they can rank a "5".

Finally, I had to tell her to drop my survey and don't call again.

So they are illegal. And here I've been receiving them for years.

I get political robocalls, "customer surveys," and even repeated robocalls from debt collectors (asking for someone else entirely). I'd laugh if it wasn't so damned aggravating.

Tom, I've had the same thing (though I'm an independent). Answer? Probably not.

I just say No, thank you and hang up - Immediately, even if they haven't stopped talking.

For the record: None of the kids live at home anymore. We aren't going to give you their phone numbers. We aren't going to give you money. We don't listen to the radio. We're voting for your opponent, because none of you deserve reelection. No, I don't want to switch my phone service to Time Warner. Whatever you're selling, I wouldn't buy from someone rude enough to harass me at home.

I think that covers it.

Amy,

Here is one you might like to grab if you have a few pennies.

The one I heard years ago (on radio) was a call from a telemarketer for pre-planned funeral services. He did this whole number on the telemarketer about considering suicide and could the telemarketer get it set up now. The telemarketer goes between being concerned about the guy and still trying to sell the package. I almost had to pull over I was laughing so hard. The phone call ends with the sounds of a gunshot.

http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1033409/a/Revenge+On+The+Telemarketers,+Round+One.htm

> The reason is this: When I am given a
> rating scale of 1-5, I assume the

This is what I mean about pre-digested data. The categories and little scales and metrics those people use in the conduct of their enterprise are none of your concern... They don't deserve three seconds of your time.

If a person who'd sold you something, goods or services, sincerely wanted to know how you felt about it, than you'd be a gentleman for telling them. But it's still generous of you.

Here's how criticism works: It's ALWAYS optional. If you don't get the job, or the woman doesn't sleep with you (or even go out) a second time, it's sometimes OK to call up and ask why not, but the other party has no obligation to explain. If they do explain, they're under no obligation to tell the whole truth, or even make sense. You're a big boy/girl: You figure it out.

If whoever just did business with me doesn't know whether I'm happy or not, and they call to ask, they'd better have their ears wide open.

Here's how criticism works: It's ALWAYS optional.

Word, Crid. The only time I ever fill out a satisfaction survey or something of that ilk is when I've had an especially memorable shopping experience AND I am able to do it voluntarily, on my own time, and in a way or for a place that I feel will actually make use of it. They may not, but I have worked at places where customer comments actually did matter to the employees-- one used to award star levels for a certain number of commendations/positive mystery shops. There were paid days off involved, so there was motivation to be nice and helpful.

That store doesn't do that anymore, but they do still give rewards for getting good customer feedback. The employee will write her name at the bottom of the receipt, where there is a web address, therefore giving you the opportunity to do as you wish. I don't do anything most of the time, except when I've had a really good or bad shopping experience. It's also just a place for comments, not those awful "strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree" questions I hate, so I can be specific rather than just rate on a scale of one to five.

I don't mind giving feedback when it's my choice and I can do it on my timetable. I had a really great shopping experience a few months ago. It was a big errands day for me, and everywhere I went the people were super nice. I went online and wrote comments about all of them. I'm fine with giving of my time to stores/companies in that way (when I feel that my feedback will have some sort of actual consequence, especially), but only in that way. I will give my time, but your survey calls will not take it.

When you read Postrel's masterwork, you'll note the importance she gives to ENCOURAGING feedback. Free minds + free markets, all that. On this planet, you have to seek out the truth... It won't necessarily come lookin' fer you.

_________________________

In a totally unrelated matter, please consider this video clip.

Understand, no member proud member of the family canidae ever came to that stance on its own: Human's bred those beasts to be that low to the ground. And then we built noisy machines to entertain them.

Cute! I wonder if that person would send me one of those for my French Bulldog. I need it for when I'm trying to work on my laptop and she brings me her ball and drops it right smack in the middle of the keyboard and then keeps nudging it toward me. And then licks my arm, and then picks up the ball and drops it on the keyboard again. She makes herself hard to ignore when she gets into that mood.

On the related matter: ENCOURAGING feedback. Free minds + free markets

Yes! Do not annoy me by calling me at my home and asking me to take part in a survey. Make it clear that you encourage me to give you my feedback, and that it will make some sort of difference if I do.

I wish some of the people in charge of putting commercials on the air would do this. Perhaps I should seek out the marketing departments of the products whose commercials I hate and say to them what I've been saying about certain ads for years: "I would love to be in the room when you guys choose these ad ideas, because I really want to know what kind of stinkers you had to forgo in favor of the cartoon bear with toilet paper stuck to his butt."

Man, I worded that badly... Feedback must be encouraged, whether it's encouraging or not. People need to know if they're delivering the goods.

Hey, anybody wanna watch a live feed from the garages at Le Mans?

PS— I saw that bear commercial at work. Couldn't believe it... It was grotesque.

People mock the internet as a pornography-delivery service. But for five decades now it's seemed like TV couldn't get any more distasteful, but it always does.

The commercial is grotesque disguised as cute, which is even worse, in my opinion. The only ones worse are the ones where men are portrayed as bumbling idiots and women as martyrs because their husbands are bumbling idiots.

On one level, the horrible commercials work because I do remember the product name (Head On, apply directly to the forehead!). On the other hand, I make sure to avoid those products if possible. I don't want to reward them with my business if I can help it. I really should write in, now that I think about it. I don't know that it'd do any good, but I'd be doing something.

http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/stasm/5359.htm
Thank god this Peter guy did not win!

Thank you for that video, Crid, that was great.