Do you trust telephone or cellphone surveys?

I believe that some people are trying to trick us that they are from a legitime survey company or from a service provider.


Therefore sometimes they ask tricky questions like age, gender, salary and so on.....


My concern is that they might be stealing personal information. Can you please share with me your opinions about phone surveys. Are they good ? Are they bad?

Do you trust telephone or cellphone surveys?
I am a market research interviewer and I understand how answering questions like age, gender and salary can make you feel uncomfortable. We are actually not allowed to ask the question "what is your gender?" We answer that question ourselves by simply guessing your gender by the sound of your voice, it's considered rude to come out and ask that question. You are allowed to refuse to answer any questions, especially including age and salary. The age question isn't as bad because they are age RANGES, such as "Are you...18-25 years old, 26-35 years old...etc". The salary questions are ranges also, but the interviewer can still see whether you make a lot or not. Some surveys need your age range in order to qualify for the remainder of the survey, but you don't have to answer the questions if you don't want to and it will simply go down as a "REF" (refused) or "DK" (don't know).


You can always ask questions about their business - such as what their company's mission statement is, questions about their alliances and partnerships, and other questions that legitimate interviewers would be able to answer for you.
Reply:The truth is no one will call you without the basic intent of selling you something. If they are asking probing questions they are trying to identify your likelyhood as a SALE.


Identity theft is not how old you are it is your SSN, bank account information, passwords ETC.
Reply:I worked for a company that did phone surveys, probably 99.99% of phone surveys are legitimate. They ask age, gender, and salary so they can put your answers in the correct group to see if you are in their target market.





They only way I see if a someone doing a phone survey was trying to steal your personal info is if they ask for a credit card number, checking account info, or your social security number. I wouldn't worry otherwise, you have a lot more to worry about on the Internet then on your phone.
Reply:Don't give ANYONE your personal information via phone, Internet ext. especially people that call you or contact you, it is always a scam!!