Sep 10, 2011
Just got a robocall from “CFPP Research," asking my participation in a brief, important public opinion survey. If I participated, I’d get a free, two-night cruise to the Bahamas (gratuities and port charges not included). For kicks, I took the survey.
1. Rate how the Democrats in the House and Senate are handling the debt crisis (1 (worst) to 5 (best) scale).
2. Rate how Republicans in … (same thing)
3. Rate how the President is handling (same thing)
4. Which of the following would best address the current debt crisis?
1 – Cut spending
2 – Create jobs
(I kept waiting for “3 – Raise taxes” but it never came – strange…)
Upon completing the survey, I was connected to “Eric,” at Caribbean Cruise Lines in Tampa. I asked for some info about the company, saying I wanted to ensure this was a legit offer. He said he didn’t know what “offer” had referred me to his call center. I said I did a telephone survey, and he answered “Oh, one of those…”
“Do you guys get a lot of those?”
“Actually, yes – we get lots of referrals from the surveys.”
When I asked for a number for CFPP Research, Eric said he'd give it to me after we completed the ticketing process for the cruise (which, by the way, required $118 in port charges to be paid). I bailed at that point.
I found other entries on this board for CFPP Research. Very clearly looks like they're "SUGging" ("selling under the guise" of research, as we refer to it in the opinion research industry. It's completely unethical and, in the DNC Registry context, it's illegal. I've forwarded this info to my colleagues at the American Association for Public Opinion Research, along with the URL to the other CFPP postings on this board, so they may consider action they might take against these low-lifes who give real opinion researchers such a bad reputation.