Nielsen
Reviews and Complaints

Scarborough Research calls our home no less than 8 times a week, sometimes 4 times a day despite multiple pleas to stop calling us. Their phone people do not/will not listen and continue to call and ask for us to do a survey. Since when has the word NO become confusing? Where - please tell me, is their DO NOT CALL list. It is ridiculous. We have stopped answering our home phone line because of them and other telemarketers.

I want to pass along an experience I had with Arbitron (remember them? The tv-ratings people?)

Warning!

I get so many computer-assisted telemarketing calls, so my machine is always on. These companies cut off the call when they sense at 2 rings that there is a machine, but I got so sick of seeing Arbitron on the Caller ID that I finally decided to take the darn survey. It'll be 5 minutes of tv questions, right?

It took close to an hour. Lovely African A woman in Dallas----------I learned in general chit chat that they do not get paid if someone decides not to finish the survey, so I stuck with it.

Only the first questions were about radio stations (how many hours a day for each one) and tv viewing.

The litany of "survey" questions morphed into age categories, education, money, banking, Do you plan to buy a car in the next six months? Major appliance? Take a trip? How many times did you travel to a resort in the past 6 months? Who do you bank with in your area? Which sports games do you attend? What kind of magazines do you subscribe to? etc...

And on and on. They strayed far afield of Which local news do you watch? These are questions about how much money you spend, what you spend your money on, and what you might spend your money on.

I suggest that you don't give a real response. I ended up saying Refuse or No to most all of those questions because Arbitron is clearly collecting information that will be sold and used for multiple clients----questions that have nothing to do with tv or radio program ratings.

NOTE: Making up an "opinion" answer is not a good idea. You might get on the wrong lists and your neighbors will find out that you are a member of Soldiers of Fortune or the Sexual Aid Appliance of the Month Club and plan to do some nude body building at a Mexican resort after you finance the new mortgage and pick out the perfect truck. (But then again, maybe you will get a whole new set of prison penpals. )

I'm telling you this in case you get called, because I doubt that you would want to knowingly spread information about you all over the web or cause the call center person to lose $ because you got fed up part way through. I am hoping that they throw my name out.

It's all about nameless companies getting tons of info and causing us to be inundated with more calls, junk emails, and junk mail.
We give them the data for free because we remember tv program surveys from decades ago and think that Arbitron is our pal!
(Meanwhile, we get no compensation for our time and they make clients happy and get well compensated.)
You're welcome.

I had the unfortunate opportunity to meet with The Nielsen Company representative searching for people who would be interested in becoming a "Nielsen Household". After a brief explanation of what this would entail, my wife and I agreed to sign on. We lost $3000 and there is no possibility to get a refund.

I received a check in the mail for $2, 400.00 from Nielsen Research Group, along with a Western Union Survey. On the back of the form it says that this is a paid survey and that if I participate I will get $300 and distribute the rest in a transfer and fee's. I spoke with a bank rep at Bremer Bank and gave the account number and the name that was on the account. UNLESS YOU ARE ATTENDING CENTURY COLLEGE any checks drawn off this account are FRAUDULENT. DO NOT CASH THEM, as much as we all need money you will find yourself paying more for this BS than if you had robbed a bank. So please be ware.

I took the call. So here are some tips:

To keep it short, tell them you're married to Rupert Murdoch.

They will ask if you or anyone in your family works for a radio, newspaper, television, etc. If you want to keep it short and not have them call you again, the answer is "yes." They will ask which? I said all of them, I'm married to Rupert Murdoch. They were going to end the survey but I told them I was kidding so I could find out more.

Also, they need to get through the survey as quickly as possible. So if you have the free time, see how long you can keep them on the phone. Ask them their opinion on things, ask them the same questions they're asking you, whatever...and then when they ask the last 2 questions: how many live in your household and how old are you, give them ridiculous answers. It invalidates the survey.

I kept them on the phone for almost a half hour.

In late October of 2010, I had the unfortunate opportunity to meet with a Mr. Tony Hennies who was going from door to door in my neighborhood attempting to find a family who would be interested in becoming a "Nielsen Household". After a brief explanation of what this would entail, my wife and I agreed to sign on. As it was explained to me, we would receive a $50. cheque as well as a monthly payment of $1.00 for each component Nielsen monitored.

As we have a fairly substantial home entertainment system, I was under the impression payment would be made for two VCR's, a DVD player, a surround sound system, our DirecTV HD DVR as well as our large 60" television. We also have a second smaller television in our bedroom that was to be monitored. In total, there are seven components that Nielsen has "wired" into their system for monitoring.

The nightmare began the day of the installation. From their brochure, they advised that the components would be wired into their system which could then be "neatly" placed and hidden behind our television. My wife and I incorrectly assumed a small box or boxes (perhaps the size of a clock radio) would be used to monitor our system. We could not have been MORE WRONG!

The installation was started at 10:00 a.m. and unfortunately, I was out of town leaving my wife to oversee this procedure. I must have gotten at least 10 calls from her that day advising how "ugly" things were getting. They virtually had EVERY single component of our system in pieces on the floor while performing their connections. What we assumed would take an hour or two ended up being an all day affair with the technicians finally leaving at around 6:00 p.m. that day. What they left behind was ANYTHING but "neatly" hidden. The devices used for monitoring look like something out of Frankenstein's lab with literally 20+ wires coming out of them and hooking into my components. The actual monitor box is about the size of large box of cereal. To "conceal" these boxes, our rep went to a local craft store and bought a couple of wicker baskets to place over the top of them. To say the least, these baskets were "tacky" - not to mention had no relation to our already existing decor.

At the time of our last phone call, my wife advised that the technician had "done something" to our television which was now producing a slight shadow on all of the screen images. Now, we're not talking about a small, inexpensive television here. This was a $5, 000 Sony Grand WEGA that we purchased not long after they became available. To date, the only thing we had ever done to the television was replace the LCD bulb which blew just before our third year. The replacement bulb has been in the system for over four or five years now and we still have a back-up which was purchased to ensure we would not be without the television if this second bulb ever went bad.

Our Nielsen rep assured us that they would take care of the problem and apologized profusely for this error by their technician that caused the "shadowing". Upon my return from my business trip, I noted several other items that were damaged during the installation process. One was they had broken a "tab" off of the cover door for my Sony Betamax VCR. Yes, you read that right - we still have a fully operational Beta VCR. Not a big problem - I was able to repair the tab with some superglue. But when I turned the unit on, I discovered that the sound and tracking lights were no longer operating, which they were prior to this installation. I also noted a "chip" in the glass on the bottom shelf of our television stand.

Tony and Adam returned early the following week with a television technician named Rusty. At that time, they advised they would take care of replacing the glass as well as would take the Betamax for repair which was supposed to take a week or less. Rusty also attempted to adjust the balance of the television via our remote to rid it of these new shadows however, due to the complexity, he needed to research the system and remote to see exactly what he would need to do to make these adjustments. He was to call us back and make another appointment to come back within the next day or so. As has been the case with just about everyone involved with Nielsen, we never did receive a return call.

I finally ended up contacting their corporate offices and was transferred to their field office here in Cincinnati at which time I spoke to a supervisor named Mimi. She apologized for all of the delays and assured me that everything would be taken care of. I finally did hear back from the technician the following day and he made a second visit the day after that only to advise that the shadows could not be repaired via the remote and there was an internal part that would need to be replaced. He advised he would forward this information onto Adam and Tony and they would get back to me. Again, the better part of another week went by before I had to contact Mimi.

This takes us to last week and although I spoke to Mimi on both Monday and Tuesday, she doubted that she would be able to get anything done or any answers due to the holiday however, she was to call me back today. It also appears that Nielsen may be "waffling" on their promise to repair our television as they are now advising that they have researched our particular model and its has been known and documented that the part that is causing the shadow problem has been defective and nothing that they did during the installation would have caused it to go bad.

This is TOTAL B.S. Nielsen came into my home, completely dismantled every component, including my $5, 000. television and in the process, moved and bounced this television around so it could be accessed for their wiring. From what I understand, the part has something to do with an "internal balance" and I don't see anyway in the world how this piece could just suddenly go bad after seven or eight years. They are contending that the part could have gone bad at any time and it just happened to do so on the day of their installation. I contend that may be POSSIBLE, but it is also COMPLETELY possible that the part would have NEVER gone bad had they not been moving and dismantling the set.

I did a little research myself and while I did find some complaints regarding our particular television, most of them had to do with a completely DIFFERENT part which was causing completely different screen and image problems as compared to ours. Not to mention that while there may have been hundreds or maybe even thousands of complaints, I didn't see even ONE that matched what has happened to our television. And even if the complaints ARE in the thousands - Sony probably produced 10 to 100 times as many of these units. That would put their complaint level somewhere between one and ten percent. Isn't that just about average for MOST products?

Nielsen has yet to make a decision on what they are going to do to rectify this situation. My last conversation with Mimi has led me to believe that they are going to take the stance that "it was nothing they did" and based on the contract we signed for them, they would only be responsible for half of the $1, 200. repair. If this is the case, I will CERTAINLY be hiring an attorney.

To date, I still have a broken piece of glass (Mimi has advised that they have the replacement however are awaiting the Betamax repair to be completed before they return so both can be reinstalled at the same time) as well as the aforementioned missing VCR (I have no idea where they took it to be repaired, nor did they offer me any type of receipt or compensation for the time it has been gone).

To top it all off - we finally received our $50. sign-up cheque last week, but our six month advance for the component monitoring was only for $12., which would consist strictly of the two televisions. When I spoke to Mimi about this, she advised that we would only be paid for the two televisions and two VCR's. I advised that if every component was being monitored, then we should certainly be compensated accordingly and not only that, we didn't even receive compensation for the two VCR's. She advised they would only monitor the televisions and VCR's, but I have proof otherwise as there are wires from their monitoring system going into every one of the previously mentioned components. She was to get back to me on that.

At this point, we have advised Nielsen that once everything is "back to normal" we will be demanding that their systems be removed from our home. I would certainly advise anyone and everyone that if they are considering allowing Nielsen to invade their homes and systems that they seriously review this complaint and see what they might be in for.

This company began calling me a few weeks before Christmas & they haven't stopped since (they literally call anytime during the day/night). They call 2-4x/wk & REFUSE to listen to me. I have told them I do NOT want to participate as I do NOT have cable, read/get the newspaper, nor listen to the radio - & I do NOT want any of those services. They initially told me they can call specific people back at specific numbers & times - which means that they're lying when they later claim that my number is coming up "randomly" - ESP when they call for me by my PERSONAL name & NICKNAME (often mispronounced). I told them I'm on the Do-Not-Call List, I told them to take me out of their database, I told them I had a private/unlisted number for a reason, I toId them I wanted to speak to a supervisor, also told them they would be reported to the BBB & I would file a police harassment charge against their company next time they call, I've been rude - nothing stops them. Despite their customer service message - I am NOT going to provide further numbers & times when I can be better reached IN ORDER to remove me from their system (this is a recorded msg). I see some of their employees have posted extremely obnoxious comments on other complaints about their company & I hold this as evidence of why no one likes them. Go ahead Scarborough Research call me again & I will start the call tracing, then call the police who will then be contacting YOU!

We too, have received numerous calls from this company. I have told them DO NOT CALL, we are also on the do not call registry.
Well, they sent a post card stating "We didn't mean to upset you... but we will try calling again. Please talk to our interviewers when they call".
I have blocked their #, yet they have called about 10-15 times since... so I picked up the call & told them again... DO NOT CALL.
or I will pursue further with the Atty General or Colorado Public Utilities Commsn. "LISA" just laughed at me. She told me I have
to call a special # to get my # removed. They can't remove it, it's on a dialing system. (I know how these work & THEY CAN remove my phone #!). She claims they are not bound by the DO NOT CALL REGISTRY since they are not a telemarketer.
I have all the calls logged on my caller ID for proof. Any other ideas?

This company repeatedly has called our home phone--off and on for way too long. We've answered, asked them to stop calling and each time have been peppered with questions in response, until finally forced to end the calls after a "Thank you. Goodbye." Again, the calls have resumed, and deceptively and disingenuously, Scarborough Research blocks their identity. Their caller ID simply indicates "Florida, " which, their website informs us, indicates the calls to our home originate in their Sarasota, FL call center. I was finally driven to distraction today, answered the phone and again asked politely to have our phone number taken off their list. No surprise--I could not get YES for an answer. Instead, the young woman caller peppered me with questions, to which I responded each time that that we do not welcome calls at our home; that we do not wish to receive phone calls from them again; and to please permanently remove our number from the company list. On the fourth or so go-round, when the caller's response was an incensed: "WELL don't you VOTE?!?!", I remarked that I was offended by this; that I should not have to repeat my request for our number to be removed from their list; that her response was wholly inappropriate and that I wished to lodge a complaint. She finally said she was not able to remove my number from her list, but that I would need to call [protected] to make the request. I called the number immediately (at 3:50 pm Eastern time on a Sunday), and guess what?-- Yes, I received only a voicemail message. I hope the person who works at the other end of that line is home enjoying uninterrupted time with family--the same as we request for ourselves.

They keep calling wanting to talk to the female head of household only. I don't want to give out ANY information and have told them so but the person on the phone says she cannot remove my name from the call list, and also said the "do not call list" does not apply. They keep calling back. They say I have to call their 800 number to be removed from the call list. What is there about "privacy" this company doesn't understand. I used to work for a Nielsen company and am appalled at this harrassment. This is no way to get information. I felt like taking their survey and giving them all kinds of false information. I finally threatened to call my attorney, but I'll bet they call back anyway. Stupid, stupid - makes me angry. Don't use this research company.

Scarborough Research has called multiple times in the past few months. I've asked them to stop calling. They call at all times of the day (8AM until 9PM) and have woken my two year old daughter a few times. When I ask to be taken off of their list, I was told that they have no control of the list and the numbers are randomly generated. I was pretty sure that random dialing was no longer legal.

I have received at least ten or twelve calls from Scarborough Research wanting me to complete a "...short survey concerning local radio/tv preferences". They have been repeatedly told that we do NOT participate in any phone surveys or solicitations, but these representatives will not take NO for an answer. They are pushy, aggressive and totally oblivious to our requests to cease calling. I should not have to explain ANYTHING to these people once I tell them I do not participate. Hanging up on them, being polite to them...nothing at all seems to work. They are about the MOST OBNOXIOUS people with whom it has been my total displeasure to hear from.

I cooperated with a very lengthy phone survey with Scarborough Research. I specifically requested that the company NOT send me a follow-up paper survey, and declined to give my name and address when asked. I stated that I wanted to protect my privacy and also not do another survey. The result: a few days later, the paper survey arrived in the mail.

This company does not respect privacy.

This componay called me 25 times when i finally agreed to take their over the phone survey they told me they were gonna send me 50 dollars for a tv report of what I watch and a household item list of what I bought they did'nt, I then contacted the company and spoke to a very rude man who was no help at all. I cant wait for them to call back again Im gonna give them hell. I might evan just call them over and over to see how they like it, after all it can't be illegal if they do it to us and get away with it.

Brea Howard from Scarborough Research called and badgered us constantly to participate in their survey. I told her no, and she continued speaking, saying that the "do not call list" doesn't apply to them and that they would continue to call. The number she provided to me to speak to her supervisor is a dead end. This is a sleazy person from an even sleazier company...hang up on them hard.

I would like to file a complaint about a Company called Scarborough Research. They called me numerous times at all hours of the day or night and even left a message on my answering machine! These people are very rude and won't take no for an answer. I was told that my phone number can not be taken off their list. I do not wish to take their survey and most of all I do not want them to call me again. If they were polite I wouldn't have a problem, but they are aggressive and rude. I do not think I have to explain myself after I say no thank you! The Company information follows:
Scarborough Research
4801 NW Loop 410
San Antonio, TX [protected]
[protected]
This is what I found on their web site : "call [protected] or to E-mail our Web site, to verify that it is really you asking for the change". I guess I will have to call them to let them know that I do not wish to be called again!