Geez, Mass SPCA must have money to blow....

[redhen]

I got a call earlier where the SPCA had hired this company to do a "survey" on peoples animals...
They asked things like how many animals i had (that got a giggle out of her, she said she won a contest with her co-worker on who would record the most animals that day... LOL)
Asked their ages, and at what age we got them
Asked WHERE we got them... (i.e. breeder, pet store, shelter, stray.. )
If they were spayed/neutered (of course they ask that..

)
If they were de-clawed

Whens the last time they were at a vet
If they had had any litters...
And our "average" household income, if we wanted to give it.

I'd say that money would have been better spent on the animals actual care and food..... No?

 

[Matthew3590]

Sometimes they will pay a little money to do a survey then go get a chunk of money from a company that wants that survey.

 

[SourRoses]

Sure that it was SPCA?

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Yeah, .. well, she said they were hired by the SPCA to take this survey of animal owners...

 

[justafewchickens]

Hmmm, sounds like some kind of scam. Not a bad scam, just gleaning bits of "useless" info from you, then a couple weeks from now you have offers coming out the wazoo in your mailbox. And the household income thing sounds like a survey thing I got in the mail. Did their grocery survey for free coupons,etc. and nothing, but offers and free samples from different places.

Just wondering why the SPCA would care about that stuff. I guess I'm a cynic.

 

[dainerra]

it tells them who owns pets. What kind of people own pets. The amount of money they spend on their pets. etc etc It also lets them know what households would be good to solicit donations from. The unemployed, non-pet-owning elderly man down the street isn't a good candidate for donating money to the SPCA. The career woman whose beloved Fluffy is her "fur-baby" IS. So is the young urban couple who spend $$ on training, dog toys, etc. They want to know who those people are. ETA: the survey company will also usually add in other questions, stuff that they can market to other companies. Vet offices, catalogs, etc

Was it by the SPCA? Maybe, maybe not. I'd call and ask them. They can tell you what they want to learn from the survey if they hired the company.

I get calls all the time from people collecting in support of the police/fire department/military/other, and they are in no way affiliated.

 

[Avalon1984]

I would have told them it is none of their fricken business.

I don't support any companies that bug me at night with an annoying telephone call and totally disregarding what little time I have for nonesense like that.

 

[dainerra]

I thought I'd just make a new post.

This is why it is always good to check out a charity before donating to them. Many big charities follow the motto of "spend money to make money" It's true, but some spend the majority of donations on soliciting MORE donations.

Again, I'd call and ask them if they contracted for this survey and what they want to learn.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

I personally would not have given them any information. Not so much for the spam aspect (which is possible), but because of how those numbers are likely to be used by even a legitimate caller, and who that information might be sold to.

 

[chickened]

I do not trust any of the type of organization you mentioned. Nobody should be calling me or visiting my home asking question about my stuff... period.