(609) 292-7007

This appears to look like it is coming from NJ State but isn't. Would not be surprised if it is a scammer. Called me several times already.

In the time it took you to craft that response, you could've just answered the survey.

telesurvey pia

This company called every night for about 4 or 5 days,  each time I either declined to parti****te, or ignored the call.  LAst night, they called a***n and my wife eagerly accepted the call and parti****ted in the survey.  No call tonight

For the record, I'm here because I'm annoyed at the incompetence my tax dollars are supporting and at having been lied to every time I've tried to get a straight answer to honest questions involving what might have been a threat to my household security (sure, that's overstating what it turned out to be, but that was the direction it was going because of the up-front incompetence and lying, which was beginning to scare the***** out of me).  So, this is what I learned on my own from public records, which will prove the old adage, "Fools' names and fools' faces/Always appear in public places."  The truly wonderful thing about what a government does is that it is all public information (except, evidently, for these clowns, who want to keep what they do a big secret), if you know where to look.  My cynical comments at the end are educated guesses, not fact, but they make a better story.  And, BTW, in my opinion this project is NOT exempt from the Do Not Call Registry--it's not just about telemarketers.  As I feared, this is a pretty important data collection project that the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) is  *****ing up.  Most everything you want to know about the New Jersey Behavi**** Risk Factor Survey vendor contract can be found on its "Notice of Award" webpage at:http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/purchase/noa/contracts/t0946.shtmlYou'll also learn that the "Buyer" (i.e., NJ Department of Treasury person who oversees the mechanics of the bidding process and the fulfillment of the contract) is JONATHAN WALLACE at 609-341-2976 and [email protected].  Ultimately, he is responsible for the contract, but is not a techie and probably has no idea of its details.  FYI:  he's an OK guy.  Click on "Vendor Information" and you'll learn that you were called by a polling outfit named ABT SRBI, INC., in Silver Spring, MD, and the contact person is JOHN M. BOYLE at 301-608-3883.  The survey script says to tell callees to contact Larry Osborn at Abt****ociates in Chicago at 312-867-4071 with questions.  But, if you're like me and want to go right to the main man, a quick look-up of ABT SRBI, INC., tells you that their CEO is Mark A. Schulman, Ph.D., in NYC at (212) 779-7700.  The ABT SRBI, INC., website also tells you what a great guy he is, or would be, if only his employees didn't annoy so many of us:http://www.srbi.com/who_we_are.html)  Click on "State Contract Manager" and you'll learn the name, address, phone number, and e-mail address of the guy who is mismanaging the contract and letting the vendor annoy so many people:  Kenneth O’Dowd, at  609-984-7324 and Kenneth.O’[email protected].   More about him later.    Click on "RFP TEXT" and you'll go to the contract itself (known as a "Request for Proposal"), which tells you all about the contract, the use of a random telephone dialer, the survey questions you never were asked because you ***g up on the caller, including the scripted response when you tell the interviewer to shove it (known in the survey business as a "Refusal Aversion Response"), such as:  "I understand that your time is limited.  However, you were scientifically selected to represent others in your community.  I will try to get through the interview as quickly as possible."), the fact that the CDC is behind the whole thing (with name and phone number of the CDC person who motivated this in NJ--Nealean K. Austin, 770-488-2722--and her flunky--Welhelmina Robertson, 770-488-1647), the fact that you may have missed out on a payment of $1 - $20 for not responding (I'm not sure--this RFP is 227 pages, about 95% boilerplate BS), and a bunch of other stuff, if you're interested.  Wouldn't you like to know just how you were "scientifically selected to represent others in your community" by a random telephone dialer?  There IS a lot of science behind flipping a coin, described in a Donald Duck comic book of 50 years ago as "flippism."  This is where I get cynical and, yes, nasty.  Kenneth O'Dowd, Ph.D., I can only surmise, is a Democrat political hack, probably an otherwise unemployable statistician, whose credited research includes "A Comparison of Address-Based Sampling (ABS) Versus Random-Digit Dialing (RDD) for General Population Surveys" (http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/72/1/6), which states, in part:  "Valid and reliable public health data are becoming more difficult to obtain through random-digit dial telephone surveys."  So, then, why does he honcho a project that relies on random-digit dial telephone surveys?  BTW:  Kenneth O'Dowd, Ph.D., donated $700 to the Democrat John Edwards campaign (http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=city&city=N+Brunswick) (and we all know where THAT went), which he can afford because the Democrat NJDHSS pays him $100,810 a year to annoy you (http://php.app.com/njstate_employees/details.php?recordID=25837) in the non-compe***ive civil service ***le of Research Scientist 1, often reserved for political hacks because they can't be ***ped out of their job by somebody scoring higher on a test.  It also doesn't hurt that Mary E. O'Dowd, M.P.H., probably a relative, is the Chief of Staff for the Commissioner of the NJDHSS at $116,600 a year (http://php.app.com/njstate_employees/details.php?recordID=24848), also a political appointment, so don't let anybody criticize Kenny for his (lack of) contract management s****s!  There's lots more info out there, of course, and you see how to find it.  I'll be calling Ken at home tonight at 8:30, at 732-821-8219, (http://www.whitepages.com/search/FindPerson?extra_listing=mixed&form_mode=opt_b&post_back=1&firstname_begins_with=1&firstname=kenneth&name=o%27dowd&street=&city_zip=&state_id=NJ&localtime=survey), about the same time his vendor called me, with a random call survey of my own.  Or, maybe I'll call tomorrow night.  Or, maybe I'll call later some other night.  That's what will make MY call random.  I'll be sure to tell him who I'm not, where I don't work, who isn't responsible for my call, and where he can call to get the runaround about my call, and then ask him lots of personal questions right out of his own script, such as:  "In general, how satisfied are you with your life?", "How often do you eat****atoes not including French fries, fried****atoes, or****ato chips?", and "How often do you **** dead dogs?"  OK, I made up that last one, but it's funnier than "How often do you eat carrots?"  "Mr., excuse me, DOCTOR O'Dowd, how often do you **** dead dogs?"

For the record, I'm here because I'm annoyed at the incompetence my tax dollars are supporting and at having been lied to every time I've tried to get a straight answer to honest questions involving what might have been a threat to my household security (sure, that's overstating what it turned out to be, but that was the direction it was going because of the up-front incompetence and lying, which was beginning to scare the***** out of me).  So, this is what I learned on my own from public records, which will prove the old adage, "Fools' names and fools' faces/Always appear in public places."  The truly wonderful thing about what a government does is that it is all public information (except, evidently, for these clowns, who want to keep what they do a big secret), if you know where to look.  My cynical comments at the end are educated guesses, not fact, but they make a better story.  And, BTW, in my opinion this project is NOT exempt from the Do Not Call Registry--it's not just about telemarketers.  As I feared, this is a pretty important data collection project that the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) is  *****ing up.  Most everything you want to know about the New Jersey Behavi**** Risk Factor Survey vendor contract can be found on its "Notice of Award" webpage at:http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/purchase/noa/contracts/t0946.shtmlYou'll also learn that the "Buyer" (i.e., NJ Department of Treasury person who oversees the mechanics of the bidding process and the fulfillment of the contract) is JONATHAN WALLACE at 609-341-2976 and [email protected].  Ultimately, he is responsible for the contract, but is not a techie and probably has no idea of its details.  FYI:  he's an OK guy.  Click on "Vendor Information" and you'll learn that you were called by a polling outfit named ABT SRBI, INC., in Silver Spring, MD, and the contact person is JOHN M. BOYLE at 301-608-3883.  The survey script says to tell callees to contact Larry Osborn at Abt****ociates in Chicago at 312-867-4071 with questions.  But, if you're like me and want to go right to the main man, a quick look-up of ABT SRBI, INC., tells you that their CEO is Mark A. Schulman, Ph.D., in NYC at (212) 779-7700.  The ABT SRBI, INC., website also tells you what a great guy he is, or would be, if only his employees didn't annoy so many of us:http://www.srbi.com/who_we_are.html)  Click on "State Contract Manager" and you'll learn the name, address, phone number, and e-mail address of the guy who is mismanaging the contract and letting the vendor annoy so many people:  Kenneth O’Dowd, at  609-984-7324 and Kenneth.O’[email protected].   More about him later.    Click on "RFP TEXT" and you'll go to the contract itself (known as a "Request for Proposal"), which tells you all about the contract, the use of a random telephone dialer, the survey questions you never were asked because you ***g up on the caller, including the scripted response when you tell the interviewer to shove it (known in the survey business as a "Refusal Aversion Response"), such as:  "I understand that your time is limited.  However, you were scientifically selected to represent others in your community.  I will try to get through the interview as quickly as possible."), the fact that the CDC is behind the whole thing (with name and phone number of the CDC person who motivated this in NJ--Nealean K. Austin, 770-488-2722--and her flunky--Welhelmina Robertson, 770-488-1647), the fact that you may have missed out on a payment of $1 - $20 for not responding (I'm not sure--this RFP is 227 pages, about 95% boilerplate BS), and a bunch of other stuff, if you're interested.  Wouldn't you like to know just how you were "scientifically selected to represent others in your community" by a random telephone dialer?  There IS a lot of science behind flipping a coin, described in a Donald Duck comic book of 50 years ago as "flippism."  This is where I get cynical and, yes, nasty.  Kenneth O'Dowd, Ph.D., I can only surmise, is a Democrat political hack, probably an otherwise unemployable statistician, whose credited research includes "A Comparison of Address-Based Sampling (ABS) Versus Random-Digit Dialing (RDD) for General Population Surveys" (http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/72/1/6), which states, in part:  "Valid and reliable public health data are becoming more difficult to obtain through random-digit dial telephone surveys."  So, then, why does he honcho a project that relies on random-digit dial telephone surveys?  BTW:  Kenneth O'Dowd, Ph.D., donated $700 to the Democrat John Edwards campaign (http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=city&city=N+Brunswick) (and we all know where THAT went), which he can afford because the Democrat NJDHSS pays him $100,810 a year to annoy you (http://php.app.com/njstate_employees/details.php?recordID=25837) in the non-compe***ive civil service ***le of Research Scientist 1, often reserved for political hacks because they can't be ***ped out of their job by somebody scoring higher on a test.  It also doesn't hurt that Mary E. O'Dowd, M.P.H., probably a relative, is the Chief of Staff for the Commissioner of the NJDHSS at $116,600 a year (http://php.app.com/njstate_employees/details.php?recordID=24848), also a political appointment, so don't let anybody criticize Kenny for his (lack of) contract management s****s!  There's lots more info out there, of course, and you see how to find it.  I'll be calling Ken at home tonight at 8:30, at 732-821-8219, (http://www.whitepages.com/search/FindPerson?extra_listing=mixed&form_mode=opt_b&post_back=1&firstname_begins_with=1&firstname=kenneth&name=o%27dowd&street=&city_zip=&state_id=NJ&localtime=survey), about the same time his vendor called me, with a random call survey of my own.  Or, maybe I'll call tomorrow night.  Or, maybe I'll call later some other night.  That's what will make MY call random.  I'll be sure to tell him who I'm not, where I don't work, who isn't responsible for my call, and where he can call to get the runaround about my call, and then ask him lots of personal questions right out of his own script, such as:  "In general, how satisfied are you with your life?", "How often do you eat****atoes not including French fries, fried****atoes, or****ato chips?", and "How often do you **** dead dogs?"  OK, I made up that last one, but it's funnier than "How often do you eat carrots?"  "Mr., excuse me, DOCTOR O'Dowd, how often do you **** dead dogs?"

I knew that my call last night at 8:23 was lame because the young woman said "Division of Public Health and Senior Services," which I know doesn't exist.  I told her that if she didn't know what she was talking about, I sure wasn't going to tell her anything about my family.  The call possibly is legit, just a ****py vendor, so I am following up with NJ DHSS.  There IS an audio tape of the call, so remain calm and rational when you tell them where to file their survey. You can call 609-292-7007 back (which probably is a DHSS number) during business hours and ask to be removed from the call list.  According to AnserveAmerica, to whom the calls get re-routed, AnserveAmerica was hired only to take calls to remove numbers from the call list.  Supposedly, a different vendor makes the calls.  I'll have to go to the State vendor contract page to find out.   I spoke to an owner of AnserveAmerica, who, I sensed, felt my pain and who indicated that it was a UMDNJ survey.  If that is true, it's too bad it's being mishandled because it skews NJ health statistics to responses only from folks who have a high BS tolerance or who are very lonely, both atypical characteristics of the NJ population. Film at 11:00.

I knew that my call last night at 8:23 was lame because the young woman said "Division of Public Health and Senior Services," which I know doesn't exist.  I told her that if she didn't know what she was talking about, I sure wasn't going to tell her anything about my family.  The call possibly is legit, just a ****py vendor, so I am following up with NJ DHSS.  There IS an audio tape of the call, so remain calm and rational when you tell them where to file their survey. You can call 609-292-7007 back (which probably is a DHSS number) during business hours and ask to be removed from the call list.  According to AnserveAmerica, to whom the calls get re-routed, AnserveAmerica was hired only to take calls to remove numbers from the call list.  Supposedly, a different vendor makes the calls.  I'll have to go to the State vendor contract page to find out.   I spoke to an owner of AnserveAmerica, who, I sensed, felt my pain and who indicated that it was a UMDNJ survey.  If that is true, it's too bad it's being mishandled because it skews NJ health statistics to responses only from folks who have a high BS tolerance or who are very lonely, both atypical characteristics of the NJ population. Film at 11:00.

NJ health system wanting to know how many adults living in home . How  many male and how many female. I ***g up did not answer

Or, you could just say no thanks, please do not call me back.  I guess that's too easy for you?

Today's "Real Life Adventures" comic *****:http://www.uclick.com/client/wpc/rl/

This number keep calling me.