The Dove Foundation: offensive phone interview techniques and offensive television
Tonight I got a call from the Dove Foundation. I got a little suspicious when the voice on the other end introduced herself a little too perfectly, and I got a little annoyed when she asked for the "lady of the house". I asked what this was regarding. The response came -- again just a bit too perfectly -- that this was not a sales call, but that they were a charity organization conducting a national survey, and they'd like to speak with the lady of the house. I asked again what precisely this was regarding, and the voice launched into an explanation that the Dove Foundation was a charitable organization concerned with the decrease in family values and lack of parental control over what their children see in television and radio, and progressing quickly from there into their survey.
Now, I've worked phones before. I know what people in call centers sound like. And I know what good call control sounds like. The voice that I was listening to was either using very high quality voice equipment in a quiet room (hint: call centers are not quiet and rarely have quality equipment), or else she was a recording. And the exceptional call control was either a very talented individual or else a very carefully crafted script.
My brain was rejecting the idea that I just happened to get called by the one person in the world who not only sounds great on the phone, and who not only has excellent call control techniques, but in fact also is stupid enough to take those skills and earn minimum wage in a call center. I interrupted and confronted the voice with my suspicions that it might be a recording. "Ha ha, no," the voice responded. "There's a real person on the phone with you, using a computer to help them."
It plunged back into its survey, and it was easily the most egregiously manipulative survey I've ever heard in my life. Things like, "We think there's too much violence on television. Do you think there should be a better representation of family values in the media?" and, "We don't want to censor anything, but don't you think parents should have a little more control over what their children see on television?" They were actually asking this stuff. I said "No" clearly enough that whatever automated system they had running the thing was sure to recognize it, and they started into a "Well, to finalize..." script. They recognized they weren't getting any traction and decided to minimize their poll losses, as far as I can tell.
Here I interrupted them again. It was clear to me at this point that I was certainly talking to a recorded script. No human really talks like that. I stated in absolutely clear terms that I was offended and disgusted by their strong scripts and manipulative questions, and I hung up. In retrospect I should have answered their questions honestly to try to show my disapproval for their cause, but by then I was just overwhelmed with disgust. I needed to get off the phone.
I did some research after I hung up. Apparently they really do have a human on the other end of the line. That human never says anything. They're pressing buttons in a carefully-scripted computer program to have the computer play back prerecorded messages to lull you into thinking you're talking to a real person, take control of the conversation, and lead you right to the poll results that support their agenda.
It's abusive, manipulative phone polling tactics at their worst, and I can easily see them taking the results of their poll to Washington to help support "family values" legislation. Turns out they offer their poll on their website, too. I decided that filling it in honestly, consciously ignoring their blatantly manipulative wording, was the best approach. I'm also looking into reporting them to the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance. Can anyone recommend any other organizations that police these kinds of abuses?
Now, I've worked phones before. I know what people in call centers sound like. And I know what good call control sounds like. The voice that I was listening to was either using very high quality voice equipment in a quiet room (hint: call centers are not quiet and rarely have quality equipment), or else she was a recording. And the exceptional call control was either a very talented individual or else a very carefully crafted script.
My brain was rejecting the idea that I just happened to get called by the one person in the world who not only sounds great on the phone, and who not only has excellent call control techniques, but in fact also is stupid enough to take those skills and earn minimum wage in a call center. I interrupted and confronted the voice with my suspicions that it might be a recording. "Ha ha, no," the voice responded. "There's a real person on the phone with you, using a computer to help them."
It plunged back into its survey, and it was easily the most egregiously manipulative survey I've ever heard in my life. Things like, "We think there's too much violence on television. Do you think there should be a better representation of family values in the media?" and, "We don't want to censor anything, but don't you think parents should have a little more control over what their children see on television?" They were actually asking this stuff. I said "No" clearly enough that whatever automated system they had running the thing was sure to recognize it, and they started into a "Well, to finalize..." script. They recognized they weren't getting any traction and decided to minimize their poll losses, as far as I can tell.
Here I interrupted them again. It was clear to me at this point that I was certainly talking to a recorded script. No human really talks like that. I stated in absolutely clear terms that I was offended and disgusted by their strong scripts and manipulative questions, and I hung up. In retrospect I should have answered their questions honestly to try to show my disapproval for their cause, but by then I was just overwhelmed with disgust. I needed to get off the phone.
I did some research after I hung up. Apparently they really do have a human on the other end of the line. That human never says anything. They're pressing buttons in a carefully-scripted computer program to have the computer play back prerecorded messages to lull you into thinking you're talking to a real person, take control of the conversation, and lead you right to the poll results that support their agenda.
It's abusive, manipulative phone polling tactics at their worst, and I can easily see them taking the results of their poll to Washington to help support "family values" legislation. Turns out they offer their poll on their website, too. I decided that filling it in honestly, consciously ignoring their blatantly manipulative wording, was the best approach. I'm also looking into reporting them to the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance. Can anyone recommend any other organizations that police these kinds of abuses?