281-581-7601 — An Unwanted Telemarketing Call from Promark Research at 10:30 p.m.

I don't mind the occasional telemarketing phone call from time to time, whether it be political or business, but I was under the impression that telemarketers were not supposed to call your residence after 8 p.m. Apparently that is not the rule, because my phone rang last night (Sunday) at 10:33 p.m.

When I answered the phone, the person on the other end asked that I take part in a quick survey. This wasn't an automated call like the ones I get from political campaigns, but this was an actual person.

That's when I started the questioning.

I asked for the operator's name, his supervisor's name, company name and then I spoke to his supervisor and I asked her specifically, "Do you realize what time it is?"

Her reply to me: "It is around 10:30."

"Aren't your calls supposed to stop at 8 p.m.?" I asked. "You just woke my family up with this unnecessary disturbance."

Her reply to me was, "Oh no, we are allowed to call at any time and that we have a deadline to meet for a client and are doing last-minute surveys."

At that point I was very upset and said to her, "Oh, I said I don't care about your last-minute survey or your client, or for that fact and that you're trying to cover up at the last minute to complete a job that you couldn't complete in a timely manner. Now may I have your company name and a phone number that I can reach them at during normal business hours?"

The supervisor gave me the company name along with their phone number -- Promark Research 281-587-7601.  This company is based in Houston.

I have no idea what kind of survey they were trying to conduct or what client they were trying to serve, but I was very upset about this call.

When I called Promark Research this morning to voice my complaint against the company, the lady who answered the phone said she could not help me because she was the human resources director and that no one was in the office and she was covering the phones.

I'm just letting you know that if you have caller ID and this company name or number comes up -- just let it ring.

I found out this interesting stat, thanks to the Pew Research Center, 14% of people contacted by phone actually agree to participate in these kinds of surveys.  That's a decline from 1997 when 43% of people contacted would participate.