Office for National Statistics Avis 71

Weird and Dangerous.
Recieved a invitation to take the survey online via the mail/post. This guaranteed a £50 reward evouchure.

As soon as completing the online sign up my antivirus( Kaspersky) has now malfunctioned and refuses to reinstall.

There is something very fishy and dangerous going on here.

Apparently I was selected as a member of the public to fill out the survey.
A man kept coming to the door asking me to complete the survey.
I work from home and may have called at some point but after numerous knocks on the door and refusals to leave. I had to physically shut the door to get rid of them, made my decision I was not going to complete the survey (especially after reading reviews on here)

I was told to take myself of the list I had to ring the office. After looking at the reviews there was no way I was going to give them my contact number and get harassed.

I have had to set up a new email address and emailed complaints so hopefully this is resolved.

Complete invasion of privacy at best and intimidation at worst.
This should not be allowed. We all here stories about people going to peoples houses pretending to do a survey to rob people (a plastic ID card is not a secure way to confirm someone is genuine as they can easily be copied).

Door to door callers risk making the vulnerable more vulnerable

I'm simply a member of the public who one day received a letter from the ONS telling me I'd been selected 'randomly' and they wanted me to tell them all about my household, my outgoings, my income etc. I ignored that first letter.
I was then bombarded with more letters, this time addressed to my house and not my name. One letter even included a business card, as if that would sway me!
Today, without an appointment, a staff member from ONS knocked at my door! They actually expected me to allow them to interview me - no appointment, nothing. I politely told them that my business is MY OWN business and they can go away. They refused to go, telling me I could be anonymous. I politely told them nothing is anonymous and again that my life is personal. I also reminded them that my house is a place of safety and that they were overstepping the mark, especially as I'd already told them no twice.
The interviewer was persistent and kept trying to persuade me! This time they got a very blunt no and I also told them to find another house.
That was 30 minutes ago and their car is still parked outside my house and they're on the telephone to someone.

This is very suspicious behaviour! I did not request their attention, I'm on the Telephone Preference Service, I'm on junk mail blocking lists.
Am I missing something here? Is this far more sinister than I'm thinking? Is this Government attempting to suss certain people of this country?

Avoid folks. Avoid like the plague. I fear this is far more sinister than many realise.

An absolute joke, i was told i had to complete these surveys every month or i would be taken to court, i did get out of them by closing my limited company and going as a sole trader there was nothing they could do about it

The ONS's monthly business survey is a complete waste of tax payer's time and money. This pathetic survey could easily be derived by VAT data from HMRC, giving a far more accurate view of the whole economy without the burden on small businesses. The UK is already very bureaucratic; this survey just adds another reason for small businesses to want to move away!

Absolute waste of my time as far as I’m concerned.

Promised a £10 voucher…not received surprise surprise 🙄

Inaccurate data relating to excess deaths in young adults.

I have participated in the OnS COVID-19 survey .the study is smooth and I am regularly updated . the results are communicated well to the participants .every updation and changes to the study is handled very proactively.

I sent off the request for vouchers as emailed to me, and still not received the vouchers 6 weeks later. i did not have this problem with the previous voucher provider.

Filled in the 1st survey online and received my £10 voucher immediately

Second (more detailed) survey arrived and filled in not long after.

3 months on, I'm still waiting for my second voucher as promised.

Keep looking in your spam and trash folders..... Is all I get.

Terrible service.

ONS seem to think businesses have loads of time and love nothing more than being bombarded with endless surveys coupled with the treat of a fine for failing to complete and return by an arbitrary deadline.

Quite why anyone thinks this is a good idea is beyond me.

been taking part in the covid study that the ONS is doing . i decided i would do a search on the company that is running it called IQVIA , it states that residents of California can click to opt out of having their personal data sold . in other words, if you live anywhere else, they sell people's personal information and possibly all of ours too in the U S , that is , as they will probably be prohibited from doing so here by our data protection /GDPR

Thé vouchers clearly states the validity of the vouchers : 2 years - We were saving ours for our grand-daughter new babies , but just find out that they had expired as they are VALID 3 Months -
I notice their letter explaining the rules has changed its layout :the 3 months is now at the top unlike the first we got -
So we lost the value of £300 worth of vouchers - I think it’s disgraceful -
E voucher 2/08/2021

£25.00
e-gift card

Spend in-store or online
Valid for 2 years from 20/07/2021

e-gift card number
6371960056029085973

They are forcing me to fill out a survey for my work.

I never read any questions and answered no to them all.

They only waste my time.

They tell you that you will be paid to do blood tests and again for swab tests for covid data, after they had been and I did the blood test which I had to stab every finger and both thumbs to get the blood out in 40 minutes, along came the normal £25 for the swab test, we were told that we would get an additional £50 for the 1st visit for a blood test then £25 every month after for 5 years,
When the £50 didn't arrive I spent 2 days waiting on the phone and being cut off to eventually be told we would get nothing extra for the blood tests, I asked if the phone calls were recorded so they can here the agent telling me about the above extra for blood tests.
This agent said sorry they were wrong and we will not be getting any additional payments for the blood, to me the swab tests should be free and payment for the blood because of the pain it caused getting it out of my fingers.

This is the 2nd time I've not been paid for a survey both £50 for the wife and I so £200 they ripped us off for.

I wouldn't recommend them to anyone they cannot be trusted.

These guys will threaten you with court, a criminal record and a £1000 fine purely for existing without filling in their crappy form. Then they will literally send people to harass you until you comply or they will take you to court. Oh and they're funded by the public, why are we paying these criminals to issue threats to innocent civilians

As a result of being part of a virus testing sample for the Office of national Satitics I was offered vouvhers for each visit, starting in August 2020. Despite three telephone calls and perhaps five emails dating from 16 th October I am owed approx £250 in vouchers (acknowledged by ONSS) )and have been paid nothing. My wife who is also gives a sample within a few minutes of myself has been mostly paid. I just cannot get through to anyone in the ONSS other than junior staff who answer the t elephone. Using therir formal complaints system will take a long time with possibly an answer jsut to fob me off.
John Morgan

The letter makes out that your info is private and confidential. Why then do they need such identifiable info? Going by the governments past record, your info is definitely at risk with them. I started the online survey which began with lumping wife and husband wit the word partner, which is too PC (any PC is too PC!).The survey got more intrusive very quickly so I abandoned it just before it wanted my D.O.B..
The whole thing rings alarm bells the size of France so I hope they contact me to ask why I never completed it, so I can tell them I don’t trust them one little bit.

Dire. The application form is excessively complicated. Many of the links don’t work. It won’t let you complete certain sections. Five emails sent asking for help, the first two weeks ago, no response. Hanging on the phone for 1 1/2 hours yesterday and today. Eventually I was locked out of the online process because it said I wasn’t responding. Absolutely disgraceful. Thinking of just giving up.