JoceyFisch
Active Member
So at about 2pm on Saturday I had some lady knock on my front door regarding a survey that was dropped in our letter box that week.. I vaguely remembered seeing something that said ‘Dear Resident’ so I filed it in the bin with anything else that says ‘Dear Resident’.
Anyway.. this lady was from Australian Bureau of Statistics and my house had been randomly selected for the Survey of Income and Housing and she wanted me to sit with her for “30-40 minutes” and basically tell her all about how much money we make, how much our bills are etc (she gave me a long list of documents I will need to refer to during the interview).
I asked her if I HAD to participate and she replied “yes it’s sort of like voting you have to do it” and I told her I wasn’t comfortable doing it on my own (as if I would ever let someone in my house that I don’t know) and as my partner wasn’t home I told her I wouldn’t be doing it. She then continued to try and lock in a time with me and I had to explain to her that with the hours we both work very rarely are we home at the same time during the week and on a Saturday.
She told me she would call me in a couple of days or could I call her with a suitable time. But advised that the survey COULD NOT be done over the phone.
So my question in all of this is… Is it compulsory? Do I really have to tell some complete stranger all about our finances coz I just do not feel comfortable at all doing that.. I don’t care who she works for. And if it is compulsory why can’t I do it anonymously over the phone?
I tried calling the 1800 number for ABS on the weekend but their hours are “8.30-4.30 Mon to Fri” so I will be trying them again today but I just wondered if anyone else had heard of this or even had to do it??
Thanks
Joc
Anyway.. this lady was from Australian Bureau of Statistics and my house had been randomly selected for the Survey of Income and Housing and she wanted me to sit with her for “30-40 minutes” and basically tell her all about how much money we make, how much our bills are etc (she gave me a long list of documents I will need to refer to during the interview).
I asked her if I HAD to participate and she replied “yes it’s sort of like voting you have to do it” and I told her I wasn’t comfortable doing it on my own (as if I would ever let someone in my house that I don’t know) and as my partner wasn’t home I told her I wouldn’t be doing it. She then continued to try and lock in a time with me and I had to explain to her that with the hours we both work very rarely are we home at the same time during the week and on a Saturday.
She told me she would call me in a couple of days or could I call her with a suitable time. But advised that the survey COULD NOT be done over the phone.
So my question in all of this is… Is it compulsory? Do I really have to tell some complete stranger all about our finances coz I just do not feel comfortable at all doing that.. I don’t care who she works for. And if it is compulsory why can’t I do it anonymously over the phone?
I tried calling the 1800 number for ABS on the weekend but their hours are “8.30-4.30 Mon to Fri” so I will be trying them again today but I just wondered if anyone else had heard of this or even had to do it??
Thanks
Joc