Does anyone have experience with the American Community Survey?

I would call the Census Bureau

That is part of the due diligence here. Haven't gotten thru yet.

That doesn't surprise me.

I would take great caution. This sounds like a scam to me.

Adding to this, they got the postal address wrong (two cities, same zip code). It is hard to see this could be government legit targeting demographics if such a basic sorting mechanism is wrong.

I think you should go to the police. A lot of people could get hurt, if this a scam.

Sounds like a scam to me too. I had a phone call many years ago and it really went off the "survey" railroad track...wanting to know what electronics I owned and if I worked (left the house) and I stopped doing surveys...as I really suspected it was someone who wanted to stop bye...and steal my electronic stuff when I wasn't home.

I have never head of this and you might want to google the name of the group, you might find something about it.

I did that when a Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman tried to get me to buy one... I learned a lot and I recommend everyone to google and learn more. The kirby salesman tried to sell me one for $2500 but the next day dropped the price to $1000. I knew from the internet that the same process they did with me they did with people all across the country... they ask you to evaluate "a product"y and the seem to have two people running the show...one needs to get the sale to get a prize and the other is the "supervisor" making sure the first one did a good job. When I wouldn't buy the vacuum cleaner the one who "needed the sale" looked at me with puppy eyes and said, "Don't you want to help me get the prize?"

When the "supervisor" got angry on the second day I pointed out, that I did what they wanted when they knocked on the door, I did evaluate the product. He wasn't very happy and was nasty and I was so glad my husband was there.

There are a lot of people who prey on others and I kept thinking, I could buy a dyson for so much less. Who spends thousands on a vacuum cleaner???

The vacumn cleaner things is big. Someone tried to sell me one for $3500 once, saying it would do a fabulous job. It did suck ... but so did the price.

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I would be very cautious.

I'm getting that feeling more and more. Thanks Carol.

I thought the census bureau is done with all that. I know for a fact that they do not ask personal questions about income, when you leave for work or if you are home all day. These are not questions that they would be interested in. I would be careful and not fill out anything like that. Call the Census Bureau would be a good idea just not the phone number they may have on that form. If they want to really know your answers they would knock on your door.

My daughter worked for the Census and seems to think this is a HUGE scam. Contact the Census bureau right away. One point they made to people over and over is that the Census DOES NOT collect personal information of any kind.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had politicians who told the truth.

The American Community Survey and the Decennial Census are two completely different census surveys.

William - I'm willing to grant that some do. In this age of scams, however, I don't know how the government can reasonably expect people to "accept" that personal information requests are genuine. It is so easy to falsify any kind of logos, addresses, etc.

Are you saying you can get service in America? From whom?

I wonder how many people are aware of how many calls to 911 are to pick people up who've fallen? There are a lot of services out there.

Services about caring are often good, but those concerning money suck, in my opinion.

The Census Bureau only collect data on how many people live in the residence. To be able to know how many people live in a certain town, city, or area. They have never ask any personal questions.

The information in this questionaire are very personal.

Some Census questions do seem very personal, but I believe this random and I think possibly used to weed out illegal aliens from the count.

The fact that the Census Bureau, at some point, publishes its findings identifiably takes it beyond illegal alien search.

I feel like an Alien is in a spaceship watching me and I just hope I'm not what he considers edible.
A good census question would be, 'Are you edible?' Only a cannibal would answer yes, so we could find them and deport them to a more suitable locale.

Very sneaky!

This is not a scam. Please visit this web site:

http://factfinder.census.gov/jsp/saff/SAFFInfo.jsp?_pageId=sp1_acs&_submenuIdP

Following that link, I was taken to this site. It, like the paperwork received, talks about "legally obligated".

I will say, however, that it is a difficult decision whether to decline to return the questionaire or write "refused" over more than half the questions.

That link has a tab "About The Survey." This is a drop down menu. The first item is "About The American Community Survey." Also, under "Language Brochures" you can click on English for a PDF frequently asked questions. I was a manager during the 2010 Decennial Census (the big one). I know several people who work the American Community Survey. It is not a scam, as people who have responded to this article mistakenly believe. It is a very important survey. It will benefit your community. It helps drive tax dollars to programs in your community. It also helps city engineers determine if you need more public transportation, parks, even sewage treatment plants. Please, don't refuse any questions. This is a very, very important survey. I was asked to take it several years ago and felt it was my civic duty to do so. I don't regret it.

I respect your sentiments on its importance, Bob. When it comes to government things, I try to err on the side of compliance.

That said, there are some seriously intrusive medical and financial questions on this form. My mother, who is not an overly private person received it and she recoiled at many of them. There is no way anyone could assure me that the responses would not be tied to the name, address, birthdate, and other identifiable information of the person providing the answer at least in some form. I believe in declining a response rather than fabricating one.

Sounds fishy to me, though I see where a comment points out it is real?

I for one would be hot under the collar if I'm expected to fill out a survey that I didn't ask for, that was full of very personal questions, and threats of being fined for not answering it.

Followup -- Well, a guy showed up to do this in person when it hadn't been sent in. While the written form does not give options to refuse, the questions that gave pause can all be declined.