Office for National Statistics Reviews 

76
TrustScore 2 out of 5

1.8

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

You have been selected at random. Lie number one. Targeted me at both homes after recently moving. Both within a year of each other. Id just got out of hospital the first time & has a man at my door,... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

My mother died nearly 2 years ago inher 80's. My brother was her carer. Recently he had a woman from ONS asking for a survey and said that my mother had been interviewed recently about her money and r... See more

Company replied

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Very persistently tried to contact me on the phone after I turned the field staff away due to feeling really unwell and not letting them in my house. Very rude and inconsiderate. Ended up having to bl... See more

Company replied

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Had the original letter about being selected to complete the survey. Got half way through it on line and couldn't answer one question so I couldn't carry on. Have been unwell since then and forgot all... See more

Company details

  1. Government Office

Written by the company

The UK's largest independent producer of official statistics and the recognised national statistical institute of the UK.


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1.8

Poor

TrustScore 2 out of 5

76 reviews

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No recent history of asking for reviews

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Replied to 93% of negative reviews

Typically replies within 2 weeks

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1.8

All reviews

(76)

19 reviews in the last 12 months

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

HARRASSMENT nothing less…

Brilliant a free notebook and £10 voucher ..HOWEVER...after receiving a letter it was put aside to do later as it had 3wks to complete. One week later another arrives with 3wks to complete. A few days later at 20.10hrs a knock at the door with ONS asking when I'm doing the survey giving me until 3rd March, past original date.. Next morning unknown call ( never answer these ) from Portsmouth, voicemail from ONS again telling me to fill in form or receive a visit or phone call.
Did this the next day.. Load of rubbish, some questions are worded different ways to get same answer..
I get the feeling that this isn't a survey for anything else but work availability and benefits.. Today having already done the survey another letter arrives..
So for clarity to the ONS , I'm not a benefit cheat and I retired 2yrs ago and past my retirement age.
ALSO I find out after doing the survey it is NOT obligatory unless a business..
Therefore HARASSMENT......
Save taxpayers money, send a letter, give a complete by date or option to refuse...Use the info you receive.
No need for multiple letters or door knockers at night time, probably council staff on overtime anyway..
Never been so annoyed, oh yes 1 star for a notepad & voucher..

23 February 2024
Unprompted review
Office for National Statistics logo

Reply from Office for National Statistics

Thank you for taking part in our survey and for your feedback; we’re sorry that you feel you've not had a good experience.

The working hours for our field staff are up until 20:00. We will feed your experience of a call outside these hours back to our teams to ensure this does not happen again.

Our statistics are used by government departments, public bodies and charities for things like improving healthcare and social services, removing barriers to work and supporting people unable to work, meeting the need for housing, school places and recycling services, and much more.

All households have an equal chance of being chosen to take part in our surveys and cannot be replaced, so we encourage households to submit responses through a range of methods. This includes extending the survey deadline after the invitation is received if we haven’t received a response yet. Sometimes there is overlap between a letter being sent and your response being received, which is unfortunately outside our control.

Taking part in our surveys is the way to help us understand the changing needs of communities and help to provide services they need. Once again, we thank you for taking part in our survey.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

ONS harassing, badgering and hounding for a "voluntary" survey

ONS harassing, badgering and hounding people to take part in a "voluntary" survey makes it not so voluntary. Stop wasting tax payers money and actually do something constructive for a change.

17 February 2024
Unprompted review
Office for National Statistics logo

Reply from Office for National Statistics

We’re sorry that you have not had a good experience with our surveys.

Our statistics are used by government departments, public bodies and charities for things like improving healthcare and social services, removing barriers to work and supporting people unable to work, meeting the need for housing, school places and recycling services, and much more.

All households have an equal chance of being chosen to take part in our surveys and cannot be replaced, so we encourage households to submit responses through a range of methods. Taking part in our surveys is the way to help us understand the changing needs of communities and help to provide services they need.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Oh no, it's the ONS again.

Had the original letter about being selected to complete the survey. Got half way through it on line and couldn't answer one question so I couldn't carry on. Have been unwell since then and forgot all about it. Decided I wouldn't bother with it as got more important things to think about. Have subsequently had 2 letters from ONS urging me to complete the survey. Doesn't make it seem voluntary to me. More like being pressured to do it. I'm not really bothered about a £10 voucher I'll not use and the free notepad isn't much use either.

8 January 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Parasites!

"How can this company improve" asks Trustpilot and "keep things respectful".

OfNS personnel do not know the meaning of the words respectful, courteous or polite. They hide behind their perceived status and seem to think they can treat members of the public like they exist to feed their self importance. Pfft!

Been pestered by this parasitical government organisation for two or more weeks now and it's not the first time they've aggressively pursued us for our private and personal information. They also sent a very, threatening and aggressive thug to our daughter's home. Turning up on spec and demanding to be let in and have access to her personal and private information with complete disregard for the fact she was wfh. She had to close the door on it.

"Voluntary survey" says their junk mail. Pfft! If you don't partake they send a 'reminder' Pfft! and if you ignore that then two days later they send an 'officer' Pfft!
"Anonymous" it says. On junk mail with unique log in code sent to specific addresses. Pfft!

They're nothing more than parasites. You absolutely do not have to complete their surveys and they have no right to enter your home whatever any of their doorstepping thugs might say. They rely on people not knowing their rights and being intimidated by the lanyards they wear and 'government organistion'. Pfft! That is an abuse of position! This is also how criminals operate!

Treat them with the contempt they deserve. If they can't treat people with respect and courtesy they're certainly don't deserve any. It's a two way thing, not something that's owed because certain groups, people, organisations think we all exist for their benefit.

They work for us, remember that

6 January 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

My husband and I had our survey in Oct…

My husband and I had our survey in Oct 2023. The interviewer ( Ian Donnison) came to our house and took down all our information and promised that ONS will pay us £50 each. After waiting for months. I emailed ONS, ONS kept replied that ‘The Survey Support team are currently dealing with your query, and will respond by email as soon as they can’ … I had received this email everytime I emailed them. This made me feel like thieves had stolen the vouchers.

3 October 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Weird and Dangerous.

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.

26 November 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Apparently I was selected as a member…

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

23 November 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Sinister behaviour from the ONS.

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.

8 November 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

An absolute joke

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

6 January 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

The ONS's monthly business survey is a…

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!

3 October 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Vouchers not issued.

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.

9 February 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Filled in the 1st survey online and…

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.

6 December 2021
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

ONS seem to think businesses have loads…

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.

16 November 2021
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

been taking part in the covid study…

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

8 October 2021
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Disgraceful Vouchers Rules!

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

11 August 2021
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Waste of my time

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.

29 April 2021
Unprompted review

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