A Spontaneous Research Call, SRC is a prank call placed to a business in order to research how ridiculously far companies will go to please their customers for more business. Such calls may also be made to international embassies and the like, to confirm or deny
media reports. They are often prompted by a
crazy tabloid news story in popular culture.
Spontaneous Research Calls have been coined and popularized by The Sir Darryl
Radio Experience , the most listened to radio program on the
internet.
Sir Darryl will call companies and it reveals the absurdity of our corporate and customer service culture that will say yes to anyone who offers money, notoriety or other compensation. Sometimes, the company's
spin machine is at work. At other times, these calls expose the genuine professionalism and helpfulness of the representative. Sir Darryl calls funeral
homes, landlords, pharmacies and the like, with unusual requests. The responses from the company reps are either completely insane or absolutely logical, but they almost always follow company policy.
In
one Spontaneous Research Call, Sir Darryl called a cellphone company to find out if they could send him a separate phone bill that his wife couldn’t see so that he could hide the fact that he was having multiple affairs. The customer service rep suggested
different billing options and promising that the company would not reveal anything to his wife. The rep also detailed exactly how it could be
done using the company’s various billing delivery systems.
