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A pet peeve of mine with survey companies in general


mikedorb

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33 minutes ago, mikedorb said:

Did you mean my points or points club?

My Points--I haven't heard of Points Club, until now.

I totally agree with the point you're making, and I like the way you've explained it. It parallels my experience.

In another thread, I posted about a Survey Junkie survey that was supposed to take TEN minutes, yet its very first page stated that it was heavy on reading, and the reading alone would take a MINIMUM of 30 minutes. I chose to continue because it was a very interesting case; it ended up taking an hour to complete--and then, after FULLY COMPLETING it and seeing its "thank you for completing this survey," I got the infamous 'uh-oh, you didn't qualify!' message and 3 points. Three points for SIXTY minutes of paying attention to minute details, reading, viewing (and re-viewing) videos, etc.

I'm going to post an in-depth review of Survey Junkie in a few days. I'm waiting until they're done communicating with me regarding several surveys, all of which I completed, saw the 'thanks for completing' message, submitted, then got 'uh-oh' and 2 points. Or 3. So far, they've stuck by their 'you were disqualified, and that can happen at any time,' despite my being very clear that I COMPLETED each one--and included screenshots showing that!

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25 minutes ago, LinuxPowered said:

My Points--I haven't heard of Points Club, until now.

I totally agree with the point you're making, and I like the way you've explained it. It parallels my experience.

In another thread, I posted about a Survey Junkie survey that was supposed to take TEN minutes, yet its very first page stated that it was heavy on reading, and the reading alone would take a MINIMUM of 30 minutes. I chose to continue because it was a very interesting case; it ended up taking an hour to complete--and then, after FULLY COMPLETING it and seeing its "thank you for completing this survey," I got the infamous 'uh-oh, you didn't qualify!' message and 3 points. Three points for SIXTY minutes of paying attention to minute details, reading, viewing (and re-viewing) videos, etc.

I'm going to post an in-depth review of Survey Junkie in a few days. I'm waiting until they're done communicating with me regarding several surveys, all of which I completed, saw the 'thanks for completing' message, submitted, then got 'uh-oh' and 2 points. Or 3. So far, they've stuck by their 'you were disqualified, and that can happen at any time,' despite my being very clear that I COMPLETED each one--and included screenshots showing that!

You had to know right away it wasn't going to be a 10 minute survey from how you described it. But as you said it was a very interesting case so that is why you chose to continue. And are you telling me you got a thank you for completing this survey message and then another message that said you didn't qualify? I have no clue how that could have possibly happened. You should get paid the full amount for completing the survey but these companies pretty much do what they want .We are all at their mercy and really have little or no recourse when something like this happens. Survey Junkie is one panel I don't believe I ever signed up for or at least I don't think I ever did. And it is probably a good thing I didn't. All I can say is good luck in getting this resolved in your favor. I really feel for you but if anybody has been doing online surveys for a long time it is probably something we all had to deal with at one time or another.  

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19 hours ago, mikedorb said:

You had to know right away it wasn't going to be a 10 minute survey from how you described it. But as you said it was a very interesting case so that is why you chose to continue. And are you telling me you got a thank you for completing this survey message and then another message that said you didn't qualify? I have no clue how that could have possibly happened.

Yes, as I noted, I chose to continue, knowing that its stated time of ten minutes wasn't even close. I wanted to do it, as it was very different from any other survey. And, yes, at the very end, it said "this is the last page" and asked a few demographic questions, then stated "this is the last question" which was optional. It asked if there was anything I'd liked to have known prior to rendering my verdict. I answered that, hit the 'next' or 'submit' button, saw its message that I was being redirected [back to SJ], THEN got SJ's infamous 'uh-oh, you didn't qualify' message--and THREE points.

This has happened over and over again. EACH time, I heavily documented the facts. And each time SJ claimed "you can be disqualified at any point..." blah blah blah, even though I was VERY CLEAR that I had not been disqualified, that I had completed it, even included screenshots SHOWING the survey's "thank you, this concludes the survey" message!

Today, after receiving their latest response, telling me that 'as a courtesy' they've given me 150 points (for a 195 point survey that I COMPLETED, and provided supporting documentation), I wrote back, basically quitting the site. I'm going to post a very detailed review later. I want to get their final word on the surveys still in question before I do that.

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21 hours ago, LinuxPowered said:

Yes, as I noted, I chose to continue, knowing that its stated time of ten minutes wasn't even close. I wanted to do it, as it was very different from any other survey. And, yes, at the very end, it said "this is the last page" and asked a few demographic questions, then stated "this is the last question" which was optional. It asked if there was anything I'd liked to have known prior to rendering my verdict. I answered that, hit the 'next' or 'submit' button, saw its message that I was being redirected [back to SJ], THEN got SJ's infamous 'uh-oh, you didn't qualify' message--and THREE points.

This has happened over and over again. EACH time, I heavily documented the facts. And each time SJ claimed "you can be disqualified at any point..." blah blah blah, even though I was VERY CLEAR that I had not been disqualified, that I had completed it, even included screenshots SHOWING the survey's "thank you, this concludes the survey" message!

Today, after receiving their latest response, telling me that 'as a courtesy' they've given me 150 points (for a 195 point survey that I COMPLETED, and provided supporting documentation), I wrote back, basically quitting the site. I'm going to post a very detailed review later. I want to get their final word on the surveys still in question before I do that.

SJ sounds like they have a chip on their shoulder by giving you 150 points "as a courtesy" when you clearly completed the survey. Is 150 points 1.50? And why couldn't they give you the entire 195 points especially since you invested so much time in doing the survey? I am happy I never signed up with them. Not that some of the other panels I belong to might be just as bad. Since they already gave you 150 points " as a courtesy" for that survey I would not be surprised if they refuse to do anything for the other surveys in question. If you hear from them please let us know what they tell you.   

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20 minutes ago, mikedorb said:

If you hear from them please let us know what they tell you.   

Yes, I had a new message from them this morning. They said: "We apologize for the inconvenience. Please let us know if you would face an issue in the future."

I'm taking that as their final word; I've cashed out my remaining earnings, and I'm done with the site. Pity, too, because they are were, by far, my favorite survey site.

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8 minutes ago, LinuxPowered said:

Yes, I had a new message from them this morning. They said: "We apologize for the inconvenience. Please let us know if you would face an issue in the future."

I'm taking that as their final word; I've cashed out my remaining earnings, and I'm done with the site. Pity, too, because they are were, by far, my favorite survey site.

I guess I was right in saying they weren't going to do anything more for you. And don't you just hate it when a company and not just a survey site says we apologize for the inconvenience? How about when a cable company says we apologize for the inconvenience when they drop your favorite channel and having access to that channel may be one of the main reasons you signed up for the service to begin with? Sometimes apologizing for the inconvenience just doesn't cut it. In my opinion you only can apologize for the inconvenience when something happens that is beyond anybody's control or an act of god. If it involves people making a business decision how can you apologize for that?   

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2 hours ago, mikedorb said:

Sometimes apologizing for the inconvenience just doesn't cut it.

^ This. 100%.

I'm contemplating filing formal complaints against SJ, though I'm not sure where to start. They're based in Glendale, which is in LA county, where I live; at the very least we'd be looking at the LA district attorney, the Glendale BBB and Chamber of Commerce, the California attorney general, and any cyber-crime/fraud related agencies that may be relevant. Here in California, we take fraud very seriously, and I believe what they're doing is tantamount to fraud.

Just to be perfectly clear, I am not a litigious person at all, and I strongly prefer to resolve problems with a person/entity itself, rather than going higher up to legal resources. But this is outrageous, and I don't think they should continue getting away with it. If they had said, "you know, we re-re-reviewed our records and you're right!, you really DID finish those surveys, and here are the points you should've gotten," I'd be fine. But that's not what they did.

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4 hours ago, LinuxPowered said:

^ This. 100%.

I'm contemplating filing formal complaints against SJ, though I'm not sure where to start. They're based in Glendale, which is in LA county, where I live; at the very least we'd be looking at the LA district attorney, the Glendale BBB and Chamber of Commerce, the California attorney general, and any cyber-crime/fraud related agencies that may be relevant. Here in California, we take fraud very seriously, and I believe what they're doing is tantamount to fraud.

Just to be perfectly clear, I am not a litigious person at all, and I strongly prefer to resolve problems with a person/entity itself, rather than going higher up to legal resources. But this is outrageous, and I don't think they should continue getting away with it. If they had said, "you know, we re-re-reviewed our records and you're right!, you really DID finish those surveys, and here are the points you should've gotten," I'd be fine. But that's not what they did.

I totally agree with you about not wanting to go the litigation route because I would feel the same way. It would definitely be better to settle things with the company but if they won't cooperate you are left  with only two choices. Do nothing or go after them through the legal system. I don't think you want to see other people ripped off and the odds are they have been doing this to other people too and you want to prevent it from happening in the future. I think this is more you wanting to stop them from  getting away with it than getting what is due you. I don't think we are talking huge money here but you should get paid for the completed surveys but I think this is more a matter of principle than anything else. This company certainly doesn't appear to be acting ethically. And even the survey they paid you for to use their words "as a courtesy" they didn't give you the total point value of the survey. And you certainly sent them enough evidence that the surveys were completed. 

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The one issue I have is survey companies that do not set their surveys to return to the originating site. Thus , no credit for completion. Router sites are where this happens. You start at one company like Crowdology , start a survey via a router , complete it , and that's it. No way to track it , so wasted time. 

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2 hours ago, episemion said:

The one issue I have is survey companies that do not set their surveys to return to the originating site. Thus , no credit for completion. Router sites are where this happens. You start at one company like Crowdology , start a survey via a router , complete it , and that's it. No way to track it , so wasted time. 

Agreed.  This is becoming an issue with some sites that just continue to offer surveys without returning to the original survey site.  Many times you will complete these surveys and not receive compensation.  Even the survey site itself will tell you to return to their site for further surveys and do not continue with the offered surveys from the survey company itself if you open a service request .  If they know that then why do they allow it or host those surveys on their site (looking at you Prizerebel)?  

These survey hosting companies have always had a touch of unethical issues throughout the years but it seems to be becoming the norm to do this sort of stuff for most survey hosting sites anymore.  

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