Well crap Pinecone

[Sherry67]

I'm now in the process of waiting to cash out for my third payment since the new points system was put in place, and I just have to reiterate how annoying and time consuming the extra steps are! Arrrrrgggghhhh! There are so many unnecessary extra steps to deal with to claim the money! There are more pages and e-mails and steps involved in this Pinecone cash-out process than there are on a lot of the other survey companies' sites!

I was hoping I would be less annoyed after the second or third go-'round with this new Pinecone system, but I'm not. Well, actually I am waiting on my second payment to be deposited in PayPal but am waiting for points to be awarded to my Pinecone account so I can begin the whole process of cashing out for the third payment. If they are trying to discourage people from actually claiming quick bits of cash -- which I suspect is the goal -- they are doing a very good job of it! Unfortunately I have to claim the money after each survey and can't really afford to wait to claim it all in a bigger payout -- that is, until they force me/us into a minimum payment requirement.

[misswood24]

The new cash-out system is not the worst in the world. It may require additional steps, but it is still quicker than most survey companies. I am however, a believer in the statement if something isn’t broke don’t fix it. I liked it better when they automatically deposited money into my Paypal account the day after the survey was completed. Now I get a message the next day telling me that my account has been updated with my reward points. When I go in and claim my rewards it takes another day for them to get deposited into my Paypal account. Two days are a whole lot better than 2-4 weeks. So I am not all that worried about it.

[rosiesmom]

That is why I am just letting it build up a little before I cash out. I only have to go through the process once in a while.

[rosiesmom]

I did check with Karen at Pinecone and she did confirm that my daughter did complete the survey but never mentioned any $ for doing it. SO it looks like we did get dq'd on it. My daughter said she won't do anymore of those stupid surveys, don't blame her, especially when Pinecone has always guaranteed participation.

[Sherry67]

I did check with Karen at Pinecone and she did confirm that my daughter did complete the survey but never mentioned any $ for doing it. SO it looks like we did get dq'd on it. My daughter said she won't do anymore of those stupid surveys, don't blame her, especially when Pinecone has always guaranteed participation.

Interesting. Very interesting. Pinecone has never been one of those DQ'ing places. I hope they don't start that with all members.

I just posted in another thread that I did a survey for Pinecone yesterday (mid-afternoon). Today, while I was on Opinion Outpost, I encountered the same survey but I intentionally got myself disqualified from it because I had already done it for Pinecone yesterday and didn't want to confuse their system. I should have just exited out of the survey by closing the tab, because I have not received my 300 points today at all and there is no trace of my completion of the survey in my Pinecone account.

I have a strange feeling that when I got myself DQ'd from the survey on OO, the Pinecone system may have read it and concluded that I didn't complete the survey at all. I've never gotten "paid" from Pinecone later than the next business day (I'm including the points in there too!), so I should have gotten the 300 points today. I will wait until Monday and see what happens. Then I'll contact Karen. But I'm thinking it may not be a good thing that the Pinecone surveys are now on OO because there could be some trouble with getting paid by Pinecone if they think we either already did the surveys or got DQ'd from them.

[rosiesmom]

Kind of wonder what is going on with them. I have been there a while, and no problems, until this last one. I won't give up yet, I like them too much.

[Huntress]

That is why I am just letting it build up a little before I cash out. I only have to go through the process once in a while.

See, that's what I was doing with Valued Opinions--letting my balance grow to $132. But then without warning, they announced a policy change that if I wanted to cash out with a Visa Promo code (my usual choice) I'd be charged a 25% fee--so literally overnight the value of my accumulated rewards fell by $33! So I would suggest you cash out of any research panel--including PineCone-- quickly before they suddenly switch to a new procedure where you are charged a fee--or they remove the Paypal option and only offer worthless GC's you don't really want. I've learned that in business once one company in an industry adopts a policy others follow suit. And the recent change at Pinecone might be a harbinger of such a move down the line.

just a suggestion. (I cashed out this week at $6 since I was afraid of a repeat of the Valued Opinions fiasco)

[Sherry67]

That is why I am just letting it build up a little before I cash out. I only have to go through the process once in a while.

See, that's what I was doing with Valued Opinions--letting my balance grow to $132. But then without warning, they announced a policy change that if I wanted to cash out with a Visa Promo code (my usual choice) I'd be charged a 25% fee--so literally overnight the value of my accumulated rewards fell by $33! So I would suggest you cash out of any research panel--including PineCone-- quickly before they suddenly switch to a new procedure where you are charged a fee--or they remove the Paypal option and only offer worthless GC's you don't really want. I've learned that in business once one company in an industry adopts a policy others follow suit. And the recent change at Pinecone might be a harbinger of such a move down the line.

just a suggestion. (I cashed out this week at $6 since I was afraid of a repeat of the Valued Opinions fiasco)

I totally, 100% agree with you, Huntress, and I do the exact same thing. I do not miss a beat. If I have earned something -- whether it is 50 cents, $1.00, $3.00, $5.00, $10 or more -- I cash out immediately. As soon as the money hits the account and is able to be cashed out, I cash out. I do it for the exact reasons you stated - when one company implements a new policy or system, often times others will follow suit. (A recent non-survey example that comes to mind is the coupon policies at grocery stores around Southern California. Once Vons got wind of the fact that Ralphs dramatically changed its coupon policies, Vons followed suit and suddenly no one was doubling coupons anymore.)

The trouble is that more of these survey places are starting to implement policies which make it harder to cash out in a reasonable period of time, or their surveys are so infrequent or of such little value that it's impossible to reach the cash-out threshold in a reasonable period of time. They seem to be throwing out more hurdles to make cashing out more difficult, while the members continue to do the surveys.

So if a place like Pinecone is willing to let me take my $3.00 after each survey, you can bet I am riding that train all the way to the station even if I have to go through several more annoying steps to do it. This is also why I am a member of Quick Rewards. Even though you have to qualify for the surveys they offer, once you do them the money usually appears in your account and can be cashed out the same day. If it's a special survey, it might appear by the following Monday. Whatever the case, as soon as the money is there -- and it could be only a few cents, literally, or $1.00 or whatever -- I cash it out to PayPal. That's why they call themselves "Quick" Rewards -- they want to make sure to give everyone what they earn quickly, unlike a lot of other places. And they are good about crediting for surveys that don't credit as long as you give them detailed info about the survey subject, the date you did it, etc.

I also had a Valued Opinions-esque experience, by the way, with Panda Rewards a couple of years ago (and Panda has got to be the worst company as far as customer service and shady tactics that I have encountered). I was almost at their ridiculous $50 threshold to cash out a second time (which took a long time to get to), and just before I reached the $50 point they changed their policies so that I could suddenly not cash out for $50. I argued with them back and forth via email and they gave idiotic replies. I never got the money I earned because they changed their "rules."

So, from my Panda experience (and other lesser examples with other companies) I learned that survey sites will, indeed, flip the script on us midstream and not care at all what the members say. I do not let anything build up or accumulate if I can get it right away!

[SeriousSurveyer]

I agree 100 percent with you two -- Huntress and Sherry67. Absolutely cashout when you can. The company can suddenly drop redemption forms, add/increase fees, drop you from the panel, or even fold completely. A few these have already happened at panels this year. If you leave money/points in your account you do so at your own risk.

[canadamom]

Hint for cashing out- it is a several step but super simple. Go look under featured at the bottom left to find "cash". Even though you put in your address it comes the same method as before ie:paypay etc.

[avemaria]

I did check with Karen at Pinecone and she did confirm that my daughter did complete the survey but never mentioned any $ for doing it. SO it looks like we did get dq'd on it. My daughter said she won't do anymore of those stupid surveys, don't blame her, especially when Pinecone has always guaranteed participation.

Interesting. Very interesting. Pinecone has never been one of those DQ'ing places. I hope they don't start that with all members.

I just posted in another thread that I did a survey for Pinecone yesterday (mid-afternoon). Today, while I was on Opinion Outpost, I encountered the same survey but I intentionally got myself disqualified from it because I had already done it for Pinecone yesterday and didn't want to confuse their system. I should have just exited out of the survey by closing the tab, because I have not received my 300 points today at all and there is no trace of my completion of the survey in my Pinecone account.

I have a strange feeling that when I got myself DQ'd from the survey on OO, the Pinecone system may have read it and concluded that I didn't complete the survey at all. I've never gotten "paid" from Pinecone later than the next business day (I'm including the points in there too!), so I should have gotten the 300 points today. I will wait until Monday and see what happens. Then I'll contact Karen. But I'm thinking it may not be a good thing that the Pinecone surveys are now on OO because there could be some trouble with getting paid by Pinecone if they think we either already did the surveys or got DQ'd from them.

the bad thing about Pinecone surveys on OO is that you do have the chance to disqualify.. it seems they're very selective and if you don't click the right item out of the 30 they have on the 'have you tried' list, you get cut..

but as for the Pinecone surveys on OO, after my first email and reply back asking for my i.d. as she couldn't find me in the system, i never heard back from her... so she just ignores non members. It was a simple question.. why am i getting Pinecone surveys through OO for half the pay? i thought Pinecone valued its data and its panel of quality.. fishing on OO, or should i say whoring its data in the slums isn't exactly quality... she never wrote back... so yesterday i wrote to OO with the same question..