Product Testing Rant

[Sweebies]

I have been reading these forums for a long, long time now and just became irate enough to create an account and make my own post.

I signed up for a two week long cat litter product test through Opinion Outpost. I was to test the litter for a week and after that week was up, I would get another survey letting them know I was done for the week and they would send me a different litter to test for the 2nd week. After I had tested both of them, I was to receive the final survey for a $20 incentive.

I got my first litter, no problem. Towards the end of the week, I open an email from Survey Spot with the generic "Take this survey today" title, and it ends up being the survey to let them know that I am finished with week one, go ahead and send my 2nd litter. Kind of weird because the original survey was from Opinion Outpost, but whatever, now I know to look for the final survey from either of these panels. By the 7th day of my final week, I start checking OO and SS religiously because I don't want to miss this final survey. It's not easy to come across and get accepted for $20 easy product tests. By the 9th day of randomly checking OO and SS, I never see the final survey. On the instruction form there are two emails. I send out an email to one of them letting them know that I'm done and asking them where I need to be looking for this survey. It's getting awful annoying looking back and forth between panels, hoping I run into it. Their response is "we sent out surveys this week, it will be there soon". They didn't answer my question about WHERE to find it so I panel hop for a few days hoping to run into it. I send another email, "can you please tell me which panel to find the survey? Please?" The response, "I dont know where it's coming from, I'll have them send it again". So I keep checking and decide to send an email to the other person, who appears to be the project manager of this whole thing. I should have sent her an email first. I fill her in on what's going on, wanting to know why no one can tell me where the survey is coming from, can they send a link directly to me?" The incentive is in the form of a check so I don't know why it has to go through one of the panels. 4 days after no response from either of those emails, I send one more to the project manager and all she can say is "we had them send the survey to you 3 times, I dont know why you never got it. The project is over, sorry".

I'm so aggravated. I felt like I was either dealing with people who decided they were done with the project and didn't want to pay or just ignorant about the project as a whole. No one seemed to know what was going on.

TL:DR: Took a product test, couldn't get anyone to answer my questions, lost out on $20. Annoyed.

[ssssurvey]

This happened to me a while back. If you know what company made the product, email them.I had a huge problem with an Avon product test and did not get paid. They sent me $20 in free Avon products AND I got paid. This really stinks.

[Sweebies]

I wish I knew. They come in generic white tubs. I can't recognize it by the look of the litter either. I'm glad you were able to get some kind of compensation.

It's probably a lost cause for me, but I feel better getting it off my chest.

[ksedwar]

Something similar happened to me once. I took an Opinion Outpost product test and the follow up came from Opinion World. I did get the points but from the wrong panel. Survey Sampling has a few different panels. I deleted all of my accounts except for Opinion Outpost to make sure it doesn't happen again.

[avemaria]

if it was Ipoll i'd say forget about it but if it's the company that runs Opinion Outpost, if they see you on record as having started it, they may pay you.. just go back to the first survey you did and mail them that survey number telling them you finished the product test and want the promised $20..

[episemion]

I recently signed up for a $20 one through Survey Savvy for a diet soft drink test that takes 8 weeks. Hopefully , I will get the $20. If not , I'll at least have the nearly 100 cans of soda.

[Sweebies]

You know, I'm signed up for Opinion World and never thought to even check them since the original came from OO and the first follow up came from SS. I figured it would come from one of those two. I'm going to delete those two. Opinion World is pretty much dead and SS rarely gives a survey over $.50.

[footfree]

I recently signed up for a $20 one through Survey Savvy for a diet soft drink test that takes 8 weeks. Hopefully , I will get the $20. If not , I'll at least have the nearly 100 cans of soda.

I guess that's the one I tried out for but didn't make because I only drink diet coke...................

[Huntress]

I was supposed to do a cat treat product test and the package arrived empty--all except for the instruction letter. So I emailed the project head with the information including tracking number, survey number etc and instead of mailing me a replacement, all she said was "then you can't answer the follow-up survey".

Well, actually, I could've answered the follow-up to receive the $$$$ because I got sent the follow-up survey link by just selecting answers randomly, but that would be dishonest and unethical. So I didn't.

It's annoying when we do the right thing, but they don't!

[avemaria]

I was supposed to do a cat treat product test and the package arrived empty--all except for the instruction letter. So I emailed the project head with the information including tracking number, survey number etc and instead of mailing me a replacement, all she said was "then you can't answer the follow-up survey".

Well, actually, I could've answered the follow-up to receive the $$$$ because I got sent the follow-up survey link by just selecting answers randomly, but that would be dishonest and unethical. So I didn't.

It's annoying when we do the right thing, but they don't!

those instruction sheets are pretty general though.. they just include the questions that are already on the survey..

[SeriousSurveyer]

I was supposed to do a cat treat product test and the package arrived empty--all except for the instruction letter. So I emailed the project head with the information including tracking number, survey number etc and instead of mailing me a replacement, all she said was "then you can't answer the follow-up survey".

Well, actually, I could've answered the follow-up to receive the $$$$ because I got sent the follow-up survey link by just selecting answers randomly, but that would be dishonest and unethical. So I didn't.

It's annoying when we do the right thing, but they don't!

You should have just used the product normally and taken the survey! That's what I would have done. I mean, I know how to use the product, right?

[bingham]

I can't remember what kind of product it was, but I remember receiving a test product and was ready to take the survey and share my thoughts when I was suddenly screened out! I quickly e-mailed Global Test Market to ask if this was a site error and they replied with "no, the folks in charge of the product test got the info they needed." I didn't get paid for the test but I got to keep the product so I guess it balanced out. Still odd that they didn't want an extra opinion!