My General Survey Doing Rant

[Carri]

This morning, I was DQ'd out of probably close to ten surveys. This was after each one made sure to ask me alot of questions and after some of them even seemed almost done, I kept getting the message that they already had enough responses from people. Of course we never get compensated for all that time, and that drives me crazy. I also had a few where after asking me half the survey, I was told that I just wasn't what they were looking for. I just feel we should be paid for our time because we can never get back the info they steal doing this. It's a win win for them, always.

Another of my rants is the continued race question. And I have been DQ'd after answering it on a few surveys. I don't feel the question of what race you are should ever be legal. We are all part of the human race, we are earthlings.

Also, the question they keep forcing lately is what is your sexual preference. Exactly why should that matter if you are taking a survey about most things? And why is it any of their business? And you don't dare not put in an answer cause most of the time you will be immediately DQ'd for both this and the issue of race.

These questions never sit well with me.

I know it's all part of doing these surveys and we are lucky to have the opportunity to do them at all, I just wish some of this was regulated. Especially the ones where you get to the last page of a survey and all of a sudden it's...........guess what, the finish page never loads, or gee, you didn't qualify for this survey. Come on, it's so they don't have to pay us.

Also, the surveys that LIE about how much time they will take. Fifteen minutes should not balloon into an hour. Or the ones that say forty minutes but really take two hours. And the bait and switch. I started one that said it was for clothing and accessories. Well, after a few questions, they suddenly switched it to cars. This wasn't a redirect or a DQ, they simply suddenly changed the topic of the survey.

That being said, I made $22.90 within a few days this week. I desperately needed it, so I am happy with the money. And I will keep trying to do surveys. But there will always be things that drive me crazy with these companies.

[avemaria]

i got disqualified while doing nothing more than watching a tv show.. i'm not kidding.. it was for $5 and i had to watch a new tv show.. about 15 minutes into the episode the screen just went to the 'you don't qualify' screen.. i didn't even answer a question to make that happen..

but depending on the panel you're doing the survey for, if they see you've spent time on it, sometimes they'll credit you.. like with Opinion Outpost or Globaltestmarket.. they have record of the time you first click the survey until it 'ends'..

but yes, screen outs are really frustrating.. i mean we're here obviously intending to try to make money.. some of us really need it as well. So you have a rich company holding out the money at you like the donkey and carrot and then they rip it away.. you feel robbed. I wrote into OO 2 years ago about what it feels like.. doing a survey for them is basically like you walking into their place of business and sitting down to not only make a profit for yourself, but to help them profit.. to be kicked out of the survey is basically like being told to leave the premises and that you're not wanted anymore.. it's a huge psychological deal because on our end it's personal and doesn't just 'not matter' because it's online and seemingly impersonal.. it is to them, but to us.. we're real people here.. but It's worse for those of us who have been doing it for awhile and have seen the corruption increase in the industry.. payment amounts cut down drastically and yet they still expect the same level of quality from us to give to their clients.. it's not right.. and the companies that operate this way get a reduced effort on my part in giving them my 'data'.. the companies that pay fairly enough get more of my thought and time..

[JD]

Here is my rant for today. Have had a few surveys of late where they ask you to view a video or product and then ask you how you feel after viewing the video or a description of a product, etc. They ask things like did viewing the video/product make you sad, glad, bored, unhappy, angry, disgusted, etc. I do enough surveys and am old enough to have seen enough advertising that it is all the same thing. Relatively emotionless experience. I will put neutral for almost all the emotions. And usually there are more than 20 of the stupid questions. Then the kicker is that they DQ you on going to the next screen because you are just phoning it in I suppose. Stupid questions IMO deserve a neutral response. Kinda like if a product were a person how do you perceive the following human traits regarding the product. Another stupid set of questions IMO.

On another topic. I see more and more questions at the start of a survey about what profession you are in and how they are looking for people in those professions. I assume this is just another way of screening you out if you do work in those professions but a more polite way of ensnaring and disqualifying someone who does work in those professions. Since I nor anyone else in my household works in those professions, not sure if picking one of those professions actually does disqualify one from the survey. Just seems like a trap.

[Elwood33]

I have a rant as well. They won't pay me the 250pts for using my Webcam on a survey a month ago as I've already emailed them 3x about it now. However I have since done a survey and emailed them and got the 250pts when I mentioned it this week. Not sure why this a) takes so long b) always have to bug them to receive the credit.

[1957horses]

Well it's good that you finally got it, a little persistence sometimes pays off. Though we shouldn't have to jump through hoops to get what's owed to us. I bet they don't go through all that malarkey to get their pay.................

[bingham]

i got disqualified while doing nothing more than watching a tv show.. i'm not kidding.. it was for $5 and i had to watch a new tv show.. about 15 minutes into the episode the screen just went to the 'you don't qualify' screen.. i didn't even answer a question to make that happen..

I'm pretty sure I took the exact same survey last night - I kept moving my mouse every minute or so after getting screened out in similar survey in January. Lucky for me the show was actually interesting so it wasn't terribly tedious.

The other day, I worked on a 20 minute survey about insurance for GTM only to be told I got sweepstakes entries instead of the promised points! I rarely e-mail these companies but that day I felt the matter was especially unfair. I'm used to getting screened out of surveys; I'll say that about 75% of surveys sent to my inbox disqualify me within minutes. But when someone gives their time in hopes of making some money only to get kicked out, you can't help but be frustrated. I'm sure these companies are rolling in the dough while we're collecting mere pocket change. I can see why so many who desire to make some cash doing surveys give up early because the payout isn't as good as they hoped.

[1957horses]

I got sweepstakes entries instead of the promised points

I had that happen 2 months ago with 3 in a roll giving me sweeps instead of points. I emailed GTM and by golly they answered the NEX DAY crediting me all 3 survey points..................

[Carri]

Rant of the day, I get a survey that says it will only take three minutes to complete for fifty cents. I get to the survey page, it says TWENTY minutes. What happened to three minutes? I hate it when they do that, plus, if I'm going to spend the time, I try to only do dollar surveys for twenty minutes at least.

[avemaria]

I have a rant as well. They won't pay me the 250pts for using my Webcam on a survey a month ago as I've already emailed them 3x about it now. However I have since done a survey and emailed them and got the 250pts when I mentioned it this week. Not sure why this a) takes so long b) always have to bug them to receive the credit.

from Millward Brown and Affectiva? where they want to film you watching a commercial? I've noticed it takes awhile but i've always been paid what they claim..

[avemaria]

i got disqualified while doing nothing more than watching a tv show.. i'm not kidding.. it was for $5 and i had to watch a new tv show.. about 15 minutes into the episode the screen just went to the 'you don't qualify' screen.. i didn't even answer a question to make that happen..

I'm pretty sure I took the exact same survey last night - I kept moving my mouse every minute or so after getting screened out in similar survey in January. Lucky for me the show was actually interesting so it wasn't terribly tedious.

mine was from Valued Opinions and I wrote in about it.. she credited me the full amount even though I only watched 15 or so minutes of it.. always write in..

[avemaria]

Rant of the day, I get a survey that says it will only take three minutes to complete for fifty cents. I get to the survey page, it says TWENTY minutes. What happened to three minutes? I hate it when they do that, plus, if I'm going to spend the time, I try to only do dollar surveys for twenty minutes at least.

also depending on the company you can usually get away with slicing a quarter of the time off the recommended time.. most people here can do the first 5 minutes of the surveys in less than 30 seconds so it cuts our times way down.. they take into account you're actually reading fully the intro qualifying questions.. you do it enough you don't have to read the questions you're so used to the answer patterns.

[1957horses]

also depending on the company you can usually get away with slicing a quarter of the time off the recommended time.. most people here can do the first 5 minutes of the surveys in less than 30 seconds so it cuts our times way down.. they take into account you're actually reading fully the intro qualifying questions.. you do it enough you don't have to read the questions you're so used to the answer patterns.avemaria

Not if your doing a survey for Ipoll and their other sites/panels, that's where they disqualify you saying you speed through it...........

[danielle1234]

my rant. I am boycotting mysurvey for disqualifying me and not warning me. I'm doing a survey and then it justs cuts off and goes to the dashboard. quite annoying. I have not done a single survey in about two weeks. They send me a lot of invitations. I have noticed i like doing surveys now that I dont do the mysurvey ones. less stress.

[fluffy501]

Here is my rant for today. Have had a few surveys of late where they ask you to view a video or product and then ask you how you feel after viewing the video or a description of a product, etc. They ask things like did viewing the video/product make you sad, glad, bored, unhappy, angry, disgusted, etc. I do enough surveys and am old enough to have seen enough advertising that it is all the same thing. Relatively emotionless experience. I will put neutral for almost all the emotions. And usually there are more than 20 of the stupid questions. Then the kicker is that they DQ you on going to the next screen because you are just phoning it in I suppose. Stupid questions IMO deserve a neutral response. Kinda like if a product were a person how do you perceive the following human traits regarding the product. Another stupid set of questions IMO.

On another topic. I see more and more questions at the start of a survey about what profession you are in and how they are looking for people in those professions. I assume this is just another way of screening you out if you do work in those professions but a more polite way of ensnaring and disqualifying someone who does work in those professions. Since I nor anyone else in my household works in those professions, not sure if picking one of those professions actually does disqualify one from the survey. Just seems like a trap.

Yes, you do get kicked out if you tick of any of the professions, it's a total trap. The same when they ask if you've taken a survey on any of "these" topics in the last 3 months, when it seems totally irrelevant, you can tell it's not going to be the same survey or about the same product anyway.

And I agree with the advert thing, I hate that too, "select all the emotions you felt about the advert" and the options they give are stupid, I hate it when they do it about brands too and you're supposed to feel anger, disgusted, fear, excited, happiness or something about a brand and I feel like there's something wrong with me for feeling neutral.

[avemaria]

i think that's the most ridiculous.. have you taken a survey on this topic in the last year? if you answer yes you're cut off.. how many topics are there at all period? 10? so every panel member is basically limited to taking 10 surveys every 6 months.. i always answer no to that.. as well as the professions page..