Palm Research Rip Off!

[paintik]

Huh, just as I get the account up to $28.50 they go and shift the goalposts! Now only payout net 45 when last week it was net 30.

Rip off merchants!

[Vipercat]

They did pay me eventually, but it took nearly 70 days. The plus side is they will respond to emails and Gus even gave me a nice phone call where he was very nice and professional. You probably will get paid, but you might have to remind them a few time and wait a few months. It does suck and makes no sense they changed it from 30 to 45. I am not expert and know nothing about how they operate on the inside, but I would think that they are making a good profit with their business model as is, and they should be able to process payments in a timely order and not change the rules and be just fine. I can say this, if they become too much like a slow company such as Toluna or your2cents they will not stay competitive or keep panelists for more than a few months. What they got going for them right now is that they still respond to support messages and appear to care, and have sent payments in the past.

[gene55]

I unsubscribed after doing 2 surveys. I thought it would be better to count my losses and run. There was just too many bad things being said about them. Where theres smoke theres usualy enough fire to get burned.

[Whatatay]

Yes they are a rip off. The same surveys over and over. I haven't qualified for a survey of theirs in over a month. The only reason to change from net 30 to net 45 is so they have a lot of our money when they go out of business.

[SurveyBang]

its pretty much a greenfieldonline survey and an OTX survey everyday so they arent switching surveys. However by raising their payout amount, they do lower the amount of people who will stick it out for that payout level. Unfortunate.

[paintik]

Just realised Palm are one of a number of survey sites that use links pointing to the same survey, you realise this when you've managed to finish a survey and got paid then find all the other links from different sites are 'quota full' or you just don't get them.

What I'm doing now is only working with links from Surveyhead.com, they've just paid me via paypal £17.66 and I've only been going with them for two months. They seem a very reliable site, thoughts anyone else....?

Regards

All

[factonista]

What I'm doing now is only working with links from Surveyhead.com, they've just paid me via paypal £17.66 and I've only been going with them for two months. They seem a very reliable site, thoughts anyone else....?

Regards

All

I think SurveyHead is Palm in a year's time. I think Palm is still trying to figure out how to run things smoothly.

[palmresearch]

Well, here I am again, defending my company. Although I have a new mindset about anyone talking negatively. It's just the nature of the beast.

We have a very LARGE group of satisfied panelists that participate with us daily. We also have a small contingent of people that are cheating and manipulating their demographics just to be able to take our surveys. Like I said in an earlier post, we had a group of people from India lie and take an $8 study for Canadian Educators. How did they get in? They lied about their age, economic status, education and employment. Had we not had our net 30 policy, we'd have been out alot of money. So I'm not going to justify our policies. I am comfortable knowing that I've never held money from anyone, with the exception of those "Canadian Educators". Anyone that has earned money has gotten that money. Period.

I spend 15-18 hours a day running my business and I love it. I'm a programmer by trade, and each day I get the opportunity to hone my craft.

It's a little irritating to read bad posts on here, but it's whatever. People are allowed to voice their opinion. But it's distressing that so many uninformed posts get airtime.

Our true panelists know what is what.

And yes, we changed our payout date, but not the amount needed to issue payment. That's still just $10. There's few companies out there with such a small minimum payout. We do it because we've been survey takers and know how even just $10 can matter when things are tough.

And for the record, the actual date hasn't changed, just the semantics. We were paying out around the 15th of the month anyway, as many of you know, which made our payments "late". So we changed the terms to net-45 so the payments would be on time and not cause panic in the survey community. Anyone that has gotten paid by us knows this to be true.

It's more worth it for us to changed the date than to have everyone complaning that our payments have not been made and that they "smell a rip off".

And another thing, we don't just run Greenfield and OTX surveys, although they are our daily surveys for sure. But anyone that has logged into their account knows we have at any one time up to 10 other surveys that we're running, with pay ranges from $1.00 to $4.00. These are tighter demographics, but if you qualify, you can earn some good money with us.

I think SurveyHead is Palm in a year's time. I think Palm is still trying to figure out how to run things smoothly.

I'm not sure what that means, but I think Factionista is on our side. At least I think he/she understands us. We're a new company trying to satisfy all sides here. From the member taking the survey to the company issuing the survey. Although it's a tough balance, I know that as long as we continue to pay out our panelists fairly and honestly, we'll come out on top.

Hopefully those naysayers will see it our way, too. Eventually.

Lastly, since I know for a fact everyone got paid, it's funny how nobody except Vipercat got back on here and said they got paid. But everyone is very quick to point out the bad (as they see it).

Like I said, it's the nature of the beast.

But I thank you all for continuing to participate. Together, we'll make this a success!

- Gus

[paintik]

And I quote!

'And yes, we changed our payout date, but not the amount needed to issue payment. That's still just $10. There's few companies out there with such a small minimum payout. We do it because we've been survey takers and know how even just $10 can matter when things are tough. '

And from your website:

'All money earned for the month will be paid by check or paypal on a net 45 basis, with a $10 minimum for payout.'

Does that not mean you don't payout until I've reached $45 then? Which you recently upped from 30, do you deny that, if so how do I get my first $10 out then?

If the above is correct then maybe it should be made a little clearer when companies like 'Daily Survey Panel' who point to exactly the same surveys as you pay out as little as three dollars at a time as I've already said elsewhere in this forum when I tested them for varacity.

Regards

All

[palmresearch]

Hello.

Our Net-45 policy means we pay out 45 days after the end of the month in which you met the $10 minimum. This is spelled out in detail under the "Knowledge Base" section of your member dashboard.

I personally issue payments and can say without reservation that if you are over the $10 minimum, you will be paid. If you feel that you are over that amount and haven't been issued payment, please contact me. All I need is your member number and I can investigate.

There is no reason to get on these boards and call us "rip off merchants" or any other negative term. I try very hard to accomodate our members, and will continue to do so as move towards the future.

Secondly, I said that there are not too many survey panels that have a low minimum like us, not that there weren't any.

And just so you know, Greenfield allows people to take up to two of their surveys a day, as long as they are from two different panels. So, for instance, you can participate in our daily panel (PR1904) and then go to any other panel that runs the Greenfield surveys and participate in theirs, too. You don't have to, I'm just letting you know how to maximize your money each day.

Internally, our goal is to eventually allow a quicker turnaround time for our members to get paid; I know that instant gratification is what people like, especially when it comes to money. However, we do not currently have the resources necessary.

I appreciate that you're willing to talk to me about your concerns. I like when I'm allowed to civilly discuss issues with our company. I'm available most of the day, and if not me, then my partner is available.

AIM: gusatpalm

EMAIL: [email protected]

If you or anyone else ever has any questions, comments or concerns, please do not hesitate to use either method of contact and we'll do our best to get your issue resolved.

Let me know if there is anything else.

- Gus

[PalmResearchCP]

Wow. I just created this account to respond to these allegations and found that Gus responded just minutes before I did.

There are a few things I would like to clear up that may have some of you confused.

#1. We did not change our payout minimum. It has always been $10.00 and there are no plans to change that.

#2. We did not move to a net 45 schedule to make it harder for people to reach payout. Payout is reached once you make $10.00 regardless of when we pay. We moved to a net 45 schedule because that is more realistic than a net 30. We tried a net 30 for our first two months and weren't able to pay until about two weeks later anyways. Most of our clients pay us on a net 30 schedule, meaning we do not receive payments for the surveys you take until 30 days after the end of the month in which you take them. Realistically, we do not receive payment until 35-40 days after the end of the month. Once we receive payment we deposit those funds that are being paid out to our members and affiliates in to Pay Pal. Pay Pal then takes 3-5 days to clear those funds. As soon as the funds clear Pay Pal we pay everyone.

We originally tried to stay on a net 30 and pay our members the same day that we received our payments. That did not work out because Pay

Pal would then charge our members to receive payments. That is why we must now fund our account before paying out, so that we get charged instead of you.

#3 Any questions or concerns anybody has can be easily addresses by simply emailing us. Our contact info is on the site, as well as a knowledge base that will answer most of your questions.

#4 Whatatay... You have not qualified for any of our surveys for months??? I'm pretty sure you started bad talking us a few months ago and have not tried taking surveys from us since.

As most of you already know, Our two daily surveys are ran from the OTX and Greenfield routers. Many other survey panels use these routers. If you are a member of Opinion Surveys, Amp Surveys, Cash Crate, MyThoughtsCount or a number of other panels that use this router of course you are not going to qualify when you try to take them from us. Regardless of where you take them from, you are only allowed to participate in one survey from each router a day. So if you take the surveys somewhere else and then come to our site to take them you will obviously be told that there is no survey available for you. And this is more than likely the issue that Whatatay is facing.

#5 And finally... There is not one person from January up to April that has reached payout level that hasn't been paid. Our program is running very smoothly. Our payments are being sent out on time. We are one of the easiest panels to work with. We have a $10.00 minimum payout, which can easily be reached. We have new surveys available daily. And also have a referral program that allows our members to earn recurring revenue from their referrals.

It seems that most people on these forums are in fear of being scammed and are a little too quick to jump to conclusions. You guys have the power to bring us down. We have no reason to do you wrong. Without you we would not exist. It would be stupid of us to take the money and run. Because after that there would be no more money. We are in this for the long run and have plans to be as big as our competitors that have been around for years before us.

Most panel owners would not take the time to respond to an email, much less get on a forum and talk to the people. Me and my partner have been in the paid survey industry since 2005. I myself started out taking surveys in 2005. I have joined over 600 panels, built several paid survey directory websites, written articles, press releases, blogs about paid surveys. I have been the person taking the surveys, the person promoting the panels and now I am one of the people actually paying you to take surveys. We know this industry from every angle and me and my partner are doing our best to run a survey panel that pleases our members as well as our clients.

As my partner stated in his post, we can be reached at anytime by email or AIM. I have access to my email 24 hours a day and will usually get back to you the same day, usually within a few hours.

You can contact using any of the addresses below:

[email protected]

[email protected]

AIM: gusatpalm

AIM: chrisatpalm

I understand that we cannot satisfy everyone. There will always be someone that we just can't please no matter what we do. All I ask is that you contact us and give us an opportunity to resolve any conflicts before going on to message boards and raising fears and doubts about us. We worked very hard to get here and value every one of our members that helps us as we work to grow bigger and more successful.

[winnie]

#5 And also have a referral program that allows our members to earn recurring revenue from their referrals.

On that thought, do you think you could implement something so that we can see if we have any referrals?

[Michael]

maybe if the guys from Palm answer this question people may understand the payment system better. I reached the 10 dollar amount on April 21 qualified for another survey and completed it on April 29. since then I have completed 9 dollars worth of surveys. when can I expect to recieve payment and willit be the 10 dollars or 10.50 that it totalled as of Apr. 30 or will it be the whole 19.50? I think the problem most may be having is we don't understand what the whole net 30 or 45 is.

[patty33]

Thank you all for the heads up.

With all I have read pro/con I will invest my time elsewhere.

My opinion: This is really shady

[Vipercat]

Palm Research is not at all a rip off. They paid me and were quite open with talking to me. Perhaps they are a bit misunderstood by some, but they certainly do pay and they do respond to all communications sent to them. Waiting is frusterating, I understand this, especially when you take a lot of surveys and are waiting on a bit of money. I know this is hard especially since most of our patience is spent taking surveys, by the end of two months a lot of people have very little patience left. With that said I still think we all need to relax and have more patience. Give them a couple months and you will get paid, if for some reason you don't get paid in the time specified or have questions just contact them. Most other survey companies would not respond at all or even read these forums. While I can understand the bit of frusteration, I feel we have been a bit hard on them. Thanks for all your hard work Gus and Chris, I know it is not easy but with all your hard work and personal attention your panel is good.