Pinecone, Greenfield, Vindale and focus groups

[Sharkadder]

Hi there,

I have recently joined Vindale and they seem to pay ok. I took part in their new member tutorial and got $5 into my account within 2 days. One thing i have noted is they say each survey is worth $2-$35 but one which showed today was only $1 and it involved purchasing a credit card of all things. Vindale from what i have seen get you to sign up to free trial periods on products and leave it up to you to cancel them, this i don't mind just as long as it's not stuff being sent to my house every two seconds.

As for Pinecone i saw a banner with a link to them and signed up but i get no reply to say i can join, is this Survey site still ok or are they only giving a few pence for 30 minutes worth of work?

Another site i was on was Greenfield or at least what i thought was Greenfield, they said they paid $0.90 per survey but because i am in UK it showed up as CIAO, i took 3 surveys through them which came to about $6 but people are saying i'll be lucky if i see that money anytime soon, is this true and are they not to be trusted?

I have seen many survey companies advertised but it's which ones to trust i am finding it hard to find, obviously i am wanting pay per survey (not sweepstakes) but i don't want to be waiting 6 weeks or whatever for a payment to be verified. Vindale are ok but as i say i don't want things lumbered at my door every two minutes.

My last question is does anybody know of any focus groups being set up where people from the UK can join in?

Thanks dudes, i'm sure somebody can clear up my few questions and my experiences of Vindale.

[TSP1973]

I tried Vindale, but dropped them in a few days. Everything they sent me for surveys was stuff I had to go and do a free trial on, and if you forget to cancel then you will get charged by the company you signed up for the free trial. Sorry but I am one that if a company wants my opinion about a product they can either send it to me, free of charge, to test the product out and I will be more than happy to give my opinion for the product. Or one that I have already tried in the past.

[Sharkadder]

Yep i got the same experience so far, the last one was sign up for a credit card of all things and we'll give you a dollar. there site states $3+ lol.

I did the lovefilm offer through vindale and i got my $5 for that but it's just shocking how it's profitable but only if you like 5 things coming through your door every day, something i do not like. I don't mind the online stuff where i can cancel but even lovefilm i had to ring them up to cancel and even then they tried parting me with offers for me to stay with them. That is hassle i can do without as it ends up taking you an hour to earn the $5 anyway.

I am yet to find any decent survey websites who pay out decent at a constant rate, it's either decent once a month or $0.25p for 30 minutes work. I did receive an e-mail from one company CIAO today though about a 20 minute survey for £3.50, the only downside was i never checked all options on do any of your household work in these sectors and so i never qualified for it. I have heard bad things about this company anyways. Still yet to find any online focus groups though...would be a gem if i found some nice ones which i could blag into.

[rosiesmom]

Pinecone is a greatsite, but Vindale is the pits. I joined and had $12 in my account in just a week. I ddidn't receive anymore survey requests from them. I noted that all the surveys on their site were for products purchased, which meant that I had to buy something and then do the survey. No thanks. It is just a sales site. I am nt sure about Greenfield, I have not dealt with them other than through other survey sites. By the time I cancelled my Vindale account, I had $2 left, they kept saying that the survey payments had expired or something.

[TSP1973]

Greenfield use to be pretty good and paid out somewhat well. But then they merged with Toulna and went down hill big time! They went to a point system crap, 60,000 points to cash in for $20. Most of the surveys I got from them were 900 points a peace, so about 30 cents per survey. I also successfully completed several surveys, go the success screen and everything, but they wouldn't put the points in claiming that I did not qualify. It happen with so many surveys I lost count! Greenfeild is now officially a Scamming survey company, so DON'T join them, unless you like to be scammed!

[QWERTY]

I dumped Greenfield long ago for tons of invites but little reward - $7 in 2 years. Dumped Vindale for lack of invites. Here's what I posted about Pinecone earlier: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1203 10th post down.

[everbloomin1]

Re: Pinecone -- A couple people told me that it takes 10+ days to hear back from Pinecone when you first register - so you need to be patient. Also, Pinecone prefers young males or men head-of-household. I registered with them several months ago and never heard from them - probably because I'm an older female and not what they want on their panels. I'm disappointed because I've heard great things about Pinecone.

[insomniac]

Pinecone is a great company but it is very difficult to join. It took me two tries before they finally accepted my application. As for GF, I used to like them many years ago but I quit once they didn't credit me for some surveys that they owed me. Never ever sign up for Vindale unless you want to waste your time and get spammed!

As for FG companies, there are many of them out there that do offline/online interviews, taste tests, assignments, etc. You just have to check around in your state to see where to sign up and there are plenty of sites listed around the internet.