Sunday, January 27, 2013

Toluna, Again

I've been blogging over the past couple of months about the strange goings-on at Toluna. To recap, one day I found my Toluna account transferred to a mysterious iQuestion account. When I complained I was told I had asked to go to the new site, which I hadn't. Worse, there were no surveys to take at iQuestion, and none ever appeared over the weeks I 'resided' there.
Apparently, my protests to Toluna have had an effect. Recently I was reinstated to the Toluna site and the iQuestion site became inactive. There were no explanations for the changeover that took place in the first instance. And, I had to reenter a great man of the profile information I previously had entered on the Toluna site.
But, to make it all worthwhile, Toluna provided a few extra points to my account for my troubles. Not much, but a nice gesture nonetheless.
I'm not sure what to make of all this, or what words of wisdom to pass on to you dear readers.
OK, maybe a couple.
First, my belief is there was some trickery involved on Toluna's part to capture survey takers. So, it pays to sometimes read the fine print on what surveys you are given.
Second, there is a human being somewhere deep inside these mostly robotically operated survey sites. Occasionally, although not often, you can reach out to them by yelling loudly and protesting aggressively and frequently if you feel you've been wronged.
Lastly, would I have bothered with my protest had it been one against a lesser valued site (e.g. they pay next to nothing and don't often have surveys to take anyway)? Probably not. But I can depend on Toluna - with all its faults - to produce good returns each month, so it was worth battling. And it feels good to have won.
So, pay attention and fight for what you believe is right - if you feel it's worth the time and effort. In this case there was nothing to lose and a few bucks to gain.

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