Saturday, September 21, 2013

Is it worth complaining?

When you get rejected for a survey, or are denied rewards or points even though you completed the survey (and spent a long time doing so?) do you use the "contact us" feature to complain?
If you have you know the chances of your getting any satisfaction is slim or none. That's been my experience as well. And as a result, my motto is don't bother.
Online surveys are not meant to be fair. They are primarily marketing/advertising vehicles (for example the surveys that have you watch commercials you've already seen on television). Your just a widget for for getting products more exposure. It's your eyeballs they want and that's about it.
Unfortunately, the survey sites themselves are pretty much just shills for the advertiser/marketer. Although the survey sites will be quick to fault you for not paying attention, or booting you out if you appear not to be watching carefully or taking the proper amount of time to take a survey they are very much lacking in any similar care when it comes to the underhanded antics of their clients.
Take for instance the circumstance where you've completed a survey. You've even gotten a "thank you for completing the survey" message at the end of your efforts. Then, when you are returned to the survey site you are informed that "we have enough respondents for this survey, thank you." You've taken lots of time only to go unrewarded. Justifiably angered, you contact the survey company to complain. Invariable you get an automated reply (sometimes a reply from a person) that says, basically, tough luck. Oh, it'll be couched in less direct terms, but the meaning is the same.
Don't Expect Changes
What has been most frustrating to me is that, technologically speaking, it would be very easy for the survey companies to adjust matters so that if you are in the midst of taking a survey you are locked in until you complete it. In other words, no more than the actual number of survey respondents are allowed to even take the survey. This way, it's not a race for who finishes first, but a more fair system that says if you start the survey and complete it we will give you the promised rewards. At the very least, if the total number of surveys are taken, then those who are in the middle of completing it should be notified so they don't waste any more time.
Is this about to happen? Not a chance. While a survey site like Mechanical Turk makes a sincere effort to let you know if a survey has reached its quota, and lock you in if you accept a survey so you can finish it and are sure to be rewarded, the commercial survey sites don't do so, and are not inclined to in the future.
So, should you bother complaining? Don't bother. Being unjustifiably aced out of rewards you've earned are just part of online survey taking. Just grin and bear it.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Those Annoying Online Survey Screeners


Some just aren’t worth spending time on


For online survey takers, one of the most annoying features is the screening process. That’s the seemingly endless and repetitive questions you are asked in order to determine if you are eligible – or a better word is desirable – to take a survey.
Some screeners are quick and easy, others are long, boring and annoying. Some even screen you and then forward you to the actual survey where you’ll be asked the same screening questions all over again. It’s an unfortunate fact of life if you are a survey addict that screeners are something you just have to put up with. Or are they?
Some Screeners You Can Just Skip
I’ve noticed – and this is informal, so your experience might be different – that some screeners are recognizable in terms of taking you right out of a survey. That is, when you see a particular screening question(s), you are more likely at that point to be excluded from continuing to the actual survey than to be put through to the actual point/money-earning survey.
Take, for example, the survey site (actually it’s more likely a screening service before you are passed along to other, real survey site surveys) is opinionshere.com. If you ever try to enter that web address in a browser it will result in your being told there is no such site or you’ll get a “web error” message. That’s why I’m pretty sure the site is just a screening service. Every time I see an Opinions Here survey message I know I’m in for a lengthy screening process. I can almost fill in the screening questions in my sleep they are so familiar.
The trouble with Opinions Here screeners is that they actually do at times eventually lead to a legitimate survey for you to take. So, you pretty much grin and bear it.
The Point Of No Return
But, on occasion an Opinions Here screener (and sometimes with other survey sites that use the same method) will take you to a page that I call the point of no return. That means more often than not I know that if this screening page pops up on my screen it’s highly unlikely that I’ll be passed through to a survey.
Now, my opinion is more subjective than research-based fact. But, I’ve been doing surveys for a long time and I have a really good feeling about this.
Here’s one example of a question page that often appears as part of the screening process.
 
I’ve come to believe – again it’s just my experience talking here – that this page is one that is more likely than not to lead you to be excluded from the actual survey. Sure, if you click on any one of the alcohol-related buttons it may pull you to a survey on that subject. But, absent that, it’s a better chance that you’ll be bumped out of the real survey, or the chance to take a real survey..
This is no big deal, I suppose. But, if you’re serious about taking surveys you want to maximize your time. You don’t want to spend any more time than you have to on screeners that give you little chance to proceed to an actual survey. So, for me, when I see a screener such as the one above, I’m inclined to close my browser and go on to another site that is more likely to give me an actual survey to take.
I’d be interested in knowing your thoughts on screeners and if you also skip some that are longer than you like, or seem to always tell you - after filling it all out - that you aren’t eligible to take the survey.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Toluna Problems


Toluna, one of the better online survey sites – at least in terms of the number of surveys you can complete (daily) – has a problem you might have noticed.
Recently (over the past two or three months – 2013), whenever a survey with the title “consumer topics” is offered clicking on it will take you to a blank page. There’s nothing there, the page doesn’t forward, and there is no link to anywhere – it is absolutely blank.
When this first happened I thought it was just a fluke, a bad link or something. But, then it continued to happen. It got to the point where I contacted Toluna ands asked about it. Not surprisingly they were of little help (no offense, Toluna, online help from any online survey site is usually pathetic). Their response was to try another browser. I doubted that would make a difference and sure enough, it didn’t.
The ‘consumer topics’ survey request continues to arrive in my inbox every day, sometimes multiple times a day. The solution? I just delete it without opening the email. As I’ve preached, if you are a serious survey taker you are going to the survey sites you belong to every day and you complete the list of surveys shown there. That will get you more surveys than waiting for them to arrive in your email.
As for Toluna’s consumer topics, this consumer is having none of that.