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Echo Qualitative Project Support UNETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICES Los Angeles California
Anybody wanting to participate with this company or any clients that want to hire this company should read this before you make that decision. Everything I am saying is supported below by emails from the company to me. most everything that greg frain says is unsupported, has no basis in fact and just not true. And this company i asking people to send gov't i.d. documents to them in the email. Do not do this if you don't want to risk identity theft. It's unethical for them to request this. They are blowing away all the clients best respondents. The short summary: Echo qual recruited me for a job. I passed the written screener and verbal screener. They then send me a confirmation email for the date/time of the study and put that into my busy schedule to do this. 3/4 of the way into the day while I am still waiting for grag fain, the project manager to send me the link for the study, he sends me an email saying that he decided to take me out of the study. He does not offer to pay me. i call him very irate (his terminology is "flipped out).” and he says these things happen.
But don’t worry, I’ll put you in another study to make it up for you. Two months later, when I did not hear from him, I contacted the ceo whom he had refused to give me the contact information. Her response was yes we should have paid you but then diverts to why are you contacting us two month later about this. And then gets an email from greg fain, now denying that I was ever recruited for the study and that my english is horrible he can’t understand me. but yet you see below, did send me the confirmation email and also stated wanted to put little old me (a person he can’t even understand - he claims) into another study to make up for this study - which he never did. To get more details and proof please read the emails below: The original complaint: to kerry, bcc: hello, bcc: business I'll explain, please read. Thank u. Echo qualitative project support 10401 venice blvd. #223 Los angeles, ca 90034 844.999.echo hello@echoqual.com Kerry hecht labsuirs, founder / ceo of echo qualitative project support Echo qualitative project support, 10401 venice blvd, los angeles, ca 90034
I was recruited by your company to do this $150 study on the jan 18, 2018. I believed you in good faith that’s why I rearranged my schedule to make sure that I could be available for you even though due to great inconvenience and loss of other critical appointments I could have made. Then 3/4 of the way in the day on the 18th, they email me and say the client decided to drop some people out, including me. and then greg fain in more or less words says, "that’s life.” My husband says this is very unethical and poor business behavior and we should post on social media and business review websites what kind of company this is. But I say that you made an error or were caught in the middle of a directive from the client and you will do the right thing and pay me for cancelling me the same day, 3/4 of the way into the day. See supporting emails below: The confirmation email:
from: rachael cicarelli to: Rachael cicarelli date: thu, jan 11, 2018 at 7:51 pm subject:echo qual cat food study mailed-by: echo qual Hi susan, thank you for agreeing to participate in our cat food study! We appreciate your opinions on different types of cat food and cats in general. As mentioned, the study is an "online community” and will start start on january 18th. And then on the day of the study this email from the project manager greg fain. from: echo recruiting - cat food to: date: sat, jan 20, 2018 at 3:17 pm subject: re: cat food study I'm sorry you are upset - but there is nothing I can do. We get requests from clients to remove people based on demographics. Likewise we get last minute cancellations from participants. Life goes on. We do studies like this all the time - if you'd like I will try to invite you to the next study that you qualify for. Again, I apologize. Greg Greg EMAIL FROM THE PROJECT MANAGER GREG FAIN. Echo recruiting - cat food to: greg fain date: thu, jan 18, 2018 at 3:46 pm subject: cat food study mailed-by: echoqual.com I am sorry to report that you did not get accepted into the cat food study. It turns out we received much more interest in this study than we originally thought - and unfortunately our client had to dis-invite several people. Please don't take it personally. This happens all the time with research studies and most of the time people are not accepted as a result of us needing a better mix of age, gender or ethnicity. Or, in this case we were looking for a wide mix of cat food buyers. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
If you sent in your photos and/or videos please note that they have been deleted. We do studies like this all the time so I would encourage you to try again on our next study and if you qualify you will likely get in. If you are interested in getting on our database where we can alert you directly please visit our website at echoqual.com and look for the 'join database' in the upper right corner. If you have any questions at all please let me know. Thanks, Greg fain Project manager And then this is the response of the ceo and my answers in caps to her statements. Kerry hecht labsuirs, ceo Hi susan, this Echo qual complaint: Hi susan, hi top business ceo exec kerry. This was over 2 months ago. Why are you just deciding to reach out now? First of all, we could not find out who was the ceo. It's not on your website. Why are you afraid to post it there like most all legitimate focus groups do?
And 2nd the bbb does not have a record of your company (but they will after we complain), and we asked greg to tell us your name and email address and he refused because he knew what he did was wrong and he did not want to pay us but probably pocket the money himself. As you can see from the mail below, it shows that he was not answering many emails in relation to this complaint. So that was a bad indicator, poor business actions and poor business skills. Why do you keep someone like that on staff? This email supports what I just said. You can go into his email box inbox and look at the rest unless he deleted them . Email requesting that he give me the name and email of the ceo which he refused. from: ME to: echo recruiting - cat food , greg@echoqual.com date: sat, jan 20, 2018 at 10:46 am subject: re: cat food study Greg, please give me the name, email address and phone to your ceo. It's rude and ill mannered of you to not answer. If you continue you ignore me, I'm going to include that in my complaint when I find the answer myself. So please comply with the question. thank you
3rdly: after many emails back and forth, he said that he would put me into another study to compensate me. we were still trying to give him some benefit of the doubt. And after all this time has passed, we have no doubt that he has no integrity because he does not keep his work. It's all lip service and double talk with him. So that's why we are complaining now, 2 months later. And trying to imply that 2 months negates this poor business action in some way is illogical by any means. I've read through this email chain and it doesn't seem to me that greg was dismissive, it seems like he was explaining to you that these situations sometimes arise - and they do. Typically, we offer people a small amount to compensate them for their trouble, which is what he should have done. (No what he did was say: " I'm sorry you are upset - but there is nothing I can do)." So typically the evidence is that you actually offer nothing to people that you cancel the last minute out of a study because you want to pocket every penny for yourself. Obviously, to you, who will do anything at all to defend greg, he is not dismissive. But to the respondent who sees that he is dismissing numerous emails by not answering them, as you can see from the request above proves that he was dismissive until he finally got tired of getting my emails and afraid I was going to complain to you. Only then did he respond back. That said, this is the first I've had any communication with you or heard of this situation and I do not take kindly to your tone or your threat.
There is simply no reason for that. Additionally, you've not left a phone number for me to contact you. Greg has my phone on file from this study. How do you think they called me to screen me and confirm me? and it's not a threat, it's freedom of speech and our right to review you on yelp, ripoffreport.com, facebook, twitter, reviewalert.com, betterbusiness bureau new section on consumer reviews for business, manta, googlemybusiness.com, just to name a few. And support everything we've said with the emails that we have including this one of the ceo answering and saying, he's not dismissive, this is normal and all is well, carry on as usually. Please understand that you signed up as a volunteer (no where did we sign anything that says that we are a volunteer. We were signing on as a paid subcontractor) for a focus group and we provide a small stipend as a thank you but are under no obligation to pay you anything. As you yourself just said above, "Typically, we offer people a small amount to compensate them for their trouble, which is what he should have done." which is all lip service - no truth to it or your people greg or jessica would have offered it immediately, especially 3/4 of the way down the day of the study when we are waiting for you to send over the link).
And just to let you know because you are so new to this business and don't really know much: it is the industry standard to pay someone when you cancel them the last minute. That's what good companies do that operate with a sense of business ethics. Your people don't have any because even you claim they should have. And finally: greg's offer to make sure you get the next study was, in essence, the only thing he could do. Unfortunately, clients cancel and then we have to - there really is no other way around it. Yes there is, by stepping up to the plate and doing the right thing. When people and clients see what you attitude is as ceo of this company, I wonder if you saving $150 is really going to be meaningful to you in the long run???
we are going to go on facebook and see who else we can find that can post and other wrongs you have done also. So, please tell your husband to provide you with better advice next time. The advice would be to pick up the phone sometime earlier than 2 later. The advice would be to not threaten people you don't know. The advice would be to approach things in a way that clearly explains the trouble this caused you. Had you reached out to me immediately without threatening me, I would have been happy to do something. Your threats have cost you my sympathy. Hey look, you carry on business as usually and we will do what we have a right to do, and we'll just see who really wins on this issue in the end. Your lack of sympathy and badly desperate need to keep $150 in your pocket because you are that broke or cheap. Or your loss of clients and respondents.
Thank you. You are very welcome. KerryDate: mon, apr 2, 2018, 5:49 am Subject: re: poor business action by greg fain. To: kerry hecht labsuirs Greg: I remember this woman - she had a thick accent that you can barely understand. She was never confirmed and scheduled and when I told her that we couldn't accept her for the study she flipped out. My answer was: 1st as to flipping out. I was waiting all day for him to send the link on the day of the study and then was notified by email late in the day that he took me out of the study. And then I called him, (he never called me). So yes, I was angry - anyone would be if they dealt with a person like this of such low standards and screwed up my day and did not offer to pay me like you admitted he should have confirming that his behavior stinks. and Ah, unfortunately you can see he's also lying because I included the confirmation email in the 1st email you received to show you that I was actually recruited for the study.
And you can see that his email to take me out of the study was well after that confirmation email and actually well into the study that day when he realized that he overrecruited and tried to cover his own a*s. And no, I do not have any thick accent, was born here and went to college here, and am easy to understand. If what he said were true, he would not have accepted me for the study. And would not have offered me another study. This is proof that he is lying to you. And lets say it were true, which it’s not. What client wants to hire a company to market their product where the recruiter/project manager is accepting by way of phone after screening you and then sending you a confirmation email to recruit you for their study, a person that they claim, that they can't understand a word they are saying. What client wants to give a job to a company (echoqual), like this? And to make matters worse, you believe anything this guy tells you without even thinking about what he's telling you.
What client wants to do business with a ceo who blindly backs his staffs lies instead of not correcting the real situation, but denies it because she knows they are wrong but does not have the guts to admit it or want to pay out $150. Why you keep a person like that working for you who is not honest is beyond my understanding. And I'm going to include this in the review postings of your company to further show how your people try to cover up poor business practices with more lies. And why does any client want to give your company any jobs they should be asking themselves when they review your company is my question to them when there are so many better, more established honest companies out there that are not going to give them the shady side of the stick for the money they spend for their project
7 Updates & Rebuttals
Taylor
SAN DIEGO,California,
United States
Echo Qualitative was fun, easy money!
#8Consumer Comment
Mon, June 04, 2018
I was contacted after I took a survey online and initially I'll admit, I was skeptical but then I looked at their website and checked them out on Yelp and they seem totally legit. Turns out they were! Yes, in this day and age its always scary when somebody asked you to send a picture of your ID but they made it clear that they didn't actually need or want my driver's license number in the pic... they only wanted to see that my face and name matched the information that I entered on the survey! To me it makes perfect sense to verify the person and I had no concerns.
Additionally... think about it...if the only communication they have with us is over the Internet/ phone how else are they going to know that we're not scamming them versus them?! You could so you were anybody just to qualify, long story short I got paid to answer questions about something that I enjoyed talking about and my interaction with everybody over at echo qualitative was great! It's a bummer you had such a negative experience when my overall experience was excellent.
Ashley
Farmington,Maine,
United States
Echo Is Great - Part 2
#8Consumer Comment
Wed, May 02, 2018
Alright, here we go again. I am not responding as an effort to benefit personally in any way. Echo Research does not know that I am commenting and probably doesn’t even remember who I am. I know it is hard to believe that there are truly people out there that have an un-biased perspective and just want to help out a smaller company whose name is being dragged through the mud for no valid reasons and yet here I am. So let’s address these responses:
MILLIE
NY,New York,
United States
MORE LIES TO COVER CURRENT LIES, IT NEVER STOPS - THEY HAVE NO PROOF.
#8Author of original report
Sun, April 29, 2018
REBUTTALS: ASHLEY SAYS: A am actually in the middle of participating in a research study with Echo right now and can, with the most confidence, say that they are a wonderful company and that the original poster has a warped perception of how market research works. I just have a few points to make here: I SAY: HOW DOES SHE KNOW. SHE HAS NOT FINISHED THE STUDY. HAS NOT GOTTEN PAID YET. HAS NOT HAD BOGUS DEDUCTIONS FROM HER STUDY DONE YET. "SHE IS IN THE MIDDLE.” IT SHOWS YOU HOW RIDICULOUS THIS POST IS AND HOW DUMB THAT PERSON THINKS THE PEOPLE READING THIS ARE, THINKING THEY ARE GOING TO BELIEVE THEM. (AND NO PROOF) ASHLY SAYS: 1. Yes, they ask you to send in a picture of you holding your driver's license, but it is not in any way to commit identity theft. An individual's date of birth can be found in public records. They would have a hard time committing identity theft with solely the information listed on their driver's license. This is a practice done by a lot of companies to ensure they are doing business with a valid client giving valid information (i.e. an online study that requires only people living in San Francisco; by sending in your driver's license, you can verify that the client isn't just saying they live there when they actually live in Boston or something. since they don't use the address to send your payment [Amazon gift card], this is a really good way to make sure the participant isn't lying).
I SAY: AH, yes, there is a greater probability of identity theft with a gov’t document like this, especially since they have it and are either going to do no good with it or at the very least, not safeguard it with any security protocols and not take responsibility if anything happens to your credit because of this thing laying on their servers and someone hacking into it or one of their own employees just grabbing it and who know what like selling it off to someone - it’s happened. And wrong. Shows you again how easy they lie to you. It is quite easy to commit identity theft with just that information they have. It’s published all over the web. They have your name and address and drivers license number. With this info, they can put it into a reverese look up program obtained on the dark web. They will obtain the ss security number and then open up credit accounts, and etc. etc. your credit is shot. So yes, it is very dangerous to give this company your drivers license. And another lie, saying it’s a common practice for other companies to do this. It is almost unheard of for anyone to ever ask for this. To prove it, go online, google top survey or market research companies and ask them about their online studies or just fill one out yourself and you’ll see that no one asks for this.
This is obviously the owner putting in another lying bogus comment into here to try to support her argument with more lies and misleading statements that once again, have no proof at all. SHE SAYS 2. There is not one market research company I have heard of that pays their participants if they have to cancel the study or drop the individual at the last minute. I can't imagine what someone's day-to-day life would have to be like for them to be truly inconvenienced by this to the point where they feel they are entitled to being paid. This individual stated she had to cancel "important appointments" to participate in the study. I just find that hard to believe - and if it is true - the appointments must not have been as vital as was implied. Companies sometimes have to cancel or cut people out of a study. That is business. That is life.
I SAY: ANOTHER LIE. YES, MOST REPUTABLE COMPANIES TAKE RESPONSIBLITY FOR THEIR POOR BUSINESS ACTION. AND THE OWNER HERE, ADMITS YOU SHOULD BE PAID. JUST LOOK AT MY DOWNLOADS AND YOU’LL SEE THE EMAIL WHERE SHE ADMITS THEY SHOULD HAVE PAID. AGAIN SHOWING YOU WHAT A LIER SHE IS. SHE SAYS: 3. With these postings alone, this individual has proven that she is not at all the type of person market research companies look to have in their study. They don't want someone who is vulgar or impulsive. They don't want someone that can easily misconstrue a situation and blow it out of porportion. Market research companies DO, however, look for someone who is open to new ideas, willing to listen and respond thoughtfully, able to form creative thoughts, and is articulate - none of these qualities of which this individual seems to have. I SAY: BUT YET, AFTER THEY FIGURED THIS OUT, THEY HIRED ME TO DO THE STUDY. (SEE THEIR CONFIRMATION EMAIL IN THE DOWNLOADS) AND THEN AGAIN KNOWING HOW BAD I WAS, FELT SO BADLY ABOUT WHAT THEY DID, THAT THEY PROMISED TO PUT ME INTO ANOTHER STUDY (SEE THAT EMAIL IN THE DOWNLOADS) (BUT A LIE- NEVER HAPPENED), TO COMPENSATE ME I HAVE COPIES AND SCREEN COPIES OF HER MAILS IN THE DOWNLOADS HERE TO SHOW YOU HOW SHE LIES), BUT THEY SAID TO PUT ME INTO ANOTHER STUDY TO COMPENSATE ME BECAUSE I’M THE PERSON ABOVE THEY REALIZED WAS SO AWFUL. YOU SEE HOW THESE PEOPLE LIE, AND THEN LIE TO COVER UP LIES, AND ON AND ON.
Ashley
Farmington,Maine,
United States
Echo Qualitative Is Great
#8Consumer Comment
Sat, April 28, 2018
I am actually in the middle of participating in a research study with Echo right now and can, with the most confidence, say that they are a wonderful company and that the original poster has a warped perception of how market research works. I just have a few points to make here:
1. Yes, they ask you to send in a picture of you holding your driver's license, but it is not in any way to commit identity theft. An individual's date of birth can be found in public records. They would have a hard time committing identity theft with solely the information listed on their driver's license. This is a practice done by a lot of companies to ensure they are doing business with a valid client giving valid information (i.e. an online study that requires only people living in San Francisco; by sending in your driver's license, you can verify that the client isn't just saying they live there when they actually live in Boston or something. since they don't use the address to send your payment [Amazon gift card], this is a really good way to make sure the participant isn't lying).
2. There is not one market research company I have heard of that pays their participants if they have to cancel the study or drop the individual at the last minute. I can't imagine what someone's day-to-day life would have to be like for them to be truly inconvenienced by this to the point where they feel they are entitled to being paid. This individual stated she had to cancel "important appointments" to participate in the study. I just find that hard to believe - and if it is true - the appointments must not have been as vital as was implied. Companies sometimes have to cancel or cut people out of a study. That is business. That is life.
3. With these postings alone, this individual has proven that she is not at all the type of person market research companies look to have in their study. They don't want someone who is vulgar or impulsive. They don't want someone that can easily misconstrue a situation and blow it out of porportion. Market research companies DO, however, look for someone who is open to new ideas, willing to listen and respond thoughtfully, able to form creative thoughts, and is articulate - none of these qualities of which this individual seems to have.
MILLIE
NY,New York,
United States
WHEN THEY ARE DESPERSATE, THEY LIE, WITH NO PROOF TO SUPPORT THEIR STATEMENTS.
#8Author of original report
Thu, April 19, 2018
You see everything this woman says is a lie. She is desperate now not to loose her clients because when they read this they will think twice about hiring a company like this with low standards and Unethical conduct. She can't back up anything with proof. It' just one lie after another to cover the previous lie. But if you read my original report, I have documentation and direct emails from them to back up everything I said. SHE SAYS: "It was me that spoke to this woman and I never said she should have been paid. IN HER EMAIL ON. The only thing true in her report is that she was rejected from participating." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- me talking: Now here is her email that proves that she is again lying, evasive, and leaves things out to distort the facts. She says in this email belowt hat it is customary to pay someone in this case. But above in this rebuttal, she says, "i never said she should have been paid." HER LIES, DOUBLE TALK, ALTERATION OF FACTS! ============================================================================== ME TALKING AND Remember above she said I was dismissed as a crazy woman, etc... LIES but the real reason, I was out of this study in this email below THEIR EMAIL TO ME. From: Kerry Hecht Labsuirs CEO to: ME date: Mon, Apr 2, 2018 at 12:34 AM subject: Re: POOR BUSINESS ACTION BY GREG FAIN. mailed-by: echoqual.com signed-by: echoqual-com.20150623.gappssmtp.com security: Standard encryption (TLS) Hi, I've read through this email chain and it doesn't seem to me that Greg was dismissive, it seems like he was explaining to you that these situations sometimes arise - and they do. Typically, we offer people a small amount to compensate them for their trouble, which is what he should have done. That said, this is the first I've had any communication with you or heard of this situation and I do not take kindly to your tone or your threat. There is simply no reason for that. Additionally, you've not left a phone number for me to contact you. Thank you. Kerry =============================================================================== SHE GOES ON TO SAY: I did say that it would be normal to place a person in another study if they qualified and it was appropriate." WHICH IS ALL MARKETING DOUBLE TALK. THEY FORGET ABOUT YOU FOREVER AFTER THIS STATEMENT. IT'S COMMON PRACTICE FOR MARKET RESEARCH RECRUITERS TO SAY THIS. I then dug a little deeper (and continued to receive crazy emails from this lady) and then understood why she was rejected from this study and blacklisted from our projects. SHOW US THE EMAILS THAT ARE CRAZY. LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE. =============================================================================== NOW I DOWNLOADED THE EMAIL HERE IN THIS FILE , A SCREEN SHOT OF AN EMAIL FROM GREG FAIN THE PROJECT MANAGER EXPLAINING WHY I WAS TAKEN OUT OF THE PROJECT AS HE SAYS: Echo Recruiting - Cat Food Jan 18 from:Echo Recruiting - Cat Food to: Greg Fain bcc: TO ME date:Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 3:46 PM subject: Cat Food Study mailed-by: echoqual.com signed-by: echoqual-com.20150623.gappssmtp.com security: Standard encryption (TLS) Learn more Hi, I am sorry to report that you did not get accepted into the Cat Food Study. It turns out we received much more interest in this study than we originally thought - and unfortunately our client had to dis-invite several people. Please don't take it personally. This happens all the time with research studies and most of the time people are not accepted as a result of us needing a better mix of age, gender or ethnicity. Or, in this case we were looking for a wide mix of Cat Food buyers. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. If you sent in your photos and/or videos please note that they have been deleted. We do studies like this all the time so I would encourage you to try again on our next study and if you qualify you will likely get in. If you are interested in getting on our database where we can alert you directly please visit our website at echoqual.com and look for the 'join database' in the upper right corner. If you have any questions at all please let me know. Thanks, Greg Fain Project Manager =========================================================================== You can see this email tells a different story than what she just said above. She lies. I was not the crazy woman blacklisted. But they simply overbooked the study. YOU SEE RIGHT HERE HOW SHE LIES! Do not believe ANYTHING that she says after seeing this proof. Any client reading this and trying to decide to do business with this unethical company and that wants me to send them the original screenshot of the Email as further proof or anyone else on ripoff report that wants to confirm this, I would be more tan happy to send it to you. I WILL TRY TO ATTACH A COPY OF THIS EMAIL TO THIS COMMENT IF THIS WEBSITE ALLOWS ME TO DO SUCH.
Echo
Los Angeles,California,
United States
One more thing
#8REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, April 18, 2018
It was me that spoke to this woman and I never said she should have been paid. I did say that it would be normal to place a person in another study if they qualified and it was appropriate. I then dug a little deeper (and continued to receive crazy emails from this lady) and then understood why she was rejected from this study and blacklisted from our projects.
The only thing true in her report is that she was rejected from participating.
Echo
Los Angeles,California,
United States
Sadly, we aren't able to allow people like her into our projects - they lie.
#8REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, April 18, 2018
Unfortunately, this woman has continued to harass Echo after she was rejected from a project due to her disqualifying. She failed to pass a rescreening when her answers to the questions we asked her didn't match her original responses. Additionally, she had a very heavy accent that made it difficult for her to understand and sadly, this won't work when we do this kind of research.
The project she was recruited for took place last year and she only started complaining about her lack of her rejection from the study earlier this month. (April, 2018)
At the end of the day, we need to provide the very best, honest and easy to understand participants. This woman was none of those things. Additionally, we believe her to be mentally unstable and what we in the industry refer to as a "professional respondent." It means that these people lie and cheat to participate in our projects and with other companies that are like us. It's women like her that invalidate the research that companies use to make decisions worth millions of dollars.
So yes, we rejected her and she didn't like it. We stand by this decision and would do it again. We've blacklisted her from our database of potential participants and have identified her to other companies in our space to do the same.