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Express Paid Surveys Aka Survey Scout fraudulant - dishonest - scam - two separate websites - paid fee to both for the same information Internet
Recently I decided to start signing up for online surveys - sounded like fun - maybe I would even make a few dollars. I found a paid survey website called surveyscout.com - totally at random - and signed up - paid $35. I went through their listings and registered with a bunch of research companies and started taking surveys.
Things were going fine - doing a few surveys - making a few bucks - so I decided to find another paid survey site and sign up with even more companies. So, I looked around and found a list of such sites and picked one - again, totally at random. I picked expresspaidsurveys.com and signed up - paid $35 - and started registering with more companies.
Everything is cool - right? Only as I began to go through this new list of companies, I started to notice tha many of the listings were the same as the ones I had signed up with on surveyscout's site. This seemed a little strange, but I figured that it was just a coincidence - or that there were only so many sites out there.
Things were good - I was cruising through the new list - when one day I happened to be perusing the rest of the site and found a statement on the "Bonuses" page that made me stop in my tracks. There, for all the world to see, was the statement "Resources, Freebies, and Special Offers for SurveyScout members only!". This was a very strange thing for expresspaidsurveys to say - don't you think? (Oh, and the bonuses were the same ones surveyscout offers.)
The longer I thought about it, the more upset I got. Finally, I decided to contact them and see if they could explain this apparent discrepency. I sent an e-mail to support@expresspaidsurveys.com (the only contact information they gave) and explained my concerns in great detail - maybe there was a simple explanation.
While I was waiting for a reply, I continued to go through the list - but the farther I went the incidence of duplications, not only with surveyscout, but within the site itself continued to increase. The farther I got into the listings, there were also more and more dead-end sites, unuseable sites, sites that had nothing to do with online surveys, and the same sites under several different names - in other words, garbage.
My first reply came - it was a computer-generated auto-reply that basically told me that nobody had really read my message. The second, third, and fourth replies were identical. I had tried different methods of explanation - different subject headings hoping to get routed to someone who would actually read and respond to my problem. No luck - today I sent my fifth message to ask for my money back.
I don't know if I am just being paranoid - or naive. I expected to get an honest answer - now I doubt that I'll get anything but ignored. I don't mind paying for a legitimate service, but I feel like I have been conned into paying twice for the same information by unscrupulous people faudulantly claiming to be two separate entities. It was sheer chance that I picked these two "companies", and sheer chance that I happened to read the fine print - I wonder how many other people have been taken for a ride on the paid surveys expess?
Michael
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Scott
Marysville,Ohio,
U.S.A.
Don't lump Survey Scout in with copy cat sites.
#3UPDATE Employee
Wed, August 10, 2005
Survey Scout experienced a lot of rapid success in a short period of time and consequently we have had to put up with a lot of sites that have tried to duplicate our site and our success. Survey Scout is not affiliated with any of these sites. Regardless of the similarities.
The difference is that we test all our links regularly, research and update the sites in our database weekly and we answer our email.
Joining more than one survey database site is normally not worth it. There are only a limited number of good legitimate survey sites out there.
You are basically paying for the time you save by letting us do the research and testing of the sites, and for the updates, tips, tricks, bonuses, etc. Yes you could find a lot of the sites yourself with some effort. But it is very time consuming, and that is time you could be taking surveys and making money.
I am sorry that you had an unfortunate experience with the other company, but we can not be held accountable for, or slandered for their service.
support@surveyscout.com
Jo
FRANKFORT,Kentucky,
U.S.A.
Reputable Survey Companies Do Not Charge You
#3Consumer Comment
Sun, June 19, 2005
I also recently started getting interested in taking online surveys to make a little extra money. I have stopped having high hopes of making a lot of money on the www (been there, tried everything, spent way too much for zilch).
I was very tempted by Paid Surveys, Survey Scout and the others that charge 34.95 for THE LIST. Since my funds are low, I decided I'll put in my own effort and search myself.
It's been a horrendous couple of weeks, weeding out the undesirables and finding a real treasure here and there among the trash I'm getting after letting my email address be known "out there".
I plan on adding reputable survey companies on my personal website where every company listed is free to join, actually pays cash and not just entries for contests, has a real relationship with it's members and a lot of other good points.
The only things I'll reap when surfers visit are rewards from the survey companies when someone signs up and the satisfaction that I'm helping us here in cyberworld link up to honest and professional companies.
I'm not advertising my site here of course. I just hope everyone who has been ripped off by those survey scam artists will someday find my site on their quest for an enriching experience in giving their opinions, making a positive change in the consumer world (which is what surveys are about) and getting actual cash as promised.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone knew enough to stop using every company that scammed someone? They'd have to find real work to survive. Even though Rip Off Report is making a dent there, this is a wish that sadly will never come true.
The only way I can accomplish what I'm setting out to do is signup, sign on, be an active member for a while and test them out one by one. It's a long tedious journey, but we're worth it. Wish me luck.