Does it drive you crazy when this happens with a survey?
By liquorice
@liquorice (3887)
May 23, 2008 7:22pm CST
An email arrives to tell you that there's a new survey for you to complete and they're offering a good incentive to complete it. It sounds great so you click the link and are fully prepared to commit the 15/20 minutes of your time that this will require. First you fill out the usual initial details that they ask about yourself to check that you're in their desired focus group. Then they start with the real questions. After about 10 minutes of answering real questions (the answers for which they get to use in their research results) they decide that no, you don't meet their requirements for this survey afterall, so you won't be receiving any points/cash/anything!!!!
This happens to me such a lot that I don't know why I bother with surveys any more. I am certainly attempting a lot fewer than I used to but sometimes I think that I'll just try this one, it might work out, and then it happens again 
.
Does this happen to you? Have you stopped doing surveys as a result? Doesn't it just drive you mad???
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Does this happen to you? Have you stopped doing surveys as a result? Doesn't it just drive you mad???9 people like this
24 responses
@oneidmnster (1385)
• United States
24 May 08
I'm a member of a number of survey sites.I've never had to go 10 min. to find out I don't qualify.It may seem like that long,but most surveys don't last much longer than that.Try Mysurveys.com or Globaltestmarket.You get points for these even if you don't qualify.
4 people like this
@liquorice (3887)
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24 May 08
Thanks for your response. Some of the surveys I'm sent are 20-25 minutes long and I get more than half way and it tells me I don't qualify! I should really learn from this experience, lol!
Thanks for the recommendation. I used to do Globaltestmarket, but this was one of the companies where I hardly ever qualified and they hardly gave me any points if I didn't. I might try Mysurveys.com as I've read a few recommendations for that one.
1 person likes this
@danishcanadian (28953)
• Canada
24 May 08
That happens to me all of the time, and it drives me nuts!!! It drives me absolutly nuts!!! Sometimes there are so many initial quesions that I could hae done two legitimate surveys in the time it took me to answer those initial questions. AARRGGHH!!! Drives me NUTS!!!
3 people like this
@liquorice (3887)
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24 May 08
Thanks for your comment danishcanadian. Yes, I often think that too, could be doing much better things with my time!!! It makes me just want to stop doing surveys, but no, I still carry no doing them!
1 person likes this
@liquorice (3887)
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24 May 08
Yes, bitoffun, that's the annoying part, once you've got past the age, gender etc... bit you think you're doing the survey now and you're definitely going to get the points or cash.. but then it takes just a split second too long to go to the next screen and you just know what's going to happen!
1 person likes this
@murtagh92 (182)
• United States
24 May 08
omg, i totally know wat ur talking about!!
i'm part of this moneymaking site like quickrewards.net or something, and its good, and i've been paid before, but its just that one of the best ways to make money is through surveys. and more than half the time, i get rejected and they say i got to try another survey!! :O
it does make me angry, but actually, i'm kinda used to it...lol
just keep trying another survey! XD
3 people like this
@liquorice (3887)
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24 May 08
Thanx for your answer. I suppose it's good that the site you're on at least gives you another survey to try. But of course it's infuriating when you've put lots of effort into the first one already.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
24 May 08
OTX is the worst one, they do that to me. I decided not to do any of those.
Greenfield Online is another that I don't bother with much anymore, they want me to take a 40 minute survey for one lousy entry into their sweepstakes--c'mon, get real!
@liquorice (3887)
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24 May 08
Thanks, it's good to know about those ones. I don't do surveys that just offer you a chance to win competitions. When you never even get paid by the ones offering actual points or money I just think what are the chance of winning any of the competitions? I'd probably be suspicious that they were rigging the competitions too, but maybe I'm just becoming a bit cynical!!
:oO
1 person likes this
@icequeen123 (934)
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24 May 08
I'm glad it's not just me who encounters this problem! After reading the responses which have gone before, I am amazed that any of us bother to try and make money online.
I have encountered quite a few sites which do this to me. I don't mind filing in a handful of details, but yes when you have started a survey and spent quite a bit of time only to find you don't qualify it is the most frustrating thing.
Or else I have registered with a couple of sites, fill in one survey and think "this is it, I will stick with this site until I reach payout", and then I find that I don't receive any more emails for surveys.
Hurray for mylot, which clearly works. We get to give our opinions, and we can actually see the earnings going up day by day.
:) 3 people like this
@liquorice (3887)
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24 May 08
Yes, you're right there, it is a very frustrating thing! I have also registered with a few sites that offer some nice vouchers as rewards and like you I've only been sent a couple of surveys by them in the last four months or so since I joined, so there's no way I'm going to reach payout at this rate! Yes, it seems like myLot is a rare thing :o)
Thanks for your reply.
1 person likes this
@sam_wise (77)
• United States
24 May 08
That is exactly why I don't do surveys anymore. Here is another situation:
You answer lots of questions for the survey. Out of nowhere comes, "Please complete 2 offers before continuing." It won't let you skip this page! I've had this happen a few times as well.
3 people like this
@liquorice (3887)
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24 May 08
Hmm, I don't blame you. I might stop doing them too if this keeps happening. Yes, I've had this where there's some kind of error on the page, so you've got so far but it just won't let you get any further! They don't let you skip the page, but a few sites will remember where you got to so when you next log on you can re-try that page and sometimes they've fixed it, so it works. But most aren't so sophisticated so you find you've wasted your time... Thanks for your answer.
1 person likes this
@daniellegldn (255)
• Australia
24 May 08
I am so glad I am not the only one,it is ridiculous the amount of times it happens and most of the time I actually think I am half way through the survey when they decide I dont meet thier criteria,I should email them I havent bothered to date but now I know I am not the only one then I wont seem like such a fool!!
@liquorice (3887)
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24 May 08
Yes, it makes me feel like a fool too. I haven't emailed any of them about this either as I've got a feeling it wouldn't make any difference! I'm sure they've got a line about how in their smallprint it says that not everyone qualifies for all the surveys and that they'd cover themselves really well. Or else ignore my email!
@lexus54 (3572)
• Singapore
24 May 08
Hey, I can identify with that. I am in a few survey sites, and I do get surveys where I end up answer a whole string of questions before being told that I do not qualify. I can understand that the initial questions are for them to assess the demographics of the survey takers to see if they meet certain criteria, but sometimes I feel that they are asking too many questions before throwing you out. It makes me wonder if they are taking advantage of us to actually do a mini-survey (i.e. gather enough answers) without the need to award any points or money for the effort. Sometimes, I am told after answering like half a dozen questions or more that they have enough respondents within the same group, and do not require more. I think answers to 3 or 4 initial key questions can tell them that, so it is either they don't programme their surveys well, or they take respondents for a ride. That's what I feel sometimes.
2 people like this
@liquorice (3887)
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24 May 08
Yes, I think they probably do use the answers that we give them before being thrown out, and then, in most cases, like you say, they don't reward us for what we've given them. I especially think this when I get thrown out not after the initial stage where they ask me details about myself, but when I am well into the questions about the survey subject. Yes, there's something wrong somewhere and it makes me resent all the time I spend on them.
Thanks for your answer.
@StereoDiva (2143)
• Canada
24 May 08
Yes, it does drive me nuts. I've never spent 10 minutes, but I have gone pretty far to be told I don't qualify. It's frustrating!
2 people like this
@mayka123 (16584)
• India
24 May 08
Yes I agree with what you say. I have subscribed for some surveys and I get atleast 2-3 in a week where after answering a few questions they say I do not meet their criteria. But this has not stopped me from answering surveys because there are some that still pay!
2 people like this
@liquorice (3887)
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24 May 08
Yes, I suppose it's a case of learning what the good ones are. The sites I know either never throw you out like this and do pay, but it takes years to reach payout, or probably do pay if you reach payout, but they make it so hard for you to qualify for enough surveys in the first place! So it's really hard to get paid as far as I'm concerned!
@cathyt1557 (173)
• Canada
24 May 08
I hear you. They should be able decide with a few qualifying questions on whether or not you meet their criteria, not 10 minutes into the survey. I know my time is more valuable than that. Or they could at least give you a partial payment for your time depending on how long you spent on the survey. It is most annoying.
2 people like this
@liquorice (3887)
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25 May 08
Yes, I agree, it's unfair otherwise. They really take advantage.
Thanks for your answer.
1 person likes this
@liquorice (3887)
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25 May 08
Yes, I'm doing that with some of them now and might go as far as cancelling my account with them. I don't like chain letters either. Thanks for replying.
@CelticSoulSister (1640)
• Southend-On-Sea, England
24 May 08
Yes that drives me nuts too - also (but this is probably my fault) I hate opening a survey only to find that my spyware blocker stops me getting into it properly. On the other side of the coin though, that's probably a good thing as my spyware blocker often warns me that I have a serious PC invasion imminent on the survey site.
@liquorice (3887)
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24 May 08
The spyware blocker is probably a good idea in that case, and also because it means you don't have so much frustration with actually doing a survey if you don't start it :)
@CelticSoulSister (1640)
• Southend-On-Sea, England
24 May 08
That's very true lol.
Also it gives me a good idea of sites to avoid in the future, as some survey sites my spyware blocker will allow, so they are probably OK - the others I will avoid like the plague now.
Thanks for replying and have a good day! :-)
1 person likes this
@lieanat (1137)
• Malaysia
24 May 08
Well, that definitely will make me upset. They shouldn't get our effort without paying us money especially they got input from us for their surveys!!!
I never faced it but quite frustrated with it as most of it didn't really keep their words to pay us after we complete the survey!!!
2 people like this
@liquorice (3887)
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24 May 08
Thanks for your answer. Yes, by doing this it's like a clever scam where they don't actually not pay you your money, but they make sure you don't complete enough surveys to actually qualify for payout in the first place!
@abroji (3247)
• India
24 May 08
Yes, I too have experienced the frustration of rejection by survey programs after extracting a number of details from us. I altogether stopped participating in surveys because of this reason. For me survey sites never worked. No survey site attracts my attention any more.
2 people like this
@liquorice (3887)
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24 May 08
Thanks for your response. I'm starting to share this view and might have to stop soon too. Although I've never reached payout yet but the thought that I will before too long on some of them keeps me going. I guess that's the idea and is why so manhy people keep doing them!!
1 person likes this
@twallace (2675)
• United States
24 May 08
That is the exact reason for me not really pertispating in the surveys that i get now. I just delete the email and keep going. It has happened enough times that i don't even read the email at all. Just delete them. I don't fit most of the info that they want for the survey. Now that I think about it , I have not completed one survey yet and gotten paid for it. So if you every find a survey that does not discriminate let me know.
@liquorice (3887)
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25 May 08
Thanks for your answer. I don't blame you for stopping. I don't tend to do many any more. I belong to one panel, YouGov, which never throws me out, and that's the only one I can think of. But they don't send surveys very often and I think it'll take me several years to reach the £50 ($99) payout!
Other people seem to be recommending mysurvey.com, so perhaps they don't discriminate either, but I haven't tried them yet.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
24 May 08
all of what you just said happens to me too and
itdrives me up the wall. I get really ticked off
and wonder why I am even bothering then they send
me another one that says this is just for you, right.
go through the whole bit and you guessed, you do not]
qualify. I have just narrowed it down to my survey,
survey spot and harris poll. the rest can go bye bye
as I never qualify anyway. I ignore most of them now.
1 person likes this
@liquorice (3887)
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25 May 08
Yes, I know just what you're saying. It sounds like mysurvey is a good one to use as a few people have said good things about them. I'll have a look at the other ones too. I am a bit dubious to join any more as I waste so much time on the ones I already belong to, but it's good to know about some trustworthy ones.
@momalisa65 (1971)
• United States
24 May 08
Yea, I hate that too. It asks your age, how old your children are, etc etc, and then it says Sorry, there are no surveys available at this time. Please try again later.
And by the time I was done answering those pre-questions I feel like I already did a survey!
2 people like this
@liquorice (3887)
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24 May 08
Yes, I'm with you there. With these pre-questions they already have this information about me from when I registered, so it's annoying that they have to ask again and then reject me!!
1 person likes this
@MZKUMA (705)
• United States
30 May 08
I feel you. There are at least three that I mostly delete when I get them if I have to spend 30 minutes for 1 dollar. I did a survey until I got to the personal stuff at the end...education, earnings, marital status, race....and got disqualified. I was 38 HOT!!!! I think I have 1 or 2 dollars before payout, then I will not do any further surveys from them.
1 person likes this
@liquorice (3887)
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8 Aug 08
Yes, I can relate to this experience! I've also had a few where I got to the personal details at the end and got disqualified for not providing my income or something. It's so frustrating!!
There was one really enjoyable survey I did where I had to rate some music. It was quite a long survey with about 20 tracks or so, and I got through all of the tracks, having also written comments on all of them and I felt quite good about it. Then right at the end they asked me for my phone number so that they could ask me some further questions. And when I refused to give them my number they threw me out of the survey completely and didn't give me any points! I was so angry!!
I hope you make payout soon, and then good riddance to them, lol!
I hope you make payout soon, and then good riddance to them, lol!
@sudalunts (5523)
• United States
24 May 08
Yes, this happens often. sometimes you go through the survey for 5 minutes, then you see thank you, you didn't qualify, or you are not the type of person they are looking for.
I'm steering away from surveys.
@liquorice (3887)
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25 May 08
Don't blame you. It's soo annoying when that happens, and is happening more and more recently. Thanks for your answer.
