I didn't feel valued at all (Valued Opinions)

Member Name: mosaic369

Product:	Valued Opinions
Date:	08/07/09 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It used to be good

Disadvantages: Long, tedious surveys for peanuts

The good old days

Valued Opinions used to be a good survey site, and I cashed in quite a few Amazon vouchers from them in the past. They used to have rather quick, efficient and interesting surveys, no longer than 15 minutes, and pay reasonably well for them, around £2 pounds for each. They usually sent me relevant surveys and I was always able to collect my £10 worth of vouchers within a few months.

The downhill spiral

Then something happened about a year ago when they started offering less and less money for longer and more tedious surveys. Some of them I had to abandon mid-way as I just lost interest in them, and on a number of occasions, I quite simply ran out of patience. In the end, I decided, it wasn't worth the aggravation, so I stopped responding to most of their surveys. On the odd occasion when I did respond, I would get screened out and get "entered into a draw". Of course, I'd never win anything, but no surprises there.

The last nail in the coffin

This morning I responded to one of their surveys and spent a good 10 minutes answering all sorts of questions about mobile phones. After 10 minutes and dozens of questions, when I thought I was actually nearing the end of the survey, the computer kindly informed me that this survey was now closed as enough people have responded. Needless to say, I felt frustrated and cheated. If the survey had already closed, why did they make me answer all those questions?

Goodbye Valued Opinions

I wrote them a farewell email - with the sole purpose to vent my frustration. It wasn't rude, but quite strongly worded. There are much better survey sites out there, such as Global Test Market and It's Your View and they keep me quite busy. I'm expecting a cheque for about £25 to arrive from Global Test Market in the next few weeks, and I'm just £1 away from my first £50 payout from It's Your View. I might check back with Valued Opinions in a few months time to see if anything has changed, but for now, I'm afraid it's good-bye from me.

Update - Just received this email from them:

"We are sorry for the inconvenience. The system will tell you when the desired number of respondents has completed a particular survey. If this number has been reached before you start, you will be prevented from starting. Otherwise, you will be stopped as soon as the number is reached. The reason it stops you when there are enough finished surveys, and not merely started surveys, is to prevent the quota being left unfilled because some people start but then do not bother to complete the survey. I can assure you, however, that we do not use the information you entered unless you finish the survey and are paid for doing so."

So, it's just bad luck then. Out of courtesy to the people whose opinion they value so much, wouldn't it be nice if they had an overflow quota to allow people who already started the survey to finish? Oh, well, that's just the way it is. Be aware!

Summary: What happened to Valued Opinions?