Warning...Don't be conned by this so-called goverment site. (yougov.com)

Member Name: QueenElf

Product:	yougov.com
Date:	17/06/08 (231 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none,I wish I could give it nought.

Disadvantages: No rapport with it's members. Blatant misleading.

Warning...Don't be conned by this so-called government site.

A few years back I was told about this survey site and being more than short of money I signed up to the site. I do belong to quite a few survey sites, but I do give more attention to the good ones and if I find they are constantly screening me out then I will wait awhile and eventually drop them completely. If I have invested some time in completing the surveys then I will keep my membership up until I am paid. Sometimes I won't bother though and will concentrate on those that supply the following:-

Good, interesting surveys that state how long they will take to answer.
Surveys that recognise that participation require some reward.
Sites that value the relationship between them and their members.

There are many more factors, but I think that these cover the general rules.

~~You are not going to get rich overnight~~

Of course you are not. Every member of any survey site accepts this as pure common sense. Some sites offer more than you will ever get. I was a long-term member of one who advertised £3 to £5per survey. More like 30 to50p. I stayed with them for years because I made my first ever Internet friends on that site, friends I still cherish. What I got from that site was friendship and occasionally some financial reward. It's easy to think this, 'well while I'm online I might as well get paid for it.' Does that cover your electricity, or your broadband connection? No, but a bit of a reward is expected.

~~ Who are Yougov?~~

An interesting question. I thought that they were a site that gathered information for the government. After all, each time I started a survey I was asked about political questions.
I am not going into a long involved description of this particular site. It's been reviewed many times and seems to have a rather poor track record. Members get screened out, or surveys are few and far between. But the biggest gripe is payment.

Quite simply, Yougov try not to pay their members unless they are forced to. Now you may think like me that this is something none of us should stand for. After all, they collate information for the government don't they? Wrong. They deny this completely and I have their e-mails to prove it. Never mind their questions about the state of the country, businesses and the surveys on Brand names, that end up in national newspapers. They do not do this on behalf of the government, or any department associated with them. But how come I know about this? Simple, I asked for payment and complained when I didn't receive it. How long did I wait? A few weeks, a month or so? Not so. I have been waiting since March and despite complaining I have still haven't received one penny of the £50 it took me over two years to earn. In that time I completed surveys that took me about 15minutes at least to make 50p.

~~ Why am I still waiting?~~

The officials at Yougov first denied that I had reached the £50 mark before March 26th. I knew I had as it was my birthday and I would have remembered something like that. Just imagine? I could have treated myself to something for my birthday. But the help-line says that they take from three to four weeks to make a payment. Where are these people based, for God's sake?
The other side of the moon? I can compare this with my dooyoo payment from Germany which arrived within 10 days. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt though.

Finally I checked the status of my account on the website and discovered that a cheque had been sent out to me on 28th April 2008. I complained that I had not received it and was told that due to postal problems it would take a further three weeks to trace the unpaid cheque. Now why couldn't they have simply seen that it hadn't been paid and requested a new cheque? Nothing so easy.

I waited three weeks and complained again in May that I had not received the second cheque. This time I commented on the length of time to wait for a government department to issue a replacement cheque. I was told that firstly, they had nothing to do with any government department and that they would have to wait a further three weeks to see if the cheque had been cashed. At this rate I will never get paid. I am also left wondering why a non-government website can ask about people's attitude to the state of the country, their own political persuasions and HOW they vote? Surely this is breaking some kind of law?
I am going to seek advice from the Office of fair Trading, but maybe this isn't a government body either and might just decide that they can't help me?

I will keep you informed. In the meantime, why not keep writing for dooyoo, at least you know you will get paid.

Summary: Forget about getting Paid.