Swagbucks have ripped me off.

2

Comments

  • A lot of time spent on that site for very little money when you work out the conversion rate.:eek:

    Clixsense pay out more for their surveys. I hardly ever log into Swagbucks now, far more to do and earn on other sites.:)

    Sorry to hear you have had problems.
  • MollyDolly wrote: »
    A lot of time spent on that site for very little money when you work out the conversion rate.:eek:

    Clixsense pay out more for their surveys. I hardly ever log into Swagbucks now, far more to do and earn on other sites.:)

    Sorry to hear you have had problems.

    Agreed. I liked it because it was something you could always stream when you were out of surveys and had exhausted other tasks for the day but you are right. The rate for the time spent is bad. Thanks.

    Update: I mailed them as told to twice, both here and on their facebook page and no response after 5 days, despite their claiming usually with in 2 days but upto 3 - 5 working days. Again. This further shows their poor quality.
  • Then that is bad PR on their part - I would never have left so much in my account though - it makes you wonder if that kind of money is too tempting for some sites.

    Personally, I have never had any major problems with any site but your case has made me very wary now.:)
  • Hello,

    If it happened to me I wouldn't let go your money that easily. Such websites (that includes similar sites, some survey sites, ...) that have abusive *cough* T&Cs regarding account closures and have money they owe you (you actually worked for them and every time you get some swags they get some profits) should not even be mentioned on the money saving website be cause they are not risk-free.

    Sadly enough, the hourly rate is also abusively low and the biggest users, like you are, get rewarded with earning confiscation... I actually can't help laughing when my girlfriend claims she made £20 a month on SB whereas I found other streams of income described in the MSE forums that get me 20 times with a quarter of the effort.

    I have no respect whatsoever for Swagbucks with that regards. I fully support your cause.

    Oh and regarding the fact it is an american company and there is nothing to do legally, that is wrong. Their website operates in the UK, and nothing in their T&Cs forbids Brits from joining. It means they have same level of reliability towards their UK members than those in the US. The legal way is a bit more complicated because californian laws apply.

    TDK
  • MollyDolly
    MollyDolly Posts: 872
    First Anniversary First Post
    Forumite
    DaveThe Geordie - I had been wondering how you had been getting on with this.

    Did you ever get the issue resolved?:)
  • DaveTheGeordie
    DaveTheGeordie Posts: 222
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    edited 9 March 2013 at 10:15PM
    Hi Molly. Thanks for your message.

    I haven't unfortunately. I did pursue them and they started writing back to me. I wrote them a lengthy letter exlplaining my case in some detail and suggested they move my letter higher up the chain of command if it was to be ignored, as I would keep writing them.

    The long story short is that they are basically changing their argument. Apparently I missed at least a couple of search captchas each day. This makes me sad, you see I thought at first, obviously they were wrong - but may have had a genuine belief on their part. Since they used the two missed captchas per day argument; this makes me certain they are frankly - full of !!!!. There is no chance. They show instantly on searching. Absolutely did not happen.

    And they are also being really lame by bringing in missed captcha codes from SBTV, which I freely admit did happen on occasion. That is completely natural when you have to watch 4 hours of SBTV to make your daily bonus, when there are no surveys available and offers do not/or delay in credit. People will naturally multi-task, open other windows etc.

    It's quite pathetic really. I don't expect to be refunded at this point. My goal now is to make my blog high up on the google ratings to eventually be the 3rd or 4th result; so that when first time potentials are googling 'Is swagbucks safe?' , 'Swagbucks scam?' as people tend to do, they can then be warned.

    I have all the time in the world to spend on blogging. I'm unemployed. I would like to practice to eventually write on other issues which I'm passionate about. I also value and follow rationalism, critical thought ideologies. So I can rip into and disect their sophistry and bad practice. They really did choose the wrong person to scam.

    Thanks again for the message. All the best.
  • My account was deactivated without cause last year. I had $50 pending at the time and was initially told that I'd been banned for allegedly using a bot to search (something I don't even know how to do). I emailed repeatedly with compliance but got nothing but the static, 'This decision is final' replies back. I don't think anyone even read my emails, they just sent automated messages. Several people who have been deactivated have managed to get their accounts back, myself included, but it definitely is not easy. I ended up filing a report with the Better Business Bureau, making sure to point out that SB owed me money and could not prove I'd cheated. They changed their story and said I was banned for using some program to scam SBTV (I rarely used SBTV), but said they would give back the account if I agreed not to do so again.

    Many people have lost their accounts unfairly and late last year (November, I think) a number of them went through the BBB to get them back. I'm not sure if that's an option for you since you're in the UK. But I definitely wouldn't let that money go. Even if they'd denied me my account, I would have pursued the cash the owed me since I earned it fairly. SB's support is TERRIBLE when it comes to deactivations. They cut people off and refuse to listen to reason, or listen at all. Which is probably why they only let you contact support via email (I tried calling when my account was taken but you only get an automated message.) There are much better sites out there who treat people like humans instead of assuming everyone is some cheating robot.
  • tj1980 wrote: »
    My account was deactivated without cause last year. I had $50 pending at the time and was initially told that I'd been banned for allegedly using a bot to search (something I don't even know how to do). I emailed repeatedly with compliance but got nothing but the static, 'This decision is final' replies back. I don't think anyone even read my emails, they just sent automated messages. Several people who have been deactivated have managed to get their accounts back, myself included, but it definitely is not easy. I ended up filing a report with the Better Business Bureau, making sure to point out that SB owed me money and could not prove I'd cheated. They changed their story and said I was banned for using some program to scam SBTV (I rarely used SBTV), but said they would give back the account if I agreed not to do so again.

    Many people have lost their accounts unfairly and late last year (November, I think) a number of them went through the BBB to get them back. I'm not sure if that's an option for you since you're in the UK. But I definitely wouldn't let that money go. Even if they'd denied me my account, I would have pursued the cash the owed me since I earned it fairly. SB's support is TERRIBLE when it comes to deactivations. They cut people off and refuse to listen to reason, or listen at all. Which is probably why they only let you contact support via email (I tried calling when my account was taken but you only get an automated message.) There are much better sites out there who treat people like humans instead of assuming everyone is some cheating robot.

    Thanks so much for your post. I'm sorry you've been through this too. What you describe is similar to the farce I've had with them. They've changed their story for me too when I stuck to my guns.

    I wrote the BBB. It went through and they asked my country so I guess they recognise outside complaints. Really grateful for that, genuinely. Now it's wait and see what happens I guess.

    There was a description section then a outcome request section. I wrote that I want the earnings I had made or my account reopened so I could withdraw them. I also asked for an apology.

    But I also recommended an independent investigation into their automation/banning policy and mentioned that there's a strong chance they are wrongfully banning many legit users. I probably came off as self important there but if that did happen it would be a wonderful result.
  • Leo2020
    Leo2020 Posts: 910 Forumite
    Hows it going with the website, DaveTheGeordie?
  • Leo2020 wrote: »
    Hows it going with the website, DaveTheGeordie?

    I've started it and made a couple of posts. I haven't done that much so far. I should do more really.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards