Mugged by Ciao

olliebean

rogue_elements wrote: »

£1 ciao account = 5000 toluna points which is about the rate theyre worth anyway
if you have accounts on both with the same email address they are (will be and currently are) being marged.

yeah its a shame you cant withdraw the money any more but you can get decent vouchers etc

Well we've definitely been mugged then, because AIUI on Toluna you need 80,000 points - by this conversion rate, the equivalent of £16 - to get a £12 Amazon voucher.

Incidentally my balance also seemed to have spent ages a little below the £5 payout threshold, and then suddenly jump above it a few days after the deadline.

I've sent them a support question asking for clarification about exactly if and when I will be able to cash out my balance now, since the T&Cs and FAQs on the website still say I can get my money after £5. But the only payment method offered now is "Sweepstakes entry."

geordie_joe

FMC123 wrote: »

As for setting a deadline, there has to be a cut off point somewhere and some people were bound to be left having completed surveys that didn't pay out until after the deadline had passed. One problem is that Ciao hosts surveys for other companies as well as those it administers itself, so while it might know when it will pay out on its own surveys, it may well have to wait for payment from other companies before it can pass on that money. And as we know from the recent fiascoes at various cashback sites, they don't necessarily have much control of this and can often end up waiting for ages.

When did you last see a cashback site that said "If we get the money from the retailer before 25 July we'll pass it on to you, but if we get it after that date we'll keep it for ourselves".?

olliebean

What's more, they moved the deadline up - an earlier email said it would be the 27th July, in which case I (and the OP) would have been able to withdraw my money in time.

s-a-h-

I claimed my £9 a few days before the cut off date and have had it paid into paypal today, they are certainly are swift when they want to be.

rogue_elements

olliebean wrote: »

Well we've definitely been mugged then, because AIUI on Toluna you need 80,000 points - by this conversion rate, the equivalent of £16 - to get a £12 Amazon voucher.

Incidentally my balance also seemed to have spent ages a little below the £5 payout threshold, and then suddenly jump above it a few days after the deadline.

I've sent them a support question asking for clarification about exactly if and when I will be able to cash out my balance now, since the T&Cs and FAQs on the website still say I can get my money after £5. But the only payment method offered now is "Sweepstakes entry."

then dont redeem them for amazon vouchers

olliebean

rogue_elements wrote: »

then dont redeem them for amazon vouchers

None of the other vouchers listed on Toluna are much if any use to me, and apparently I can't get cash any more even though my balance is still shown as a cash amount.

mjm3346

Unless they have changed it back 80,000 points gets a £15 amazon voucher (was £12).

olliebean

mjm3346 wrote: »

Unless they have changed it back 80,000 points gets a £15 amazon voucher (was £12).

If they've raised it to £15 that's better, although still not as good as £16 cash.

I was just going on what I read in the Toluna forums, as the links on the rewards page that would presumably tell you how much you get for your points, aren't working.

davester

olliebean wrote: »

If they've raised it to £15 that's better, although still not as good as £16 cash.

I was just going on what I read in the Toluna forums, as the links on the rewards page that would presumably tell you how much you get for your points, aren't working.

But if Toluna are giving more points per survey which what alot of Ciao members said sucked about ciao, then your having to do more for Caio to get your 5000 points that you are with Toluna.

The surveys that have very low pay for time are all ciaos surveys, cause they have ciao stuck at the top too.

olliebean

davester wrote: »

But if Toluna are giving more points per survey which what alot of Ciao members said sucked about ciao, then your having to do more for Caio to get your 5000 points that you are with Toluna.

The surveys that have very low pay for time are all ciaos surveys, cause they have ciao stuck at the top too.

I was briefly a member of Toluna, and quit because the points-per-survey were so low compared to the amount needed to get anything. If 5000 points = £1, the surveys I was doing there were worth considerably less than the stingiest Ciao surveys - rarely more than 180 points, more often 120 or 90. Looking there now I can't see any worth more than 60.

Ciao did have a lot of low-value surveys, but I found it also had a fair number of reasonably priced ones. In the few months I've been doing these surveys I got £26 from Ciao paid into my Paypal account. More than any of the other survey sites I've been using except Lightspeed (£33) and Global Test Market (waiting for a cheque from them for £33-odd).