Royal Mail Surveys rewarded with Stamps.

LittleVoice

duloch wrote: »

Yes in training, this is the second package I've been sent.

OK - that sounds as though two new people have been asked to send smarts when they are in training.

They should send you smarts and these have always come separately from the ordinary posting pack.

Have a look online to see whether they are showing any smarts as being "in stock" for you. If they are and you don't have them yet it should mean that they have allocated these to you and have put them in the post and they should arrive in good time.

If you don't get any but the online schedule still shows you should include a smart, phone TNS (say on Monday morning) to ask what you should do.

duloch

LittleVoice wrote: »

OK - that sounds as though two new people have been asked to send smarts when they are in training.

They should send you smarts and these have always come separately from the ordinary posting pack.

Have a look online to see whether they are showing any smarts as being "in stock" for you. If they are and you don't have them yet it should mean that they have allocated these to you and have put them in the post and they should arrive in good time.

If you don't get any but the online schedule still shows you should include a smart, phone TNS (say on Monday morning) to ask what you should do.

Thanks, yes I will do if I haven't received any, no harm in asking. Will also have another read through the literature see if it says anything. Thanks again.

aninymoose

I am due to start my training again on Monday. My online schedule advises I add smarts to both letters but both are the same Smart Number AEDB. As I don't have any smarts and cannot possibly add the same smart to both letters I will just be sending the letters to West Brom with no smart as I did last time I was in training. If I hear any different I will let you know.

BrianS2014

LittleVoice wrote: »

Those of us who have been on the survey for a longer time never had to send Smarts with items when we were in training. It may be that they have improved their training to make it a little more realistic to what is actually required in the future. Just as likely, if not more so, that TNS have just made a mistake.

Is the instruction to insert a smart appearing on the paper schedule or online or in both places?

The instruction is in both places and like aninymoose, the smart number is the same for both items and is AEDB.

anamenottaken

brians2014 wrote: »

the instruction is in both places and like aninymoose, the smart number is the same for both items and is aedb.

tns!! ..........................

aninymoose

anamenottaken wrote: »

tns!! ..........................

:rotfl: ...............................

redagila

BrianS2014 wrote: »

The instruction is in both places and like aninymoose, the smart number is the same for both items and is AEDB.

Perhaps it is a new test to see how bright we all are or as previously said "just TNS"

StumpyPumpy

redagila wrote: »

I have been looking at the faq on the website and was surprised to see that you can opt to have payment quarterly by Western Union bank transfer instead of stamps.


Has anyone tried this method? Would be interesting to know how they calculate the incentive and how well it works. Not sure I would trust them to make the correct payment!

They took a while to get back to me but here is what they said...

...
Thank you for your email and I apologise for the delay in our response to you.

Unfortunately, we do not reimburse our private panel by Western Union. As the postage is already on the test items, there is no cost incurred to you. The stamps that we send out monthly are a “thank you” for taking part with the survey.

I apologise for the confusion.

Kind Regards,
...

I think they could do with qualifying the statement in the FAQ to make it more clear, but then clarity has never been their strong point, so it will probably remain the same.


SP

redagila

So does that mean the Western Union payment is for business panel?


Seems typical TNS that very little is straightforward.

anamenottaken

redagila wrote: »

So does that mean the Western Union payment is for business panel?

Seems typical TNS that very little is straightforward.

Yes, it is for business panelists only. The FAQ has:

How will I be reimbursed?
We offer quarterly reimbursement via Western Union bank transfer, or alternatively in stamps.

Reimbursed is about paying someone for what they have paid out.

Very occasionally private panelists may have to pay out to retrieve an under-paid item. This would be a relatively small amount, setting up a payment by WU (and having to wait three months for payment and private panelist having a WU account) doesn't look sensible. Stamps look the easier (and hopefully quicker) method for this.

However, business panelists will be paying postage in advance through their franking machines and this will be a higher amount and would be paid quarterly and therefore WU makes sense.

However, it would be a good idea for TNS to amend their FAQ answer to make it clearer.