Spectos/Royal Mail Monitoring and Posting Panel

fluffig

beanielou said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

I’ve been resting since the start of July but I’m still receiving items! No idea when, or if, they’ll stop. Seems to defeat the idea of a rest period. 

Same here. 

They are a curious set up aren’t they considering they’ve been doing similar work in other european countries for pushing 20 years!

NBLondon

Happy_girl said:

 I have been directly in touch with Spectos, quoting that on the video it states that you would have a 6 month rest period after 6 months on the live survey. The response that I got was 'that unfortunately, some of our panellists have not been on the panel for very long as we are over-subscribed in some areas meaning we are required to reduce the panel.'  

This was the case with Kantar as well - when I first started out with them, I went through training and then was rested immediately and another time, I was rested about 8 weeks in.   My guess is that they overbook a bit to allow for people who sign up but don't do the training or bale out early which means they will have some areas oversubscribed and then they will rest the newbies.  So if you stick with it a few cycles you become established and will be kept on.

And as others have said - if your area is undersubscribed, they keep you on for longer until there are enough people ready to take over or invite you back earlier.

I suspect there might be a correlation with urban and rural areas too - something to do with the number of address points in a zone.   I live in suburban South London, plenty of addresses, plenty of post boxes within walking distance so plenty of potential panellists.   But in rural Wales, quite different.

NBLondon

fluffig said:

They are a curious set up aren’t they considering they’ve been doing similar work in other european countries for pushing 20 years!

I guess the requirements of Royal Mail might be different from those of the European postal services, but you'd think the app and the customer support would already have been mostly ready to go.  Maybe they underestimated the differences.

Happy_girl

mr662 said:

I too received the rest email last week and today got the presentation pack with stamps even tho barely done much since May ish. Signed up on feb but didnt have much to do for few months. But Anyways, got items to send out this week, next week and week after. Should I be expecting August stamps also?

I got my rest letter yesterday after only 4 weeks of being on the live panel, along with stamps and presentation pack. Today I got my last test package to send and stamps for August, which I was surprised to receive. I am hoping my rest period will not be restful as others have commented!

aninymoose

fluffig said:

They are a curious set up aren’t they considering they’ve been doing similar work in other european countries for pushing 20 years!

They certainly are. I signed up from Kantar in March. Have done 3 unaddressed and one correctly delivered. All points received. I have received monthly stamps since April. I have posted 3 sets of bundles since beginning of July and have 3 waiting to post. I have not received any transponders or books yet. Assumed I was back on the panel and emailed them regarding missing presentation pack.  Had a response today stating the team has been informed and will resend the presentation pack. All in all I think I have done okay and will continue to just go with the flow until told otherwise. 

Saetana

XDA said:

Saetana said:

Now my issue is that I have been on the panel for 9 months now, my items to post and received have finally slowed down but I have not had a resting email.  Wish they would make their minds up, wouldn't mind a break for a bit.

I am in exactly the same position!

I can only assume we must live in areas where they struggle for panelist’s?

I live in a city so would not have thought this was the case, albeit there may be an issue with certain postcode areas - Spectos seem a lot stricter about posting in our own postcode area than Kantar were.  I have only had one posting pack in the last three weeks and am receiving 1-2 items a week from other panellists, a big slow down on a few weeks ago. Still no resting email though.

HomingPigeon

I received August's stamps today. This is the earliest I've ever received them.

silvercar

I'm resting at the moment. Denied points for both a CD and UM, so I am stuck on 2300 points when I should have had enough for my next £25 voucher. Seriously considering whether to tell Spectos that I withdraw consent for them to use my collected and submitted data for the CD and UM if they aren't going to pay my points.

fluffig

silvercar said:

I'm resting at the moment. Denied points for both a CD and UM, so I am stuck on 2300 points when I should have had enough for my next £25 voucher. Seriously considering whether to tell Spectos that I withdraw consent for them to use my collected and submitted data for the CD and UM if they aren't going to pay my points.

It sounds very dispiriting and understandable 😕 
I remember how I felt when they said at first they weren’t going to give me points for a CD, although they eventually relented and did.

Happy_girl

silvercar said:

I'm resting at the moment. Denied points for both a CD and UM, so I am stuck on 2300 points when I should have had enough for my next £25 voucher. Seriously considering whether to tell Spectos that I withdraw consent for them to use my collected and submitted data for the CD and UM if they aren't going to pay my points.

So can I check when you are resting you don't get anything at all? No stamps or points even if you do any CD and UA surveys, sorry new'ish' to all this game!!  Do they still send you the monthly letter?