Populus Live

Hi

I have been a member since 31/01/13 and today I have 43 points which equates to £43. Therefore I only need 7 more to get my first cheque. I was doing surveys for another company but they were only paying 25p per survey so I gave that up. Populuslive is money for nothing.

My account stands at around £42, and have been with Populus for years. Although their rewards are better than many other sites, if I ever reach payout, will close my account. It just takes too long for me to reach £50 payment figure.

Got to agree with Cottage Economy.

This is the text of an email discussion I had with them:

From me:-

Hi.
I've just had a frustrating time with one of your surveys, which I accessed via my Inbox Pounds account. I completed it without any problems - as I recall it was on mobile phones - but got this error message right at the end.

__________________________________________________________________

Thank you for trying to complete this survey. However, on this occasion we cannot accept your answers. Our reputation, as a leading market research company, is based on the validity of the data we provide to our clients. On this occasion your answers have failed our Quality Control procedures - When entering your date of birth you said that your age was 45 to 54 and at the second age question you said that your age was "55 to 64". As the two responses don't agree we cannot therefore rely on the answers you have given. Please click the >> button to finish this survey.

___________________________________________

Sorry, but I don't appreciate this. Please allow me to vent a little here. At the point where this message came up on screen, I had already completed the survey. You therefore got all the information you asked for at the expense of my time before a reason for disqualification conveniently appeared - I do find it slightly suspicious!

Being asked which age band I fall into is one of "those" parts of any survey where you are filling in the same information, again and again and again, often two or three times in the same survey. Therefore it is possible to go onto "autopilot" on these screens to get through them quickly and onto what hopefully will be the interesting and stimulating parts. I know this does not excuse me making an inputting error - I am in fact 51 years old - but do note the two boxes were adjacent on the page, and on either the first or second or perhaps the third appearance I ticked the wrong one.

Your peremptory error message presumes intent to deceive on my part and reads - especially as it appears right at the end of an otherwise successfully completed survey - as if you are attempting to collect the data and welsh out of paying for it! I'm sure this is not the intention, but you cannot help but wonder.

Why the heck in these circumstances could it not read something like

"When entering your date of birth you said that your age was 45 to 54 and at the second age question you said that your age was "55 to 64". You have evidently made an inputting error on one page. Please can you confirm and correct?"

followed by an opportunity to correct?

The actual survey content you asked for was filled in with care, consideration and attention to detail. I do not appreciate the insinuation that everything was slapdash and sloppy. Incidentally, I recall I was asked for my age not two times but three! Is it any wonder that constant repetition causes people to switch off a little?

I would therefore be obliged if the information were accepted, my age confirmed as 51, and the agreed £1 paid to my account!

Thank you.

reply from them:

Dear Paul,

Our reputation is based on the accuracy and validity of the data we provide to our clients. To ensure members do not complete surveys hurriedly or provide incorrect information, a series of check questions are included at intervals. Points are not credited to your account if your answers are illogical or if a minimum amount of time has not been spent taking part in a survey. These inbuilt quality control questions appear on every survey and are administered to everyone equally. We are unable to make exceptions to the mechanisms and allow members to go back and change their answers, so please take extra care to avoid being screened out of surveys.

We understand your frustration and we apologise if our quality control test has offended you.

Please note that the answers of members who have failed our quality control will not be included in the survey results or taken into any consideration.

If you have any other queries do not hesitate to contact us again.

Regards
The PL Team



Irritating, but at least they replied.

:DI started doing the populuslive surveys this year, i believe i joined the end of January and already got my 50 points and hopefully the cheque will arrive soon.

I was surprised when so many said that they haven't had many surveys from them, i have a few every week. I have been only screened out of 2 surveys and only had a few where it said that i was too late to complete it. I usually tend to do the surveys on the same date that the invitation is sent.

I live in Scotland so I am not sure if that is the reason why I have had invitations to many surveys. I do have to admit many of them are about the referendum so it might be the case. I wonder if I will be asked to join any surveys after September.:D

Personally I like the surveys. They are worth the time and usually very interesting.

I last did a survey a couple of days ago and when I tried to access the site today to see what my balance is, it kept saying the website wasn't found. Is anyone else getting this today?