You Value My Opinion? I Highly Doubt That

Click here for your FREE* 6 cases of Pepsi-brand soda! All you have to do is fill out a simple survey!

Vote and recieve CASH!

Take this quick and easy survey and we will reward you with points toward great prizes*.

I hate those surveys. Perhaps you've gotten them as spam in your e-mail inbox or when you were trying to get something for nothing. I thought I'd learned my lesson years ago regarding these market scams, but alas, I've done it again.

It happened because I started using a program called Second Life, which is too difficult to explain in a timely manner. In any case, I was trying to earn "lindens" which are Second Life's version of money. One place offered me free lindens for completing surveys. I was (foolishly) thinking, "Hey that's easy enough. Tell some random site how much I like or dislike something, and I'll get some points! Cool.". So I did a few surveys, got a nice chuck of spam in my inbox, and spent way more time than I wanted to with these surveys. But the main issue I have is not with the surveys themselves, it's with the underhanded way in which you must gain your supposedly free* gift.

Let's get something straight. There is nothing free about these free offers. They are just trying to get you to sign on to some magazine subscription that you don't want or a phone call you'd rather not get. In order to qualify for these free prizes, you need to buy a butt load of crap. You can't get through these without agreeing to sign up for one (or ten) of their partnered sponsers. And boy, these ain't free neither.

Part of the moral of the story is to avoid these surveys altogher, but there is another portion to this blog my friends...and it deals with one of those accidental sign-ups...

I signed up to a site called "Valued Opinions". It was one of the only sponsers that I didn't have to pay for, so I said, "What the heck, I'll just delete it later". Just for giggles, I went to the site and signed in. This is one of those sites where you complete surveys in order to supposedly get paid. I did the first survey, and suddenly felt a major sense of de-ja-vu. I've been here before...in fact, it may have been this site a couple years ago that I signed up to, thinking I'd earn a Borders Rewards card. I filled out most of the survey when a message suddenly popped up saying I wasn't eligible for the promised $2 reward.

Then I remembered why I didn't continue using this site (or one similar to it) the first time. My guess is that unless you have certain answers, you don't get the reward. They are looking for a particular demographic, whether it be smokers, home owners, mothers-to-be...whatever happens to be the flavor of the week. Meanwhile, half a completed survey is in their system...information from which they can profit.

Valued Opinions my butt. All these people value is taking advantage of stupid people, but this is one stupid person who's spreading the news in hopes that less people waste their life.

Share this post on:

 •    •    •    •    •