Watch out for Vindale Research — the word on the street is that they may be part of a big scam.
Today Michael ran across one of their ads on Craigslist.org (which has since been flagged, thankfully). Basically, they are running one of those operations where you get paid for writing reviews of products.
Thankfully, Michael asked my opinion before completing the application, which — as it turns out — requires credit card information as "verification." Unsurprisingly, there are numerous instances reported online of people's cards being charged without authorization as a result of their "employment" with Vindale Research.
Also, it sounds like reviewers are having to buy the products with their own money up front, and then aren't getting getting paid as agreed by Vindale Research.
Here are some links to forum threads and other pages with information on Vindale Research:
Report with SurveyPolice.com — Only 37 percent of users received the promised incentives (read: payment), and 49 percent of users reported being misled by the company when they signed up!
Freesamplesite.com forum thread — One user reported an erroneous charge on her credit card, which Vindale Research denied responsibility for. She was able to get the company whose product she was reviewing to reverse the charge, but only after threatening to call the Better Business Bureau!
Hotcouponworld.com forum thread — Reveals that Vindale Research charges a membership fee for providing you with survey work.
Volition.com forum thread — A myriad of complaints, from membership fees to unauthorized charges to users' credit cards. A couple of people even reported never getting paid ... even though they had paid for their review products out-of-pocket!
I think most of my readers know better than to "write" for a potential scammer like Vindale Research, but I wanted to help spread the word, just in case!
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Sunday, December 02, 2007
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2 comments:
Hi,
I work for Vindale.
If anyone out there has not been paid by us and thinks they should be, please contact support or submit a credit inquiry before making up your mind that we're a scam.
Mistakes happen. If we're aware of any we've made, we'll do our best to correct them.
We only require credit cards to complete product evaluations. If the product evaluation is completed accurately, members will be paid for their time and fully reimbursed for the cost of the product, which they can then keep.
We pay members twice a month, every month via checks in the mail and through PayPal. Here's proof: http://www.facebook.com/Vindale?v=photos.
For members who don't want to use a credit card, we offer several other earning opportunities which require no credit card, including studies, Reward Mail, video surveys, friend referrals and daily cash contests. For more info, check out our:
* Website. https://www.vindale.com/v/join3.jsp
* Blog. http://blog.vindale.com/
* Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/Vindale
Long story short, we're not a scam. Thanks for reading, please keep an open mind and have a great day!
Thanks for the post, Elizabeth, but I'll let my readers make up their own minds. When I wrote this posts there were far too many complaints online, of people not being paid and of unauthorized charges, for it to be a few mistakes. Your Facebook photo albums of smiling people holding their cheesy "Thanks Vindale!" signs reminds me too much of an infomercial to be all that convincing. Sorry.
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