Watch out for potential Vindale Research scams
By Katharine Swan On Sunday, December 02, 2007 At
3:06 PM
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!
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!
Labels: scams
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