Is Survey Scout a scam? - Strictly speaking, they are not. They are not saying they are a paid survey company and they make it clear that they are just selling a list of paid survey sites. However, Survey Scout is a big waste of money and absolutely not worth it!
I signed up with SurveyScout when I first started doing paid online surveys about 4 years ago. Yes, I paid SurveyScout $34.95 for a database/directory of paid survey companies and websites, thinking it would save time and would help me get a quick and good start.
The trouble began right after I signed up with the top 15 paid survey sites on SurveyScount's list. They highly recommended signing up with the top 15 and I did. Within 2 days, I received lot of spam emails and even 2 telemarketing calls. I realized something was wrong, and I went back to each survey site I signed up, carefully reviewed their information, especially their privacy policies, and I found out why I was getting so many spam. Among the 15 sites I signed up with, 4 -5 of them have very "open" privacy policy - meaning I would agree to receive offers and promotions from their marketing partners or third parties. Apparently they shared (or maybe even sold) my personal information to those third parties!!! Those 4-5 so called "survey" sites certainly are NOT real market research companies, they are just a bunch of email harvesting sites that collect and sell people's emails!
So I immediately canceled/unsubscribe from those SCAM Email Harvesting sites, and the telemarketing calls stopped and spam emails seemed reduced. I was very disappointed - I paid SurveyScout $34.95 and expected to have a quality database that only lists REAL Market Research paid survey sites that actually pay, not some spam/scam junk sites!! It was absolutely a waste of money, I requested a refund from Survey Scout and got my money back.
I am not sure if SurveyScout did any research on each survey site on their list, but one thing I am sure is they were promoting anything they can find just for commission. Unfortunately Survey Scout is not the only one does this - there are just too many sites, free or paid, will promote anything no matter it's scam or spam!!
Lesson learned? - it is important to use a free and good paid survey list, and stay away from any sites that promote scam/spam junks! You might see some websites say they have a list of 300, 400 or even 500 survey companies - RUN from these sites! These sites are pretty much useless since majority of the sites on their list are junks! (such as email harvesting sites).
The general rule to find a good survey list is: the person who complies the survey list should actually take paid surveys herself/himself, so she/he knows what she/he is talking about. Also the person must has good research skills which is important when it comes to identifying scam/spam and finding new paid survey sites. Finally and maybe the most important is she/he must be a honest person who values her/his reputation more than money.
Update on Revised Privacy Policy of Survey Scout . Be Aware.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 20 September 2009 )
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Paid Survey Guide 
