[quote name='ZombieToast']Wait...you do know who these people are, right? They're basically the Microsoft of market research and television ratings. They've been a popular household name for years...or at least they
were.
Anyway, we were a Nielsen Family a few years ago, which paid next to nothing (a nice crisp dollar bill). And about two years ago, I participated in this Homescan panel with the barcode scanner, which unfortunately didn't work out too well for me. First of all, they unfortunately don't send a scanning gun like the one pictured above. What they send you actually looks like
THIS. It's not much to look at, but it's still fun to play with.
Unfortunately, their customer service flat-out sucks. See, they have two models of the scanner: one that connects through a phoneline and one that connects via broadband. When signing up, I was sure to state that I don't have a phoneline in my house, but that's the version they sent me. When I contacted them, they said they would send a replacement immediately. A week later, they sent me an e-mail stating that they had not received any transmissions from me and that I needed to send my scan info ASAP. I received e-mails like this every couple of days for two weeks and every time, I contacted them to explain the situation all over again. Eventually, I got a whole new message stating that I had been removed from the program due to inactivity and that I needed to send the equipment back immediately in order to avoid any legal action. I sent it back with a nice little note, which they never responded to.
Most people don't seem to have these issues, thankfully. But for those who are able to participate without a hitch, they aren't compensated very much. You used to get checks/gift cards in the mail, but now you just earn points that you can eventually cash in after several months. Still, it takes very little effort, so it's totally worth a shot...you know, as long as they don't screw up.[/QUOTE]
We did this last year and it was a waste of time.