Hi Lana and welcome to the forum community.
I have moved your post to an older thread where there are others compaining of the same issue. They appear to do this habitually and aren’t likely to recitfy your issue.
Have a read back through the posts for more information. The only practical thing you can do is report them to the ACCC, Scamwatch, and FTC in the US as suggested previously.
Sadly, it really is unlikely to change. I was with them when they were rewardscentral and before that (so long ago I cant remember the first name they had). They split the company between two entities and neither were paying well, but for a while at least, you could get a few dollars out of them. I withdrew everything I had earned, and deleted my accounts with both. I moved on to pureprofile as it was then as ninerewards and now periodically land a gift card once in a great while. I usually wait til I have enough for a $20 itunes or jbhifi card. But, as I get older, fewer surveys come my way. I’ve only had two since I turned 70. Apparently the wrong demographic for anything. Nobody wants to know what we think!!
I think I’ll be deleting that account once I land another gift card.
Myopinions, though… cut your losses, that money is gone. Be glad its only $50. I have a friend who did not take good advice and withdraw regularly, he stands to lose over $500.
I too was with My Opinions and was blocked when attempting to redeem my points a few years ago. Cut your losses, your money is gone. I no longer join any company associated with the ‘backer’ of My Opinions. There are many reputable survey sites out there, but it’s wise to check any before bothering to join.
Hi Brendan,
This number1-800-601-253. is not working. Do you have any other number?
Thank you,
Lana
Hi,
Which American scam watch site did you complain about myopinions?
I like to write a complaint to the relevant authority.
Thank you,
Cheers,
Lana
Hi,
I have been doing surveys with “Valued Opinions” for a couple of years now - and although it takes a while to earn any real money, I have had enough $20 vouchers to buy a few things at Bunnings.
What I would like to know is - who regulates this “business”?
I ask this because of late, I find that I am not being paid for some of the surveys I undertake. A case in point. I did one for $7 reward. It took three-quarters of an hour to do and I was asked over 100 questions. When I had a look at my survey history afterwards - not a brass razoo was credited. I asked “Valued Opinions” about it and they said I didn’t get paid because I had been screened out. This is of course absolute rubbish - three or four questions should be ample for screening - not 100.
I will do a few surveys more with “Valued Opinions” to get up to $20 and thus a voucher - and then I will call it quits if they are going to be dishonest.
Anyone else have problems?
Regards
Dlanod
Welcome to the community @Dlanod.
There are more community members with similar concerns. There is an existing topic your post fits well with.
Your post will likely be moved to the same.
In the interim your story is not unique. The sites appear to lure users in, then abuse the trust. There appears to be little that can be done, other than share experiences so that others can make an informed decision before joining any similar sites.
Hi @Dlanod. welcome to the community. Unfortunately the investigations I have done may not be the news you are after.
It depends where the parent company is based. Looking at the ‘Value Opinions’ website and doing some businesses searches, it doesn’t appear to be a registered Australian business.
The business name ‘Value Opinions’ isn’t a registered Australian business with an ABN…
The parent company ‘Research Now Limited’ is also not registered for business in Australia either…
The previous parent company (Dynata Global UK Limited) indicates that it may have once been a UK company, but doing a search for Research Now Limited, the company comes under the umbrella of the US company Dynata.com, which is located in Plano, Texas and Shelton, Connecticut (USA).
DYNATA Pty Ltd and DYNATA GLOBAL AU Pty Ltd have registered Australian business names, but I can’t see any links to the survey website (they could be different subsidiaries to Dynata.com or completely different companies).
What does this mean, if you want to take action against Valued Opinion and its parent, Dynata.com, you will need to do this under a US jurisdiction. Connecticut has a Department of Consumer Affairs…
which may be the first port of call to contact and lodge a complaint.
It also means that you possibly are unlikely that you will see your Bunning Vouchers.
It also appears that they run the same survey platform (Valued Opinions) in a number of countries and there are many reports from consumers that they are not forthcoming when accrued monies are redeemed for vouchers.
The other worrying point is you may have unwillingly provided personal information to Valued Opinion and didn’t realise that the company, if it doesn’t have a business presence in Australia, was not bound by Australia’s privacy laws.
Valued Opinions was hived off from Rewards Central years ago. RC started playing funnybuggers with payments and I abandoned them after gradually withdrawing my funds. Valued Opinions was always a dodgy thing, I didnt stay with them for very long at all, and earned almost nothing. I have no idea if Rewards Central is still going but I am betting that a friend of mine who had over $300 in his account wont have been able to get it.
I’ve done much better with Pureprofile which was once Ninerewards, but where I used to get enough for $20 itunes vouchers 3-4 times a year, in the last couple I have been lucky to “earn” even one. Its an age thing. They really don’t care much what over 65s think about anything.
Honesty should always come first. Not that these sites appear to have the same value.
Of course there are Australian laws concerning age discrimination, although in your example likely not worth the effort.
Something to consider if you are signing up to one of these sites. Hopefully you do not need to provide your actual date of birth.
P.S.
I often feel like I’m younger than my birth year suggests. I like to think I consume and party like a younger man, regardless of true years. I’m accused of acting that way by the wise one often enough to think it fact. Would I feel guilty not being 100% upfront about my age if responding to one of these dodgy web sites, or enjoy the thrill of outwitting them? Albeit briefly until they stopped paying up, because that seems to be how they operate.
Thanks for your reply.
It is not worth the effort to engage legal counsel to pursue non-payment of $7 especially as the culprits are relying on the inability to find a jurisdiction covering them.
What this type of thing does show is that the Internet is presently ungovernable and that therefore some measures need to be taken to ensure there is a jurisdiction available to victims of scurrilous activities. Perhaps individuals or companies should fall under the jurisdiction of the country of their domain url? Perhaps all websites should fall under the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice? It is something that will one day have to be worked out.
Regards
D
Yes, and if one plans to use a platform, one possibly should look at finding ones which are a registered business in Australia. One should also do searches for reviews and also possible ask questions of other platform users (such as you have done on the Choice Community).
Businesses which are registered in Australia, they are bound by Australian laws and it is easier to get restitution under Australian laws, such as the Australian Consumer Law…or lodge complaints with Offices of Fair Trading etc.
Many scammers or criminals take advantage of being able to sell internationally knowing that they are usually be outside the jurisdictional control of the country where the buyer is. This is why it is very important to be ‘on guard’ when using the internet for purchases or providing personal information.
While it sounds easy, there are many ways for scammers/criminals to hide what countries they are in. The internet is a web and has a dark side, where often it is very difficult to find exact locations. Notwithstanding this, it is also easy to shift online operations to other places/locations to make the trail harder to establish.
There are also countries which would not like an international arbitrator having controlling control over their own sovereign rights. Those countries which chose not to participate and also don’t regulate internet use would become the home for those who wish to use the internet for inappropriate reasons.
I have been following this thread since 2020, and I must say I have gone through the same experience (much less bad, though). Heaps of scam sites out there, and it’s quite difficult to find which ones are legit. On top of that, you can’t even do anything much if your account is banned. Before I sign up, I usually go over Trustpilot and product reviews to see what other users are saying, and if I need to know how to guides, I go with survey police and surveyslegit. Both sites have good information, and I think the surveyslegit guy is from Melbourne (from what I read on its homepage). I am currently with Toluna and MOBROG - both are quite good. I am thinking to try Swagbucks but perhaps after my morning shift at coles, lol.
If this post is not allowed, I do apologise. I just don’t know what else I can do. I have belonged to a survey site called Rewards Central for nearly 20 years. I was reading some reviews and there was a mention of a class action Facebook page for RC. I have searched and searched but cannot find it. Does anyone know about it and have the FB page for it? TIA.
Hi @justjonnohere71, welcome to the community.
Here is the link:
It is a private page so one will need to contact the page administrators to gain access to the page. Click on Join Group on the page. The page administrators may ask for justification of why you wish to join.
It is only a very small group (15 members) and may not be active.
Be careful providing any personal information to the page/group, just in case it is a data gather page rather than what it appears to be.
Its a shame they went bad. I was with them from 20 years ago too, but I saw the signs 10 years ago and started pulling my funds. A friend, who’s a bit devil-may-care about all these things, did not pay attention to my warnings and had over $300 stuck in there. I hope that group is genuine for the sake of those who join.
Dynata has moved on to e-rewards and offering velocity points for surveys.
I gave honest and lengthy, thoughtful responses to surveys for 6 weeks.
When I tried to “cash out” my account was suspended.
I have reported them to ACCC.
If you get error QSB0303-17 beware - you have reached the threshold where it’s too expensive for them to pay you. Your account is dead.
You will never get that time back or your points or gift cards.
This shady company is scamming our time and just because its small amounts it’s brushed under the rug. But this is their business model… SHADY AF
Hi Everyone, I followed Google links “Rewards Central Class Action” to the boat. Can anyone report on this Facebook group? It looks still active but before joining I wonder if such legal action can be taken? Also anyone has had luck with legal advices on taking on RewardsCentral?
Can phb the moderator from Choice comment on my questions?
I joined many years ago and stopped doing surveys while I was too busy, then I went back found many points expired - which made me realised it’s a dodger, even worse was that they freezed my account and demand my ID to get it activated.
Does this breach privacy laws? What if they collect and misuse our ID documents?
I believe there’d be more people out there wondering; and I trust Choice forum is better than the Facebook group.
TIA for your two cents to make this happen.
Hi @Scam-Bust, welcome to the community.
I haven’t joined the FB page so can’t comment on its authenticity or motivations. I can say that often FB pages like these are created to encourage individuals with similar situations to join groups, hoping that if enough individuals join a ‘no win, no fee’ type lawyer firm take on a legal claim on behalf of affected individuals. I suspect this could be a reason for this group being established.
It is unlikely individuals in the group would fund a class action themselves as the return if successful is likely to be dwarfed by the legal costs (viz amounts being owed by RewardsCentral are small compared to the legal costs of mounting a successful class action). Legal firms will also know this is the case and are therefore unlikely to take it on.
The only reason one would pursue a class action if the principle of taking action on their deceptive behaviour was the driving factor and one had very deep pockets and was willing to find such action without reward.
Hopefully any individual doing a basic internet search before joining RewardsCentral finds this thread, and after reading it persuaded them to steer clear if the site. Likewise the FB page or review websites.
In relation to asking for identity documents to reactive an account, if it was a genuine survey site with credibility, this may he a reasonable request to verify the individual reactivating the account in fact owns the accrued rewards.
Hi phb, Thank you very much for your reply. Indeed This path of pursuing class action looks long and winding.
Just two queries to ensure I understand: you mentioned Review Websites, you mean they are like RewardsCentral and the Facebook group, better to steer-clear?
Just want to share this, hopefully more and more people wake up to the fact that the regulatory body in Australia is dysfunctional- e.g, ASIC, etc they often let the bad guys go and thus send a message to victims that: bad luck! I can’t help. Compared with those huge losses people suffered I feel no comfort because the nature of the “offences” are the same no matter the amount of loss- the loss of confidence in the Authority. I Hope the power of a community will grow, at least we can help each other.
