Jeers to Big Idea Group

April 30, 2008 in Paid Surveys, Scam Avoidance | No comments

Most of the survey companies I’ve tried are fairly straightforward about how their rewards systems work. Every time I receive an email invitation to take a survey, I know exactly how many points it is worth before I even click the link. Also, most sites have a page that tells you what your points can be redeemed for.

A few weeks ago, I signed up with a company called Big Idea Group (BIG). You qualify for “clubs” based on your demographic information. Each club has a series of activities where you answer questions about features and usability of a particular class of products, including making suggestions for what features you would like to see on a new product.

BIG uses a points system called BIG Bucks. Each activity awards a number of Bucks. I started completing activities right away, and was pretty impressed with myself when I earned 15 BIG Bucks in about 20 minutes. I wanted to know what they were worth, so I began searching for the site’s Rewards page.

Upon further investigation, I learned that BIG Bucks have no actual value and cannot be redeemed. They are just a way of keeping track of your participation in order to qualify you for their sweepstakes. In other words, Big Idea Group doesn’t actually reward you for completing surveys – they just create the illusion of rewards by giving you points that have no value. I’m usually pretty careful about reading terms of service and FAQ’s, but I guess I missed the memo on that one.

Needless to say, I will not waste any more time on Big Idea Group. Hopefully this post will save my readers a little bit of time. Opinion Outpost is still the only survey company I’ve made money with. I just received a check for $6.40 from them, and have another $10.00 on the way.

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