question by newbie

[kj577]

I have had about 1/3 of the surveys not credit after completion or develop problems near or at the end which prevent me from getting credit (despite cleaning cookies before each survey and disabling popup preventer unless otherwise directed). Does anyone else have this problem and does anyone have any advice other than going slowly, answering honestly, cleaning cookes and disabling popups (all of which I do)?

Am I correct that I cannot complete a trouble ticket for the non-crediting surveys or for the freebies which haven't credited after two weeks or so? If a trouble ticket is not possible under such circumstances, is there any other means of correcting this through SR, particularly where the freebie site has my personal info and is obviously sharing my info with others? Thanks for any guidance.

[speechteachri]

I don't do a lot of surveys so I can't help much...sounds like you are doing all the right things. Keep your chin up!

[jnorth1007]

There is no way to correct it through SR. The nature of doing the freebie offers is that only about 60% or less over ALL reward sites credit. A good thing to do is to try the offers that are in the Automatic Credit thread. Also check to see if the offer has a green circle as opposed to a yellow or red. The green means the majority of people who attempt that freebie are getting credit for it. If you try to do more than one offer from the same advertiser or if you go to do a freebie and notice your info is already in there then you won't get credit. Only complete 2 to 3 offers each day and check the toolbar when you start to see who the advertiser is. Make sure that you are doing ones from different advertisers.

The surveys are going to depend on the settings on your computer. 95% of all surveys that get the compeltion page will credit if you have your setting set correctly. Go to your browser tools and check to make sure that your internet safety tab is set to accept third party cookies. There are several threads on the forums that tell you exactly what the settings should look like. If these are not set correctly you won't get credit.

It is also important to understand how each of them credits:
Daily Survey through Greenfield tracks by userid and not cookies and will credit the next day unless it is a weekend or holiday. You will get an SR page that says congratulations in the message if you have correctly completed that one.

AMP tracks through cookies. There are two of those now and you can complete one of them each day. I always try for the 1.15 one first to see if I can qualify for that one. This one will give you a white page with black wording that says something about thank you for your time and it will then route to an AMP sign up page- you don't need to sign up. Just close the window. These usually credit on the next hour (or 5 or so after) or the second hour sometimes.

My View tracks through cookies and will tell you that you have completed the survey and how many "points" you would get if you were a my view member but do not sign up if you want the credit through SR. These credit within 10 minutes or so but can sometimes take a little longer. Usually within the hour.

SSI and SSI2 both track with cookies and you must clear cookies between doing them. They will route you to a page with two questions with a star rating system and a box for comments if you have completed them correctly. They usually credit on the hour but sometimes the second.

Surveyhead will go to a yellow page that thanks you for your time and then it will route back to SR where you should see immediate credit.

It is very important that you are not clearing cookies before the surveys credit. You will delete the cookie and not get credit if you do this. I complete the GF DS, MV, SSI1, AMP, SH and the YTC before I need to clear cookies and I wait for them all to credit before I clear cookies to try the SSI2.

It is usually easiest to use a cleaner like CCleaner that will clear all of the cookies on your computer at one time. I do this in the morning before I start. Then I will do it again after everything is credited and before I try to do an SSI2.

If you do these things you should see that the majority of your surveys will credit once you qualify. If you have any other questions please let us know and we will see if we can help. Good luck and welcome!

[kj577]

That is extremely helpful -- I think I know what the problem is. I have been clearing cookies after each survey and I usually try to do one survey after another. Thus, I guess I have been deleting my own credits -- wow, how silly I have been. Thanks so much for the clarification!

On the freebies, I am still confused. If only 60 percent credit, does that mean that 40 percent of the companies take our personal information, sell it to third parties, and then refuse to pay us for it? I have only responded to freebies with a green light, but I am getting a very small number of freebies which are crediting me (although it has not been two to four weeks yet). However, the companies clearly are giving my email addresses to third parties because I have a HUGE number of emails from the companies listed on the freebie sites.

[jnorth1007]

First make sure that you aren't clearing cookies for the freebies until after the next hour (if it is marked as Fast Crediting). Those also will not work if you clear cookies too soon.

Unfortunately that is one of the reasons why SR doesn't do alot of freebie offers. The basic idea for them is that you are selling your information to them and then you don't have any recourse if it doesn't credit. If you are already in their database then it won't credit. There are so many things that can cause them not to credit that it is not a great money maker. However, I can say that every now and then I will go check those out and do one here and there. I have been doing freebie offers for so long that most don't credit but sometimes they do.

If I were you I would concentrate on surveys right now. There are also other offers that are listed under the offers tab that aren't considered "freebie" offers. Things like the health ones, vista print, and most of the ones you find under the All Offers link are ones that are much better at crediting and you actually get something for your time and money. I love the vista print offers. You order items that are customized by you and you get a payout and only pay the shipping for the item. I have done all but the newest one of those and have gotten tote bags,hats, address labels that I use for labeling children's items...so many things. I also like the book clubs. Those pay out high and it is an opportunity to try out new book clubs. There are so many more ways to earn through SR now that the "freebie" offers just aren't even a drop in the bucket anymore.

Get to the point where you are getting your 6/7 surveys each day and then maybe go back and try the freebie offers. The payout on the surveys is much better and much more consistent and less frustrating and less spam mail and...and...and just a better use of your time.

[kj577]

Thanks for all the good advice, which I followed today. I cleared my cookies and then tried each of the surveys this morning. Did not qualify for a single one. Tried again later in the morning without clearing cookies, as I had done a freebie in between. After not qualifying for a couple of the surveys within Greenfield, finally referred to one I completed. At the end, it said I had completed the survey but did not refer me back to Sunshine Rewards and, in fact, I no longer was linked to Sunshine Rewards when I clicked out of the survey. I had to sign in again to Sunshine Rewards, although I was signed in when I started the survey.

So did I do anything wrong? Am I going to get the credit? Sorry for being such a problem child here.

[DCPrincess]

Thank you so much jnorth1007 for the information on when surveys credit. That's really helpful information.

[mmm611]

Thanks for all the good advice, which I followed today. I cleared my cookies and then tried each of the surveys this morning. Did not qualify for a single one. Tried again later in the morning without clearing cookies, as I had done a freebie in between. After not qualifying for a couple of the surveys within Greenfield, finally referred to one I completed. At the end, it said I had completed the survey but did not refer me back to Sunshine Rewards and, in fact, I no longer was linked to Sunshine Rewards when I clicked out of the survey. I had to sign in again to Sunshine Rewards, although I was signed in when I started the survey.

So did I do anything wrong? Am I going to get the credit? Sorry for being such a problem child here.

I'm not sure about not being logged in after the survey, but the Greenfield surveys that end in a generic white thank you page and do NOT take you back to the SR congrats page are supposed to credit eventually, but that may not be for a while. You might see a day in the future when you get double credits for a particular day. It's not because you took two surveys, but rather because GF finally got the credits from those ones that end kind of weird.

[kj577]

Thanks, guys, for all the info! Very kind of all of you to reply.