Anyone participate in the Nielsen Home Scan Consumer Panel???

[jrnunzio3]

Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone participates in the Nielsen Home Scan Consumer Panel and if you do, is it worth it???
I just received an invite in my inbox and wondered about it. Before I sign up, any words of advice?
Thanks,
Jenny

 

[BCV2003]

I participated in this for about three years. It was so not worth my time. They talk about all the free stuff you can get and after three years of doing it, I only had enough points for something the equivalent of a $10-15 hair dryer.

It was fun in the beginning scanning everything in but then after a couple of months it just became a big hassle. Definitely not worth the time for what you get out of it.

During the same period I was a Nielsen Family for the TV research portion and that was definitely worth it. It started out at $100 every quarter and then during my last year I received $100 a month. I would have participated in that one forever but that part was only for a year.

 

[Redwitch]

I do it. It seems the longer you do it, the more points you make. My major grocery store does not require I input prices, so that makes it easier.

What I really like is how many errors I've caught because I am looking at my receipts and scanning. Wrong prices, coupons not scanned, items scanned twice at the store. Amazing!

I think it works for us because we are a several small stops a week type of shoppers as far as groceries go. If you only shop once a week or every two weeks, I think it would be overwhelming to scan that much stuff.

 

[daughtersrus]

Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone participates in the Nielsen Home Scan Consumer Panel and if you do, is it worth it???
I just received an invite in my inbox and wondered about it. Before I sign up, any words of advice?
Thanks,
Jenny

I joined a few months ago after Shoppers Hotline closed.

It's a bit different in that you have to connect it to your computer instead of a phone line.

Scanning is pretty simple, but I've only been able to transmit once. After several phone calls, they determined that the scanner but be faulty. I sent it back over a week ago and still have not received the new one. They are giving me points until I get it.

I do have to say that the customer service is not great. Most, not all, of the people that I've spoken with are pretty rude.

 

[TaraPA]

I started it a few years ago & it was way too much of a hassle for me. The 1st time I forgot to transmit they were HOUNDING me by phone. They would call up to 5 times a day & they were rude every time. I ended up having to send back my scanner because it wasn't working properly & they claimed they never got it & called endlessly about that. They did eventually stop calling after repeatedly telling them I had sent their equipment back per their instructions & I was not interested in participating any longer. The whole experience really left a bad taste in my mouth. I didn't do it very long, but in the months that I did it, I accumulated NOTHING but a headache!

 

[Cjmuma]

I would do it. I haven't redeemed for anything yet, but have been doing it about a year, and find that I get way more points for doing surveys than for scanning purchases, I just make sure I scan at least one purchase each week, to get the weekly credits, and then do all the surveys, cause they are usually more.

Good Luck!

Cj

 

[eyor44]

I am a member. The program is not quite has it was presented to me, by the DSIL of a friend who was recruiting new members. Guess she got points for every person she recruited who became a member.

But that being said. I don't mind doing it. I do have an occasional problem where I can't transmit, but it ususally works itself out, or I send an email stating my issue. I have never received a phone call for not transmitting, but did get a card once. I was transmitting but for some reason the transmissions weren't being received. We worked it out, no problem. You can earn enough points in a year to chose a prize and the more you transmit and more surveys you do, the more points you earn.

I like having the items I purchase being recorded and being able to do surveys about those items.

 

[AnninIowa]

I did it for a year before I just got really tired of it. For me, the rewards weren't worth it compared to the time I spent scanning. I got a crockpot and a small vacuum from it. They are kind of nasty when you quit; I kept getting calls, emails and letters telling me how they'd report me to collections if I didn't return the scanner asap.

 

[disneysmiles]

I started back in February. And I lasted a week. We go shopping once a month for groceries so we have A TON to scan in. It would've taken me like 45 minutes to enter everything in. Wasn't worth the time for me.

The scanner was not that user friendly and for each item I had to input like 5 things. If you have 100+ items from a grocery trip it gets a bit ridiculous. That was my experience.

 

[highwayg]

UGH! Thought I would enjoy it...way too time consuming for me! Just sent my scanner back 2 weeks ago. It had sat for weeks. I think I had about 2000 points which got me..NOTHING! But for 10000 I could get a potholder or something exciting like that!

 

[tiggerplus5]

I did it for a year before I just got really tired of it. For me, the rewards weren't worth it compared to the time I spent scanning. I got a crockpot and a small vacuum from it. They are kind of nasty when you quit; I kept getting calls, emails and letters telling me how they'd report me to collections if I didn't return the scanner asap.

I had the same problem. The are definitely nasty. I didn't have a problem with scanning my items. It wasn't hard to do but the scanner kept malfunctioning and they had to reset it. Then you have to re-scan 40 pages of bar codes for stores near you everytime the scanner gets reset. I gave up after a year. I called to ask how to send it back. They were supposed to send me a mailing label. 2 weeks went by. No label. I started receiving emails threatening to report me to a collections company. I called again.

The folks answering the phone are just miserable. I received several more threatening emails. I started sending back emails to document that I called so and so and wanted to see proof that the labels were delivered, etc. After the third call I made, I finally received a label and a brand new box with special packing material. I can't believe how rude they were. I had points saved up but did not want to deal with them anymore so I let them go. It was all a waste of my time. I got a couple little gifts in the beginning.

The emails were not nice. I would NEVER recommend them to anyone.

 

[Soben]

The scanner was not that user friendly and for each item I had to input like 5 things. If you have 100+ items from a grocery trip it gets a bit ridiculous. That was my experience.

and if you use a coupon, that adds another few steps to each item. Such a PITA, I would totally avoid it if I were you!

 

[cluvsdisney]

I found it to be a hassle and not at all worth the trouble.

 

[jrnunzio3]

Thanks to everyone who replied. The e-mail invite has been deleted as I will NOT be signing up for this.

 

[patsal]

Super time consuming and very little payout. I liked shoppers rewards cause at least I'd get $100 per year. This just takes forever to get anything and most things are junky.