Sponge it - surveys / focus groups for rewards?

Sky King

I just received an unsolicited mail from a company called sponge it who do online surveys. No mention of where or how they got my email address or how to unsubscribe from their mailing list.

Anyway further investigation shows that they are a marketing company that award 'points' for completing focus group tasks and survey questions. The points can then be redeemed for vouchers and consumer goods.

I don't know why they don't award Euros instead of their 'points'. Euros can be redeemed for pretty much all goods and services and are widely accepted, at least in the Eurozone.

Anyway I think it looks like a scam and I am wondering if anyone here did this kind of thing and what their experience of it is?

From a business point of view I find it difficult to fathom how they can extract meaningful statistics from the data. For example a recent survey of theirs showed that the vast majority of people are financially insecure and have no money at the end of every month.

Presumably though the percentage is so high because all the people they surveyed are the kind of people who spend their day at home doing online surveys to get free stuff. I can't imagine many company CEOs and surgeons do it like.

What are your thoughts AH?


tl;dr version : Did you ever do online surveys or focus groups and what was your experience of it

Praetorian Saighdiuir

Q1. How do you feel about being asked this question?

o Not Bad
o Not Good
o Somewhere inbetween
o Donkey Kong

Thank you, your HMV voucher is in the post.

Annasopra

I received the same email - never heard of them before either

stunmer

I got the email also

SouthTippBass

I got the same email, except they offered me €50 :pac:
Yeah.... no thanks.

Hi there,

Would you like to participate in a focus group and receive 50 euro for giving 90 minutes of your time?

We are conducting focus groups across Ireland over the next two weeks and are looking for people who would be willing to participate.

The groups will take place in many locations across the country so please don’t rule yourself out if you are not living near a city or large town.

If you are interested in taking part, please register your interest and answer three questions in the following survey:

Link to the survey here

We will begin making telephone calls tomorrow to select people for the groups.

Thank you.

The Sponge It Team

I just got an email from them too - don't know where they got my name. They offered me money though - my opinion must be worth more.

Praetorian Saighdiuir

mango salsa wrote: »

I received the same email - never heard of them before either

stunmer wrote: »

I got the email also

Aw lads.............have you all signed up to the same horny, single midget website?

tomboylady

I just got one too, went into my spam folder.

stunmer

Stealth Recce wrote: »

Aw lads.............have you all signed up to the same horny, single midget website?

I thought I was the only one. Who knew they were doing surveys also?

MadsL

Well I guess we know where the boards.ie database info went.

I'd urge you to complain here so the Data Protection Commissioner can investigate.

Bicycle

Interesting . I've got one this evening too.

Didn't trust it so I googled and ended up here.

I know my e-mail address is widely in the public arena. Several years ago I got a document with about 20 pages of other e-mail addresses from one spammer!!

I was offered €50 too to complete a survey

Hi there,

Would you like to participate in a focus group and receive 50 euro for giving 90 minutes of your time?

We are conducting focus groups across Ireland over the next two weeks and are looking for people who would be willing to participate.

The groups will take place in many locations across the country so please don’t rule yourself out if you are not living near a city or large town.

If you are interested in taking part, please register your interest and answer three questions in the following survey:

Link to Survey: http://surveyanalytics.com/t/ACFGkZNtFW


We will begin making telephone calls tomorrow to select people for the groups.

Thank you.

The Sponge It Team


w. www.spongeit.ie

Alice1

I got one also offering €50 for doing a survey. I didn't open it - the offer was in the subject line.

Witchie

I got the email too. Someone be brave and do it and let the rest of us know how you get on.

sozbox

Witchie wrote: »

I got the email too. Someone be brave and do it and let the rest of us know how you get on.

I got the email also.
No clue where they got my email but I'll tell you what. I'll sign up and report back.

Banjo String

I got one too.

Only thing that comes to mind is I signed up for topaz award scheme recently.


(not implying anything btw)

lachin

Oh crap lads.

I clicked into, was asked my age, county of residence and email and phone number.

Ok that was stupid of me!

Where To

I got it too, it was hidden in my sexy Russian girls folder though.

Yamanoto

Sky King wrote: »

I just received an unsolicited mail from a company called sponge it who do online surveys. No mention of where or how they got my email address or how to unsubscribe from their mailing list.

mango salsa wrote: »

I received the same email - never heard of them before either

stunmer wrote: »

I got the email also

Y'all filled out a survey for...........wait for it......Boards.ie

Funnily enough, I don't remember being asked would I agree to being contacted with regard to future research and I don't remember Spongeit's name appearing anywhere.

testicle

Richard Corkery is a ****.

I would advise anyone who received it to report them to spamcop

MadsL

Yamanoto wrote: »

Y'all filled out a survey for...........wait for it......Boards.ie

Funnily enough, I don't remember being asked would I agree to being contacted with regard to future research and I don't remember Spongeit's name appearing anywhere.

*Makes extra large bag of popcorn and subscribes.

Yamanoto

MadsL wrote: »

*Makes extra large bag of popcorn and subscribes.

I asked Spongeit how they'd come by my details, after they sent me a Xmas 'thank you' message:

We would never contact someone if they haven’t given us their email address in a piece of research that they complete with us.

Our records show that you participated in a piece we conducted with Boards.ie

You are not on our research panel and you will never be contacted to be asked to participate in research. To date you should not have received any mail to conduct research.

We simply have been thanking everyone for taking part in research with us

With kindest regards

The Sponge it team

scudster

I got it too. If they're offering money then it defo a scam!

homemadecider

Doesn't anyone know the difference between a survey and a focus group?

MadsL

Yamanoto wrote: »

I asked Spongeit how they'd come by my details, after they sent me a Xmas 'thank you' message:

Fuck the popcorn, I'm opening a beer, this should be good!

*cough* facebook page *cough

Yamanoto

homemadecider wrote: »

Doesn't anyone know the difference between a survey and a focus group?

C) All of the above

Myrddin

Got the email too, with the promise of a €50 reward :rolleyes:

testicle

Yamanoto wrote: »

I asked Spongeit how they'd come by my details, after they sent me a Xmas 'thank you' message:

My boards email addy is different to the one they spammed me on. I have no recollection of giving this one to boards.

There was no method of unsubscribing mentioned.

mickdw

Me too - €50 offered

Outkast_IRE

I got an email too .

jamesbondings

Me too 50 euro....anyone click it?

For a focus group you go to a place and are shown stuff and asked your opinion. Given how many of us here have got it we could easily sway opinion: nuts and gum - together at last.

MadsL

testicle wrote: »

My boards email addy is different to the one they spammed me on. I have no recollection of giving this one to boards.

There was no method of unsubscribing mentioned.

Could someone post a full screen shot of the email.

1. Email spamming is illegal and carries a heavy fine. As an Irish based company they easily findable.
domain: spongeit.ie
descr: Scream Ltd. (CN272223)
descr: Body Corporate (Ltd,PLC,Company)
descr: Registered Business Name
admin-c: AJK620-IEDR
tech-c: HH36-IEDR
registration: 15-May-2008
renewal: 15-May-2017
status: Active
nserver: ns1.blacknight.com
nserver: ns2.blacknight.com
source: IEDR

person: Sean-Paul Hodges

Name



SCREAM LIMITED
Identification number:272223
-
Address 56 DARTMOUTH SQUARE RANELAGH DUBLIN 6
Country of originIreland
nic-hdl: AJK620-IEDR
source: IEDR

person: NamesCo Hostmaster
nic-hdl: HH36-IEDR
source: IEDR


2. No opt-out is also illegal.

3. They appear to be part of http://winwin.ie/aboutus.html at the same address - as these guys have 25+ employees, one really ought to know Data Protection Law.

Sky King

It would be pretty funny for all boardsies to sign up to the group and make a pact to give totallly daft pre determined opinions on whatever they were testing.

So is would seem from this thread that they harvested all the emails from their work with boards...

Is that legal? *Edit* apparently not.

MadsL

Sky King wrote: »

It would be pretty funny for all boardsies to sign up to the group and make a pact to give totallly daft pre determined opinions on whatever they were testing.

So is would seem from this thread that they harvested all the emails from their work with boards...

Is that legal? *Edit* apparently not.

Not in a million years.

The answers you give us will be treated as Confidential unless you have given your consent to the contrary. We will not send you unsolicited mail or pass on your email addresses to others for this purpose. We will not send you future mail if you do not give us permission to do this.

You can contact us at ger.farrell@spongeit.ie to discuss any problems with surveys.

http://www.spongeit.ie/privacy.php

Off you go boardsie, contact the man. Ask him to explain how they raped the boards survey.

Pottler

I got the email as well. The common link appears to be Boards. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Underimpressed. Also, €50 for 90 minutes? Do I look like a charity??? Inserts monocle.

Sky King

Ask him to explain how they raped the boards survey.

We don't know that this is what they did, though it does appear likely. I might just reply to the email and ask him where he got my main address.

I am more curious than anything else. I usually don't use it to sign up for for spammey stuff and i never signed up for that.

jamesbondings

MadsL wrote: »

Could someone post a full screen shot of the email.

1. Email spamming is illegal and carries a heavy fine. As an Irish based company they easily findable.
domain: spongeit.ie
descr: Scream Ltd. (CN272223)
descr: Body Corporate (Ltd,PLC,Company)
descr: Registered Business Name
admin-c: AJK620-IEDR
tech-c: HH36-IEDR
registration: 15-May-2008
renewal: 15-May-2017
status: Active
nserver: ns1.blacknight.com
nserver: ns2.blacknight.com
source: IEDR

person: Sean-Paul Hodges

Name



SCREAM LIMITED
Identification number:272223
-
Address 56 DARTMOUTH SQUARE RANELAGH DUBLIN 6
Country of originIreland
nic-hdl: AJK620-IEDR
source: IEDR

person: NamesCo Hostmaster
nic-hdl: HH36-IEDR
source: IEDR


2. No opt-out is also illegal.

3. They appear to be part of http://winwin.ie/aboutus.html at the same address - as these guys have 25+ employees, one really ought to know Data Protection Law.

Hope the photo is readable im on my phone

dvpower

I got the same email - deleted it.

Trotter

I got the same!

Sky King

Anyone else replied?

Witchie

I think we should demand the €50 as compensation.

MadsL

jamesbondings wrote: »

Hope the photo is readable im on my phone

Thank you.

The basic rule that applies to direct marketing is that you need the consent of the individual to use their personal data for direct marketing purposes. As a minimum, an individual must be given a right to refuse such use of their personal data both at the time the data is collected (an “opt-out”) and, in the case of direct marketing by electronic means, on every subsequent marketing message. The “opt-out” right must be free of charge.

You must also make clear who you are and where you obtained the individual’s personal data (where this is not obvious).

http://www.dataprotection.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=905

And so we see the problem here;

No opt out. No indication of where data was obtained.

testicle

MadsL wrote: »

Could someone post a full screen shot of the email.

From: Richard Corkery [richard.corkery@spongeit.ie]
Sent: 14 February 2013 18:33
To: 'Richard Corkery'
Subject: Focus Group - 50 Euro for taking part

Hi there,

Would you like to participate in a focus group and receive 50 euro for giving 90 minutes of your time?

We are conducting focus groups across Ireland over the next two weeks and are looking for people who would be willing to participate.

The groups will take place in many locations across the country so please don’t rule yourself out if you are not living near a city or large town.

If you are interested in taking part, please register your interest and answer three questions in the following survey:

Link to Survey

We will begin making telephone calls tomorrow to select people for the groups.

Thank you.

The Sponge It Team

[spongeit-head60]
w. www.spongeit.ie<http://www.spongeit.ie/>
P. 353 214709404
FB: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spongeit/107002716011289



Link to Survey (Removed as it has what looks like a unique identifier)

Skintwin

I got the email as well, offered €50.
I filled out the survey, but didn't enter my phone number, and it let me complete it, none of this 'required fields' business.
I'll see what happens and report back!

My boyfriend got it too...it's a boardspiracy!

MadsL

Anyone made a complaint to the DPC yet?

Yamanoto

MadsL wrote: »

Anyone made a complaint to the DPC yet?

To be fair, it'd be a good idea to run it by Dav & others involved in the Census.

If email addresses are being harvested by third-parties contracted to conduct surveys on Boards behalf, I'd imagine many folks will naturally be reluctant to fill out anything of a similar nature in future.

Terms & Conditions
"Sponge It" are the independent consumer research agency who are running the Boards.ie census on behalf of "Distilled Media".

The census is being run by Distilled Media for themselves in order to better understand the wants and needs of their readers.

Participation is completely voluntary and you may withdraw from the survey at any time. All your responses are completely confidential and are reported in statistical form only, as part of an aggregate response.

Personal information is not gathered, with the exception of an email address the respondent may enter in order to participate in a prize draw for those who complete the survey. This address is for that purpose only. They are not passed to Distilled Media, nor are they used for any other purpose.
If you have questions at any time about the survey or the procedures you may contact Sponge It at denise.johnston-at-spongeit.ie

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056446189

Dante

Bunch of cowboys Ted.

A2LUE42

SamHall wrote: »

I got one too.

Only thing that comes to mind is I signed up for topaz award scheme recently.


(not implying anything btw)

Me too. Topaz and now this 50 euro for focus group crap.

Zulu

Yamanoto wrote: »

To be fair, it'd be a good idea to run it by Dav & others involved in the Census.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056446189

I don't see why frankly. If Dev and others have given permission for others to spam us then they can apologise. Meanwhile, I've complained.

Sky King

Zulu wrote: »

I don't see why frankly. If Dev and others have given permission for others to spam us then they can apologise. Meanwhile, I've complained.

Yeah.

And according to the T & C post above, boardsies email addresses were never supposed to be used for anything other than to enter respondents into a draw for completing the census, which suggests that boards users' details were used without their permission.

Juicyfruit

Also received this email...