Legit or fake Canadian consumer survey?

September 15, 2012 7:56 PM

Canadian filter: Consumer Research Centre survey from 2012 Consumer Product Survey of British Columbia, from Diane Simon, offering a possible $2,500 from answering a 16-page survey. Legit or fake?

I've filled the survey but I'm hesitating from mailing it in. It has a Toronto postal address! Has anyone else mailed their surveys in and actually won a prize other than some coupons?

posted by Hawk V to Shopping (8 answers total)

Real or fake? I don't know. But just think about it: $2,500 for answering a 16 page survey? Either it's fake, *or* it's real, but your chances of winning are 1 in [some very large number].
posted by Juffo-Wup at 7:59 PM on September 15, 2012

Oops; hit post prematurely. Let's say it took a person 10 hours to fill out the survey. (Presumably it takes much less than this in reality.) If everyone who filled out the survey was paid $2,500, that would amount to a pay rate of $250/hour. $250/hour is way higher than the actual rate of pay for almost any profession, so, clearly, each survey respondent will not be paid $2,500 or anything close to it.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 8:02 PM on September 15, 2012

I run market research surveys sometimes. The amount we spend on prizes is significantly lower than we think the information is worth; but someone always receives their gift card, iPad, or whatever.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 8:54 PM on September 15, 2012

Contact the real Consumer Research Centre and find out for sure. A "possible" $2500 sounds like a probable nothing, though. The FAQ on the "Get Paid" link on their site says this:

CRC Research pays cash to each qualified participant who attends a market research session. For focus groups and one-on-one interviews, the incentive amount can range from $50 to $100. For taste tests one can expect to receive $25-$50, depending on the length of the study. For on-line studies, the incentive ranges from $5 to $50, depending on the complexity and the duration of the survey.

posted by MegoSteve at 9:00 PM on September 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's legit. I rec'd one as well and I'm in Ontario. I've filled them in in the past too. I've never won but I did receive coupons that I could actually and did use.
posted by googlebombed at 11:15 PM on September 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Totally legit. Been doing them for years.
posted by futureisunwritten at 6:46 AM on September 16, 2012

That survey co has been around since I was little (now: 37). All I have to add to that is that I have never paid attention to the prize offering, but, if I have free time when one shows up I cheerfully tick the boxes about what my regular detergent is, etc, because the coupons are $2+ off stuff I mostly actually use.
posted by kmennie at 12:36 PM on September 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Okay, so it's legit for the coupons, gotcha. Thanks!
posted by Hawk V at 8:59 AM on September 23, 2012