Warning on home-pay sites

By ALEXIS GRANT

Beware of internet sites claiming you can work from home, says the Consumers' Institute.

Sites that offer to connect you - for a fee - with market research companies that will pay you to fill out surveys or participate in research are probably bogus, says the watchdog.

David Russell, chief executive of the institute, said it was difficult to say how many people were wasting money at these sites, but some were certainly falling prey to them.

"The major problem is where you have to pay money up front with the promise of big returns ... You would have to spend an awful lot of time filling out surveys" to make any money, Mr Russell said.

In the November issue of Consumer magazine, the institute warned people not to give money to any site without a street address and phone number.

And if you are one of the 270 who signed up online with WC Surveys, demand a refund at WC Tech Support, the institute advised.

"Six weeks after paying US$34.95 [$51] to join [WC Surveys], our inbox was overflowing with more than 1500 emails - but not a single genuine offer of payment by a market research company," said Consumer magazine writer Jeremy Rose.

Mr Rose concluded that WC Surveys, which advertises at WC Surveys that it will pay you "for your opinion", had a name that was "strangely appropriate: it's a case of flushing your money down the toilet".

A site linked to WC Surveys is SmileCity, advertised as New Zealand's premier internet rewards programme.

It says members can gain points for online shopping, surveys or clicking on email ads, then cash them in or use them to buy products at participating stores.

Philip Gendall, professor of marketing at Massey University, said few sites offering work-at-home schemes were reliable.

"Most ... researchers would assume it was at best a dubious practice," Mr Gendall said.