The Fieldwork group was accountable and responsible, and I thoroughly enjoyed my webcam project that was shared between seven other attendees. I highly recommend Fieldwork--they do not disappoint! read more

I've seen focus group facilities all over the country and Fieldwork is one of the nicer ones. They provide comfortable clean environment for focus groups and plenty of refreshments and snacks. To echo Jamie's review, it is NOT a scam. If you check Fieldwork's website, as well as that of the Market Research Association, Quirks.com, QRCA.org and CASRO, you will find that the Fieldwork network is a reputable market research company. if you are called for a study, listen carefully to what the interviewer says at the start and end of the interview. They are calling you because you meet a few basic requirements (age, gender, etc)...but they have to ask you a number of other questions to ensure you qualify. Who decides if you qualify? The client company who is coughing up thousands of dollars to pay for this research...not Fieldwork. Because research is so expensive, clients create very detailed screening questionnaires to make sure the people in the group are the right mix. Once they reach a quota on a certain thing (age, income, occupation, ethnicity, etc), they move onto the next one. It's not personal, its not racism, its research design. It's up to you if you want to participate in a 20 minutes screening interview for a CHANCE at participating in a focus group (just because they call you is not a guarantee you will qualify). But your opinions DO matter. Companies you shop at and pay bills to...are spending big dollars to make this research happen. Your feedback helps them understand the problems you have with their company, helps them create products you actually want, and you'll make a little extra cash on the side. Not bad. I'm in this line of work (client). Screening and recruitment is not a perfect process, but our industry takes a very hard line on "research" scams. Fieldwork is 100% legit. read more

I really wish I could give them zero stars. They called my phone to speak to my teen son. After I asked who they were and asked my son if he wanted to speak to them, they asked him a million questions and qualified him for a study which paid $75. He was very excited to make some money for Christmas. After figuring out the bus schedule to get him from school to this place he boarded two buses to get there. Well guess what? Google maps and RTA's website send you to a location a few blocks east of Old Orchard Mall. After walking around for 30 minutes looking for the place, he called them and they said they are located a few miles away at Harms & Old Orchard and that he would probably not make it in time so too bad. When I called, I spoke with a manager "Claudia Smith" who repeated the same thing to me. When I told her that I mapped the address and it sent me to the wrong location she said they hear that all the time. REALLY? How about letting people know the intersection you're located at then? Her response was, "We give you our address and phone number." That's pretty useless if you KNOW that the address comes up wrong when mapped. I am furious that they have no regard for a teen or their clients; especially in 20 degree weather. read more

After an extensive phone interview and several other follow up calls, I qualified for a group study. I did my homework by buying the required product. I canceled several plans to attend. Two hours before the focus group, they called to cancel. The company paying for the study didn't like some of my responses. I asked to speak to a supervisor and got the runaround. No one seemed to know what was going on. I'm waiting to hear back from them. i'm not holding my breath. Apparently only their time is worth something. The time I wasted doesn't matter to them. This is totally irresponsible and poor business ethics read more

For those uneducated enough to avoid researching, this company is a market research firm. They carry out studies based on their clients' requirements and market selections. They use past/current customers to research customer satisfaction or competitors' customers to research competition preferences, etc. This would be where they get your information from. If you have a Kohl's charge card and Kohl's wants to find out your opinions of their prices/marketing/etc, they provide Fieldwork with your contact information so that Fieldwork can carry out the researching. Fieldwork doesn't sell anything to you, or use your information for anything else other than contacting you to ask your permission in market research activities. In fact, if you are involved in a paid focus group, the rates are usually very, very good. The way they select research participants goes through the following simple steps: a) they receive your name and information from a database. b) the contact you and 'screen' you to ask more specific questions to make sure you fit the clients' target research group c) if there are too many women age 45-50, they may put you on 'hold' as a participant and should a space open up, they will allow you to participate. No evil, no scam, no sales, just market research. read more

I used to do many market research studies to make money. It was, and I'm sure still is great for making some extra money. The main reason I am dropping it from a 4 to a 3 star review is that they now pay in gift-cards. I would rather have some green backs.... read more

I really wish I could give them zero stars. They called my phone to speak to my teen daughter. After asking my daughter a million questions they qualified her for an online study which paid $150. She was very excited to make some extra money. I was told we would receive an email on the 22nd and if we didn't, I should email a certain email address and call to notify them they we did not get the email. The 22nd arrives and we did not hear from anyone or get and email so I emailed the lady they told me to. I also called the number that was given to me and "Project Manager" said, "I'm sorry about that. We actually do not have you booked into this study and you would of received a confirmation if your daughter was booked. We will definitely keep you in-mind for future studies. " Wow, what a terrible way to do business. My daughter is going to be crushed, she was so excited. This is the second time that Fieldwork has wasted my time with screenings and did not follow follow through on what they recruited me for. Last time I was recruited for a video study and I actually called in to work but was later told that they cancelled the study without notifying me. I had to call several people to find out that the study was cancelled (and nope, not compensation for my wasted day or screening time.) This company is a total waste of time. So disappointing that they would get kids hopes up them let them down! I'm not falling for this joke again Fieldwork. Shame on you! read more

I was super excited when I was selected to take part in a tax study in January 2011. I do my taxes on turbotax every year and was offered money to have them done at hrblock and let an accountant look them over and compare. In January I went into their office and was told by the receptionist to go to hrblock and pay out of pocket and I would be reimbursed when I dropped off my paperwork. I turned my paperwork in at the end of January and I AM STILL WAITING TO BE REIMBURSED $300 4 MONTHS LATER!!! I have spoken to various people and was told the receptionist made a mistake and she is no longer with us. I am extremely upset and would warn NOT to take place in any studies where they ask you to front the money for a service. read more

I qualified for a $350 focus group Fieldwork Chicago was conducting in early June. Fieldwork sent me a confirmation letter outlining the terms, hours, payment, etc. Since it was paying well and lasted the entire day I took an unpaid personal day from work to attend the focus group. Two days after I received the confirmation letter regarding the group someone called to tell me the group was canceled. They said they didn't know why it was cancelled. I was quite unhappy because not only would I not get the $350 for participation, but I also would not get paid for work that day since I requested the day off. I called and left two messages on their voicemail but no one called me back. So I wrote a letter to Fieldwork explaining that I was upset and wanted to let them know the consequences people may face (like my situation) when groups are abruptly cancelled. A week after sending the letter I received a call from a man named Tony at Fieldwork. He said he read my letter and was sending me a $50 check since I missed a day of work due to the cancellation. He also said the focus group would be going forward at the end of June and they would call me then to confirm my participation. I was delighted until several days later when the President of Fieldworks called me. She was not nice at all. She said she was reaching out because she didn't understand why I had written Fieldwork a complaint letter. Her tone was sarcastic and she said they have no responsibility when clients cancel panels and she would be happy to take me out of the database if I was unhappy. Her solution was to try and make me feel bad over the situation and accept no responsibility. I never received the $50 check promised to me by Tony and was not called at the end of June when Tony claimed the study would be rescheduled. I remained in their database and qualified for another focus group in July. Same story-----shortly before the scheduled date of the group I received a call from Fieldwork saying the focus group was canceled. My advice is to avoid this company unless you don't mind abrupt cancellations and broken promises. I have been burned twice now. Apparently, only their time is precious--not mine. read more

These people are a scam. DO NOT give them any of your information. I had a 20 minute conversation with someone from there who told me I was qualified for a focus group that would pay me $100. After the conversation she told me I wasn't qualified. Why would you call me in the first place then??? Since then, they have called me numerous times, AFTER I have told them over and over to take me off of their list. SCAMMERS! read more

I was qualified and participated in a telephone interview on April 7th and was told that I would be receiving a Visa giftcard in the amount of $175 in the mail within 3-4 weeks. After that time passed and I received nothing I called Fieldwork and got the run around for 3 straight days (someone always promised to call me back). I finally got hold of "Andy" on the 4th call and he found out that not only was I not going to receive the Visa giftcard by mail, but that I was going to get an email with a link to use the payment online. If I wanted to get a real Visa giftcard I would have to respond to the email and then they would send it to me. Of course, I never got the promised email. I'll be calling again, but DO NOT assume you will be paid for these studies! read more

Fieldwork NRC is an awful company. Unfortunately, I experienced something similar to Dar M. I was recruited for a study about cooking purchase drivers. I filled out the two part word document which included a visit to my local Home Depot and Lowe's store. I sent the document back per the instructions and confirmed the document was received. Yesterday evening I received a call from a woman named Rachel telling me I was "cancelled" from the study because my pictures were online pictures. First, am I supposed to believe they have the resources to check hundreds of photos online? Second, how can I be cancelled from a study I fully participated in. I sent an email to the President named Karyn Picchiotti who was sarcastic and rude when she called me Sunday evening. Instead of offering to pay me she threatened me with contacting their lawyer. Fine. She can contact the lawyer because I have the email I sent as well as the email sent to me outlining what the project entails. Fieldwork is a disorganized hot mess. After my telephone call with Karyn, I did some research and found out a lot of the recruiters are being trained so when they are screening people it's not for an actual group. It's really so the recruiter can get practice. Not nice nor fair to the people spending time answering their questions. This experience taking a bunch of pictures of ovens in a store was my first and last research experience. Dealing with Fieldwork left a bad taste in my mouth. Shame on them for being so unprofessional. I am going to insist they pay me what was promised. read more

This review isn't about the process gone through to obtain the prepaid visa card, it's about how difficult it is to use the funds on the card itself. I participated in a research study with this company through my electric company. They told me I qualified to participate and would receive a $75 prepaid visa card for letting them have my time, which I thought was nice considering I *still* need to purchase parts for my car's engine and didn't have the cash right away. So I do the survey, it was a nice experience overall, etc. I also received the gift card within a couple of days of doing the survey. However, this next part is where I'm a bit angry about the general ability to use the stupid card. Tried ordering the parts online for my engine with said card. Because the address behind the card did not match my mailing address, the transaction did not go through. Period. The information I received with said card said I did NOT need to register it, or go somewhere online to change its information so I could use it online. It said I should be able to use it right away online or anywhere I needed to without further action (also there was no billing address information included with card). So I go to the website to check the card balance after the *failed* transaction, only to find that now, the amount of what was supposed to be my final purchase is now being withheld from the card's actual balance, as a *pending* transaction. I called the company to see what was up seeing as how I didn't actually get to purchase what I was trying to buy, for them to inform me that I actually DID need to change my address for the card, through them in order for ANY online purchases to go through. Okay, I can deal with that I guess, wasn't informed but whatever, mistakes happen. So I finish that, and wait a day to see if anything changed. Call the auto parts company next day to see if the order ever went through, they have no record of it showing up because the transaction was denied at the checkout online (had to call the main office in Missouri to get THAT information but whatever, I found out what I needed). This doesn't help my poor car who's been waiting sooo patiently for parts so it can work better. So i call the card company to let them know that the autoparts company isn't finishing the transaction because of what I thought was my error, and asked if they could unfreeze the pending transaction so I didn't have to wait 5+ days before getting the money back to place the same order again, so I can finally make this stupid purchase that I really need. Turns out, all the representative could tell me was 'I can't do anything until the 5 days pass so we can make sure on our end that the transaction was cancelled. If you want the balance back sooner than that you have to call that company that you ordered from and have them FAX us the information so we can know for sure that the transaction did not go through'. Okay, so I have to make more phone calls and relay more information than I feel should be necessary so you can fix the f*** up I accidentally made due to lack of the correct information included and needed to operate the card accurately? Really? So now, I'm out an extra $40 for the rest of this week, still cannot buy my much needed car parts yet (or at least til next week pretty much), and wasted cellphone minutes going in circles just for someone to say 'well if they don't send us a fax, then I dunno what to tell you'. Besides waiting an extra 5 days. If I end up getting a bill in the mail or something from changing the cards billing address to my own (which I was instructed needed to happen in order to use it online at all), this is gonna go from bad review to I will never participate in a paid survey again unless the payment is in cash, not card. Biggest time waster EVER trying to get this stupid piece of plastic to work right. Obviously the 'instructions' they sent with the card are not at all accurate. If I had known this card would be such a b**** to use, I would have just gone into the store to pre-order the parts, so I can waste gas going there again later this week to get the parts, so I can actually get them sooner than later. Or I would have just traded someone the card for the same cash amount. I tried being patient, I know sometimes representatives really can't do anything because their hands can be tied. But seriously, I have to go through the efforts of getting you guys a FAX so I can actually use the cash you promised me for giving you my time for that survey? More information needs to be included with these cards, along with a 'go online and register your card so you can actually use it' instructions. Because this was a bigger waste of my time than should have even been necessary. read more

I participated in a focus group yesterday. It was very relaxed and professional experience. We were there for two hours. At the end, I was given a $125 prepaid Visa card. Very nice people and super easy to find. We were given homemade pasta while we waited. I've requested to be added to the database because it was probably the easiest $125.00 I've ever earned. read more

HORRIBLE! What a waste of time. I received multiple phone calls for the same study. The first person that called me said my answers were on hold to see if the client would accept me. Then the next day someone else called me and tried to ask me all the same question AGAIN! I let her know someone had already done this so then once she looks into it says sorry yes i see that your answers are still on hold. Next day someone else calls me to clarify one of my answers once we do that she sets me up with a time and then i received the confirmation email. The day of the actual study me and another woman showed up and then got sent home because we didnt qualify. TOTAL WASTE OF TIME. I called fieldwork to let them know what happened and was told they would look into it and if I was being truthful they would compensate me and WHAT A SHOCKER i never got called back. DONT WASTE YOUR TIME PEOPLE! Ive dealt with many other companies and never had an issue! read more

HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE! This company bought my information from Kohl's Department store and called my cell phone to do a survey. When I called them back to see who they got my number from, they told me that was privileged information!! What? I spoke to Rhonda who told me in order for me to find out who sold her my info, I would have to give her more of my information. When I refused, SHE HUNG UP ON ME! I relentlessly called back and spoke to the receptionist who conveniently couldn't connect me to the supervisor's voice mail because it was "broken"? When I called the corporate office, they told me they couldn't help me either. Kelly May told me their "client" requested to remain confidentiall and I would have to contact the Skokie office. When I called back again, the supervisor's voice mail had miraculously been fixed, yet after trying Ms. Pam Kleinman (the supposed President of this company), a number of times, she never returned my calls. I was finally able to get through to a woman by the name of Natalie at the corporate office who again asked me for more information. Why should I have to provide my information to them when they already bought it? All of a sudden they were able to tell me it was Kohls that sold it to them (by all of a sudden I mean 5 hours and 6 people later). Just awful customer service and very shady. I certainly rank Kohl's Department Store even lower than this AWFUL company for selling it to them in the first place. BEWARE if you are all of a sudden being solicited by these people. read more