Wrong Currency

At last! After 4 months of waiting, I finally got my check in the mail.

I was excited to deposit it to my local bank account but to my surprise, the bank won't allow me to deposit this check on my Peso savings account. The bank teller advised me to open up a dollar account for this particular transaction in which I have to spend $500 for the initial deposit. I don't think I can afford to open such account...that's way too much so I went home really frustrated.

After getting back home, I immediately went online to search for other proof of payments from this company. Surprisingly, previous checks issued and sent to other Filipino members were in Philippine peso so I started to get worried as to why I received it in the wrong currency.

I decided to email the survey company. In order to do that, I have to log in to my account first. This time, I got so confused when all of a sudden they have this announcement which wasn't there when I redeemed my points last April 4, 2014. (see image below) And if I knew it from the start, I shouldn't have redeemed my points.

So I decided to file a complaint about this situation. And here's the transcript of my email conversation with their Support Team.

Me:

Support Team:


As indicated on their response, I then called Western Union at their toll free number, and inquire about their check cashing service. Unfortunately, they don't have that kind of service here in the Philippines, unlike in any other foreign countries.

More frustration sets in! I was so disappointed of Globaltestmarket for letting this incident happen. I'm sharing this to all of you to be very honest about my experience. 

I also emailed Chexx (Americas) Inc, the company who issue checks on their behalf. And their response is:

"Unfortunately, our account at ANZ has been unexpectedly closed and we can no longer issue payments in PHP at this time. As we only cut the cheques and are not the survey company themselves, I would encourage you to follow up with them directly." - L. Southwell, Chexx (Americas) Inc.

I even contacted Mr. Simon Venhuizen, Chexx Inc. Business Development Manager, to inform him about this issue and if he can do anything about it. I also requested if they can probably just send the payment via Paypal. His response was:

"Thank you for reaching us and expressing your concerns about receiving payments. I would be happy to pass along any specific comments or suggestions to our client. How would you prefer to receive payments for completing surveys?"

Of course, I insisted to get paid thru Paypal. And his response was: 

"If it has been elected that Paypal is not a viable payout alternative, we must conform with that decision. Chexx simply makes payments as instructed. I would suggest submitting your payment recommendations directly to the company whose surveys you are completing so they understand their panelists' preferences. If sentiments are strong enough, they may take action. I apologize that I am unable to help you with this inquiry."

I don't know what to do next.

And the sad thing about this is that I've been referring a lot of friends on this survey program. I don't want them to experience the same thing I did so I decided to collect digital signatures, at the moment, to call the attention of Globaltestmarket.

Let's make a difference. I'm launching a "Petition to Enable Paypal Payments" and let us all reach out to Globaltestmarket, and let them know about our dilemmas. If you would like to join this petition, please sign the petition here*.

*This petition has been inactive since March 2015, after Globaltestmarket enabled Paypal payments.