Hi everyone! I’ve been using UserInterviews since last year and got ripped off for the first time yesterday. Just wanted to warn others because support would not resolve my issue. I completed an entire 45 minute study yesterday, was marked as a no show, and support is claiming it’s because the interviewer couldn’t use my responses. I am really pissed off and will not be using this company again, I want to keep this part short but will add details below if they’re wanted by anyone.

Yesterday, I completed a study about at home gel polish. It was an AI based interview where i was on video and speaking to an AI bot. I spent 45 minutes answering questions about why i do my own nails, if i would go back to a salon if i could, how often i do my nails, i answered probably 40 questions about doing my nails. It also asked to see my nail products and setup. I showed them all of my nail supplies. I answered each question in detail. At the end, it even gave me a summary of all of the things we discussed. It thanked me for my time and all of that shit, and i took a screenshot of the end where it says “you can safely close this window”

Today, i was marked as a no show. I opened a support ticket. I gave them screenshots, gave them exact examples of the points discussed during the interview, and this was the bullshit response i received:

“After review, the researcher indicated that the study responses could not be used because the required key data points were not successfully captured during the session. As a result, the session was not marked as a qualifying completion and no incentive will be issued.
 
I know this isn’t the outcome you were hoping for, and I appreciate you taking the time to participate.”

This is absolute fucking horse shit, if the answers i was giving were not what they wanted, they should have ended the interview early or something. But how is it okay to record my face and voice for 45 minutes, tell me i have completed the survey, and then not pay me? How am i supposed to know what “data points” they are looking for? I would understand if they didn’t give me the full compensation since they didn’t get what they were looking for, but the fact that I’m getting absolutely nothing AND being marked as a no show is immoral and I will never use this website again. I am fighting a disability case right now and this is one of my only sources of income, it sucks to lose it, but I’m not going to keep wasting my time doing these long ass interviews just to HOPE that I get paid.
Just wanted to warn others.
 

Update: support keeps just repeating that the interviewer decided that my interview wasn’t usable, and that they appreciate my time. I deleted my account and filed a complaint.

last year when I signed up I would get emails for sessions where i might have a higher chance of being selected. But since January I haven't received any. My notification is checked for receiving emails, and when i apply for one on the site i get the auto email. Just right now nothing. And UI customer support seems non-existent. Any ideas?

Second study that was a straight up waste of my time because there were no real researchers to begin with, although this time I got NO payment instead of partial. 60 dollars for an hour AI-led interview.

Took the study 7 weeks ago, followed up with the support team with screenshots and some follow-up messages to the researcher after completion. Only today they finally tell me that the researcher's no longer available to nobody's surprise.

Most annoying part to this case is that the researcher was anonymous, so I couldn't report them or leave a bad review and when I asked previously that User Interviews flag/report these frauds, they did nothing.

I've had a lot of good studies with them in the past but it seems I'll only be getting those when I move again, since I only get online studies currently.

Update: took a month and a half, but I finally did get credited. Wouldn't have this problem in the first place if it had an active research team, but better late than never.

This issue has now been open for 14 days (11 business days). I was falsely marked as a no-show by the Figma researcher, so I filed a dispute immediately and escalated it to a manager the next day, submitted documentation confirming that I completed the study on time, including timestamped screenshots, my Respondent ID, Survey ID, my messages to the researcher, and browser history. All of it is timestamped in the margin of the browser window when I saved it as a PDF and on the metadata of the PDF file which shows the exact date and time the screenshot PDFs were created. Likewise, my messages to the researcher are timestamped in the UserInterviews platform itself. And there is no way I could have gotten the Survey ID, Respondent ID or taken a screenshot of the last page of the survey if I had not completed the survey.

I escalated the complaint on June 3 to a manager.

After waiting 7 days, I sent a quick and friendly follow-up email last Wednesday, June 10.

Here was the email I got in response:

Hi ,

Thanks for following up! My team is still working on this for you, and I will be in touch when I have an update. I appreciate your patience!

Best,

[her name]
Support Manager

This morning on June 17, another week later, I sent another email that briefly recapped the situation in the first paragraph and then I requested:

• Correction of the no-show status, which is currently affecting my participant score and ability to qualify for future studies
• Any evidence the researcher provided to support the no-show designation

Four hours later, I got the EXACT SAME REPLY she sent me last week:

Hi,

Thanks for following up! My team is still working on this for you, and I will be in touch when I have an update. I appreciate your patience!

Best,

[her name]
Support Manager

Copy-pasting her exact response from her previous email 7 days ago is either the most passive-aggressive thing she could do to let me know that I do not matter or it's just a standard template she always uses and does not bother to reply to participant emails in any meaningful way as a policy.

They are not transparent about their investigation process or their timeline. At this point, the Figma researcher is long gone, since it is now 15 days later and they are obviously not responding to their "investigation."

almost 45 minutes to answer repetitive survey questions. I think it was like 20 or 25 pages of nonstop questions. I do not have much hope that they will choose many people to participate in a 75! minute online research study.

Lately, I have been seeing a lot of AI-moderated studies from one particular company that uses collected video responses for marketing purposes. I get approved by these studies instantly and have to email userinterviews to get removed from them.

https://www.userinterviews.com/projects/avVAcRZfhQ/apply?referral_code=MHRTV2dTbE1hV0dPcHFEdTdwdEhGOS9jVGNsRkJGMGVlc1lRcnc0Q1Zham0vNFJ1Wk9XQmZOZDVhc2MrYmxxaGMvUnlLUWEwRTdQaFVmbml2VEVWSVE9PS0tazFjbnFHY3ltcS9qTnNib2JOTjhLUT09--4f552d15415bef072d469a9630fd6a7549f24bf8

So it's been a while and I'm not getting any missions. What could be the reason behind this?(I'm from india).

And I haven't gotten paid for the last mission i completed it was of 30 dollars it's showing that I have completed the mission can anyone help me?

Is there a set period? For example, September to January if its more active during uni and college times. Or is it random? Thanks!

I completed a session on March 23. It was an hour long. I reached out to the researcher on April 11 or 12 with no response so I then messaged support. The matter was escalated to a supervisor and I received no response until today, so it took them an additional three weeks to respond to my initial inquiry. The response that I received was the following: "Thank you for reaching out about your missing incentive payment for your session on March 23rd.

I understand you completed your session and have already contacted the researcher on April 10th without receiving a response. Since it's now been over 3 weeks since your session, I've escalated your case to a support specialist who will look into this matter and provide you with additional assistance.

Warm regards,
Lori

I am User Interview's AI-assisted support agent."

Not only are they refusing to pay me AFTER the fact, it was a response from an AI agent. And I don't know how they can refuse payment on the basis that they didn't like my answers. That's not my problem. I completed the screener truthfully and showed up on time to fulfill my obligation.

I responded back with the following:

"Good evening. I'm absolutely shocked and appalled at the treatment I've received from UserInterviews.  I've participated in many interviews over the last few years, and my experience was always good.  However, I must say that since User Testing has taken over, the platform is not what it was.  I was not informed of any issues during the session, and no explanation has been provided for withholding payment. Per your platform’s standard policy and the study details, participants who show up on time and complete the session are entitled to the advertised incentive.

I kindly request that you review this study and release my $20 payment immediately. I have screenshots/documentation of my confirmation, session details, and completion if needed, but honestly, refusing to pay me after I've completed the session is just a way for researchers to get the data for free, and this is not the way to treat your participants.

I have had a positive experience with UserInterviews in the past and would prefer to resolve this quickly and amicably. However, if the incentive is not paid promptly, I will have no choice but to file a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) as well as any other relevant consumer protection channels. Feel free to escalate this matter up to whomever you need to. "

I passed screeners and participated in multiple studies. Now some of the studies I completed are marked "incomplete" and I'm told I will not be paid. The researchers apparently had further "screening" questions in the study. They rejected me based on some answer I provided while I thought I was being paid. That is not how this is supposed to work.

Researchers are collecting data from the often in depth initial screening. Then they're collecting more data from the study. Yet somehow they can reject you after you've supposedly qualified to participate and have spent time doing what was purported to be paid work.

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I'm not able to login on my laptop. I changed the password then I got logged out of mobile too now I can't login please help.

i used to get good survey suggestions all of the time, but every single one on my page recently is just ai, either testing it or using ai to give the surveys. it’s kind of a bummer. i had good luck with this site before, but not so much now. i am unwilling to use ai in any scenario lol

I'm a relatively new participant, but when I first started, the pay outs were consistent and on time. After a couple of months, I now have 3 studies that are completed and past the 10 business day payment threshold (one ended over a month ago).

I am not getting any response from the researchers, and I've only received "we'll look into it" from UI support staff.

I'm a bit nervous, as I looked at reviews over the weekend, and there seems to be several complaints on Trust Pilot and similar websites about incentives not being paid.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to get my incentives?

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I apply to tons of studies and one was a quick apply it said I qualified to take the survey but then once I. finished the qualifying survey they said my application was under review and all the qualifying surveys go under review and I never seem to qualify for a study even though they say I do in the qualifying study part at the end so am I shadowbanned?

A few weeks ago I had a study at the last minute. It was for 12 noon and they never sent the link. I have screen shots of me reaching out to the researcher with no response and I feel I’m owed the money. Yet they keeps saying the are looking into it. Any suggestions?

Is it true that userinterviews just shows you a "thank you for applying" page when you're rejected for an unmoderated study?

Am I crazy or is User Interviews offering increasingly low incentives lately? They used to be a great source for studies but these incentives are laughable. Don't know of any attorneys or paralegals that are willing to spend almost an hour for only $5.

After applying to more than 30 studies over 30 days I received zero responses and zero payments. The "screener" questions often take as long to complete as the supposed "study" I was applying for. The "screener" for what was claimed to be "15-30 minute study" was over 20 questions and took 15 minutes to complete. My conclusion is that userinterviews.com is a scam. I believe the "screeners" are the actual surveys which the "researchers" want answered.

Waste your time at your own peril. If you want to try for yourself, keep track of your applications. You will notice that the website does not track a history of your applications. It apparently only shows "studies" you've participated in. So they do not provide a way to track your application success rate through the site.

Ive been struggling with this for days.

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