Shopper’s Voice Review
June 1st, 2007Speaking of unsatisfactory business experiences, add Shopper’s Voice to the list of companies I don’t recommend.
Know those household surveys you get in the mail? That ask you to share info about all sorts of random consumption habits? I’d never done one before. The sales pitch doesn’t exactly wow me. One response chosen for a $5000 prize, plus a few assorted several hundred dollar prizes. I’m not the sweepstakes entry type. I prefer my guaranteed returns 
But in February I finally succumbed to the bait of coupons that were supposed to materialize after I shared the nitty gritty about my denture cleaning purchases, etc. with Shopper’s Voice (the survey company). In the name of bargain questing, I felt I should give it a try. It didn’t take particularly long to complete, and I had forgotten about it by the time the envelope showed up in my mail last Saturday.
Here’s what I received:
-1 $1.50 coupon off coffee creamer
-1 $1.50 coupon for Colgate toothpaste
-1 Life insurance ad
-A message thanking me for being a panel member and listing a few survey results
The only thing of use to me is the Colgate coupon. It’s a pretty decent discount. But guess what? It expired 5/25/07! (I received it on 5/26)
It’s one thing to return a very sparse 2 coupons for my participation. It’s another to have one of them be expired. And the very best part is the big note printed on my thank you message:
“Coupon Expiration Dates - Look closely, some of the enclosed coupons may have much longer expiration dates than regular coupons.”
Shoppers Voice forgot to mention “and some may be expired.”
So that the experience wasn’t a total loss, I’ll share a random survey stat result that was reported in my thank you message..
Question: “How many coupons does your household redeem in an average month?”
More than 20 - 21% of households
10 to 20 - 30% of households
Less than 10 - 49% of households
Which tells me that most respondents to this survey aren’t in it for the coupons (I guess the sweepstakes?), and is why the company doesn’t waste time on tiny details like expiration dates.