American Consumer Panels Scam
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American Consumer Panels – Scam or Can You Really Make $25-$45 Per Hour Testing Products?

American Consumer Panels claims to offer a very lucrative product tester job that pays $25-$45 per hour, but what's the catch? Is this job really as awesome as it sounds or is there more to this that they aren't telling you? Is it possible that American Consumer Panels is a scam that is just going to be a waste of your time?

Unfortunately there is a catch, and it turns out that this is not a place I recommend to my readers. Why? Well… You will see in this review. I will be going over what American Consumer Panels claims to be, how they tell you that the product tester job works, requirements, the application process which is very strange, fake reviews, how I think they might be scamming people and more.

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American Consumer Panels Review

Name: American Consumer Panels

Opportunity Type: Product testing jobs

Recommended?: Absolutely NOT, more than likely a scam


What Is American Consumer Panels?

American Consumer Panels (ACP) claims to be a consulting firm that specializes in product testing and product development work. They have a very nice and professional looking website, which makes this seem like the real deal.

The reason you are here is probably because of the in home usage testers, or IHUT job, in which you get to test products from home, get paid good, and get to keep the products most of the time. I mean who wouldn't want a job like this?? Not only does it pay good and is very easy, but it also is very flexible it is something you can do around your current job.

Product testing jobs like this are something that have been around for a while. Before companies launch products on mass scale, they want user feedback. Many times they hire third-party services, such as American Consumer Panels in this case, to conduct the research for them and get user feedback. It is common to see paid survey sites, such as Pinecone Research, pay people for product testing like this. However, the survey sites I have come across that pay people to test products do not pay nearly as well as American Consumer Panels, which is one of several red flags that I came across while reviewing this company.

If you are considering applying to become a product tester, I would definitely suggest that you read this entire review to the end because there are some serious concerns that I will discuss. 

How The Job Works

Everything seems to work just as it should, and there aren't really any red flags here. The job description is accurate and does seem completely legitimate.

The first thing you will have to do, not all the time but sometimes, is sign a nondisclosure agreement for the products that you are going to be testing. The reason some companies will want you to sign one of these is because the products maybe having been released to the public yet and they don't want you going around telling everyone about them.

You will be provided with a daily schedule that tells you what you are to be doing, such as product usage and recording daily general entries, etc. You are going to have to keep good documentation of your testing. This usually includes things like journal entries, snapshots, recordings, etc.

According to their website, you are also required to attend Skype meetings online, usually 2 to 3 times per week, with brand managers, account managers, and other high up people.

Requirements

One of the reason is that this is such a sought after job is because there is no experience needed. You must be 18 or older, but don't need any sort of experience or degree. All you need is a high school diploma, which most people have.

And of course they also want you to be able to follow directions, write reviews, pay close attention to detail, be honest, and be able to work 15 to 20 hours per week.

As far as equipment goes, you must have a computer with reliable Internet and the camera or phone that is able to take pictures. 

How Much Do They Pay?

As I mentioned earlier, they claim to pay $25-$45 per hour and you are guaranteed to 15 to 20 hours per week. I mean seriously… Who wouldn't want a job like this? It sounds like a very easy and relaxing job, and with pay like this… Sign me up!

It sounds amazing and all, but this is actually a red flag for me. I just don't get why they would be paying people this much to test products. I have come across product testing jobs in the past, and I know that they can vary a lot and how much they pay their testers, but paying up to $45 per hour seems like a heck of a lot. Just doesn't really seem realistic to me and seems a bit too good to be true.

But anyways, to review this place and more depth, I decided to apply for the job to see what would come of it… Ian this is where things started to get pretty strange as you will see.

Applying for the Job - Okay.. This Is Strange

When you start the application process you will be guided through a series of five questions. These are just simple yes or no questions and you have to answer yes to all of them, which most of you probably well.

These are simple question such as whether or not you will be able to work the required amount of time, whether you will be willing to sign nondisclosure agreements, if you are willing to leave detailed feedback in your reviews, and a few others…

After you have made it through this series of questions, which should only take a minute or so, you will then have to enter your email address so that they can communicate with you if you are approved. 

All sounds good up until now. It seems like this is just a basic prescreening which most people would pass easily.

But after this is when things got weird…

The Strange Part

After submitting your email you are then asked to fill out your demographics and consumer profile by following two steps, which include 1) joining MySurvey and 2) VIP Voice, which are both paid survey sites…

Now what they tell you is that you will be joining the survey sites just to fill out the initial profile surveys so that they can get more information on you. If you have ever joined a paid survey site before, you know that demographic information that goes into creating your profile is important.

When you sign up for the sites you will be taken through some short surveys that will require you to submit information on your education level, income level, hobbies, household size, marital status, etc. All survey sites ask you demographic type questions like this so that they better know who you are in can better match you up with surveys.

But the big question is… Why are they asking you to join these panels? Why can't they just ask you these demographic questions themselves and not have you join to third-party sites?

I don't know… It just sounds very strange to me. At the bottom of the page they state that while you will be able to earn rewards on the survey sites, the real job here is with American Consumer Panels...

So in summary... They are using these survey sites to "establish your consumer profile in demographics".

I guess I'm okay with that, although it does sound very strange, but there are a few other major red flags that I also came across which make me more suspicious that this could very well be one big scam. The next thing I want to talk about its fake reviews, because it seems like this company may actually be going out of their way to create fake reviews in order to make this opportunity seem legitimate.

Fake Reviews - Red Flag

One thing that I always like to do when looking into a job opportunity like this is to read reviews from people who have supposedly worked the job before. I want to hear from people who are IHUT's (in home user testers) to see what they have to say.

There are a fair amount of reviews out there, mostly on the independent review site Glassdoor. The reviews are mixed, but I am hesitant to believe that they are truthful. It seems that the negative reviews are legitimate, but all of the positive reviews are fake.

Why do I think all the positive reviews are fake? Well… Because they seem to be very general and most of them seem to be saying pretty much the same darn thing with slightly different wording. It just doesn't seem realistic, and something else that doesn't seem realistic is that most of these positive reviews were posted within a very short amount of time. This company has supposedly been offering this user tester job for years, so why wouldn't there be some old reviews of it and why wouldn't the reviews be more spread out?

It just doesn't seem realistic. An example of one of these seemingly fake positive reviews you can see here…

Now don't think that fake reviews are out of the question. I have seen many opportunities before that have had many fake positive reviews. Reviews are a great way to gather some helpful insight, but you can't trust everything you read. A lot of times companies will actually pay people to leave positive reviews for them.

Not only do the review seemed fake, but let's not forget about the very strange application process which seems a bit fishy. These two things couple together are really making me think this might be a scam. In addition to all of this, there are also reviews claiming exactly that… That this company and job opportunity is a complete scam.

People claim that this is just one big ploy to steal your information… They advertise the job but just want you to give up your data so that they can sell it. Many people who have signed up for this job are complaining about getting multiple emails each day from the survey sites that ACP referred them to…

That is just an example of one of many negative reviews. In the negative reviews seem much more believable. Most of the people agree that is a scam that is in place to steal your information, but they don't all say the same exact thing with slight changes in wording. They seem to be a legitimate and they are also spread out as far as the time-frame goes, which raises no red flags.

Also, the possibility that this could be one big scam to steal your information is also not out of the question. People's personal data is worth money and this definitely would not be the first time I came across a scam involved in "data harvesting" as I call it. Some other "data harvesting" scams that I've reviewed include Reward Survey and BigSpot.com.

What's Really Going On Here?

Is it possible that this is just one big set up?… One big fake opportunity that's entire purpose is to steal peoples' personal information?

Well, it is definitely possible and it is seeming that this very well may be the case more and more.

The crazy part is that, although this company claims to have been in business since 2006, I cannot find one single reliable review on the user tester job. If this job really were as amazing as it is said to be, and really did pay up to $45 per hour than I would expect the people who do have these jobs to be leaving some pretty darn good positive reviews. But I'm not seeing this and this is very unusual.

There Is No Product Tester Job!

It seems that the logical conclusion is that there is no product tester job. It likely is just one big ploy to harvest personal data from people… As mentioned.

They tell you that somewhere around 97% of applicants do not end up getting the job, which leads you to believe that if you go through the application process and don't get contacted that this is just because you weren't selected. However, it seems that this is just a lie to keep people from thinking it is a scam when the reality is no one is getting selected for the product tester job because the job doesn't exist in the first place.

I Hope You Didn't Use a Good Email Address

Remember how I went over the application process and at the end you had to enter your email address? And also, when you sign up for the two different paid survey sites that you are referred to you also have to enter your email address. Well… If you already went through this process I hope you didn't enter a good one.

The reason I'm saying this is because you are going to be bombarded with emails you have no interest in. You will be receiving emails for paid surveys that they paid survey sites are offering and you may receive other spammy emails as well.

More Signs It Is a Scam

There are a few other red flags and signs that this may be a scam that however briefly.

#1 - The Website Was Just Created in 2015

One of such as that, as mentioned above, this company claims to have been around since 2006, as it states that the bottom of their website…

However, I cannot find anything showing that this is true in anyways. There is no information about this company prior to 2015, which is far from 2006.

I did a WHOIS search for their website, american-consumer-panels.com and found that it was created in 2015. Now of course she could say that maybe they had a different website prior to 2015, but nonetheless, this is strange.

#2 - Inactive Facebook Page

Something else that seems very fishy is that their Facebook page was created in 2016 Ian shows it very very little signs of activity. On the Facebook page there's literally a couple of very basic posts and nothing else. This definitely does not seem like something you would see for a reputable company that has been around for over a decade.

#3 - Can't Even Get In Contact With Them

On their website they provide a telephone number that you can call to talk to someone from the company. I decided to give it a try to see what I could find out as far as the product tester job goes. The phone number listed is (917)677-2043.

I gave the number a call and they said in an automated message that due to the high number of applicants for the product tester job, they would not be able to speak about this particular position and that if I wanted more information I should check the FAQ section or I could also email them at human.resources@american-consumer-panels.com.

So anyways... I sent them an email and patiently waited a reply. I was just asking some simple questions about the job see if I would get any reply at all and sure enough, I didn't. Instead this is what I received…

This email address that they gave me doesn't even exist! Yet another major red flag for the books. The more and more I look into this company and job opportunity, the more and more it seems like a scam to me.

Final Thoughts - Avoid

It is still a bit difficult to really determine whether or not this is an outright scam, or a legitimate opportunity for a legitimate company that just has very bad communication and a lot of suspicious signs that could possibly be explained.

However, this is definitely not a job opportunity I would recommend applying for due to what I have found. My guess is that this is a scam, I'm just not going to definitively say that it is. You can come to your own conclusion on this.

Just think about everything for a second… The job sounds too good to be true right off the bat. I mean making up to $45 per hour with zero experience as a product tester??? That seems insane. And then of course there is the whole thing where they refer you to sign up for paid survey sites, which really makes no sense to me. Why they can't have you submit your profile/demographic information directly to them is beyond me. In then there is the whole thing with the fake reviews, which I think most people would agree with me of their fake. Then there is the fact that this company claims to have been around since 2006, yet it seems to have no existence before 2015. There is the inactive Facebook page which is something you don't normally see with a company that is supposed to be legitimate. And lastly there is the fact that the email address they give you to contact them is a fake and does not exist.

So we have...

  • A job that sounds too good to be true
  • An application process that is very strange and doesn't make much sense
  • Fake reviews
  • No company history
  • An inactive Facebook page
  • An email address that does not exist

I don't know about you, but this isn't something I would get involved in, nor do I recommend.

So anyways, I hope you enjoyed my review and found it helpful. If you are looking for a legitimate way to make money from home, I would highly suggest taking a look at how I make a living working online, which is something that you very well might be interested in. I'm not going to get into it all here, but you can click the button below to learn more…

Also, leave any comments or questions down below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can 🙂

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