I enjoy being a member *******@PINCHme, I love getting free samples and writing honest reviews for them.
I love PINCHme and am always a very #HappyPINCHer so it's sad to see so many 1-star reviews, almost all of them from people who are very misinformed about PINCHme. These are the facts:
1. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE ANY QWIZME SURVEYS TO RECEIVE SAMPLES ON SAMPLE TUESDAY. It's totally optional. Don't take them if you don't want to. That's ALL there is to it. I personally enjoy taking surveys to win cash prizes or exclusive gifts, of which I have gotten several. I still get free samples on Sample Tuesday.
2. YOU ARE NOT GUARANTEED TO RECEIVE SAMPLES ON SAMPLE TUESDAY JUST BY SIGNING UP FOR AN ACCOUNT. Samples are VERY targeted and whether or not you will receive one is based on the information you provide in your profile. If you aren't the target demographic companies are looking for, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE THAT SAMPLE. It's simple, folks.
3. NON-QWIZME FREE SAMPLES ARE OFFERED ONCE A MONTH. THE SITE GIVES YOU THIS DATE EVERY TIME YOU LOG ON. No, magazine subscriptions and fad diet books are not the only samples you are being offered. Literally EVERYONE is offered them. EVERYONE sees them when they log in. EVERYONE sees the next date samples will be available on. It's your responsibility to remember.
4. MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE USING PINCHME TO TRY TO GET FREE SAMPLES. ONLY THE FIRST 100,000 PEOPLE *ELIGIBLE* FOR ANY SAMPLE ON SAMPLE TUESDAYS ARE GUARANTEED TO GET ONE. I see a lot of people complaining that PINCHme's glory days are long gone. That is what happens when millions more people are finding out about PINCHme and signing up. Samples will go FAST. No vendetta has been launched against you. It isn't PINCHme's fault that you are not eligible for samples, nor is it their fault that you didn't log on to claim samples fast enough knowing lots of other people are trying to get them too. Let's act like adults, guys. "But I used to get them all the time!" PINCHme has no doubt amassed millions of members and it's very unlikely that continuing to use that model is logistical in any way for them. Free sample boxes from SampleSource are offered every 3-4 months. Once a month is a pretty good deal.
5. YES, SHIPPING TAKES A LONG TIME. GET OVER IT. I implore you to pick a couple items, pack them in boxes, create shipping labels, then send out tens of thousands of those packages every month to understand why.
It's an extremely easy sampling program to understand. You have to take short surveys on other sites (SampleSource, Sampler, etc.) to determine if you're the demographic companies are looking for too. If you're unhappy with PINCHme, try those. 99% of these negative reviews are from entitled people who have no idea how PINCHme works. And no, I'm not a PINCHme employee, nor am I being compensated or benefitting in any way by posting this review, I just want to educate people. Happy PINCHing.
A couple of yrs ago this was a much better program than the one they have today. They had samples once a month to sign up for, and was easy to request and get the samples. Then it got to be, IF you get a email telling you it was time for the samples, And that was IF you could actually log on withing 20 seconds of the samples (Yes that fast) And you had to get a email telling you to get your samples, before they sent everyone a email telling them sample day was coming and on sample day you went and picked 3 of the choices they had to choose from. Then in about a weeks or 2's time your PinchMe box came like clockwork. Well fast foward about a year to now... Now you have to wait and see if you even get what I call a invite to sign up for sales ads galore and maybe MAYBE you might actually get on the site in that 20 second window and claim your samples. Sometimes they are decent but lately, it is just not worth the trouble of waiting on the email, doing the survey for hte last samples you received and then you still may not get the "real samples" but your more or less signing up for a guarantee of tons of spam and robo calls for stupid garbage like magazine Subs, btw magazines they cant even give away, they keep mailing them to me and they go right in the garbage... Basically the "samples" are not samples it is junk and just nothing but junk and a nuisance is the only thing your guaranteed. And now the latest stupid this website is doing... I have yet to bother with it but from reading the other post other people have and basically they are telling the reasons why I have not bothered with doing the latest stupid nonsense they are doing. Doing surveys for points... apparently you can spend hours on top of hours dong nothing but surveys and for nothing it sounds like. Yeah i am NOT going to waste my time to bother with that stupidity. There are a couple on here that seem to want to make claim this is a great website and sample company... THEY USED TO BE... Some people feel the need to always say good thing about any and everyone, I am sure they can find good things to say about Hitler and Manson if asked in public on a review site... smh rme... you guys know the type,,,,,,, lol But if this was 2 yrs ago, i would say this is a great website and worth the effort. Actually the effort put in when it was a good site was a lot less effort and bigger and better rewards from little time spent,,,, Now they want you to spend hours upon hours upon hours doing stupid surveys and for nothing... I think they get paid from companies for each survey people complete and they do NOT want to reward the people doing the actual work, its about them lining their pockets only... I have cancelled my acct with this company and have sent all their emails to my spam folder... good riddance...
I always appreciate freebies so I'm thankful for PinchMe & I don't mind using my time to fill out reasonable length questions/surveys, feedback etc for free samples. But the feedback for each small sample is time consuming. Before you decide to sign up, decide if you're willing to be at your computer or phone exactly at the time they release the samples (on a specific date at 12 noon EST) & are you willing to fill out lots of feedback questions plus a 50 word minimum review for each individual sample (& now they're incentivizing reviews on actual company sites where as before all feedback was done just on PinchMe's site... read more below).
Side note - just because you finish all of your feedback on time, does not mean you'll get any samples during the next sample offer. I always finish my feedback on time & over the past few months, I wasn't offered any samples in my account. So be aware that you can put in all the time answering feedback but that doesn't guarantee you'll get samples every time they're offered. There's been many months that I've only been offered 1 or 2 samples, whereas in the past I'd be offered 5-10+. This has been an ongoing theme & many are complaining about it so again, decide if you're willing to get zero or just 1-2 samples some months. Word is, as more people have joined they're giving people less samples. Kind of frustrating to long & good standing members.
Honestly, it's a lot of work for some very small samples. If I wasn't bored, I would never use PinchMe ha.
Also it takes a long time to receive boxes, so be prepared to patiently wait for them.
They've just recently made a positive change where they give you 30 days from when they ship the box to finish your feedback. FINALLY! Because for the past few years feedback was due way before I received the box so I couldn't complete it in time for the next box. Then because I couldn't finish my feedback, I wouldn't get the next sample offer. Finally PinchMe fixed that crummy system & is allowing enough time for honest feedback & being able to qualify for more samples. They never should have had that system in the 1st place. That just allowed for everyone to feel forced to leave fake feedback for samples they hadn't even received or you wouldn't get any more samples (there are tons of complaints about this online). It took them long enough to fix this issue, but at least they finally did it.
The only newest change I didn't like is this last time, they basically bribed us to write a review on Burt's Bees website. We had to go to Burt's Bees site, create a Burt's Bees account, write a review & that just felt like way too much effort for a small packet of protein powder. You didn't absolutely have to write the review but it said if you didn't you might not get future sample offers.
PinchMe should be careful with making its users feel obligated to write a review in order to get future samples. This is exactly why Amazon clamped down on their reviews back in October 2016 saying many were incentivized & customers were losing trust in reviews. PinchMe should allow users 100% choice either way to leave a review, saying it will be appreciated but not required & it in no way will affect future sampling offers, not making users now feel forced or they won't get more samples.
This isn't the most ethical way of getting reviews & some people may feel nudged to leave a more positive review even if that wasn't their 100% honest opinion.
Overall I don't mind leaving feedback for free samples because I really enjoy freebies, am grateful for them & I'm bored A LOT. So it's worth it for me. But PinchMe's feedback requirements take quite a bit of time just to get a few small samples. Plus the feedback questions are pretty basic & get boring fast so the process is tedious.
My suggestions for PinchMe would be to shorten the feedback questions and/or make them more interesting if possible & not require/incentivize any reviews, allowing them 100% as a choice.
Side note - if you do sign up for PinchMe, stay away from their possible product trial offers. They're a waste of time with no guarantee of getting any product. I answered a bunch of questions to apply for a product trial (knowing it was just a possibility, not a certainty so that was fine). My issue is, then I received an email at 9am saying I was approved for the product trial, so I was excited & immediately went to claim the product & get started in the trial. It took me to PinchMe's site where I didn't find it anywhere. I contacted PinchMe & they responded saying there's a limited number of products & if it wasn't in my account then they were gone. How about just approve people according to how many products you have & then 100% put it in our accounts?
Here's the email I received:
"You have been selected to participate in an exclusive trial of BAND-AID® BRAND SKIN-FLEX ADHESIVE BANDAGES!
Here's what you need to know:
1. Click the button below to claim your product now
2. When you receive your product, try it out!
3. We will be in touch in the next few weeks asking you to leave a review of the product."
The email they sent is super misleading because it makes no mention of you needing to hurry to claim it, there's limited product, it's on a first come first serve basis etc. It makes it seem like I was approved & it was in my account. Super lame on PInchMe's part. I DEFINITELY won't be wasting my time signing up for any more of their trials.
Overall, if you're willing to put in quite a bit of effort to get a few small samples, then it's ok. Otherwise, you probably will find more satisfaction picking up a new hobby or spending time with friends or family or just watching Netflix! Hope all this info helps you!
You
Awesome
I love to try samples before purchasing items
Love it