2/07/2020

Respondent (Online Platform, Paid Tests)


 
 
This review is as tester for this site.

There are a few paid tests, studies or surveys available on this site, at least for some parts of the world.

Truth be told, the projects they have pay more than well, but they are directed to super specialised business and professional people in leading positions in their companies, those who are already earning a fortune, so why would they want to waste their time doing a paid test or survey?

Unless you work on very specialized fields, you won't be able to take any test even if you have a high level of education.

I was there for several months and never got a project I could take. 

The surveys to participate in upcoming projects never actualized in anything concrete, even though they were asking for every-day sort of things for which you don't require any preparation, education or nothing.

If you want to earn some money this is not your site unless you are already a well-paid individual in top leading jobs in certain companies, specially tech.
 
I didn't like the fact that they somewhat force you to put a photo of you, even though don't provide you with anything.  

Besides the member area as buggy, which says a lot about a company, as every time I would log in, I would get the message that I had already had three screeners on a day and I could not take more. In fact, I had taken none that day or most days. So that's a bug, right there. 


It has been a waste of time for me, and I don't recommend the site at all. I guess they collect your personal data and that's their biz, playing with it, or using it, or whatever. 

 Avoid.

12/28/2019

Kmart Australia (Online Store)


I've I've bought a lot of items from Kmart throughout the years, both from my nearest store and online, and I'm very pleased with the variety of products on offer, the pricing and the service provided. They are perfect for people with low means, like young couples, students, retirees and anyone wanting to buy some trendy stuff without blowing off their budget. 
 
The variety of product is enormous. They sell trendy design items and styles at much cheaper prices than other cheap retailers.

Some of the Kmart brand appliances are really cheap and good quality. Yes, they are basic, but if you don't want anything too fancy or too posh, or the latest model in the market, they are terrific.

They have a fantastic returns policy.

The staff in the shops tend to be very young but really lovely and expedient.

You can buy online and have it delivered at home. If necessary, they gather the items from different stores to fulfill your order. Delivery takes little time to reach metropolitan areas.

Their online reviews are legit. You cannot review a product if you haven't bought it online and receive a link from Kmart to review it.

DOWNSIDES
> Hit and miss quality. Sometimes you get really good quality products at bargain prices, but others you don't. Some products start to fall to pieces rapidly, or the assembly instructions are messed up, or the screws are all mixed up, or the quality isn't good despite how pretty the item looks in the photo. So, there is no consistency in the quality of their products, and you can't see that until you start using them.

> Poor sales. Their Black Friday and Boxing Day offers and sales are sub par when compared with all other cheap retailers.

> Online deliveries are charged. Shopping online is easy, but, unlike many other retailers (Target Australia included) they do charge for the delivery, regardless of how much you spend in one transaction.

> Online reviews. They are diminutive in length. They discard legit reviews that are detailed, which is what I personally would like to read. That was the case with mine, which never saw the light. Mind you, a reviewer saying," I love it", it is not a review, that's an enthusiastic statement. A very different thing is a reviewer saying, "It looks great, but this product has this and this issue" and commenting on it in one long paragraph."  It might be just the design of the reviews area, which is diminutive itself. I don't know, but most of them aren't helpful. 

12/27/2019

The French Salon (Oslo, Norway)

The French Salon 
Norway National Gallery
Universitetsgata 13, Oslo
Phone:    (+47) 21 98 22 70
Email   
Website
Timetable:
    Mon - Closed
    Tue-Fri:    11am-5pm.
    Thu:   11am-6pm.
    Sat-Sun: 11.30am-4pm.

Located beside the National Gallery's gift shop and inside the building of the National Gallery of Norway, the French Salon is a lovely café that surprises for its intimate elegant ambience and its simple but tasty menu.

The premises are very French neoclassic decorated in green marble and white marble busts inserted in walled niches. The tables are simply but elegantly set and the place is very cozy and comfortable. 

Sometimes you are hungry and want to eat wherever the closest place is. This was the case for me when visiting The French Salon. We wanted to continue our visit of the gallery and needed a break, so going outside was a bit pointless and a waste of time. Art Galleries cafés are rarely cheap, so I checked the menu and pricing in advance, and to my surprise it was average price in the city, nothing really overpriced or expensive.  

Their menu was small, but the dishes on offer were yummy, Norwegian inspired, generous in size and nicely plated.  They also have a small selection of cakes and slices displayed in the cabinet, which looked fabulous but we didn't try. 

Their coffee was also good, and they have cortado on offer, something I always appreciate when I am overseas. 

Although I loved this café, there was some issues with the service that would need to be fixed. The main one was that the café was understaffed. The staff were extremely friendly, welcoming and apologetic with some customers who complained about a mishap. Despite the speed and diligence of the waitresses, they couldn't cope with the constant flow of customers, even though they wasn't any group visiting or too many visitors. Two waitresses had to clean the tables, get the orders, usher the people in, serve food, and get the payments. The result was chaos in the service and stressed waitresses.  You cannot enter and sit at will but have to wait to be ushered in and seated, and I had to wait over 5 minutes at the door waiting for that to happen. The cafe needed at least another waiter at the time I visited and perhaps two or three more at rush hour.


Having said this, I really love this place. It has something special that is difficult to explain. The patina of history, perhaps. Pity the chaos in the service. The rest was lovely and I would love to go back. 

12/22/2019

12/19/2019

Validately (online platform, Paid tests)




This is a review of my experience as tester.

They are a legit company and pay $10 USA per test. 

Like many other UX companies, you have to pass an entry test, not paid, to be admitted. Once you are, you fill-in some general info about your demographics and wait for the tests to be thrown at you. 

You are informed of any test by email, not on the site. That is, there is no member area or dashboard for testers on their website where to find the tests.  You just get the link if something matches your demographic. Click on the test link and follow the prompts. To do the test on the desktop you have to use Chrome browser and install their recording extension; on the phone, you have to download their app from Google Play. 

Although they do send tests often, they don't seem to have the volume of tests that other UX companies have, so testers are like hungry zombies at the smell of a healthy human. Once the email arrives, even if it takes you three seconds to open it, the page is already locked and shows a message saying that there are too many testers trying to access the test at the same time, try again. You keep trying, by reloading the page, to not avail. Then, the test is over and you got nothing. Or simply, you get there and, in the unlikely case no one is fighting for the test, you get through the screener and this one rejects you. All of these situations are very frustrating. 


The phone app is really nice and user friendly, definitely the best I've tried from different companies. However, it could be better designed. If, by mistake, you press step two without having finished step one, there is no arrow or way of going back, not even by using your phone back arrow option.That's bad design.

Once you perform the test and it's uploaded onto the cloud, you'll receive an email saying that they've got it, that they'll  review it within seven days and, if accepted, they'll pay you in the following seven days via PayPal.

It takes about 7 days for the test to be reviewed, and if the rating is acceptable they immediately pay you by PayPal, which is really nice.

Unless you fit their preferred demographics, you won't earn much there. That's at least my experience. So there are greener pastures out there; this is a sort of small shed you keep just in case it rains something, if you know what I mean.

Still, they are reliable and have a good deal of business.

12/17/2019

Survey Junkie (Online platform, Paid surveys)



I joined Survey Junkie after reading some positive comments by some of the people who use the site. My experience after a week there is nothing I would recommend. Or better said, this site did not work for me. 

They, like many others, profile hard core, with your connivance, with the excuse of getting you more and better paid surveys. You need to fill in profiling questions regarding your whole life: personal situation, work, household, health, electronics, etc.

So, how many surveys have I received since I joined? Zero.

I decided to quit, because, what's the point? Surprise surprise, but no surprise, they don't have a 'delete your account' available in the registered user's member area. Why not? You have to contact Customer Service requesting cancellation; they aim to reply in 48 hours and confirm the cancellation. They are quite nice and usually reply before that time.

I don't recommend the site. Not that they are wasting your time or doing anything bad to you. It is that profiling me on the excuse of getting me paid surveys and then providing me with none sounds like odd to me. 

Avoid.

12/09/2019

Biagio's, Niddrie, Melbourne

The place has an amazing vibe, atmosphere and old-European bar-cafe style that attracts patrons like bees to honey. The service is really friendly and accommodating, however, service is extremely slow even when the place is not even half-full and the food was average. I had a burger menu and the burger was burnt, the fries were dreadful and the burger was not really well assembled. I haven't returned since, and the good looks will never satisfy my belly.