iDine/Rewards Network - surveys: with no bonus, why do it?

RN used to give you bonus miles (either a lump sum, or a per dollar bonus) for completing a survey on your dines. I'd love to go back to doing the surveys, but they're a waste of time without any bonus at all.

How about bringing back those 100 miles per survey deals? Obviously the per dollar bonuses might be more, if you have a large spend, but the lump sum would still be good.

What do others here think? Do you bother completing surveys when there's no payback?

I'd add that I go to a few RN places quite regularly. My completing a survey every time is a waste of time when I generally don't have that much more to say, unless it's been an especially bad or especially good experience. But I'd write a survey to add some details if I got a bonus.

They might also consider a "new survey" bonus for visiting a new place where you haven't dined: that might increase their dining volume by encouraging people to try new restaurants. Since restaurants who join the program would certainly appreciate that, it might also help RN attract new customers.

though perhaps not the most compelling ... from the T & C of the Sept anniversary sweepstakes promotion for 500 dollars credit from each participating partner:

Fill out a survey after any September dine, and you get yet another entry for a chance to win

A chance at winning some miles is definitely not "earn x miles when you fill out a survey" - not enough to make my heart beat any faster at all.

Given RN seem to filter out negative survey information (not sure they do that with the ratings themselves,) I'm not so sure the "contributions" are that valued anyway.

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I actually did fill out a survey from a dine last week. Barcelona restaurant in CMH had only good reviews on RN but we thought the food was at best mediocre and at worst bad. It's certainly not authentic Spanish food. The service was good but it didn't compensate for the bad meal.

Since I have been doing the miles for dining stuff for over 5 years, it has mostly just become habit. I never have to worry about missing any benefit of filling one out. And if a restaurant is at and extreme (excellent or aweful) then I at least know I did my part to rate it (even if they do not count it).

....Do you bother completing surveys when there's no payback?

....

I don't and I won't. I once tried to sink a place that I hated by stopping for a cup of coffee (not poisonous, like the food) and then giving them all 1's across the board to see I could get them an all time low rating. It was clear that Idine wasn't counting my dings, so I gave up.

Given RN seem to filter out negative survey information (not sure they do that with the ratings themselves,) I'm not so sure the "contributions" are that valued anyway.

I don't and I won't. I once tried to sink a place that I hated by stopping for a cup of coffee (not poisonous, like the food) and then giving them all 1's across the board to see I could get them an all time low rating. It was clear that Idine wasn't counting my dings, so I gave up.

I'd add that although RN is a marketing exercise for restaurants, it would give the site *significantly* more credibility if they posted bad reviews and didn't just allow the restaurants to decide what went up on their pages. It'd also be helpful to see which other restaurants the reviewer had been to: the problem with Zagat, for example, is that you never know whether the reviewers' quotes represent the judgment of someone who thinks Burger King or McDonalds is an excellent restaurant, or whether they tend to eat at places where the food is good, and are hence comparing their experience at this restaurant with that.

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Surprise surprise! They chose not to display my bad review of their restaurant on the public page. What a waste of time. I think we should all boycott reviews until they are posted whatever they say.