Thursday, May 1, 2008

Home-Biz-Help BizOpp Review: ChaCha

ChaCha is a service whereby people send a text message from their cell phones asking a question to a specific number (which I won't give you here but you can find easily enough if you want to) and they get back a text message supposedly within 3 minutes with the answer.

So if you asked "who was the first president of the United States" you would get back "George Washington" along with the web site where the person found the answer.

ChaCha "guides" do the research and get paid as independent contractors.

On the surface it sounds like a great deal for someone who is somewhat internet savvy, needs or wants flexible hours, and enjoys learning new information.

However, when I went to sign up, they said there was nothing suitable for me, and didn't tell me why. I fit the above criteria, have a high I.Q. and innate curiosity, so I thought I would be a good fit.

Oh, well. After doing further research, I think I can do better, and you can too. Read on.

In reading various work-at-home forums I found a few happy ChaCha "guides" and a lot of unhappy ones. The happy ones like the flexibility and have figured out how to get a lot of questions sent their way, so they make enough money to justify their time in their own minds.

The unhappy ones are really unhappy. Many of them were unceremoniously dumped by ChaCha and none of them seemed to know why - no reason was apparently given, and I guess ChaCha doesn't have to give them one. Some felt they were making w-a-y less than minimum wage, as in $2-3 per hour of research. Others felt that pranksters were taking up all their time, and the "powers that be" at ChaCha didn't believe them. Others felt that actual ChaCha employees did not take the concerns and experiences of the "guides" seriously. Some felt they needed to pull their pay out as soon as they reached their minimum balance because they were afraid ChaCha was going to go under at any time.

Not having any inside experience, I have no idea how realistic the complaints are. They could be dead on, and they could be disgruntled venting. From the volume and the agreement, I tend to lean toward believing the complaints are probably valid.

Should you sign up? As always, it's totally up to you. It might work out very well for you, But if it doesn't, dust off your feet and move on. If people are struggling to make minimum wage, and often making only a third of that, you do better elsewhere.

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Ignotius