Date Boycotted: Before 2007 URL: http://www.spedia.net
Spedia is one of the oldest paid-to-surf programs which can still be found online. Many years ago, the site was extremely popular and paid its members well and on time. However, the site was sold, and since then payouts have stopped and the site has effectively laid dormant. The site currently states that members are able to earn as much as 70 cents per hour by running an advertising program while browsing online, a rate which is unrealistic in the current online advertising market climate.
The reason that Spedia is boycotted is the non-payment of members. Our complaints below detail a string of members who have not been paid by Spedia. Their SpediaBar software is notorious for incorrectly recording earnings, and even if members are able to reach the $30 payout minimum they have no chance of receiving this money. Members are not being paid, the site is not being updated, and the support staff refuse to respond to e-mails. It is self-evident that this site belongs on our Boycott List!
Update 14 July 2008: New information has been discovered about Spedia and the company and people which lie behind this website. This information was posted to our blog today, but is copied below:
Some new information has come to light regarding the owners of the Spedia website.
A company called Sysmaster Corporation, a company which counts Boeing, Sony, Hitachi, KPMG and Dreamworks Pictures among its clients, is directly related to the Spedia scam.
There is a clear body of evidence to support this fact, including a post in our discussion forum stating that Spedia is controlled by someone with a sysmaster.com e-mail address, and the fact that both the Spedia and SysMaster sites are operated within the same netblock.
The Technical Contact WHOIS listing for spedia.com lists Kirk Iliev as the appropriate contact - a name noted to be the Director of Operations of Sysmaster at their own website (see here).
Moreover, the online CVs of at least two people state that they were employed by Sysmaster or a parent company of it a number of years ago to work on the Spedia website, including Alex Ivanov and Konstantin Ivanov Kosev.
Mr. Kosev also worked for Himel Technology LLC prior to working for Sysmaster. This is especially interesting since both the spedia.com and spedia.net domain names are controlled by somebody with e-mail address mart@himel.com, according to their WHOIS records.
I am sure that of the thousands of people who have been scammed by Spedia, there will be many who would wish to contact those responsible for the site. To that end, I am sure that the information above should prove useful.
The above information is posted with thanks to Ivan Leo, who posted much of it at his blog before making GPTBoycott aware of it.
For the reasons above, and the complaints listed below, Spedia has been boycotted!
Name: Marc Date: December 29, 2001 Comments: Spedia - what a joke. I once got paid regular by these people however that soon stopped.
I last cashed out in April and never received my cheque. Why? Because myself and many others were advised that our cheques must have been lost in the post!
I replied that they should cancel the lost cheques and re-issue.
Not even a reply and certainly no re-issue of a cheque.
And there were hundreds who had the same.
Name: Simon Ng Date: January 2, 2002 Comments: Spedia used to be a great site. I loved it until recently when my sister used the bar and finally reached the 30 dollar minimum payout, she requested a check and never got it. It has been over 5 months now and still no check. How can a great company turn this bad?!
Name: Dick Date: January 4, 2002 Comments: This is not encouraging. I am resently awaiting a cheque from Spedia and have not received it yet. I have been waiting two months!
Name: Mark Date: January 4, 2002 Comments: I never got paid. No one would answer my emails. I emailed 8 times and they owe me $62.00
Name: Donna Date: January 12, 2002 Comments: I agree. I cashed out several months ago and never received the check also.
Name: Cindy Date: January 17, 2002 Comments: I also have horror story I had $60.00 and was waiting to get $100.00 my money just disappeared. I have emailed Spedia and gotton only the canned response that dosen't answer the question I asked of "Where is my money?" Their games no longer credit. Their Bar kept crashing my machine and wouldn't keep the points it stayed on red more often than green.
Name: QuarkBomb Date: January 22, 2002 Comments: I installed Spedia with excellent results, it did everything it said. Getting closer and closer to the minimum payout, I was very happy with the result. Unfortunately, once I reached X amount of point, I could not earn any more. That was it, it would go no further. Of course I assumed there was a problem with my installation, but I tried many different machines and I was still stuck at X number of points. I have e-mailed the support program a number of times, and have never had a result.
Name: daylily Date: February 7, 2002 Comments: I haven't heard of anyone being paid for at least nine months, myself included. A waste of time!
Name: Rosemary Date: February 10, 2002 Comments: Spedia paid me my first cheque but falsely accused me in May 2001 of cheating when I requested the second. Even after I explained how I use the Internet, I was told that my email program (which I'd used for a whole year!) was a "cheat program" and my account was terminated. Repeated attempts to contact have been ignored. I stopped using ALL surfbars after this unfortunate incident.
Name: Nikos Date: February 19, 2002 Comments: JOIN THE CHEATED BY SPEDIA webring. I am one of the victims. Read here
Name: lexiekinz Date: February 21, 2002 Comments: I had a heckava time getting their scumware off my HD ! I'm a webhead , not a puter geek so it took me hours to find all the hidden garbage and I'm running sOOOOOOO much faster now ! I'll bet I'll get less SPAM now tOO !
Name: donna wiederhold Date: April 21, 2002 Comments: hi bizzmom thanks i thought i had removed the spedia bar, because it kept crashing my computer. when i went to your mentioned sites i found it was still there are at least some parts. though i didn't follow instructions completely. I used the key words,they gave me del spactive.dll, etc;; and was able to rid that way my comp. let me know if it was spedia ware are not thanx went back to your sites mentioned and now free thanx again.
Name: LJ Daniel Date: April 23, 2002 Comments: A great free program called Ad-Alarm will also clean up all the Surf+ garbage..I don't crash anymore now that it's gone.
Name: Lamborko Date: April 29, 2002 Comments: I got ripped off for two payments from spedia,although I had been paid in the past........
Name: Warren Date: April 30, 2002 Comments: I am currently waiting for my check from them, there points barely ever add up for me. I always did look at them as a partial scam, but now they are becoming a full fledge scam.
Name: peggy Date: May 1, 2002 Comments: yes i was a member of spedias for well over a yr and it took me that long to reach payout and i requested it and they closed my acct saying i cheated them it took well over a yr if i had cheated it sure as the heck would not have taken me that long to reach payout needless to say i never got a dime definately a scam herenew
Name: manthyra Date: May 19, 2002 Comments: I tried them when they just started, couldn't get their software to work well even though lots of friends were happy with it. Gave up on it, and tried again not too long ago when I was re-doing my paid to surf page. I was pretty ticked off when I noticed they'd installed a nasty spyware proggy along with their surf bar, and immediately removed it all again. Not planning on giving them another try.
Name: abrash Date: May 20, 2002 Comments: I too was cheated. My request for payment never arrived. I fully support your boycott.
Name: ??? Date: May 21, 2002 Comments: The Same here, Requested payout, and my check was lost in the mail !? .. I'm a spedia member sins September 1999 and never requested payout untill December 2001 - never got a check and never got awnsers to my e-mails... Spedia is a scam!!!
Name: Per Date: May 26, 2002 Comments: As far as I know, no one has been paid for months february 2001 and after. I'm still waiting for my may 2001 check. It looked promising to begin with. I actually recieved one check from them earlier and this new one was soon marked as "paid". But no check.
Name: Brian Date: July 2, 2002 Comments: They owe me $54 that was requested back in May 01...emailed them about 20 times and never got a single reply!
Name: Sandy Date: July 3, 2002 Comments: I've been waiting at least 2 mo for a payment of $30.00 that took me over a year to complete. I also kept having trouble with their bar. But I just kept reinstalling and plugging away. It marked "Paid" on their site, but I have never received a check.What can you do, when they say that they are not responsible for checks lost in the mail. You have no proof that you didn't receive it.
Name: scott Date: July 9, 2002 Comments: I too waited months for my check. When they would not answer I filed a complaint with the better business bureau. You can also find their number on the bbb.com site. I called it and went to last name look up and entered lambreva. I got ahold of her a couple times and left messages and within a month my check arrived.
Name: Lizzy Date: July 10, 2002 Comments: I signed up when Spedia just started. I ran their lousy surfbar all the time. When I finally reached the payment minimum and requested the check, I was accused of cheating. No discussion was possible, my account was deleted.
Name: Leslie Date: July 15, 2002 Comments: Thanks, everyone, for this great sharing of info. At least we can "cut our losses!" Thanx for the surf+ REMOVAL insructions! Another unwitting victim,
Name: Linda Date: July 15, 2002 Comments: My points for the games stopped registering on there back in January. They never bothered to respond to my e-mails, and I e-mailed them twice.
Name: Jon Date: July 23, 2002 Comments: I've read all of the above comments and can relate to most of them. Their surfbar is a joke. It rarely credits. The surf+ prog can be deleted by running AdAware or any other spyware detection program. I cashed out once with them for $42.00 and they froze my account for a few days, claiming I defrauded them. That was soon rectified. I think that is a standard procedure with them. More a nuissance than a real problem. I wish they would use paypal for payments. That way, no checks would be lost in the mail. Using the batch-pay feature bypasses PayPal's service fees too. Free for us and cheap for them. For those owed money, I suggest contacting the Better Business Bureau.
Name: Brad Date: October 1, 2002 Comments: My complaint is about the spediabar. They claim it credits you 60 points/hr. I am using it about 4 hrs/day and it reads "green" most the time. But I only get about 60 points a DAY!
Name: skywalker Date: October 4, 2002 Comments: The bar tends to steal the hrs from you all the time. I open up the bar for hrs and most of the time I just get nothing from it.
Name: Richard Date: October 13, 2002 Comments: I was very satisfied with Spedia when it first started.The bar ran smoothly and they paid on time.However,with the advent of the "new improved" surf bar,it does nothing but crash computers and run mostly red.Have tried to contact them numerous times via E-Mail with no response whatever.The sooner this company sinks,the better.
Name: Brad Date: October 31, 2002 Comments: Don't bother. I've been using this program for over 8 hours. I've managed to get 45 points.
Quote from the site
"The maximum you can get using the Bar is 1 ad point per minute"
Name: Jorgen Date: October 31, 2002 Comments: They do not pay, even it is shown on the account - balance.
And when I tried to contact no answers or money.
THEY ARE NOT A SERIOUS COMPANY !
Name: James Colannino Date: November 1, 2002 Comments: I started with them, and I started using their services and I used about 2 or 3 hours total of their banner program on multiple machines and NOT ONE POINT showed up in my account balance. It only gave me a limited number of points for the games too, and then it stopped for that too. I used the whois.net directory to find out who owned their company and I sent an email to them, and of course, no response. Don't waste your time. What a joke of a company. If anyone would ever need me to testify against them for any reason in court, I would be more than happy to.
Name: Nathalie Date: November 3, 2002 Comments: I've also never received my check from Spedia.
I requested payment in March 2002 and still no check arrived.
They owe me $30.87.
Name: James Colannino Date: November 4, 2002 Comments: Hey everyone, here's Spedia.net's address and phone number!!! Just go to www.accesswhois.com, and type in the domain of anybody to find out who registered it as well as all their information. Here's their info:
Registrant:
Spedia.com, Inc (SPEDIA2-DOM)
5801 Christie Ave
Emeryville
CA,94608
US
Domain Name: SPEDIA.NET
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Panteleev, Boris (BP4481) bpanteleev@HIMEL.COM
Spedia.com, Inc.
7677 Oakport Str
Oakland, CA 94621
510-567-0880
Record expires on 22-Jul-2003.
Record created on 22-Jul-1999.
Database last updated on 4-Nov-2002 14:09:03 EST.
Name: Robin Date: November 25, 2002 Comments: Same as everyone else, no check, and no response to emails. My check request was made in June 2002.
I did however just complete a complaint to the Better Business Bureau. Hopefully that will get some results. Spedia should be banned from taking anymore members!
Name: blanche bray Date: November 28, 2002 Comments: I too have been cheated by Spedia. I have played the games never winning. I have requested a check for over $62.00 which of course must hae been lost in the mail as I hae never recieved it. They claim not to trace lost mail as I have never had problems with my mail we can assume they have cheated another. I advise everyone to file a complaint with BBB to have their site shut down for fraud......
Name: Andreas Larsson Date: December 10, 2002 Comments: I'm a pretty newbie and still trying to refer people anyway... When the fu??? are they gonna upset the balance page again??? Check back in serveral hours... Can't they spell to days??? what the f???? is there any program that can work without 10000refferal???
Name: Russell Date: December 12, 2002 Comments: Ditto to all the issues above. Spedia does not pay and will not respond as to why.
Name: Florian Date: April 1, 2005 Comments: The most shocking thing about Spedia is that it still exists - more than 5 years of scamming and they are still doing it.
Seems to be nothing one can really do to stop this madness :(
Name: morose Date: August 23, 2004 Comments: I registerd an account in Spedia 4 years ago. I felt curious when I knew I counld get paid by surfing. I got my first check from spedia on June-2000 with the amount of 30$. But when I requested my second check on April-2001,I was cheated. No check received, no email repsonse. Spdia should be punished!
Name: Brian Moller Date: September 5, 2004 Comments: My account has also been locked for several months since I requested payout for $100. Now I have been writing emails to all the advertisers on spedia, telling them about the way they do business. I think you should all do the same.
Name: Mike S Date: December 14, 2002 Comments: I requested payment a long time ago also, and am still waiting. Matter of fact, unless anyone else has a better idea, I've just given up on the idea that I'll be paid. Thus, if I eventually do receive payment, I'll be pleasantly surprised.
Name: Tony Rubino Date: December 26, 2002 Comments: They ripped me off first! WAY back when they were "honest" about 2 and a half years ago (about April 1999). I made a legitimate $150/month with them (I had over 200 referrals), and then suddenly I was "cancelled" for cheating! I don't see how I cheated anything considering I did no actual surfing myself (all monies I got was from referrals). I asked them for reasons why I was terminated, but I never got a response. It got a thumbs down from me then, and gets one now!
Name: aditya Date: January 6, 2003 Comments: hey dudes,
They claim to maky 1 point/minute but to be honest they will only give 5 pts fast and then even if you use their bar for whole day and whole night and play their stupid games etc etc believe me you will not get paid 60 OR even 10c/hr. I have even reinstalled the bar about 10 times as most websites say spedia is very generous. But don't be a foo(kl) they never pay you that much. Regarding Surf+ I got Roxio's Go Back. I simply revert my drive before spedia and there's not even the word spedia and their partners left on my computer.
Name: Anderson Date: January 7, 2003 Comments: I've just bounced into this site where everyone is ditching Spedia. I must just say, I don't understand anything of what you're talking about...I've used the program for a long enough time now to receive 5 checks, got them all ($30 each I think, not sure). This program rules and I'm going to continue using it. Just kicks a$$ for a little extra pocket money once in a while. Had some problems with the bar but nothing much to mention. I'd totally recommend it of the few adware thingies that are left. And I'm even a foreigner!
Name: Tiit Date: January 10, 2003 Comments: It seems to me too that Spedia is a total fake and rascal site. I am waiting my first check over 3 months. I have got no answer to any of my several complaints (account@spedia.net - live answer during 1 week!).
Spediabar seems to work but keep away from Surf+ - it's a spyware.
With signup programs there is also a total mess, you sign up under Spedia and sometime get points, sometime not, sometime much less than promised.
Maybe somebody at last takes care to start criminal investigation against these rascals!
Can somebody tell me what is "Better Business Bureau" and how to contact them to influence Spedia (I see here comments that it can help)? Please email to shopp@hot.ee.
Name: Tony Rubino Date: January 11, 2003 Comments: You can contact the BBB (Better Business Bureau), but you won't get much of a response. I had to sign about 10 different affidavits with them and fax them off. I did this when they cancelled my account for no reason. Spedia REFUSED to acknowledge my complaint with the BBB, and eventually when they did, they claimed my account had a $0.00 balance, and that it was terminated for cheating, therefore they owed me nothing. As far as the BBB was concerned, that was the end of the case. I wasn't happy, and my complaint is still probably filed with the BBB against them!
Name: webmaster@webaviation.be Date: January 12, 2003 Comments: always promises with spedia
i signed-up for several sites for spedia points for a total of 250$ but NO MONEY on my account so far
SPEDIA = S**T
edited by Rob for offensive language
Name: Luca Date: January 13, 2003 Comments: You are wrong! Like others programs, Spedia has a lot of problems but if you are fair and you don't cheat they will pay you!!!
I have recently received a check.
Remember that Spedia has a strong anti-cheating control! If you cheat one time...firstly they say nothing and when you reach the minimum amount they say you are a cheater!
Contact me if you have question
Name: luca Date: January 16, 2003 Comments: I want to tell you that just yesterday i have received from Spedia 10000 points for a sign-up program. If you have any other problems,contact me at nalmauri@hotmail.com with subject SPEDIA or visit my homepage: http://www.geocities.com/lukins_82/sponsor.htm
Name: imwin Date: January 21, 2003 Comments: They already have not any contact address or email.
I have not get pay for $30.
Name: Anonymous Date: January 30, 2003 Comments: they give you points but when you cash out they dont sent the check
Name: Michelle Date: February 4, 2003 Comments: I also have not been paid. I earned over $49 with Spedia and have been waiting about 6 months and no payment after requesting and email several times. What a ripoff!!!
Name: natalie Date: February 8, 2003 Comments: i was one of the first group of people that signed up in 99 of about auguest,, everything was running smoothly for about over 2 years.. got checks every 3 months of about 30 dollars.... took 3 months of surfing an game playing at that time to earn 30 bucks,,, thats about 10 dollars a month,, not a heck of alot, so in 2001 i think novebmer i went to log on an what do you know? i was blamed for cheating..emailed them for 3 months straight to no avail. how can you be cheating after having an account for that long with no big money to show for it? but yet thats what they did...any way maybe if some one contacts the BBB an sends them a copy of all these complaints then maybe they will listen an do something about it
Name: A.W Date: February 11, 2003 Comments: I had the same problems with spedia, sometimes sign ups not getting credited, but I did get one check. The second check never came, they told me it was lost in the mail because lots of their checks to China are lost...the thing is I DON'T live in China, I live about half an hours drive from their offices in Oakland, they were obviously just looking at my last name. Anyways, 2 filings and multiple emailing and signing with the BBB and 2 years later, a check shows up from them last week with nothing in the envelope but the check. Can't understand it, I gave up long ago. So, everyone out there, there is hope, but don't wast time building with them.
Name: H. Levy Date: February 20, 2003 Comments: I Like all of you were sucked in by speadia. I used is faithfully until I reached the 30$ amount to request a cheque. I requested mine and 13 months later I haven't received it. I realized after 6 months it was never gonna come. This isn't the first get paid to surf company I have been cheated by, the other being cash fiesta. I've learned my lesson and have no interest in wasting my time any more on these cheats.
Name: spedia suck Date: February 21, 2003 Comments: At first i think it's best !! but now it's very very suck !
Name: John Date: February 21, 2003 Comments: Thats why you get a job
Name: daniel Date: February 21, 2003 Comments: If you guys used spedia lately you have had to realized they have the same few ads running all the time. Guess they do not have any companies that want to advertise with them, which means no money for them and us. I am just suprised they haven't done something about it, like change their website structure around or close it.
Name: kenah Date: March 1, 2003 Comments: well u guys saved me i was using this for 2 days until i noticed this program was one f****d up program so then i look around for some answers on yahoo not finding any on their site or from my emails to them and now from reading all this im stoppin right now
thxs
Name: Rafael Date: March 29, 2003 Comments: I used spedia in the past and received my check. I just started yesterday use it again, and, receiving just 45 points for more then 5 hours of navigation i found this site. Spedia is really dead?
Name: solution Date: April 6, 2003 Comments: I just tried it, and it hits 5 tokens or whatever it is and stops, so it is obviously bull. You know what I would do if they did that crap to me? Either contact the better business bureau, or the FBI directly. They love to nail scum to the wall, and it is a great way to get rid of them. If everyone sent email, i am sure they would be gone in short order.
Name: Methodless Man Date: April 10, 2003 Comments: These guys were given TWO chances by me.
For 5 hours of what THEY call active surfing, I would get the bar active for 3 hours, and credit for 20 minutes on a good day, worse than Cashfiesta, they BS big time, these guys are nuts
Name: paul Date: April 18, 2003 Comments: spedia sucks for sure they never pay anymore
Name: i gave up Date: April 24, 2003 Comments: i accumulated about $22 but have given up after hearing all this
Name: NativeBlue Date: April 29, 2003 Comments: Well, I joined that company since 1999. As far as I knew, they paid up their members regularly. Can anyone confirm that this site is a scam and 100% will not pay up their memebrs?...
anyone received their check recently ??
Name: Nancy Date: May 1, 2003 Comments: They have owed me $30 since September. Have not responded to e-mails and I have sent it to the BBB. They never got a response either.
Name: ASNGUY521 Date: May 3, 2003 Comments: Does anyone get paided still?
Name: Nicole Date: May 10, 2003 Comments: I just found Spedia and look around thier site. I was suspicious, so I looked for other sites talking about them, and I found this one.
Thanks for saving me time and effort that I would of used for signing up for a BS scam of a site!
hello and GOODBYE SPEDIA!
Name: Hashi Date: May 18, 2003 Comments: Spedia is really CHEATING!!! It never gives more than 5 points for every run, no matter how long you surf! And half the time it crashes your system! Delete it from your computer immediately and STOP WASTING your time!!!
Name: T Date: June 1, 2003 Comments: I just uninstalled Spedia now.
Name: Richard Koslowsky Date: June 1, 2003 Comments: I signed up for 5 programs, and i should have received $80 worth of points!!!! I tried to contact them but no response!!!
The games are a joke they are impossible to win!!!!! You do not make any points at all!
Name: Michael Date: June 11, 2003 Comments: I started using Spedia at the end of April 2003. I got in a few hours before the end of the month and my account showed around $2.00. For May, 20 hours surfing time, they added about another $10.00. The rate has been $0.49/hour. I will come back when it reaches payout at $30.01 and tell you if I got paid. If I do, great. If not I have not lost anything. The bar works ok, and does not interfere with anything.
Name: aelfwyn Date: June 17, 2003 Comments: after seeing this site and reading all the bad comments, i decided to see if it was true.. so i tried cashing out like 5 months ago (was only about $35) but never received a check, then i just today tried contacting them at account@spedia.net and i got mail system error.. is that e-mail really not working or is it just a temporary error on my end?
Name: sean Date: June 25, 2003 Comments: change urls per minute. thats imposible.
also they owe me $100. ive contacted them about 100 times that they owe me $100 and and no response.
whoever signup for spedia they better delete their account because they dont pay at all.
HERE ARE MY STATS BELOW:
current earnings: $100
current point earnings: 100 points
Name: anon Date: June 29, 2003 Comments: I have $80 in that acc, and they said I cheated!!! With notepad.exe!!!??? I tried to contact them to no avail - even tried the number listed on the whois listing. "Spedia is next door - i thought they are out of business?" they guy says on the phone...
Name: Nazish Qureshi Date: July 8, 2003 Comments: Spedia is a well established fraud. It has stopped sending cheques since 2001. My payout of US$ 31.61 is due since September, 2000 but has not been paid despite several reminders. The contact emails account@spedia.net and support@spedia.net are bouncing. But still they make ridiculous claims of being the only genuine Get paid to surf company. Beware and stop using this program if your are still using it.
Name: stonehr Date: August 1, 2003 Comments: First time I recieved from Spedia on July 2000 $30+ This I was accumulate in two minths without referrals
After that I was surfed couple months and wants to acumulate more since is $4.5 tax for check.So iWas accumulate $60 and than requqest payment, but after that my account was suspended.
After couple months I again register at Spedia (that was my only way to earn some money on net) and after 2 years some surfing again without refs I accumulate about $33 and request payment and I was recieved check!!! $29.5 :)
I know what is main problem with Spedia You can't cheat their SurfBar , I know thet many people cheat them and after that posted on forum!!!
Name: Patrick Date: August 9, 2003 Comments: I still felt a littlebit sceptical about all the comments cause I did receive a check once (like 2 years ago). I deciced to test the email adres as suggested by Nazish and...it bounced!!!! Damned!!! I am removing spedia immediately...*shocked face*
Name: Oliver Date: August 24, 2003 Comments: Tried it 2 days ago, twaz running ok, the bar getting points for me. The next time i go online, it just keeps crashing until i decided to stop wasting time... Now I can't even access the site.. Bummer
Name: margo Date: August 24, 2003 Comments: I've been reading all the comments about spedia. I did make a payment claim on April 10th 2003 and have yet to receive a cheque. I have sent e-mail numerous times but it just gets bounced back to me. The best thing to do is just delete the program and move on. Milesource.com pays in gift certificates so I suggest you go there if you want to actually get anything for your time. I have received over $200 from them.
Name: Spedia is crap Date: August 27, 2003 Comments: I installed the spedia bar and it ran perfect the first time but when I tried to open the program the next day it just kept crashing. Another thing to note is that your points dont add up right the way it is supposed to. In reality ppl who make 30$ should be getting paid double because of the screwed up point counter. im not even gonna bother trying to reach the minimum amount cause this company is a scam just like all paid to surf programs on the net. I advise you all go work at Mc Donalds one day a week, and u will get paid more than spedia!!!
Name: synic Date: August 30, 2003 Comments: hey this is a scam people. real sh***y stuff, the bar wouldn't work well, after using it for 1 month and average usuage of about 2-4 hours surfing net blah blah, i earn myself only few cents.
Name: Jaka Hendri Date: September 4, 2003 Comments: Everyone seems to be complaing why don't u complain about it???
Would u feel happy if they get fined or charged??? If u do then go to this webpage and complain and show your rage!!!!!!
www.getpaidguides.com/surf/spedia.html
You will eventually fill out a complaint form!!!
I thank everyone soo much for tellin me these or else I'll be wastin' my time. Thank goodness I only had 150pts, plus $0.82...
Their games don't work. They full of crap.You people who's waiting for checks must sue them!!!
Name: Georgi Batchvarov Date: September 7, 2003 Comments: I have signed-up an hour ago, but I always knew these sites cheat a lot, so made a search over yahoo and here it is - SPEDIA is A HUGE FAKE PROGRAM !
Name: Slowpoke Date: September 18, 2003 Comments: Well Spedia isn't on the scumware site and I wonder if my system cleaner ever got it out!
I just know that after getting it (and that was a hassle as well) my PC slowed down so much that snail mail is faster. Even after taking it off and running a couple of spycleaners I'm still not up to speed.
Name: Marijke Date: October 6, 2003 Comments: I also heard that a lot of people that reach cashout and asked for payment that they were not paid cause they were CHEATERS. Well they weren't but ok.
Name: John Date: October 10, 2003 Comments: I have had the same experience with Spedia, for awhile it was the best and I made about 300 dollars with them, but there came a time when I reached the 30 dollar payout and requested a check and never got it. It now been over a year. As for the viewbar, I am only able to get 10 to 20 points a day, that is on days it dont crash every 3 minutes. I have also noticed their paid emails have droped off to nothing, I do still get them but only 1 or 2 every month or 2. Also have emailed them over and over, never got a bounce but nver got an answer either. I never cheated Spedia in any way ever so I know they are no longer legit, but I must add Spedia never accused me of cheating or anything but it looks like they did alot of others. They still owe me money so I guess I wont hold my breath.
Name: frederick Date: October 12, 2003 Comments: This program owes more 100 dollar i trying to cash my account since last march i never receive yet..
this program scam for sure.
Name: Nick Date: October 15, 2003 Comments: Spedia owes me $52. I requested payment in October 2002. My account balance says:
Total PAID Points 6385 $52.35 paid. I never received a check. I e-mailed them several times and just got an automated response.
Name: elaine catenaccio Date: October 22, 2003 Comments: 10/22/03 i requested payment from spedia at the end of may of 2003. as of today i still havent received payment. i wrote to them numerous times, some bounced and the rest were not responded to. i called up information for the telephone number in new york city and there is no listing for them. i am getting very fustrated on this matter. Does anyone have a current phone number?
Name: lele007 Date: October 22, 2003 Comments: i have reached the payout, and they have closed my account, because i was cheating, BUT I WASN'T!!!
scam
Name: daylily Date: October 24, 2003 Comments: Don't waste your time here. I've been waiting for my check since Nov., 2001! Repeated requests only go me their automated responses. Haven't used or even thought about them for months: though they had died for sure. I can't believe they're still around cheating people. Stay away.
Name: Date: October 25, 2003 Comments: I wanted to check spedia by myself :)- now I know it's just a piece of crap. I requested my payment a month ago and today I received email that my account is blocked becouse I was cheating with NOTEPAD and WINAMP - rotfl. What can i say?
Name: Xiao Date: October 25, 2003 Comments: My spedia account was locked after i tried to cash out $93. It says I abused the system. My total balance is $93, and $82 are from their instant cash program. Only $11 is from spedia bar after using it for more than two years. I tried to email them to dispute the claim through the email link they provide, it's not accepting incoming mail. Duh!
Name: leozecc Date: October 28, 2003 Comments: i have reached the payout, I request the payment and they have closed my account, because i was cheating, BUT I WASN'T!!! I cannot copy my account becouse I cannot enter in my account. I have reached $112. What can I do?
Name: leozecc Date: October 28, 2003 Comments: follow my previous message: I wrote to account@spedia.net (as thy say if you have problems with your account) and the answer from the email server is ...Account does not accept incoming mail!
Name: indre Date: October 28, 2003 Comments: Ah yea.. that cheating! Spedia Bar said 2-3 times to me, that MSN messenger is a cheat and you have to close it... hope they don't really count it!
Name: Anonymous Date: October 28, 2003 Comments: After reading this I unistalled this program as well. Bring back Alladvantage.com I say.
Name: y Date: November 2, 2003 Comments: it's been a year and i havent received my $31.56 check from these a-holes...too hell with them...they'll get their bad karma soon.
Name: Sal Date: November 6, 2003 Comments: I am another person accused of cheating, but mine was in 2000... I surfed for months and reached $80, then when I tried to request payment, they decided I was using a cheat program. They gave me the name - it was a screen saver! All my emails after that were ignored.
Name: bambank Date: December 4, 2003 Comments: SPEDIA IF VIRTUAL DREAM TO REACH. I AGREE BOYCOTT SPEDIA. WHERE MY CHECK FOR $100 ?
Name: Jennifer Date: December 9, 2003 Comments: I installed the Speia bar a few months ago, not only did the bar NOT work properly, but Spedia technical support never replied to my countless emails for help. When the bar was working on my PC, it would constantly stall or not credit me. I uninstalled the stupid thing and dropped my account with them.
Name: Coca Bogdan Date: January 2, 2004 Comments: I was playing games on that Spedia ... even if I won at the Puzzle games with no MISTAKES , but no MISTAKES, I never saw an point from that games(s) into my accont! And this is not all , you are telling me that after accumulating 10 points your spedia bar is crashing... well I don't know why ... but I must to restart my spedia bar every time I accumulate 5 points... (or 0 points) And I don't like Spedia because it's modify the content of pages , I mean redirecting my actives webpages every time
I (re)open that bar... or close the bar!
Name: Sam Date: February 3, 2004 Comments: I was doing normal surfing and their fradulent surfing bar came up. I'm not allowed to switch between multiple IE windows??? What a joke! I cancelled.
Name: ryan tomlinson Date: February 10, 2004 Comments: yeah, spedia is a joke now. i have been waiting for over a year for a response from them about the adbar. because of companies like them, the internet advertising has gone downhill. thanks alot spedia.
Name: Izu Date: February 11, 2004 Comments: I want to add something about this big joke than it's Spedia. As everybody already said, we currently never earn any points for all that stuffs (like games, sponsor on the site, etc), and in fact the Spedia bar allow us to earn only 50 points max per day.
The final bad point is about the cancellation: once you cancelled your account, you will start to receive some spam... I created an eMail account especially for Spedia, and never used it somewhere else. I received two mails from them while opening my account, then another one for the cancellation. Since this last one, I got spams each days...
So, "somebody" is still earning money, but didn't distribute it...
Forget this site, it will close soon I think, and hope.
Name: pipipercy Date: February 19, 2004 Comments: I wrote to games@spedia.net,but they didn't tell me why when I play games and won but I was told I didn't qualify the credit for those games
Name: XX century cheater Date: February 19, 2004 Comments: my opinion, yeah, spedia is a joke from 1st day. They don't pay me previous century too... But they are not smart, they deleted my account 'for cheating' during first months (immediately after first payment request). I remember, they say: i am using cheating program - pegasus mail :)
Name: Carrie Date: February 23, 2004 Comments: I was a member for over 3 years. I requested payout in July or august of 2003. I have not gotten a check either. I have not heard no hid or hair from spedia. Definatly a waist of time.
Name: Dan Onstott Date: February 25, 2004 Comments: I have been a member since the beginning. Never received payment but I really love that my account shows I was received a payment. Obviously, I contacted them but no response.
Lets face it. Most of this sites are scams and they are working. Look at all of us fools. :)
Name: Maxim Date: February 25, 2004 Comments: You know there is a good russian proverb - "free cheese is can only be found in a mousetrap"- that's for all of us- people who wants easy money. I "adore" the one whose mind created the idea about Spedia!
Guys! Do you really think that they will cheat themselves and pay your money to you?! Don't be so foolish not to see what kind of business it is!
Name: DT89 Date: February 26, 2004 Comments: I am so frustrated with this company. I have come to the point now where i am going to take Legal action against it and will shut it down! Ok so my story here how it goes..well so i have been with them for about 2years and i am a active surfer with few refs of my own so in feb2004 i requested a payment of $38 and after 4days i recieved an email saying the systems have detected me using cheat programs what a rip off!!!!! and it says that the reason could be flashfxp and winamp BS! so let me ask you, how come now you detecting all this stuff when the payment time finally arrived! well i have emailed them back with a big email and alerted them that if they do not send my payments i am taking legal action cuz my close uncle is a well known lawyer and i will take these people down!
Name: ggggg Date: February 26, 2004 Comments: I have been a member of Spedia for quite a few years. I did not have internet access for about 2 years but recently got a new PC and started using Spedia again. They still had my account and old balances so it would only take a short time to reach the $30 payout. Last week I requested payment and, like others received a notice that I was cheating. I wrote them back but do not expect an answer. I have tried to reach them several times and the e-mail gets returned as undeliverable. This site should be shut down. I joined in good faith, surfed in good faith, looked at their ads and put up with their Spedia bar problems and slowness and did not cheat. Yet, when it comes time for them to pay, they run like rats from a sinking ship. They should be punished in some way. Do their advertisers know about this?
Name: anonymous Date: March 22, 2004 Comments: I think these companies are attempting to phase out there big money earners. Spedia is a good example. The spediabar is nearly unusable. They COULD fix this easy, but have not updated their spediabar software for literally, Y E A R S. I think most PTspank's like this need money to come in so they only pay you if you put money into the program, like those damned "special offers." I was paid quickly my $30.85 a couple months ago, but it was 100% from special offer points. No adbar points at all. I mights add that I have 249 referrals. maybe i have broke even....
Name: Chuckie Date: April 5, 2005 Comments: These guys are complete jokers. The surf bar is faulty and full of bugs, the paid games are also very buggy and are rarely accurately credited to your account. I never received payment and never received a response from their tech support. Pass up Spedia!
Name: Rayon Date: October 30, 2004 Comments: I joined spedia 4 years ago, received their bill once time, when my account reached over $30 this year, I still let it be there, hadn't send a request for payment. Now Spedia prevent me to login, both the bar and their website. I don't know what's the matter with spedia, but heard of many people have been cheated by spedia.Boycott this cheaters!
Name: Laura Lee Date: October 26, 2004 Comments: Echoing the earlier comments. I joined Spedia in 1999, I've received a few checks. I have more than 500 referrals. My computer got old, I didn't surf much, recently got a new computer and DSL. Was pleasantly surprised to find $180 in my account at Spedia. Started using the Surfbar and signing up for offers. Requested a payout and have not been ble to login to my account since. Also have not received any response to any of the three very polite e-mails I've sent asking what is going on? What a disappointment.
Name: Norwegian Date: November 21, 2004 Comments: Like other recent comments here tell, I have also been a member for years. A while ago the system always said "system maintenance, try again later", and from 5-6 weeks ago I can't even login! If I enter my account name on the abuse-reporter, it tells my account doesn't exist. I've never cheated at all, suddenly it just stopped. My mails gets returned. Aren't there laws against this behaviour?
Name: Anonymous Date: November 7, 2004 Comments: I just want to say, I join Spedia back in 1999. I got paid every time I reached $30.
But now, I can not login to my
Spedia bar nor my account. I have emailed Spedia about 10 times. But I get an error message sent back to my email address. What is going on with Spedia!?
Name: eagle Date: December 5, 2004 Comments: Like some of you, I joined Spedia way back in 1999 when they just started. Received two cheques from them before their Surfbar started giving problems.
Those who joined in 2001 onwards are in for a tough ride, I don't think Spedia's making any money any more.
Now, I can't even see my stats, with the same "Systems maintenance" notice for weeks
Name: jaakko Date: December 7, 2004 Comments: Spedia was cool, I used it, but never got to 30 dollars. Just today I got email from Spedia's advert program!!!
That's funny, cause what u say, whole company turned out to be disaster
Name: Brian Date: December 8, 2004 Comments: I joined way back in 1999 and received one check from them... and then I stopped because I was scared they were going to catch me for writing progams to help cheat the system. I recently came back to the Spedia world and I can still see my stats.. but they ain't payin sh*t.
Name: Frell45 Date: December 30, 2004 Comments: I joined up to spedia a few years ago and as I dont work I was using the bar over 10 hrs a day and they accused me of having it connected 24hrs aday using cheatware... I e-mailed them with my thoughts which I wont post here because I dont want to offend anyone and the account was canceld ahh well never mind it stops me from ever having to go that site again
Name: Robert Date: January 12, 2005 Comments: Not worth it, the add bar sotware is terrible, you never get paid and it doesnt always add points when your surfing, stay clear it's a waste of time and effort.
Name: Hasan Date: January 15, 2005 Comments: I believe that this program is dead, since they didn't updated either their site or the adbar for about 4 years. The instant cash offers are out-of-date, they cannot be completed, and this adbar has much bugs that it crashes or does not accumulate points in its expected-promised time. Lastly, after hearing about all those non-paid checks, I totally got rid of Spedia. Starting to use FiestaBar, I hope it will be more excellent way for me to get cash.
Name: Clement Date: March 2, 2005 Comments: The bar is some seriously rigged up BS. I surf for a good 6 hours, and I get credited for 25 minutes?! The hell...
But somehow, I get $8 worth of points from November, yet this month I CLEARLY surfed more and still only half an hour worth of points. I've lost my confidence in PTS.
Name: Ric Date: March 25, 2005 Comments: I cashed out 3 times and never received a cent
Name: Peg Date: March 27, 2005 Comments: I used Spedia a few years ago. Have tried to come back to it a few times, can't seem to get any points no matter what. Even when the games said I earned points, they never showed up on my account.
What a shame! It was a good program back in the day.
Name: frozenblood Date: April 12, 2005 Comments: Hi, guys !
I'm from Bulgaria and was so excited when i finally did my registration on their site. Now, reading all this comments I think it is really not fair ! I am working in a national magazine here ("Download.bg") and I think I really need to warn all the peoples from Bulgaria from all these things. Please give me more information on my email : frozenblood@abv.bg. Please let me know for any other programs, cheating their users and installing malicious appz. I will need all the technical details you have.
I am sorry if my English is not good (I am sure it is not) :), but I am just an editor in a bulgarian magazine, I am not using English very often. It will be really great if I have all the info by next week.
P.S. I'll try to contact Spedia to see if they have some explanations (this boycott should be fair :).
P.P.S. Everybody can send me an e-mail.
Thank you in advance !
Name: Ju Date: May 15, 2005 Comments: I filled an online complaint at the Better Business Bureau and got my check in the mail last week. I have been waiting for that check for about 3 years! I emailed spedia a billion times ever since I requested my paycheck and it never came.
If you haven't been paid by Spedia yet, no matter how long you've been waiting for your check, go to http://www.bbbonline.org and fill in an online complaint. It takes a while for the check to come but it seems like it's working for alot of people.
GET YOUR MONEY FROM SPEDIA!
Good luck!
Name: Hagen Date: May 21, 2005 Comments: Well, when I reached the $30 they canceled my account. In the last months I noticed that they just granted 5 points per day...I pick up my check directly now at that address:
7677 Oakport St
Oakland, CA 94621-1929
phone (510) 420-1631
Name: SHERRY FORD Date: May 21, 2005 Comments: I waited for them to pay me for 3 months - then emailed and asked about it. no answer
i would not say i am still waiting for the check for $30.
that was 4 yrs ago- by the way- i can still log in
Name: Kris Date: May 25, 2005 Comments: I signed up to this program as an International member. That was way back in 2000-2001. I managed to clock up about $50 after about 1 year of surfing. I requested payout, but never received it. I had practically forgotten about this program until a few weeks ago. Just for the fun of it, I tried accessing it last week. I managed to login, after numerous attempts (my browser security settings were too high, apparently). To my surprise, my account info was still there. However, I was unable to edit my info (change of address, etc). And the balance does say that I'm still owed over $50.
Haven't been able to login lately, or I would post up the screenshot.
Name: Jay Date: August 8, 2005 Comments: Well, I endured many of the bad experiences other surfers underwent:
I "actively" surfed some 10 hours only to clock up a mere 60 ad points on the Bar (seems like they've programmed the Bar to stop accumulating points during selected intervals each day); the application either crashed quite often forcing me to restart the computer to get the Bar restarted, or committed some illegal action that prompted the computer to make me close the Bar; the Bar application redirected my webpages each time I either started or closed it; I've had an email I sent one of their automated addresses on my first day of "membership" bounce right back to me undeliverable. Also, there's no telling when the Spedia session ends, prompting their "authentication" box to pop up, forcing one to feed and re-feed one's username and password into it - quite an annoyance. Additionally, I had to put up with slow computer speeds. Not to mention I couldn't gather any points playing their games as they set the minimum point threshold too high for mere mortals to earn any (the F-16 game being THE case in point), and I never received any paying emails nor got rewarded for signing up with various websites on their "instant cash" roster.
Some two weeks into my usage of Spedia, they suddenly neutralized my account, literally. I mean, I couldn't even check its status in their Hall of Shame section. I futily tried to phone them at (510) 420-1631 during business hours, but no one would handle the phone. I sent their support team a letter and an email which went unanswered but seemed to have caused them to reactivate my account.
Subsequently, I used Spedia for two days, but soon enough found it was gravely interfering with my usage of another paid-to site. Seemed like their spyware/scumware oriented software was jealous of my usage of another program and was determined to have me use only Spedia. I repeatedly tried to get Spedia out of the way and still have the Bar open, to no avail. Well, that experience doomed Spedia to the trash heap where I was concerned. There's only so much one can put up with and that was the last straw for me.
I'll soon try to delete all traces of Spedia and their Surf+ scumware from my computer with the hope they won't try to spam me in response as they've done to others.
I really should have done my homework by doing a simple Google search on that company and finding this webpage before signing up at and using the get-paid-to software of a website managed by such malevolents. Fortunately I never came anywhere near the $30 payout minimum, so I've lost only time, some of which could have been spent on more pleasant endeavors. I can only hope I'll never have to pay any technician a penny due to any fallout of my attempts to purge my computer from Spedia vestiges.
Name: Ryan Tomlinson Date: November 11, 2005 Comments: I just checked the whois on spedia.net, and someone has extended the domain name until jun 2006. we need to contact all the sponsors and the host to let them know what is going on.
Name: Z Shualman Date: November 25, 2005 Comments: I've accumulated abt $22 dollars and after reading all these complaints, i think its time to stop wastimg my time... such a waste... I was really hoping to get paid the minimum amount by next feb but I think it will be a futile cause... I will probably not receive the cheque anyway... sigh
Name: peter Date: December 21, 2005 Comments: As many of you I tryed spedia long time ago,so from my experience in these type of programmes it is waste of time. For the first who see such programme it sounds great, but it is not. What I actually am trying to say is that first of all this type of business should be somehow managed under the governmental laws of the country of origin of the programme and if some one of you is trying to get piad by such programmes it is the most stupid thing I've ever heard. Does your time worths $50 per month or years. And don't forget that you can make more money with surveys from time to time instead of clicking.
To find out more about our boycott processes and to see our other boycotted programs, please visit our Boycott List page.
