15. My experience with Surf Junky

Monday, April 18, 2005

Anyone that spends a great deal of time on the Internet would like to try to find some way to make some money just doing what they do everyday. There are many types of programs online right now that are supposed to allow you to do just that. Make money while online. You can take surveys, read emails, or use some type of program while you surf online. Over the years, I've tried them all. Since I'm online upwards of ten hours a day I figured I might as well try.


The question though is this. Do any of these programs ever really work? Some might, but you won't see any great amount of money from them. About a month ago, I found one such program called Surf Junky. The program sounded easy enough. You log in, and you let their browser window run in the background on your screen. If an ad pops up that interests you, you click on that website and you surf to it. For each hour you run the browser you earn 45 cents, and that amount goes up the longer you surf in the program. Sounds easy right?


In theory, yes. The program is fairly simple. I used the browser the last two weeks of March, and I built up about twenty-eight dollars in earnings. Twenty-five is the minimum you have to earn in any month to get paid, and payment is made either by check or through Paypal. When I saw I had earned enough by the end of the month, I was excited to get my payment.


However, this is when it became hard. After the month turned to April, I started having many problems with the program. The site wouldn't allow me to login, the browser wouldn't load, or the site wasn't available at all. I tried contacting the site several times through their contact page, and I never heard back once. The problems stopped for a few days, and then I wasn't able to login at all, and I was told my log in information was incorrect. I looked in the FAQ, and it said if this happened your account was probably suspended. Once again I tried contacting them, and I heard absolutely nothing. I decided to wait a few days, and see if my payment came through as scheduled on the 15th of the month. It never came, and I still can't login now.


The site gave me more headaches than it was worth. Their customer service is next to nil, and once again it shows you that you won't get rich with those pay to surf programs. I wasn't looking to get rich. If anything I probably figured I'd get forty to fifty dollars a month, and I'd refer a few friends and that might get me just a little bit more. Maybe enough to cover my Internet costs, and a DVD or two every month. Programs like this rarely works, and if they do they won't be around for very long.

EDIT - MAY 12th, 2005:
An update on my experience with surf junky. On May 8th, 2005, I received an email from Surf Junky saying my account had been reinstated following an error last month. A great number of accounts were deleted, and they only discovered this error with the help of its members. Yes, my account was deleted before I received the 28 dollars I had earned during the month of March.

I emailed them using their contact form asking about that money. Since it was an error on their part, and not my own I should receive the money coming to me. No response as of yet. Payouts are due by the 15th each month. Since that falls on a Sunday this month, I'll keep an eye on my paypal account on the 16th. I have a feeling I won't see a penny though. I did use the Junky browser for two days following the email, but as soon as I hit five dollars I started having trouble with it again. I guess the browser also does sense when a person can and will earn the 25 dollars needed per month.