watchLAB

I have long suspected the ridiculously detailed, intrusive, and time-​consuming «screeners» WatchLAB puts its subjects through are, in fact, the actual market research it sells to its clients. In other words, I think some of the research they do is by telephone survey, but they are not disclosing it to subjects as such because no one would agree to give that much time and information to a stranger over the telephone in exchange for nothing. So I think they are packaging some of their research as «focus groups,» then the disappointment comes when the unwitting research subjects find out they have not passed the screen or are told a supervisor must be consulted, so wait for a callback (which seldom comes). In reading these reviews, there is a pattern of prospective subjects feeling bamboozled too late in the process to get their time and personal data back.
I recently endured one of those long, tedious, invasive screeners. At the end of it, I was told a supervisor had to be consulted, and I would be called back. I was called back, told I was admitted to the focus group, and would be receiving a written confirmation and further details in advance of the study. So far, so good.
But when I received the promised confirmation, it was a confirmation «that we will not be able to include you» in the supposed study. I was asked in the most unpleasant, unprofessional, autocratic manner to confirm receipt of this disappointing news, only adding to the misery of it all. So I’m to invest further time in this wasted effort to let the sender know I’ve received her bossy, mean message??? Nope.
I hope any regulators out there who are reading these reviews investigate this company’s practices. It seems to me WatchLAB is systematically gaining a lot of personal information through some very shady means, and it’s not fair or right.

Not a review as a respondent, but as a new former client of this research facility. Too many bad experiences with service here. Poor recruits, weak customer service and poor follow-​through. Sadly, I believe Fleischman’s is no longer around… Fieldwork might be the next go-​to operation for our company. Maybe Schlesinger? So what if WatchLab is somewhat modern in its furnishings– when they have a history of weak recruits and lousy customer service, our project suffers. Years ago, maybe a year or two before they switched their name from Greenberg Studios, it was a solid place… In fact, you can see Greenberg Studios still has two 5-​star reviews and that was true — but wow, that was 6+ years ago now? I know several other moderator colleagues who stopped using this place too. So sad. I can only guess the people who work there are just part-​timers who don’t really care about the long-​term. Or maybe it’s just one or two that ruin the bunch? Regardless, too risky when project stakes are high. Go elsewhere.

Free money, free food!!! I don’t know why there are so many negative reviews about this place because it was pretty painless for me.
I signed up for watchlab online a few months ago, but was never confirmed for any studies after I took their surveys. Finally, a few weeks ago, someone from watchlab called me and said I might be qualified for a student survey. He asked me questions on the phone for around 10 minutes (kind of tedious… but do it for the monaay$$$) and then let me know the time and place when and where the study would take place. He did say nothing was for sure yet and that he still had to confirm it, and that I would get another call or an email regarding confirmation. A few weeks passed and the date got closer, and I finally received another call from watchlab. A girl just wanted to confirm with me a few things, and she said I would get a confirmation email. Got the confirmation email with all the information and showed up at watchlab at the allotted time.
I was about 20 minutes early, but they have a really nice waiting room here. Couches and a long table, accompanied by a fridge stocked with sodas and water. Also, they had free sandwiches and french fries! A nice surprise because I knew I was going to be hungry and grumpy if I didn’t eat. (My study was from 5:30pm-7:30 pm). They had a lot of magazines to keep me entertained as well. I checked in with the front desk and watched as other students came in.
5:30 finally came along and we started. It was pretty ordinary conversation, we were asked questions about ourselves and asked to talk in a room that was recorded (no cell phones) and had a 1 way mirror/​window thing.
We got out on time and I was handed my $ 100 check, and I was out the door! Don’t be hesitant to try watchlab. It’s easy money and you’ll be glad you did it!

I did a focus group with WatchLab a year ago and I was very pleased with them. However, my opinion of them has drastically changed.
They are really good at calling people but their follow through really sucks. Over the last month, they have called me numerous times and either I don’t qualify for the study or I do qualify and they say they will call me back but never do. OH and I did actually get a focus group finally but they called me 2 days before to tell me that they reached their quota and had to remove me from it.
None of their employees are on the same page and you receive conflicting responses between them. I am very disappointed but they were once a great company.

The worst! Don’t waste your time. After 3 or 4 phone «interviews», they changed the time on me. I cancelled an earlier appt. to accommodate their time change and THEN, the day before the scheduled focus group, they cancelled it. No apology, no compensation… just a message «cancelled». Not fair. When I called and said «no fair» the interviewer said he’d talk to his manager and ask about partial compensation due to the last minute cancel. Guess what? Never heard back. Gives all similar businesses a bad name.

After hesitantly reading the comments below I was worried what kind of experiences I would be getting.
Now that I’ve gone through the process I can confidently say on my first trip there it was a wonderful experience. I went in for a 30minute $ 80 study.
Immediately when I walked in the sign up process was clear and they offered an assortment of free drink and snacks.
Everyone there was truly very kind. When the study happened the surveyer was really kind and chill. He had a timer and we went for exactly 30minutes
Tl;dr
Quick, fun, easy money, nice people.

I was called by Plaza Research and they sent me here to do a study on beverages. The place is amazing, modern and clean. As soon as I got there I was greeted and given lunch, sweet! The study was conducted very well and it was great pay. They did say it would only take 2 hours, they ran over by 30 minutes, lots of people were not happy about that. I enjoyed my experience there.

This is a group of disorganized children. I was a victim of their sales pitch and will increase the rate at which I hang the phone up in the future. Wish I never heard of watchlab since the wasted my time and caused my great inconvenience. Never again!
Read the positive reviews and you will see an emerging pattern of self promotion done by watchlab to offset all of the negative reviews.
Don’t be the next fool to fall for it.

Avoid watchLAB Studios and I recommend everyone to demand your contact information removed from their databases. Feel free to take their offer for the 1^st or 2^nd contact and then strongly demand to spend no more than 10 minutes with them on the phone if it takes them forever to determine if you qualify for their paid interview or not unless you have plenty of time for them to kill.
My experience with them was awesome on my 1^st in-​person interview with them but that changed pretty quickly.
I encountered watchLAB studios 6 times already and only got qualified during my first contact with them back in 2007 about credit cards. The last 5 times were a total joke and each of them waste my entire lunch hour (yes, almost 60 minutes) telling me I am very likely qualified, then asked me 40 – 60 questions over the phone and at the end, the rep always put me on hold for a few moments and then apologized to me that I apparently don’t qualify to go any further and will not be invited for the paid in-​person interview. They would have gotten 4 – 5 starts had they only wasted less than 10 minutes of my time on the phone so I can at enjoy my lunch without rushing. The last encounter that happened on May 3^rd was the last straw when they just called me all of a sudden and ask if I am available for a few minutes for screening. When I said yes (since it was almost noon that day), that person on the phone with me at watchLAB ended up wasting over 50 minutes of my lunch hour over the phone asking me questions about automobiles. By the time I got down to the cafeteria, all the tomales were sold out and I ended up feasting on something else because of watchLAB’s sneaky tactics to mislead people into giving them answers that they need for «their» actual clients.

Clean And Client friendly place. Full stock of complimentary drinks for participants. And a good view while in the waiting room.
Not to mention they always call you promptly in addition to confirming your upcoming appointment for participation. Also they have a real person in place of an automated system whenever you call because you have a question or if you are wanting to address an issue. Parking may not be the best in san francisco, but if you have to park in downtown to participate in a group with WatchLab, it is well worth it…

Great Experience at WatchLab SF… the place is soooo pretty! Would Def. participate in another focus group…

I just had my first experience with a paid focus group and it was at watchLAB studios. What a great way to make a little extra money!
The office itself is in a convenient financial district location and is beautiful. I arrived, checked in, and was seated by 4:45pm. They had trays of yummy sandwiches, sodas, candy and waters for everyone in an assortment of all. After a short while about 12 of us were ushered into another room, set up round table style. From 5−7pm we had open dialect about a topic we all had in common with one another.
When we were done, we all left with a check in hand and off we went. It was a pain-​free experience and one I hope to get chosen for again!