Points2Shop vs Nielsen Pulse

With millions of members, Points2Shop handles their customers fairly well. Unlike many sites, it's simple to open up an email support ticket from your account dashboard. They'll even give you an estimated response time. The majority of users report reasonably fast and courteous service.

Nielsen Pulse offers email-based support for US panelists at uspulsesupport@nielsen.com. The website also includes a Contact Us page with the same email address. There's no live chat or phone support listed.

The terms also allow panel members to contact Nielsen directly to request account deletion if they choose to leave.

Given that Nielsen is a large, established company, their support infrastructure should be reasonably reliable — though response times are not published, and the absence of live chat may be frustrating for users with urgent account issues.

There have been some user complaints about sudden account termination. In the past, Points2Shop has been plagued by hackers attempting fraud, so if their system detects anything out of the ordinary it automatically close your account.

As long as you are not trying to cheat the system, you should not have any problems with the Points2Shop system. Sudden account closure claims are few and far between, but since the company has endured numerous cyber attacks they are quite vigilant about any dishonest users. Should this happen to you, contact support to rectify the situation.

Points2Shop also accepts direct advertisers on their sites, some of which are directly looking for ways to market to users, which includes telemarketing. There have been some user complaints of receiving unwanted calls, so you may want to steer clear of offers that require a phone number to complete.

The biggest sticking point for many users will be the privacy trade-off. The app requires you to grant location permissions, notifications, and install a research VPN on your device. Nielsen uses this access to track your device usage, web activity, streaming behaviour, and purchases. The terms explicitly state that this can include sensitive personal information such as race and ethnicity.

You also won't know if you qualify until after you complete the eligibility survey. Those who don't qualify are put on a waitlist, with no guarantee of ever being admitted to the panel.

Membership is household-wide by agreement. When you sign up, you're agreeing on behalf of all household members whose devices the app is installed on — and you're required to inform them and get their consent before doing so.

People employed by TV networks, cable or satellite providers, digital media platforms, or other media companies are not eligible to join. You also must keep your panel membership confidential and are not permitted to publicly identify yourself as a participant — including in app store reviews.

Points expire after 12 months and have no cash value. If you leave the panel for any reason, any unredeemed points are forfeited. Nielsen can also modify or discontinue the rewards program at any time.