ESOMAR Warns Members about FieldGlobal

ESOMAR has taken the relatively rare step of warning its members about the activities of a company, following multiple complaints about the late payment practices of Mumbai-based FieldGlobal Market Research Pvt Ltd.

FieldGlobal's membership of ESOMAR was not renewed in January 2015, after several other members complained of its failure to 'fulfill its payment obligations on a timely basis' - and complaints about the company have been filed 'continuously' since then, the association says. ESOMAR has contacted FieldGlobal a number of times to discuss the matter, and after a warning in August did see it paying a number of outstanding creditors - however, complaints have resumed since.

ESOMAR states: 'As an association responsible for the defense of the interests of its members, in partnership with national associations around the world who have adopted or endorsed the ICC/ESOMAR International Code, ESOMAR now feels that there is sufficient reason to notify its members of FieldGlobal's repeated failures to comply with its payment obligations on a timely basis'.

Previous alerts to members concerned the practices of India-based Speak Asia, four years ago - two of its three founders were arrested on charges of defrauding participants out of an estimated Rs 2,200 crores (approximately EUR 260m); and in June 2011 an online research firm called The Research Express, following complaints about the firm's sub-standard levels of service and its refusal to return deposits.

The association points those looking for partner companies to its free-to-use member search at www.esomar.org/community/our-people , and its International Code at www.esomar.org/uploads/public/knowledge-and-standards/codes-and-guidelines/ICCESOMAR-International-Code_English.pdf .