Rastajones- It sounds like you are indiscriminately attempting surveys from all sources. Big mistake. Only a few are really reliable and even then you aren't going to qualify for the majority of them.
In fact, they are not "all worthless." The few good ones can be a pretty reliable source of credits. I've picked up well over 25,000 credits without attempting surveys every day and limiting my attempts to a few companies.
Consider the ads trying to entice us to try the surveys as just that: paid advertisements. Just like any other company trying to promise us the world in exchange for buying their product.
Other people will pipe up about their favorites. Personally I use the direct links to MyView and ampario. I've found those to be the most reliable. There are many I haven't tried and won't try because complaints were posted about them on these threads.