Using CSVHelper on file upload

Not used the plugin but the error message seems pretty clear. There must be a Read() function to call before accessing the results. Try changing your code to something like this:

using (var reader = new StreamReader(file.InputStream))
using (var csvReader = new CsvReader(reader))
{
    // Use While(csvReader.Read()); if you want to read all the rows in the records)
    csvReader.Read();
    return csvReader.GetRecords<SurveyEmailListModels>().ToArray();
}