If you want to get paid well and treated fairly, sign up with Goodwin Associates for restaurant shops. They are great and do not treat you as if you are subhuman.

There have been many, many issues about payment posted on other forums that I would approach this company with great caution.

Could you advise me which forums I could look at concerning the above. I have had no major problems with them but life is a learning experience.

[forum.volition.com]

at Volition.com is just one. Others are from private forums. You will note that at present apparently even October shops have not been paid. My guess is that MSFreedom and any other forums you may belong to will show payment issues if you use their search feature for Goodwin.

I have done only one shop for them and it was back in 2007 when they were supposedly "on schedule" with payments, though my payment was about 6 weeks rather than the 30 days they indicated at that time. I did not like the client, I did not like the shop and I thoroughly disliked that the reimbursement covered only about 75% of the minimum bill for required purchases. To have to chase payments just added insult to injury.

Last week.........

Goodwin sent out an email to shoppers letting them know that they are behind in payments for October shops. They attribute it to tough economic times and their clients paying slower because of that.

I learned this from another shopper since I have not completed a job for them. I hesitate to because of this issue. I can't believe they would send an email to shoppers complaining that their clients are paying slower.

Although, I may be sympathetic to companies in these tough economic times.......it affects everyone and we want our pay.

Not to sound callous, but it really isn't the shoppers' problem if a company is having trouble collecting money from their clients. They shouldn't pass that problem down to us, the shoppers.
Just pay us for the work we have completed.

I prefer working for companies that have enough capital that they actually pay me EVEN if their clients stiff them.
If for some reason, the client stiffs the MS company.........they should take the hit NOT the shoppers.

I don't know that our ICAs w/companies state that our payment could be late or NOT AT ALL if clients are late w/payments to the MS company OR if they don't pay them. I may be wrong.......it may be in the fine print.

But if it is, I would hesitate to sign w/those companies BECAUSE of these economic times, some clients may very well NOT pay for msing. So many businesses are falling upon hard times and filing bankruptcy.


So what I am saying............is I try to only work for companies that have the integrity and decency to pay shoppers for the work regardless of what issues they may have w/their clients.
There are many reputable companies that pay in a timely manner



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2009 02:19AM by bugspost.

I got that same email from Goodwin and Associates and I thought it was good for them to send that out and be proactive about the situation. Other companies I have worked for don't even tell you why paymet is late, but Goodwin and Associates was honest with their shoppers and sounded like they were trying to fix the problem. It is such a pain not getting paid on time, but at least I know why. It is when I can't get any answer at all that frustrates me.

How many of the MSC's blame it on the clients? The majority! They should have enough capitalization to pay the contractors before the clients remit. They expect us to pay up front on jobs requiring purchases-why don't the MSC's expect the same of themselves? In my opinion the "client didn't pay" excuse is an example of a company's poor judgment and under-capitalization. Riding their businesses on the back of the shopper's wallet is just plain annoying and insulting. We also have bills-they are not the only ones. Even if we are independently wealthy-we agreed to a contract with given terms-paying late wasn't one of them.

Excuse me for butting in here, but the OP was indicating this was "a good company" to work for. The contractual agreement with them is that you WILL be paid/reimbursed in a certain time frame. When they do not abide by THEIR part of the contract, in my estimation they are not "a good company" to work for. Few if any companies will accept a late shop without prior arrangement, 'reasons' or 'excuses' after the fact are rarely, if ever, accepted. So why the double standard of allowing THEM to be late???

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Excuse me for butting in here, but the OP was
> indicating this was "a good company" to work for.
> The contractual agreement with them is that you
> WILL be paid/reimbursed in a certain time frame.
> When they do not abide by THEIR part of the
> contract, in my estimation they are not "a good
> company" to work for. Few if any companies will
> accept a late shop without prior arrangement,
> 'reasons' or 'excuses' after the fact are rarely,
> if ever, accepted. So why the double standard of
> allowing THEM to be late???

Very Good point!

That is a very good point and I understand what you are saying. It is a double standard, and I didn't really think of it that way. I have always had good luck with Goodwin and Associates, and I am hoping that this delay in payment is just a temporary thing and that they, along with the other Mystery Shopping companies who are paying late can get their act together. I am finding it is something common with a lot of Mystery Shopping companies right now, and I appreciate the service enough to stick with it.

I can well understand the frustration out there and the shopper cannot be late but the msc can. Everyone is right in their comments but let me pose a question. Aside from that issue, how many msc companies can you say that you really enjoy working for? Goodwin may have some problems right now and I am not justifying what is happening but they are much better than most and at least will share their problems with shoppers which means that they at least respect them. Can anyone out there state how many other msc give you that warm and fuzzy feeling like they really care one whit about you or your concerns. Give these guys a break!

Their issues w/their clients not paying them is simply not the shoppers' problem.
Our agreement is w/the MS company NOT the client.

Trendsource pays on the 5th and 20th of every month.....even when I do a shop on the 4th......I get paid the next day. It is highly unlikely that the client has already paid them for my shop but they meet their part of the agreement w/me as an independent contractor and pay me according to the agreement. Service Intelligence pays end of month after your shop. Perhaps, they have been paid by their clients......I do not know but they pay according to the agreement and that is what I expect.

Just as MS companies expect us to submit our reports on time,,,,,,,I expect to be paid on time. Other companies that subcontract work out would not make those contractors wait for their pay because the primary client had not paid yet UNLESS it was written in the agreement that payment was not forthcoming until the primary client paid. I have not entered into such an agreement w/any MS company.

It is scary to think an MS company does not have enough capital/funds to pay their shoppers until the client pays them. There are many companies that do have enough money to pay shoppers before receiving money from client and I prefer to work for them.

I guess a high end restaurant shop went from Goodwin to Freeman recently.
Neither companies seem to be paying so beware!!!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2009 01:21AM by bugspost.

dr.lloyd@sbcglobal.net Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Can anyone out
> there state how many other msc give you that warm
> and fuzzy feeling like they really care one whit
> about you or your concerns. Give these guys a
> break!

I work for many MSCs that show a great deal of respect for shoppers. Emailing me about problems they have collecting monies from their clients is not showing me respect.......it sounds like an excuse for not paying shoppers on time.

MSCs that I feel are respectful of shoppers are:

Service Intelligence....been with them almost 5 years. Only one time did they pay late and they emailed that it would be a day late. Also, have been understanding when I had to cancel shops for medical reasons.

Trendsource........never can recall them being late w/payments and have worked with them almost 4 years.

GFK.....paid on time and always quick response when emailing them.(5 years w/them)

Bestmark........paid on time and good communication.(4 years w/them)

JC & Associates........changed over their payroll computer system and sent email to apologize for late payment (only 1 week late) (4 years w/them)

Reality Check..........pay on time....great editor and scheduler (3 years w/them)

And I could go on and on..........not to be callous but I really don't need the warm and fuzzy feeling from an MS company. I appreciate good communication, mutual respect and timely payments just as they appreciate good communication, mutual respect and timely reports.

JMO........but shoppers do rely on payments and reimbursements. For any that are out a lot of $$ and waiting........I doubt the email they sent makes them feel any better.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2009 01:33AM by bugspost.

bugspost Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And I could go on and on..........not to be
> callous but I really don't need the warm and fuzzy
> feeling from an MS company. I appreciate good
> communication, mutual respect and timely payments
> just as they appreciate good communication, mutual
> respect and timely reports.


DITTO Bugspost!

dr.lloyd: At minimum, there are seven MSPs I work with regularly where I feel there's a valued relationship. How many do I "enjoy" working for? Each and every shop I take. Really! Or, I wouldn't take them.

Even when times weren't so tough, there was no guarantee any business would stay afloat. I've only completed 3 Goodwin shops in the past seven months, so I don't have enough history with them on which to comment.

As a Client Services Manager at Goodwin and Associates, I wanted to welcome anyone to contact me to discuss the payment issues we are having for the October/November shops.

We are aiming to have all shoppers, not currently reimbursed for those two months, reimbursed during the first week in February. I greatly appreciate all of our shoppers who are sticking with us, during this difficult time.

This situation is unfortunate and I understand both my company's position, as well as the shoppers' positions. We are taking what steps we can to ensure that this situation never happens again. All of our shoppers are valuable to us. We desire to maintain our positive relationships with our shoppers and we are doing all that we can to rectify the lost faith.

If you wish to speak to me personally please email me at szec@mysteryshopperprogram.com. I would be happy to discuss any individual concerns.

Sharon, lets make this clear. October/November there are payment issues you hope to have cleared up during the first week of February. If I recall correctly, your payment schedule was 30 days. Are December shops going to be paid up at the same time? Are you, or will you, then be back to the 30 day schedule?

As a shopper, I am accustomed to putting around $400-500 per month on my credit card. This needs to be paid or I will incur interest charges. There are real consequences to me personally to tell the credit card company, "Oops, I can't pay you by due date because my clients haven't paid me!" I keep a 'shopping slush' fund that can pay the bill and be replenished by reimbursements. When you are slow in payments, it limits my livelihood because my 'slush' is reduced. Think of the restaurants--they make their money by turning tables many times during a meal period. Shoppers make their money by turning their 'slush' many times during the course of a year.

This business functions on trust. You need to trust us to do what is required in a prompt and competent fashion. We need to trust that you will fulfill your obligations of fairness and promptness. You don't want to hear we were unable to do a shop because we had a painful hangnail. We don't want to hear you will try to get shops paid because you overextended by offering more shops than you could pay for without prompt payment by someone in your supply chain. Perhaps you need to take a lesson from shoppers, who can ill afford to pay the reimbursement bills out of their own pockets except with a slush fund garnered over time. Build a slush fund and don't have outstanding more jobs than you can afford to cover with your slush fund. Our contract for services is with you, not your clients.

Well said. I have a paypal issue since my account was hacked into. How do I change all the paypal address for my mystery shopping companies and also keep it in there for the ones I have not been paid for yet?

I would suggest you contact paypal to see how they can help you. I have changed my password to my Paypal account several times because there was a suspected breech, though if there was an actual breech, there was no activity by the hacker. I would think all this would depend entirely on in what manner your Paypal was hacked. Select a difficult to hack password that has lower and upper cases, numbers and special symbols such as fP9&3e2j

The password idea is a good one. I have contacted them. So I don't have to get a new email you think, just change the password?

If the breech was due to getting past the password, that is all you should need to change. If Paypal has frozen your account or other such issues, that is a different problem. Changing your password is done on the "Profile" page once you are logged in.

Because this is a financial site, I would give it a unique password so that if it is hacked there will not be easy access to any other financial sites you use.

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sharon, lets make this clear. October/November
> there are payment issues you hope to have cleared
> up during the first week of February. If I recall
> correctly, your payment schedule was 30 days. Are
> December shops going to be paid up at the same
> time? Are you, or will you, then be back to the
> 30 day schedule?
>
> As a shopper, I am accustomed to putting around
> $400-500 per month on my credit card. This needs
> to be paid or I will incur interest charges.
> There are real consequences to me personally to
> tell the credit card company, "Oops, I can't pay
> you by due date because my clients haven't paid
> me!" I keep a 'shopping slush' fund that can pay
> the bill and be replenished by reimbursements.
> When you are slow in payments, it limits my
> livelihood because my 'slush' is reduced. Think
> of the restaurants--they make their money by
> turning tables many times during a meal period.
> Shoppers make their money by turning their 'slush'
> many times during the course of a year.
>
> This business functions on trust. You need to
> trust us to do what is required in a prompt and
> competent fashion. We need to trust that you will
> fulfill your obligations of fairness and
> promptness. You don't want to hear we were unable
> to do a shop because we had a painful hangnail.
> We don't want to hear you will try to get shops
> paid because you overextended by offering more
> shops than you could pay for without prompt
> payment by someone in your supply chain. Perhaps
> you need to take a lesson from shoppers, who can
> ill afford to pay the reimbursement bills out of
> their own pockets except with a slush fund
> garnered over time. Build a slush fund and don't
> have outstanding more jobs than you can afford to
> cover with your slush fund. Our contract for
> services is with you, not your clients.

Well said, Flash!!

Please could you tell me what good mystery shopping companys in the uk.
Thanks
shaun

I have recently started shopping. I have done 2 shops: marketforce and Athpower. I haven't been paid yet, they ask for SS#'s which bothers me. Are they legit?

Yes........legit and asking for ss# is standard............

Thanks, bugspot. I am currently with 4 more shops, and I get nervous writing my SS# so many times.

Another great company is bare international. No trouble, good shops and paid on time.

What companies do you like or not like?

It is a matter of what you will put up with. Everyone has a different tolerance level. Bare International, Goodwin, About Face,Mystique,Beyond Hello, Mintel and
Spies in Disguise, Service X, Service Check are among the good ones. Corporate Research International is anathema. If no one knows that word. It is pure BS.