I have been reading several discussions about several companies. I'm scared to sign up with anyone if I am going to have trouble getting paid. That is why we do this, right? Talk to me, please. I am new at this.

There are a lot of good companies out there. The ones that are not paying in a timely fashion (or at all) include Restaurant Evaluators, Franchise Compliance, Goodwin and Freeman. With the first one, nobody is getting paid, with the second one there is still hope of payment, though it may take legal action. With Goodwin and Freeman it takes following up after the pay cycle is over to get your payment. You will find that shoppers scream loud and long about companies that accepted work and won't pay without chasing them.

On the other hand there are a lot of complaints on forums about jobs being 'unfairly' rejected. I certainly will not point to specific posts/threads where my sense is that a shopper screwed up versus the company being difficult. I have had shoppers send me private messages indicating that they did everything perfectly except _______. If I ran the MSP, that 'except ____' in many cases is so crucial to the shop that I would not be able to accept the shop either.

I'm getting pretty close to 9000 shops. I have had one rejected for something that was provably NOT in the instructions--it was subsequently accepted after a bunch of grief. I have had one rejected for something that I am pretty positive was not in the instructions but my copy of the instructions did not save properly to my computer to prove my case. I have had two shops rejected because the client's locations refused to provide me with the material I needed to have for successful completion of the shop (that really burned me!). But there have been so few shops rejected that they are all quite memorable. The only time I have not been paid for accepted work was when a company closed their doors unexpectedly.

The flip side of this is that every year I collect without issue thousands of dollars in fees and bonuses and thousands of dollars of reimbursements of use to me. So in the greater scheme of things the handful of unpaid shops is not even big enough to consider a mole hill, much less a mountain.

Start with your beginner companies--Market Force blue portal, Bare, Maritz, Corporate Research International--to get your feet wet and then register with other companies as you have time. If you follow the instructions you DO get paid.

Thank-you! You are a great mentor!!!

I agree with Flash on this - I have shopped since 1999 and the number of shops I have not been paid for is miniscule. I cannot think of any where it was because the company just chose not to pay me. I can remember a couple of stupid (on my part) mistakes (going to a wrong address) and once not getting a manager's name (and that was a case of was it really in the directions). I have had to chase payment from Goodwin and Freeman but have always been paid and for the projects I have done I have considered it worth it.

And like Flash, on the flip side I sit here and money appears in my various accounts many times a month as well as random checks arrive several times a month.

Liz

I've been shopping almost 4 years now and have never (Yet! knock on wood!) been cheated by a mystery shopping company. I have had a report disallowed and not paid (because I shopped the wrong location, how dumb is that?) I am VERY careful about the jobs I accept. I have signed up with a lot of companies, but before accepting an assignment, I check out what other shoppers say here on the forum and I also look at Volition. Seeing what other shoppers say about payment issues has kept me pretty safe. I read about Direct Scheduling Services and JC and Associates, two companies that went belly-up, leaving their shoppers unpaid. I avoid the companies that other shoppers report make you beg for your money. I'm probably over-cautious, but I don't like to have to ask for the money and I certainly don't want to not be paid. There's plenty of good companies to work for!

I have been very lucky over the past year with my shopping. I have not had any major problems. On a couple of occasions I was short paid due to MSC errors. I politely surfaced the issues and my payment was corrected. There are many shoppers out there who have issues. Many are shopper errors. If you can read your assignments, do what is asked of you. If you anticipate an issue, call in advance. Most MSC's can be very accomodating.