That might be true now, Steve, but the shops I did for them were never paid with GC's nor ever supposed to be. I had to call Jane Newman months after the due dates of the payments. I never heard back. But I did always get a check within a week of my calls. It is just such a pain and a shame that I had to go that route. I never ever did sign up for the place famous for dessert, due to the GC thing. And the controversy that some folks got them, some did not, and some were told that they could not be used for MS'ing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2010 10:13AM by dee shops.

Understood, dee,

They still have a some shops that do not pay with gift cards. I'd certainly be leery of taking those. I've always been under the impression that the gift card thing began because MG ran behind on payments and the famous dessert client pressured them to come up with a solution when shoppers began to contact them.

I shopped for them a lot from 2003-2005 and they paid like clockwork then, but I had pretty much ceased shopping for them around the time the payment problems appeared. The one assignment I took in 2008 resulted in such a bad experience at the restaurant, the manager comped our meal. Since I had no reimbursement due, MG quickly sent me the shopper pay for that assignment and the next month they made the move to gift cards.

The majority of payment problems really started to blossom around that time (and when this thread began). I guess if your company is using shopper reimbursement money to operate and that comes to a screeching halt, it can cause some hiccups with payments :^)

I'm not big on the idea of getting paid by GC for my evaluations, but in this case, it put my mind at ease to know that the possibility of misappropriating the funds has been removed from the table, and MG seems to be on a 2 week cycle to send out the cards.

Bottom line...if you like the dessert they are famous for and want it for free, this is the current option available. Well, that's not really accurate either, since if you order dessert in addition to the required items you will probably be over the budget for the gift card.

LOL. The dessert is the only thing I like there. :-)

Steve, I'm doing my first gift card restaurant for Mercantile.....they never had these, guess it's the wave of the future (anything but $$$). I wouldn't mind doing one that has locations in Chicago, as I'll be there in
April, and my daughter loves the dessert, and I love their salads, (BBQ Chicken)

Steve, I'm doing my first gift card restaurant for Mercantile.....they never had these, guess it's the wave of the future (anything but $$$). I wouldn't mind doing one that has locations in Chicago that Mystery Guest has, as I'll be there in April,
and my daughter loves the dessert, and I love their salads, (BBQ Chicken).

I might take a shop if they had a gift card at a restaurant where I was going to eat anyway, but I would not take a shop that required me to put out money and wait for reimbursement.

Steve...everytime I look, the BBQ one is gone, I'll keep trying, although that's not my favorite. Since we lost Retaileyes, I'm in need of good restaurants.....

Irene_L.A. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Since we lost Retaileyes,

What does that mean?

RE had a great group of restaurants in LA that went to Bestmark, so Irene is left hungry for French food.

SteveSoCal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> RE had a great group of restaurants in LA that
> went to Bestmark, so Irene is left hungry for
> French food.


Oh. :-) Hmm. Strange choice of new MSC.

I've been working for MG for about a year and a half and love doing this shop and love the restaurant. I could care less that I get paid with a gift card. The fact that they reimburse either a $30 or $40 GC is great. Plus, their shop report is not too long or difficult. I can use the GC on the next visit, use it myself, on to go orders, or give it as a gift. I love it! Sherri.

I am having the same problem with them for a shop I did back in Feb and then I did another for the same location in March...so far nothing. I turned around and did 2 shops for a different restaurant that paid with Gift Cards and got those right away. They haven't responded to any emails I have sent them, so I guess I have to try the president route.