Please think twice about accepting work from IR. They have no reputation with payments except you intend to work pro bono.

Why did they deny your shop? So far they have paid me for every shop I have ever done for them. Only one time was a payment late and they made it up by sending along the next payment at the same time making it three weeks early.

Oh look, another one. So glad you could join us.

Details, please. I have been paid for every shop I have done for them except a video shop where all I filmed was my nostrils! That would be well over 200shops by now, I think. What reason was given for non-payment?

oluwafemio, will you look at that. They're paying Lisa and Wales and they aren't paying you. Have you inquired why not and do you want to share or do you just want to slam?

You're a scream you know! hahaha

I have never had a problem with them.

If we don't get solid details we can assume the company is not the problem.

Oh, look, they paid Snorklebutt too. Imagine that.

All I can say is you guys are all lucky. Please when last did you receive payment from them? I constantly have to email Mark before he responds, maybe I need to post his emails here before you guys believe me. I know at least one shopper who is owed money from June 2013.

It's not that we don't believe you. We just would like the details surrounding your shops and nonpayment. It is easy to come and slam a company without backing up your claims. Can you tell us more to back up your claims? Sometimes it happens when we don't get paid, but rarely, usually when we messed up...big time.

Tell us more! We might have information for you to help you out. But don't name the client.

I will agree with the original poster about payment issues.
I have posted about this before

It has taken me on average close to 5 months to be paid for shops this year,. I have not been paid for ANY shop without having to send at least 4 inquires as to the status of payment after 90 days past from shop submission.
ALL have been paid
eVeryone was a long drawn out process

If you email Kathy, she will get you taken care of.

Unfortunately, Kathy does not write the checks. It has been about 7 months since I last shopped for IR, so something may have changed.

Prettygul1

A shopper should not have to mail anyone.
If the shops says payment is45 days after shop submitted then the shopper should not have to be sending multiple emails 90 days later.
The person that started this topic is not the first person that has raised this issues about IR within the last year.
Back in the summer of. 2013 another poster stated the same issues with having to run down payment.
My scheduler had to email Mark several times before payment was made.

I also had to email a few times to get paid during 2013.

I have reluctantly posted about this before - I have worked with IR for a little over a year and have had to send multiple emails for every payment I've received from them - in fact, I have never received a payment on time, and have never received a payment that I didn't have to prompt by email and/or phone. I'm currently on email #3 to Mark Bray, requesting a status on payments from last October and November. In the past, I have gotten forum responses and PMs from other video shoppers describing the same issues, so this is unfortunately a pattern with them. Too bad, because I love Kathy Hart and all their schedulers, and their assignments are fun and interesting.

Please keep us updated. If this is a widespread problem, I think I may wait until everyone is paid to take another assignment from them. And, thanks for posting. Becasue I had been paid in the past I thought about taking a whole bunch of their shops on a route that I am planning for Feb., but think I will take a pass on that to see how this plays out.

They still owe me for work I did late last summer/early fall.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2014 03:30PM by TechSavvy.

Tech-If you haven't already reached out to them, you may want to sooner rather than later. In my experience, you will not get paid until you start emailing and calling.

I concur with chigirl777
MB likes to send emails saying "it will go out in the next run" and when it does not acts like you've never raised the issue before


Its not just that they are late, its that they make you repeatedly run after them after bringing it to there attention that is so frustrating

I did reach out, as did my scheduler. We'll see if a check comes this week. I'm so VERY disappointed that the company is not doing right by those who keep it in business, because it was always in my top tier of favorite companies. I especially feel bad for the schedulers. They're great people and stuck smack in the middle.

When my payment finally came it was via paypal

I would love to get it via PayPal, but as it's over $500, I'll take it any way I can get it. I'm glad these were apartment shops and not auto service where I had to front money for oil changes.

I'm not signed up with them, and think I'll skip doing so....

So, it seems as if the O.P. is most certainly not the only person having this payment problem, but was quick to be made out to BE the problem.

I heard back from the owner finally - he said that he would be getting to payments by the first or second week of February. Very disappointing. Tech - I would be interested in hearing if you do get paid this week.

No, the OP is certainly not alone. I don't know if anyone is being paid in a timely fashion.

Have had serious payment issues as well. Disappointing, because Kathy is the absolute best.

Makes you wonder is this just a seriously dis organized accounts payable department or is something deeper going on...

I am owed $400 from shops performed in July 2013. While that figure is disturbing enough, what makes it worse is that my IR account was marked "paid" with a (what now appears to be a fictitious) check number and amount in August 2013. After not receiving payment and attempting to contact either Kathy Hart or Mark Bray I have been met with silence. I am just thankful that I didn't do further work for them in August-September, or I would be in even deeper.

I personally know of three other video route shoppers who are owed over $1500 each for shops performed in midsummer 2013. They are likewise getting the runaround. We met during training for a large project last week and compared notes. Prior to this, I have been operating under the illusion that my $400 was an isolated incident, since I rarely meet with other shoppers to compare notes or spend time in Internet forums.

We are all getting the runaround (EDITED) and many have received the same mass-produced sob-story email from the scheduler in question although she is continuing to recruit shoppers for current routes with the hope of bringing in some income to pay past due accounts.

Kathy is also selectively warning other shoppers who are her "friends" to not accept shops while still actively recruiting newer shoppers to perform shops with a low likelihood of payment. This type of behavior from a scheduler - warning some shoppers, but not others, expediting payment for some shoppers but not others - is not leading me to "love" her or consider her the "absolute best."

I'm also ticked off that Instant Replays is still allowed to use the VSN forum to recruit for shoppers. I am not seeing any level of self-policing or concern for shopper welfare among other members of the VSN video shopping mystery companies.

Bottom line: There appear to be some severe ethical and financial issues going on at IR. Exercise extreme caution when accepting shops.

Edited three times for grammar, spelling and precision. And a fourth time, very reluctantly, to remove one quote that I have seen in an email but was not directly sent to me personally.

Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2014 04:51AM by ColoKate63.

It's a vicious circle quandary that in order to pay shoppers, the company has to get money from clients. And to do that, they have to give them shops. It's a crappy situation all around and a lot of good people are caught up in it.

I don't think posting her salary information is professional, especially when it is hearsay. Aside from that, it's just not anyone's business. Please remove that from your post.