I'm happy to say that I just received payment from Goodwin and it came within the promised 90 day window!

I send a note to Goodwin earlier this week to check up on my payment and received a very polite and timely response from Amy, who appears to have a lot of empathy for shoppers who are overdue on payments.

I have sent an invitation to Amy to join the discussion here and recommend anyone who is due a payment from Goodwin contact her.

Hello Shoppers!

SteveSoCal very graciously told me about this forum and I thought it might be a good idea to introduce myself to you all.

My name is Amy Melanson and I am one of the managers at Goodwin & Associates LLC. It is true that we have had issues paying shoppers in the past, and we continue still. It is not one of those situations that will repair itself overnight, although we all wish it would.

Our problematic history stems back to a variety of issues that were compounded when we grew almost 200% last year. As great as it is to grow, we are experiencing the aftermath of those growing pains now.

I've personally taken a great interest and investment into doing what I can to resolve many of the communication issues that have added another layer of frustration for shoppers and our accountant. Having been behind on payments for as long as we have, we have many shoppers inquiring daily about the status of their payments. I'm now responsible for gathering all of those inquiries in an organized way and responding to shoppers right away.

I fully admit that I will not always be able to tell you exactly when you will get paid. What I will do is promise to communicate openly and to follow up with you when I do know.

I welcome those of you who have overdue payment at this time to email me at amelanson@mysteryshopperprogram.com with your full name, and if you happen to know the start and end dates to the shops you are owed, it would help, but if not, I can research it.

I would like to be an active participant in this forum and welcome any suggestions from the shoppers on how we can handle this better from your perspective.

Have a wonderful week.

Amy Melanson
Goodwin & Associates Hospitality Services
Client Training & Reporting Manager
Mystery Shopper Program
MSPA Gold Certified

Phone: (603) 223-0303 Ext. 127
Fax: 603-415-1787
amelanson@mysteryshopperprogram.com
www.MysteryShopperProgram.com

Welcome Amy! Thank you for joining us! And thank you for inviting us to provide some suggestions. It has been a long time since I have done a job for/with Goodwin due to pay issues, so I think you can consider me as not being a shopper with a dog in this particular hunt.

We are seeing increasingly slow payment on substantial reimbursements because clients are being slow to pay. I have to assume that is the issue at Goodwin as well. Just as experienced shoppers are not working with companies that are not paying in a timely fashion, perhaps companies need to take that same approach to their clients. And yes, the clients may flee if they are expected to put reimbursement money up front, but there is little point in trying to put shops out there that no experienced shoppers will perform without substantial bonuses for fear of not getting paid or needing to wait months beyond the normal pay cycles to be reimbursed. You are in the controlling position about whether it is clients or experienced shoppers you may lose.

As a shopper, my contract for work is with the company offering the job, not with the client. My scheduling and instructions come from the company offering the job--I do not take separate instructions from the client. My payment and reimbursement are to come from the company offering the job. I work with companies who are reliable in holding up their end of our contract. What the client does or does not do subsequently is not my issue. If I have accurately and completely executed and reported my observations and instructions, I am due payment in a timely fashion.

The shops your company offers have never included my 'favorite' places to eat out, so there is little ability on my part to justify being out of pocket an extensive period of time (or forever) based on "I would have eaten there anyway." They are not places where I would welcome gift cards as payment--though I might consider performing the jobs for a gift card on the front end of the shop if it was substantial enough to cover purchase requirements. And yes, that requires you to trust shoppers to do what they are contracted to do. Perhaps you need to go that direction because at this time you are asking that shoppers trust you when the payments have not been timely as contracted.

Flash-

Thank you for sharing your words and knowledge with me. I've actually been glued to this whole message board since I got home from work 3 hours ago. I've been reading various posts about the good things and the bad about everything in the MS industry.

I've seen a lot of the defense you have put up on behalf of the MSCs that are struggling out there. It's certainly a breath of fresh air every time I meet someone who understands, or at least tries to.

As for us, we're one of the good guys. I can promise the shoppers that. We taken some wrong turns in the past 5 years, but I have faith that time will allow us to correct ourselves.

Something I read by you tonight struck me as most insightful and I'm glad you posted it. The funny thing is that right after you posted this, someone mentioned "oh but too few schedulers come on here." I'm not a scheduler, but I do work for an MSC. Anyway, your quote was

"It has always been a surprise to me that companies that specialize in evaluating service of clients for effectiveness don't seem to bother applying their evaluation skills to their own behaviors. Customers respond to small acts of kindness and generosity for their clients, do they not realize that shoppers do the same? While I recognize that many MSCs do not have the assets on hand to pay shoppers early, certainly their scheduler and staff attitudes that help create a positive environment don't cost any more. And no, it won't get them run over by flakes and whiners but rather create an environment where we WANT to help them and cooperate rather than an adversarial environment."

These are going to be my words to live by right now, in my career, anyway. I believe that we can achieve great things as long as we can create a relationship of trust and respect with our shoppers.

We'll get there.

Please see posts on other forums concerning the replies that they have gotten to their emails to her! Not very encouraging to be told that payment date = "unknown."

walesmaven Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Please see posts on other forums concerning the
> replies that they have gotten to their emails to
> her! Not very encouraging to be told that payment
> date = "unknown."


But wasn't it Steve who wrote that? And then they paid him the same week?

I can't really say if posting or contacting Amy got me paid any faster.

In my case, the payment was within the 90 day window that Goodwin promises and appeared like a mass pay (it was not an eCheck), so the payment most likely incurred some delay in the paypal system and could have been generated prior to me posting or contacting her.

Either way, it's good news for unpaid shoppers since it seems that Goodwin is either catching up with payments in a timely manner or responding appropriately to payment requests.

As far as why my January smoothie shop for the new smoothie MSP was paid in advance of this one and netted me a larger profit; Perhaps that's something Goodwin can work on in the future as well. Amy certainly sounds open to input from shoppers, and I think that we would all benefit from forming positive shopper/MSC relationships with companies that are willing to engage us in conversation here.

Isn't that what many of us (and very often me) are so often griping about? We want MSCs treat us like business associates, rather than the enemy.

I see this company like the newbie shopper who makes a few mistakes, but is learning from them and trying to do a good job. I give this experience an 8, since the form was simple and the smoothie was delicious (not to mention it bought me brownie points at home). Payment just took a while and it was less profitable than it could have been.

Yes, if they are not here strictly to promote their services in lieu of a paid advertisement, in my opinion, they are welcome. Once an MSC crosses that line, for me they are not. Amy did not cross that line. She came, she posted, she read, she posted again. She did not try to get us to buy something, nor to sell us on some technology supposedly in the interest of shoppers that is in reality not in our interest. She just responded to what had been written here. Amy got me paid last fall. Amy rocks as far as I am concerned.

But to answer your question, yes, Goodwin has issues. It is good they are at least attempting to address them, and getting shoppers like you and I paid. At least she went to two forums, gave her email address, and offered to help. This is in direct difference to my experience with others, such as Orilio, Freeman, Mystery Guest, and Restaurant Evaluators, who just try and ignore their debts to shoppers, or gives meaningless dates that will not be met. Amy got two of us paid, at the least. There may be more we do not know about. I am a fan of Amy, and at the same time, I want to see more before I shop for Goodwin again, since I did have to go out of my way outside of their published payment schedule for me to get paid at all.

I've been holding my breath to see what dee shops had to say about us...

Thank you for writing, as my goal here is to get feedback from those we've wronged and those who have been wronged by other companies. This forum has been really useful for me to see how other companies have handled similar situations. It has also helped build my faith that if we do correct the mistakes we've made to the best of our ability, that we can hopefully someday rebuild the relationships with those shoppers who have chosen to stop working with us by now.

I'm here to figure out we can best keep a level of respect with shoppers during this situation. All of our account managers (who are also schedulers and editors) received much kudos on a recent survey we put out to a randomly selected group of shoppers. For the most part, people expressed that we were easy to work with and understanding. It's easy to have great customer/shopper service when things are going well. It is my hope to make sure that we keep the same level of respect and understanding during this time, even when people are angry with us (rightfully so).

Again, I thank all of you for participating in this conversation with me. I'm learning a lot.

In terms of getting paid, please still contact me if you are owed anything. Right now, the majority of the money being sent to shoppers is being sent to those who request it, unfortunately, although we are working hard to transition to a more proactive, less reactive schedule.

My email address and phone number are below for those who have questions about their own shops.

Amy Melanson
Goodwin & Associates Hospitality Services
Client Training & Reporting Manager
Mystery Shopper Program
MSPA Gold Certified

Phone: (603) 223-0303 Ext. 127
Fax: 603-415-1787
amelanson@mysteryshopperprogram.com
www.MysteryShopperProgram.com

But Amy, I'm not that scary! :-)


In actuality, I said the same thing in this thread, in a much shorter form, last fall...right after you got me paid.

:-)

AMelanson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm here to figure out we can best keep a level of
> respect with shoppers during this situation. All
> of our account managers (who are also schedulers
> and editors) received much kudos on a recent
> survey we put out to a randomly selected group of
> shoppers. For the most part, people expressed
> that we were easy to work with and understanding.
> It's easy to have great customer/shopper service
> when things are going well. It is my hope to make
> sure that we keep the same level of respect and
> understanding during this time, even when people
> are angry with us (rightfully so).
>

Amy, have you worked in an office where management passed down some 'great idea' that was so awful you wanted to puke? Would you be more likely to express your concerns in the break room to your peers or to management when they call you in on an individual basis to ask you what you think? Obviously if you had zero concerns about repercussions for your true opinion you would not be reluctant to express your true thoughts directly to management. As shoppers, we have so little contact overall with our 'employers' that we cannot have that confidence. Our answers will be self serving statements of what we think our 'employer' wants to hear. I avoid the issue by never answering the type of surveys you mention because there is no point in boot licking or in shooting myself in the foot.

I don't know how other shoppers feel, but if I do a job for a $15 fee and eventually don't get paid for some reason or other, I am primarily annoyed. When I lay out $100-$200 to be reimbursed and have to chase reimbursement and seriously wonder if and when I will see my money again, my attitude is that it is theft pure and simple and that I have been scammed. The definition of "Scam" is "A confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, esp. for making a quick profit; swindle." None of us wants to be the victim of a scam and yet increasingly the mystery shopping arena seems to be contracts for services that are not so much contracts as confidence games.

I want to believe. I want to be reasonable. Obviously there are 'for fee' shops and the 'for lifestyle' shops. I don't expect a lot of pay from the lifestyle shops, but I don't need to lose money on them either. How many times do I need to get burned before deciding I will never do more than a $1 out of pocket expense again? My experience with Goodwin was not horrid, but it is not recent. A substantial portion of my "Shopping Kitty" is currently tied up by Freeman and others who are not reimbursing in a reasonable period of time. It is bad enough to have the "Kitty" tied up and unavailable for use generating additional income or benefits on additional shops, but increasingly I am concerned about actually losing money by not being reimbursed.

You are, however, in an uncomfortable position of persuading shoppers that payment issues are over with Goodwin. One or two pay cycles that 'work' are not convincing to skeptics like me that the issues are over. My best pay cycle with Goodwin was 45 days. A 90 day pay cycle is where I believe you are now. To me, that is still too long, even if it is like clockwork. I would do better working my "Kitty" with a company that pays me in 30-45 days and use that money twice in the same time period.

Flash-

Your view of the surveys puts an interesting perspective on things for me, thank you for that. The shoppers were pretty clear about their distaste for our payment issues, so I assumed they were being honest about everything. However, I can see the reasoning behind the potential that they are lying just to stay in good graces. This is somewhat frustrating, since we actually want the candid feedback, and I think that by understanding more about the shoppers needs, wants, and opinions will eventually make us a better company. We're only as good as our shoppers, is what I always say.

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> You are, however, in an uncomfortable position of
> persuading shoppers that payment issues are over
> with Goodwin. One or two pay cycles that 'work'
> are not convincing to skeptics like me that the
> issues are over. My best pay cycle with Goodwin
> was 45 days. A 90 day pay cycle is where I
> believe you are now. To me, that is still too
> long, even if it is like clockwork. I would do
> better working my "Kitty" with a company that pays
> me in 30-45 days and use that money twice in the
> same time period.

The best I can do for this right now is remain honest with everybody. Yes, we are still at 90 days (at best). Yes, this will turn away many shoppers, but it is what it is right now. We are working to make it better. When we do, and we have consistent pay cycles that "work," then I will trust that some of you will come back, with full faith that your "kitty" will not be held up for too long.

Thanks for your feedback. I prefer to hear the ugly truth than to have it candy coated, because that doesn't help me nearly as much.

As I mentioned, I have no dog in this hunt. Your client in my area was not a pleasant dining experience. Writing a tactful but accurate report of an overall unpleasant experience takes a whole lot of time and energy and rewriting and editing They may have changed but I could not enter there 'unbiased' so best to stay away entirely.

Forums are about the best possibility to glean opinions that are not candy coated. Shoppers on forums recognize that complaints or kudos are only one sided representations. It is when there are trends that shopper ears prick up about a company being good or dangerous to work with. But the bottom line is that a company is as bad or as good as your last shop for/with them.

Your position of rebuilding trust is not an enviable one. Certainly a good start is being honest with everyone and trying to get folks paid. In the longer term, some modification of policies or procedures needs to be done that prevents a recurrence of the situation. And payments need to be handled not just for the squeaky wheels, but for all shoppers. They need to be handled for those who spend $15 on your behalf or $500 with an even hand. I've always wondered whether a statement in an obvious place on a website/job board would be useful that stated "Payment for all work submitted prior to __/__/20__ was completed on __/__/20__. If you have not received payment for shops reported prior to that date by _________, please contact paymentinquiry@____.com. Our next payment date will be __/__/20__." This would take a lot of the guesswork out of payments as well as establish the sense that payments are progressing, even if it is running 101 days instead of 90 days or less. And it informs shoppers considering doing work about what they can currently expect.

I'm gathering now that these forums are the best place for me to obtain my information. Previously, I had only monitored those threads about my own company, but of late, have monitored those of some other companies who have been in similar situations, which has been helpful.

Modifications and policies are changing as we speak, and to be sure, the aim is to prevent this situation from happening again, ever.

I like your idea about posting something on the website to take the guesswork out of payment times. I will certainly bring that up when I present all of the ideas I have gathered here.

Amy,
Reading forums is a great way to take a pulse on what shoppers are feeling, in general or about your firm. Kudo's to you for taking what is said here to heart.

Dee Shops-

I appreciate the kudos.

Technical question for you guys - do I have to click on "Email notifications of new replies?" every time I submit a response, or does one time keep me notified of all responses?

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday!

Thanks!

Once it is set up it will send the notifications about thread activity until you turn it off.

2 jobs in October: still not paid. Contacted them and received a bot response of "unknown" when I will get my money.

Jbaetke-

It's not a bot. I actually read your inquiry (or listened to your voicemail), looked up your history of shops, data input a request for you, and created the email for you (mail merge, but still a human step involved).

Like I said, we receive hundreds of requests a week, and we are processing payments as fast as we can. I am having to tell many of our shoppers that I do not know the exact date of payment. As soon as we transfer money, I am following up with them, literally minutes later.

I apologize that I could not give you more specific information when you made your request. I probably cannot give you more specific information today, either. I do promise that I will as soon as I know, and you will not go unpaid.

I thank you for the patience you have needed thus far, and I hope that we will be able to put this behind us as soon as possible. Feel free to email me with any additional concerns.

Thank you.

Thanks for the post...I appreciate it. I have trust in your company now, but nagging you for payment is just no fun. I'm sure you're bogged down with this, but didn't Goodwin see this work load coming? Why take more than you can all chew?

And you are not a bot . I stand corrected.

jbaetke Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> didn't Goodwin see this work
> load coming? Why take more than you can all chew?


I wish it were that easy. It was an inopportune sequence of events that lead to our current situation. Huge growth in sales was followed by only minor growth in staff (as well as some other internal events). It's one of those hurdles that I believe many small companies have to jump over as they are growing.

It's definitely been a surefire lesson in growth and how to manage it.

Or how NOT to manage it

I stand corrected Flash, good point. :-)

I guess I must be lucky, I have been doing shops for them since 2/09. I have not had any issues with non payment. I have done about 50 smoothie shops. I love them.

This has been a productive exchange, i.e.: mystery shoppers "shopping" mystery shopping co. Don't you just love incorrect grammar ( different than), spelling (their/there/they're),vocabulary (reimbursals) used by your employer who critizes you for your spelling, grammar sentence structure but is completely unavailable (oops that's unaviable) for discussion?

'different from', no?

Different from, yes. Different than = incorrect grammar.

marijaldm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This has been a productive exchange, i.e.: mystery
> shoppers "shopping" mystery shopping co. Don't you
> just love incorrect grammar ( different than),
> spelling (their/there/they're),vocabulary
> (reimbursals) used by your employer who critizes
> you for your spelling, grammar sentence structure
> but is completely unavailable (oops that's
> unaviable) for discussion?


I'm not sure I understand why this was posted here. Is this referring to Goodwin?

I'm coming up on the 90 day mark for my first of two Goodwin shops. After 60 days, I contacted them since it says payment is "60-90" days. No surprise based on what I read from others since I did the shops, the response I got was "We pay within 90 days". I don't expect to be paid until the last second and I am not anxious to work for them again. If there's someplace I really want to eat, fine, but it's generally not. AND, none of the restaurant shops they have in my area reimburse enough to fully cover what they require you to order.

I hit the 90 day mark today. We shall see if something arrives in the next few days! Not holding my breath, but it would be wonderful if I didn't have to start chasing down payment.