loved Grassroots. Did not work for other companies and am having a hard time finding a new "home." Wish I could get a better hint about the fish restaurant and where they may have landed.

@Day2Day wrote:

They sure are to be applauded!!! They took care of their shoppers 100%!! They do NOT owe me any money. I got fully paid for my shops just yesterday. I never had any doubt about this you know. They are one of a few SERIOUS companies!! I always enjoyed working with them. Their schedulers were the most accommodating I could ever deal with, and their editors??!! Dont even know who they were- that's how much they bothered me!!

This is one company towards whom I feel sorry from the bottom of my heart that they ceased operations!!

I agree with your statement fully!

My visa card seems to have been closed with a balance. Not sure if I will every hear back.

@OhioSerendipity wrote:

My visa card seems to have been closed with a balance. Not sure if I will every hear back.

Yepp, my visa card with balance on it is also worthless. None of my emails was replied and card company can't do anything about the card. Those who applauded above are wrong because not 100% of the shoppers of Grassroots got reimbursements.

What were the balances on your VISA cards?

I am also waiting on my [client name deleted] payment that I did in March... It was my first shop with Grassroots and last...

Did anyone get paid with the fish shops from March?
I did my FIRST one March 30th!?!

Can you believe that!? I am so annoyed with myself... I wish I had not done it but who would have known?

I never received payment from a shop I did on March 7th, so disappointed........

@Madetoshop wrote:

What were the balances on your VISA cards?

$80.00 if it was question for me. And it's not shop fees, it's reimbursement, my own money that I spent completing shops for them.

I feel your pain. I am owed close to $200 on my VISA. 2 restaurant shops and 7 college dining hall shops. I received my last payment in the form of a gift card 2 weeks ago.

@Plusha wrote:

@Madetoshop wrote:

What were the balances on your VISA cards?

$80.00 if it was question for me. And it's not shop fees, it's reimbursement, my own money that I spent completing shops for them.

Hi Plusha,

I have $75+ on my VISA card and it's still there. I would call the number for Prepaidcardstatus.com and ask them how your account was closed with a balance by someone other than you.

Grass Roots owes me $240 for 12 shops completed last month. I have called the 212 number and have been told they are not affiliated with Grass Roots but would take a name and number. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should proceed?

Does anyone have the number for Prepaidcardstatus.com? I only have the email. My card was also closed but I received a new one but am pending the activation code.

Thanks,

@mwilson wrote:

Does anyone have the number for Prepaidcardstatus.com? I only have the email. My card was also closed but I received a new one but am pending the activation code.

Thanks,

866-230-3809

@KateH wrote:

Probably they lost the major client they had for years and decided to close the mystery shop division. The major restaurant client was being shopped by other companies in late February so the contract must have been up for review and may be it was awarded to another company with long experience in restaurants and chains. If you read the profile of the executive team of the major client you can figure out very easily who might have picked this client. I think that is plenty of help.

I have been mystery shopping for several years, but I am new to this forum. I am not sure what your clue means...More info. please! Out of all the shops I do, the major restaurant client everyone keeps talking about was the one I looked forward to completing every month. I have a gift card waiting to be used.

How many out there have not been paid? I am waiting for my 12 shops to be reimbursed.

Can anyone provide the telephone number of the corporate office in NY for Grassroots Mystery Guest? Has there been any overture for reimbursement of March shops?

Have you any information on these shop payments?

Although I received a gift card from the dessert restaurant, I am still pending payment for other shops that I completed in March.

no payment for me, it should be visa card for shop in kids store

What options do we have in order to obtain payment? Anybody have suggestions?

The reality is that when other MSCs have gone belly up in the past, shoppers have not been paid. Depending upon how this company was structured, you may be an unsecured creditor. Apparently, there is another company in NYC which either had ties to or owned this MSC, but what their legal obligations might be seems to be unknown.

I pray we all get paid. I drove 70 miles r/t for these shops.

@myst4au wrote:

The reality is that when other MSCs have gone belly up in the past, shoppers have not been paid. Depending upon how this company was structured, you may be an unsecured creditor. Apparently, there is another company in NYC which either had ties to or owned this MSC, but what their legal obligations might be seems to be unknown.

This situation is much better than when a company goes belly up for the following reasons:

1. They did not go out of business.
2. They still do mystery shopping in other countries with global clients. (UK)
3. They should not want the fact that a subsidiary is now defaulting on it's contractors, as it is *VERY* bad for business. They are still selling services to corporations in the analytics area in the USA.

I'd give them a little breathing room, but you can cause them embarrassment by publicly shaming them in the areas that they are now "focusing" on. It's not time yet to go there, but I could find places to post that would be most embarrassing and detrimental to the new direction of the company. I won't post them here. They did not create a LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) and the parent company is fully on the hook. If your owed enough money, you could take them to small claims court if they ignore you long enough. They still have a USA presence that can be served.

Also, if they have an arbitration agreement clause in the contract, it is meaningless if they do not hold up their side of the contract, or the small claims judge deems it "atrocious" and can strike it down and still give you a default judgment.

I know a small business owner who placed a boilerplate arbitration clause in his contract and he was sued and didn't even show to court and received a default judgment against him and was not even aware of this until the person put a lien against his assets (property).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2015 11:00AM by scanman1.

Hi I am owed a visa card and a [name of restaurant deleted] gift card from grass roots Inc in Maitland, FL. how can I go about getting reimbursement?
please let me know as soon as possible thank you

How can we get our money that is owed to us?

Their phone number is listed on the first post of this thread.

I am still owed money that is to be loaded to my VISA card. I sent an email to prepaidcardstatus.com as I saw that it would go to them as well as staff person who worked at Grassroots. This Grassroots employee was always very responsive to my inquiries and my go to person when I got no response. This was their reply:

Thank you for your inquiry regarding your prepaid card. Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to fund the card, nor are we able to see what pending funds you may have. Information on future account funding can only be obtained through the rewards or incentive program that you received your prepaid card through.

Thank you,
Cardholder Customer Support

My card is a debit/credit Grassroots Rewards Card. I am no longer going to worry about the money and will chalk it up to an unfortunate experience

You can deduct the money lost on your taxes as a "business loss".

You can deduct any costs you incurred such as mileage or purchases as business expenses. However, as far as I know, you can not deduct the fee that you didn't receive as a business expense. It might be a bad debt, but it is not a business expense. Perhaps Dspeakes will provide an opinion on this.

@MMMM wrote:

You can deduct the money lost on your taxes as a "business loss".