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I am totally fed up with this company tonight. I have been doing some shops for them for a while and have stuck up for them before. I got my check from them, and it was a lot less than expected. Surprise, surprise, a $50 bonus was not included. I wrote my scheduler and a higher up and expressed how disappointed I am. I feel like I bust my butt to get their things done, and then not to give a bonus! I think they just put it there to entice you and then they find some lame reason not to give it to you. Can anyone give me a reason to give them any more chances?

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I have always been paid a bonus when one was stated.

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“Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling."
~Gilbert K. Chesterton

Anyone else? I am fuming.

A whole lot of it depends on whether they overlooked the bonus (or hoped you would overlook it) or deliberately denied it to you. Whenever a bonus is missing I contact them immediately (this is with any company--I don't think NSS has had any shops that interested me, so I don't think I have worked with them). A company that is no longer in business never bothered replying to me. Thus when they went out of business I had no unpaid jobs, because with no response to a question about a bonus or pay item, I don't work with a company further. Several companies have done the "Oops" number about the bonus and either gotten it out immediately or told me it would be in the next pay cycle (and it was). Several companies have questioned the existence of the bonus, but emails of promised bonuses I save and they are forwarded to the appropriate parties. Eventually I have never had a promised bonus denied except by the jerk who's company is now well flushed down the toilet.

thanks--I'll try to calm down and give them the benefit of the doubt. In the past, they have cancelled some jobs because of some dubious "fuzzy" photos. I know this was not the case with the shop in question, because with a $50 bonus involved, I was taking no chances and taking all precautions. I just feel jerked around tonight and hope they come around. If not, in the future, I may not take the shops anymore.

Feel free to vent. Indeed it is especially annoying to have shops you know you did correctly squirrelled with. I assumed this was your first run in with them. I always figure that I will get to dispute a few jobs with a company that I do much work with, whether it is an "oops" or a new editor or something else bizarre. What is most important is the goodwill from both sides to find the correct solution that makes both parties satisfied, so if it isn't just an "oops" look for some reasonable solution you are comfortable with and if they won't meet you at a reasonable compromise, then it is time to wave, "Bye, bye!"

Hi Flash,

They cancelled one or two before because of poor photo quality, which was arguable for sure. Because of the bonus this time, I made sure this was not the case. Luckily I found the email that stated there was a $50 bonus and forwarded it to them. I have seen lots of complaints about them on this board, but stated in terms of the product shopped, not the company name itself. I have always stuck up for them, but when my check was so short, I thought, well, maybe the other shoppers have been correct!

I hope it is an oops. I really have like shopping for them in the past. This just sent me over the edge. I really went out of my way to do these shops for them, and to not get paid!

So take a deep breath, think warm and positive thoughts and figure it is an oops until you have reason to know otherwise. It is always sad to lose a company you have felt good about doing shops for. So you want to avoid that if possible. And in the end you are the one who will determine whether the trust is broken or just bent out of shape a little.

thanks much

And to add to that, even if it was an "oops" and they make it okay, sometimes it helps to take a month or two off from a company to get the negatives out of your head. Maybe not for you, but that definitely helps for me.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2010 03:26AM by dee shops.

yes, thanks Dee. I have had a stressful week, unrelated to shopping, and this hit me hard. I will take a deep breath, see what they do, regroup, and take a month or so off if need be.

Has anyone heard of the Shopper Employment Agency. There is a one time fee and I have heard never pay but this one sounds promising.?.

writer, did you check your shop history prior to receiving payment? With NSS, I always check there to make sure the bonuses were added. Sometimes they've been overlooked, so I just email the scheduler, and it's always been taken care of within a day or two. If you wait until receiving payment to straighten the accounts out, you'll have to wait another month to get the rest of your pay.

I wouldn't attribute an oversight to malice. NSS has always been straight with me.

The only problem's (if you can call this one) was I got an alert and I called...they said it was being worked on, not to worry and eventually was taken off. I did have a non payment due to lack of getting a business card. I have worked for them monthly for years (5), and that's it. Find them very easy to talk to when I call, and very supportive. I always got paid bonus when promised, never 50.00....out here bonus is 5.00 to 7.00, have not heard of a $50.00 bonus from them, unless it's the pizza shop (which I don't do). I would call again and straighten this out, if your report was acccepted and you don't have an alert (which takes longer) find out what happened. I like this company, so hang in there, it will be resolved.

Live consciously....

I have never been outright offered $50, but I certainly have gotten it from them. It's a negotiation - how badly do they want it?

It was a $50 bonus for a pizza shop. They emailed me back today and said there was a problem with my photo. Can't believe it--I worked so hard to make sure that didn't happen. I like them, so I will stay with them. Sigh--really wanted that extra $50 though.

Did they tell you specifically what the issue with the photo was? That client is a huge PITA for photos, no matter which MSC they are using.

They rejected one of my pizza photos because it was supposedly "too dark" but I sent another picture of it that included the absolute unquestionable color of the brown pizza box which proved it really did look that way. They sent the picture with that of another I had done, that yeah, absolutely looked different. I told them I wasn't aware that I was supposed to photoshop the photos to make them match the one of the prior shop and told them they were no longer worth my time. Yep, it had a bonus on it...but not $50! They did offer me to do another shop with a double bonus to cover both shops, but I decided against it seeing how easily they can decide to reject shops with legitimate photos. Good luck.

I was wondering about this service as well as I signed up for a ice cream shop and didnt see a shoppers fee. My bad, I guess you can do a shop just for the ice cream. Seems like alot of observation and work for under $3.00. Since I am new at this, I look at it as a learning experience, but most of the other companies I have worked for thus far have clearly put the shoppers fee on the assignment and I figured I just missed it. In reviewing other open assignments in my area, I saw they paid less than others for the same shop, pizza delivery. Finding the fees paid for their shop takes a bit more digging than some of the others I have worked for.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2010 02:47AM by rvini.

Oops. Want to take the client names out of your post? Your ICA confidentiality stuff generally includes not revealing who a company's clients are. Works well to refer to them as "gas shop" or "ice cream shop" or "pizza shop" etc. (To take them out just hit the blue edit button in the lower right hand corner of your post then fix it.)

sorry, thanks, shows what a greenhorn I am I guess, thank you

We all do it/have done it. Just no point in bringing down the Wrath of Kahn on your noggin

Thanks, I'll learn

These pizza photos for this client are next to comical. Now the client has been trendy and moved on to another MSC with the bulk of their work. I cannot stand the mangled pizza (a la Dee) shops: Annie Leibovitz could probably barely pull off these shots. I have almost been cancelled but pleaded my case hard and the decision was reversed and I got my $.

Lol...makes me wonder if I should attempt the pizza shop. I can take a good picture because I sell clothing on eBay but it sounds like this company (or the client) is picky. I looked at the sample pictures and it looks like it would be awkward at the very least to get the pizza in those positions. Do they want to know how the pizza tastes after all the acrobatics it is put through? My family will think I am crazy, lol.

Forgive my grammar and spelling on the boards. I am off duty.

They could care less how it tastes. If they cared about THAT standared, they would have us eat it while freshly delivered. :-) LOL.

I have only done one of these and was not for NSS. The photos weren't all that bad, it was the mangling that was a problem and getting the correct camera angle to include this and none of that and make sure the other was square. I ended up with the pizza between my feet on the kitchen floor (still in the box) for the 90 degree, flipped the box over to get the bottom photos of the pie (again on the kitchen floor) had to set a coffee table next to a blank wall to prop the lid and get the side shot while sitting on the floor with nothing else but the box showing, used a fresh single edge razor blade to cut the thing since they prohibited scissors and box knives are just downright unsanitary. If the pizza had tasted like something other than metal can tomato sauce on cardboard I might have considered doing it again.

Oh my that was one of my first shops for MCP and my kids were in hysterics. It looked like I was a pizza slaughterer by the time I was done and it wasnt until I downloaded my pics later, after cutting and flipping and trying to get them looking just right, that I realized one of the slices was sitting the wrong way. It took so long to cut the pizza and photograph the poor thing that it was pretty cold. Good thing we had gotten 2 pizzas or the gang would have been pretty mad at me. Instead, they think I am just crazy

The comments from the company was great pics, hahaha! Too funny, not sure I would do that one again but I think they gave me a little bit more than promised and they paid fairly quickly.

If I have a hankering for pizza I either make it from scratch myself or pick up whatever non-thin crust is on sale and doctor it up here. Something about spending $5 for a frozen pie, cleaning the goodies out of the refrigerator onto it and serving it hot, fresh and yummy, just makes the low pay and risk of rejection over bad pizza photos for an expensive but unpleasant pizza totally unworthwhile.

I may just have cursed myself, but I've found the pictures extremely easy and have never had an issue with them at all.

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