I see I am not the ONLY one waiting for payment from Cirrus Marketing Intelligence Mystery Shopping Co. I am STILL WAITING FOR PAYMENT for an Apartment Shop I performed in September, 2017, even after several e-mail communications back & forth with the promise that I would be "paid for September Shops in December, 2017" ....Yeah, right! That NEVER happened. Here we here in the middle of January, 2018 and STILL NO SIGN OF PAYMENT for a Shop performed in September, 2017! DO THEY REALLY THINK THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH THIS, ESPECIALLY AFTER PUTTING IT IN "WRITING" IN AN E-MAIL????? I have been Mystery Shopping since July, 2005, and have NEVER experienced anything like this in all these years!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! True, I may have received a "Shopper Grade" of an '8' or '9' instead of my usual EXCELLENT Shopper Grades of "10" in ALL MY REPORTS in all these years, I have ALWAYS BEEN PAID IN A TIMELY, PROFESSIONAL MANNER! Just trying to decide where this has to go to for IMMEDIATE ACTION! Better Business Bureau? Anyone have any ideas? Thanks! And, Good Luck to everyone!

Did you submit an invoice for September?

YES, I did!

I have had to chase payment from Cirrus a couple of times and have always been able to get it resolved. Call 800-899-7600 and explain that you are missing a payment. They will transfer you to the appropriate person. They may ask you to submit your invoice again. It is a frustration, but I have always been paid within a day of making this call. Keep it professional and you should be able to get through.

Quite a few folks prefer not to work for Cirrus because of the slow payments and (too frequent) need to chase payments. I tend to simply consider it part of the "work" of doing jobs for Cirrus and only pick up assignments from them if they are paying about $15 more than MSC's with similar jobs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2018 01:39PM by MFJohnston.

@ MF Johnson: Thank you so much for that information and your experience with this situation! I surely will call that number and do as you said! I always do keep it professional. However, I admit I was beginning to lose my patience quickly with this issue! They are so UNPROFESSIONAL! Not very good examples when they expect us to perform our shops with pure EXCELLENCE! Oh well, I just keep on doing my BEST! We cannot control someone else's behavior, but we CAN control OUR behavior! Thanks again, MF Johnson! Have a great day!

Good luck! Let us know how it goes. As long as you hold up your end of the professionalism (no matter how nutty it gets), it will always be your choice as to whether or not to work with them in the future.

Did yelling at us get it all out of your system?

SpaceStation1, please research prior threads regarding Cirrus Marketing Intelligence. Their pay schedule has been discussed at length. They usually pay in 4-5 months.

LisaSTL, do you work for Cirrus?

Nope. I don't work for any mystery shopping company and I never have.

@Eric in Tampa wrote:

SpaceStation1, please research prior threads regarding Cirrus Marketing Intelligence. Their pay schedule has been discussed at length. They usually pay in 4-5 months.

They are net 90. Typically, they are prompt if you plan to send a courtesy reminder invoice near the due date, and make a courtesy reminder call if they go over 5 days past net 90. Just a "Hi, could you check the status for me on invoice number 123456-99. I haven't seen it come through yet." Don't wait weeks or months for followup. Stay on top of it. Nudge, nudge. Yes, I know you should not have to nudge, but what works is what works.

And yes, they typically grade lower than other companies. If you're used to getting 10s with everyone else, don't be too disappointed. It's 8s and 9s usually. They're not saying everyone's universally crappy I don't think. That's just probably as good as it gets for them. Rarely do they give 10s. But they have a few on board who are a joy to work with interpersonally. They are positive for the most part and development oriented.

@SpaceStation1 wrote:

I see I am not the ONLY one waiting for payment from Cirrus Marketing Intelligence Mystery Shopping Co. I am STILL WAITING FOR PAYMENT for an Apartment Shop I performed in September, 2017, even after several e-mail communications back & forth with the promise that I would be "paid for September Shops in December, 2017" ....Yeah, right! That NEVER happened. Here we here in the middle of January, 2018 and STILL NO SIGN OF PAYMENT for a Shop performed in September, 2017! DO THEY REALLY THINK THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH THIS, ESPECIALLY AFTER PUTTING IT IN "WRITING" IN AN E-MAIL????? I have been Mystery Shopping since July, 2005, and have NEVER experienced anything like this in all these years!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! True, I may have received a "Shopper Grade" of an '8' or '9' instead of my usual EXCELLENT Shopper Grades of "10" in ALL MY REPORTS in all these years, I have ALWAYS BEEN PAID IN A TIMELY, PROFESSIONAL MANNER! Just trying to decide where this has to go to for IMMEDIATE ACTION! Better Business Bureau? Anyone have any ideas? Thanks! And, Good Luck to everyone!

They are net 90. Typically, they are prompt if you plan to send a courtesy reminder invoice near the due date, and make a courtesy reminder call if they go over 5 days past net 90. Just a "Hi, could you check the status for me on invoice number 123456-99. I haven't seen it come through yet." Don't wait weeks or months for followup. Stay on top of it. Nudge, nudge. Yes, I know you should not have to nudge, but what works is what works. As they say in Texas, "If a horse does what you want it to do when you spit on its ear, just spit on its ear and go. Don't worry too much if it doesn't respond to anything else." Put it on your calendar. "Email invoice reminder. Make call." Or create another type of touchpoint so you stay on their live radar. Net 90 is a long time and touchpoints help them remember who you are and what they need to take care of. I've seen the same thing as others here. Payments are usually made within 24-48 hours of a call to their toll free and a second invoice.

And yes, they typically grade lower than other companies. If you're used to getting 10s with everyone else, don't be too disappointed. It's 8s and 9s usually. They're not saying everyone's universally crappy I don't think. That's just probably as good as it gets for them. Rarely do they give 10s. But they have a few on board who are a joy to work with interpersonally. They are positive for the most part and development oriented. They are pretty responsive to communication.

I had an issue with payment and emailed them. They responded that I needed to send in an invoice which I had never done. After doing so, I’m supposed to get paid the next cycle/ end of this month. Hoping this will resolve my issue and maybe can for you as well. If u need the contact let me know.

I quit shopping for them after the first month I did shops. I emailed as I could not find their payment schedule and they told me it is only listed on their main webpage under frequently asked questions and no where else!!! They pay 4 MONTHS after your shop date!! 4 months!! So when I told them they should list unusual payment schedule like that on payment section of Shopper profile as it appears to me that they deliberately hide payment information so you will do shops!! They paid me the next day!! So my advice is to tell them they shouldn’t hide the information on payment scheduling and I bet they pay you!

Net 90? More like Net 90 years it takes to receive payment.

They process in net 90. After that, it takes another month, two or whenever they feel like it to send out your payment. I'm surprised people still shop for them.

I do not like how long it takes to get paid. Nor do I like that I have had to ask to be paid more than once - after the payment period had passed. However, I have been paid for every job I have performed for them.

The way I see it: The long payment scheduled and the potential to need to ask for payment once the date has passed is justification for requiring a higher payment from them for similar jobs to other MSC's.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

They process in net 90. After that, it takes another month, two or whenever they feel like it to send out your payment. I'm surprised people still shop for them.

Nobody wants to wait for 4-5 months. Cirrius is one of the most difficult companies to work for. I have been a shopper since 2002 and they will send you on a wild goose chase to get the most minute detail. As to why you want to work with Cirrus, is beyond my comprehension. If you worked for a regular employer, then you would really quit your job if your were not paid, and you would go elsewhere. Bills need to be paid, gas money has to be paid. Consider another company that will treat you with respect. I honestly believe that this industry needs to be regulated.

I did two shops for them a few years ago. On the first shop they said I talked too much. On the second shop they said I didn't talk enough. They never paid me, so I stopped doing their shops. How do they know what I said? It's a mystery shop.

@gbarnes wrote:

Nobody wants to wait for 4-5 months.

Why do people still shop for them? When I asked them why they take so long to pay, they said, "Shoppers shop in their spare time and don't need the money."

@LisaSTL wrote:

Nope. I don't work for any mystery shopping company and I never have.

Then how can you give advice...like NSS.....just askin.....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2018 08:57PM by Irene_L.A..

Say what? Most of the shoppers here giving advice have never worked for any MSC.

WHAT.....who do they work for beside merchandising....Coyle is full of expert mystery shoppers as are many others like Mercantile, The Source, MF and so on...????

I guess since I've only mystery shopped for 10 plus years and not been an actual employee, I will cease giving advice. I hope the others who are only mystery shoppers will do the same.

Doesn't shopping for years make you a mystery shopper, very confused on the West coast....and curious as to your title.

I think you two are arguing over the difference between "working for a company" (as in being an actual employee) and "doing work for a company" (as in being an independent contractor...

We are all Independent Contractor's, taking jobs with MSC's...what am i missing or is she playing with her words.

MFJ, I am not arguing with anyone and the response quoted certainly wasn't playing with words. I am finished with this because I have no idea why I was attacked.

She is saying that she does not "work for a company," which would imply that she is an employee as opposed to being an independent contractor.

@LisaSTL

You two were having an exchange regarding employment status... You two had different perspectives. ... I didn't mean to suggest either of you were angry.... I'm happy to change to a better word than "argue....."

@LisaSTL wrote:

MFJ, I am not arguing with anyone and the response quoted certainly wasn't playing with words. I am finished with this because I have no idea why I was attacked.