I stopped hearing from them as soon as I said they needed to stop sending emails that said othing and needed to just pay me by a certain date. They went incommunicado. Oh well. I am contacting the client, the BBB, the Utah AG, and filing in small calims court. I need my reimbursement bakc, and Adam Valdez seem only willing to send stupid emails and not really address the issues. Oh well, Adam, it is your firm that is liable, not me. Hide all you want State records in Utah out you.

I did a carpet cleaning shop for them about a year ago. It was a more complicated shop than other carpet cleaning shops I have done, because was a reveal, and it required several pictures submitted with the report, and a sample of the cleaner used had to be shipped to them, in addition to the report, but I was paid on time and they were pleasant to deal with. A carpet cleaning shop that appears to be the same one I did last year is posted. I probably will not consider it, because the shop last year reimbursed $125 (reimbursement only), which was not enough for my large living-dining combo, so I added $15 to it. This year's shop is also reimbursement only and reimburses only $100.

I havn't been paid for a carpet cleaning shop from over 60 days ago from them, and it is a big upfront purchase. Mine came to $250 with only $109 being reimbursed, and I havn't seen that yet.

I was curious after your post, carol, so I went back and looked. I was paid for the carpet shop 4 days short of 3 months but was paid in full. I did another shop, health club, for them in October 2009 and was paid in December, exactly 60 days later. I think the health club changed MSPs because a few months later I did a health club, same chain, for QAMS. I just looked at FC's board, and, in addition to the cleaning shop I received the e-mail about, they are offering several, all over the country, all carpet cleaning. Some still pay $125 but in Texas they are now paying $100. I had no bad experiences with them, but would not do this carpet cleaning again as this carpet cleaning client is expensive and the shop does not reimburse enough to tempt me. My LR/DR would cost me about $150 with this client, $50 out of my own pocket...and then a report to write. I did another cleaning shop in July 2010 for another MSP using a Sears carpet cleaning group. It reimbursed $150, and I was able to have 5 areas cleaned: LR/DR, Den/Breakfast, and Master.

AustinMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was curious after your post, carol, so I went
> back and looked. I was paid for the carpet shop 4
> days short of 3 months but was paid in full. I
> did another shop, health club, for them in October
> 2009 and was paid in December, exactly 60 days
> later. I think the health club changed MSPs
> because a few months later I did a health club,
> same chain, for QAMS. I just looked at FC's board,
> and, in addition to the cleaning shop I received
> the e-mail about, they are offering several, all
> over the country, all carpet cleaning. Some still
> pay $125 but in Texas they are now paying $100. I
> had no bad experiences with them, but would not do
> this carpet cleaning again as this carpet cleaning
> client is expensive and the shop does not
> reimburse enough to tempt me. My LR/DR would cost
> me about $150 with this client, $50 out of my own
> pocket...and then a report to write. I did
> another cleaning shop in July 2010 for another MSP
> using a Sears carpet cleaning group. It
> reimbursed $150, and I was able to have 5 areas
> cleaned: LR/DR, Den/Breakfast, and Master.

I still have not been paid. I say shop with your eyes open, and know that you may well have to go to court over the reimbursement.

I am looking to get in touch with someone at Franchise Compliance. Could some one provide me with an email address or phone number to contact?

Thanks!

This is the scheduler I have worked with at FC. Very nice and she responds very quickly to e-mails, at least she did to my e-mails, although I did not e-mail her about payment.

kflygare@franchisecompliance.com

^

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2010 06:41AM by DaScubaLady.

DaScubaLady Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ^


After you wrote that you had not been paid, then edited out, for whatever reason, I was paid. Geezz, though. The check is dated July 29. It arrived yesterday, Nov. 24. I did the shop in May 2010. No excuse for this. I am waiting to seee if it bounces.

Sitting on a check for a month is inexcusable. I suspect that the check was pre-dated back to the date when it was SUPPOSED to be paid. Legally one must have funds in the account to cover checks at the date on the check and I suspect that was not the case that there were cleared funds to cover it on July 29. Check the postmark on the envelope as that will tell the tale of when the check was actually sent out. That is definitely illegal to falsify.

Athens,

I took down my posting since I wasn't sure what was going on. I had a similar problem, check showed up but with an old issue date. I was blaming the bank, but perhaps it was "found" by FC and mailed over a 75 days later.

I'm so confused !

All I know is that the check is deposited, and I will be so pissed if a $10 check bounces and causes me $18 plus in fees.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2010 08:08PM by DaScubaLady.

Still no carpet cleaning payment. Dec. 9th will be 90 days. I wrote to the scheduler who said she had "no idea" when I would be paid and to email someone else, so I did.

Carol

57carol Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Still no carpet cleaning payment. Dec. 9th will be
> 90 days. I wrote to the scheduler who said she had
> "no idea" when I would be paid and to email
> someone else, so I did.
>
> Carol


No one there is full time, it seems, even the owner, Adam Valdez. Good luck. I had to file with the BBB and threaten them with legal action, and even then it took over a month after that to get paid.

I have shopped for them in the past and gotten paid in time. I will not shop for them again. One late payment with all the attendant hassles I went through to FINALLY get reimbursed for my money lent to them is one shop too many, and I will never shop for them again. EVER.

They keep forwarding my e-mails to the mysterious Adam, who doesn't have the common courtesy to reply. I stated that I am warning others on the forum about the problem. I can't believe it. It is now well over 90 days. I am really upset. It was more than $100 output and I have a good local carpet cleaner I could have used, because it was over $200 all together. I just want my money back. I did a great job for them earning a "10" even making up an excuse to peek in the solution. It is so unprofessional. It is disgusting.

Hmm. Most of the checks I receive have a "must be cashed within 'x' days" on them. I've never seen one with more than 120 days, and it's usually 90. I'll be curious to hear if those of you who've deposited postdated checks were able to cash them. I hope you were!

I have given an ultimatum to this company. If I am not paid tomorrow, I am going to the client to inform them what kind of a shady company they are dealing with. I am sure they would like to know that the money they gave to Adam for my hard work sits in his account instead of being reimbursed to me, the shopper who called and scheduled the appointment, made sure I had time off of work, wrote up a long and detailed report, with many pictures, plus upfronted $109 that they owe me that I can no longer afford to be without. I will also contact BBB, and Athens, I will want to chat with you to see exactly what you did as well.

I found this forum today while searching other people's problems with Franchise Compliance. Add me to the unhappy shopper list who had to nag, have emails go unanswered, and threaten to get reimbursed. MUCH longer than the 4 months they put as a pending payment date on Sassie.

This is what I did today. I went to the Chem-Dry site and used the contact form to notify Chem-Dry that something is very wrong in Utah.

I hope that maybe somehow this will change the situation for other shoppers (cuz I have removed myself from their database after finally getting paid.) Or maybe Chem-Dry cancel their contract with the deadbeat MSC and use a more reputable firm. I can dream! :-)

Here is what I wrote:

Subject
Franchise Compliance Mystery Shop Firm Not Reimbursing your shoppers without MUCH Hassle

Comments
I completed a shop for your firm in the Spring of 2010 through Franchise Compliance, the firm you have selected to mystery shop your franchises.

I got a 10/10 rating on the report, and it was sent on to your firm. They marked it for payment pending for (Month removed here) (a ridiculous amount of time to reimburse a shopper their own money.)

(That month then the next) came and went - still no reimbursement. The company does not publish a phone number to shoppers, and numbers found on the internet for the firm were disconnected.

Apparently only clients such as your firm are allowed to call (using a secret, non-published number, I guess.)

Emails begging for payment and threatening legal action went unanswered.

I am not the only shopper experiencing this problem. Please see the following threads on mystery shopper forums:

[forum.volition.com]

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

When I was FINALLY reimbursed in (Month,) the check was back-dated to (Month that was 4 months previous) and my bank almost did not accept it.

I don't know if your firm is not paying FC or FC is scamming your firm by not paying shoppers after taking your money, but something is very wrong here, and the end result is the poor shopper who fronted their own money is getting the run-around and having to threaten or take legal action to get reimbursed.

I am a once happy customer who will no longer do business with your firm (or FC.) Although I liked the service I got from Chem-Dry, the inability to tell who is acting dishonorably in this situation will prevent me from using Chem-Dry again.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/14/2010 07:05PM by Hot_Mustard_Rocks.

I completed a test for FC back in August and am still trying to get paid.

I got a 10/10 on the report.

Valez hasn't even responded to my numerous emails.

If I have too I will contact Coit, the Utah BBB and the Utah Attorney General.

I just received an offer to do some shops. After reading these forum, I just canceled them. I really don't have time start chasing for payments.

Thank you Mystery Shoppers Forum - I almost signed up for a shop with this company but first did a search here.
I have chosen to pass
Thanks to all of you for all you do for all of us that don't have a clue, I'm just sorry so many of you had to have a bad experience for us to learn from.

Of course when we learn from the issues others are having, it makes us less likely to fall in the hole ourselves. Of course we all have very different opinions about good and bad companies, but when payment is slow or you have to go chasing it, that seems to be a universal problem to all shoppers working for the company. Certainly non paying companies is my #1 reason for not working for/with them. Ones I personally have had "issues" with are my #2 reason. Ones that the vast majority of folks who weigh in about a company have had "issues" with become #3 on my list.