Payment Issues with HS Brands – Unfulfilled Promises & Delays

Hello fellow shoppers,

I want to share my disappointing experience with HS Brands regarding a mystery shop I completed.

Despite their policy of paying within 45 days, I have not received my payment since November 2024, even though I submitted my report promptly. I followed up multiple times with their team who repeatedly promised payment dates that were never met.

This was my first shop with HS Brands, and the experience has been nothing but frustrating. I feel compelled to warn other shoppers about their lack of accountability and poor payment practices.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues with HS Brands? If so, how did you resolve it?

I hope this post serves as a caution to others considering assignments from this company. I will update here if the situation changes.

Thank you,
Hatem

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I have never had any issues with them in 18 years.

You are really lucky.

This discussion belongs in the section named Mystery Shopping Company Discussion. I see you have posted this there as well.
Their pay policy is over 60 days depending on what part of the month you did your job. Many others keep better track of pay policies but I know I have never expected to get paid in 45 days for an HS Brands project. And I have always gotten paid by them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2025 10:25AM by sandyf.

More than 90 days have passed, and I have not received my payment yet! This is unacceptable and unprofessional.

They have always paid me. However, it's a good practice to keep an eye on these companies and don't extend them to much credit.

Thanks for your advice

Thanks for your feedback

I have completed approx. 250 shops for the company spanning 20 yrs. and have always been paid.

Never had issues with them either. Did you make sure your payment method is correct? Have you reached out to them? They do have a long payment turnaround but they always pay. Before you "warn" against a company, give them a chance to resolve for you first. Could me a simple mishap. I had this happen once with another company. Apparently I didn't confirm an email about payment method so it was never set up. Just a missed step on my part. Once I reached out, it was quickly resolved.

I signed up with this MSC early last year, but have only done one shop. I was paid on time via PayPal, after the shop got approved/accepted. For me, I had no issues with the payment onboarding process.

Great. I wish I could get mine as well.

I have reached out to them multiple times and remain in contact with their team. Despite providing me with several payment deadlines, they have failed to meet any of them. Additionally, all my information is accurate and available on their site. This ongoing delay is extremely frustrating.

Great. I wish I could get my payment too.

I am wondering if the issue may be with PayPal rather than HS? PayPal has a pretty poor reputation while HS is consistently slow but pays reliably. I only choose the PayPal option when there is NO other choice because they are horrendous to deal with when there is any issue whatsoever.

I selected the payment to be paid via Western Union. The point is that HS hasn’t sent the payment yet.

Western Union? wow. That's an interesting option. Seems probably like the most inefficient as well.

If you bothered to read the many different posts about HS Brands, you would have seen that they pay, but they are one of the slowest out there.

You can always do like ShopperBob and terminate your agreement with them if you find it frustrating. We are not forced to shop with any MSC. This is by choice, so if you are not happy, I would hope you would not do another.

I need to receive my money first before taking any further decisions. The final decision is mine.

Thanks for your feedback and advice

Western Union isn't an option for North American shoppers so most here will have no experience with that payment method. Hope it gets sorted for you.

So that you don’t reveal too much client info:

1. What type of shop did you perform? Dining? Retail? Casino?
2. Was this in the USA? Other country?
3. Who is the scheduler?
4. Shop fee?
5. Expenses owed?

This seems very odd to me. I have worked for them for over 25 years. I know the owner personally.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2025 06:10PM by BayShopper22.

Did someone merge the two threads into one?!

"Double your pleasure, double your fun, with Double-mint, Double-mint, chewing gum!"

I would hate to be correct, but this sounds like a scam perpetuated on the original poster, as in the scammers impersonated the real HS brand and pulled the check cashing scam. No MS company that I am aware of pays via Western Union.

Yes I am also now wondering if the OP did a job for a scam company posing as HS Brands. OP are you contacting payments@hsbrands.com? Did your job require you to send them any money or gift cards or the like? There are many scams around and since none of us have experienced delays in payment after our jobs were accepted you perhaps have gotten caught up in a scam.

@MMMM wrote:

I would hate to be correct, but this sounds like a scam perpetuated on the original poster, as in the scammers impersonated the real HS brand and pulled the check cashing scam. No MS company that I am aware of pays via Western Union.

Red flag went up once I saw the Western Union comment.

OP, is this the page you logged in and completed your report:
[www.mymysteryshop.com]

And does the shop show as Received or Completed?

You were scammed. They don't pay via Western Union. I'm not aware of any mystery shopping company that does. It would be quite silly to pay someone that way.

I'm intrigued, Western Union is so not a payment option. Hope OP responds.

@MMMM wrote:

I would hate to be correct, but this sounds like a scam perpetuated on the original poster, as in the scammers impersonated the real HS brand and pulled the check cashing scam. No MS company that I am aware of pays via Western Union.

Exactly why I asked the above questions

Hello guys. This was not a scam.

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Payment Issues with HS Brands – Unfulfilled Promises & Delays

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