Payment Issues with HS Brands – Unfulfilled Promises & Delays
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HS Brands has always paid me for every job I've done for them in 12 years. Sounds like a newby that forked up their shop, and/or didn't pay attention to the pay schedule when they signed up for the shop.
Questions about the scheduler, the shop visited and other questions about confidential data will not be answered to respect the policy.
In the 2 decades of my association with Service Sleuth and the name change to HS Brands, I do not have any recollection of a 45 day pay policy nor mention of Western Union. In addition, it is my opinion if there were shoppers being denied fees, they would be burning up this forum with posts. The only negatives I recall reading are the folks who skimmed the contract and were not aware of payment conditions.
Thanks for your feedback. They have contacted me and confirmed that they would send the payment very soon. I will let you know once I get my money.
We all know the owner. Thanks for your polite feedback
This is definitely one of the weirdest threads I have seen on here. A person coming in asking for help retrieving a payment with terse responses that come off a bit hostile. Might just be a language barrier issue though.
@hatemelnagar wrote:
We all know the owner. Thanks for your polite feedback
OK. Really? I have stayed at his house. He has driven me in his vehicle, and I have his personal cell phone number.
We all have that, don't we?
ETA: Name the owner. That's not confidential information.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2025 07:21PM by BayShopper22.
@BayShopper22 - Just stop, you are killing us! Too funny that they will not respond to your helpful questions and that you have been "in the car," revelation.
I don't think Bayshopper is being rude. Hatem was asking for help and now is not really answering any questions. How do we help him if we have no details other than he was promised to be paid via Western Union? Of course the scammers are going to say the payment will be soon! They probably want him to do another shop.
Thank you for the feedback and advice. I’ve been contacted by the company, and they are working on processing my payment. I’ll let you know once I receive it. Thanks to everyone who kindly offered help and support.
My final, I think, post in this thread does not address the issue of a scam.
Although it was mentioned in another thread that MickeyB was very forgiving; Bob is the opposite. Since being contracted with SS, AKA HSB, in 2005, our association has been sterling. To the best of my recollection. the company has honored their end of our agreement; that is all I require.
Prior to this thread, I do not recall having ever read or heard of any shopper being stiffed by this MSC. I have, though, encountered several comments where the shopper did not read the contract, so were unhappy with the payment conditions.
Although it was mentioned in another thread that MickeyB was very forgiving; Bob is the opposite. Since being contracted with SS, AKA HSB, in 2005, our association has been sterling. To the best of my recollection. the company has honored their end of our agreement; that is all I require.
Prior to this thread, I do not recall having ever read or heard of any shopper being stiffed by this MSC. I have, though, encountered several comments where the shopper did not read the contract, so were unhappy with the payment conditions.
On the other hand, the OP said they did the job in November. Even if it was the end of November they should have gotten paid by now. That and the OP ,as I recall ,mentioned they had called the company numerous times and each time was told basically the check is in the mail. Now after advice given kindly from my point of view the OP has brushed it all off and refused to touch the subject of a scam saying they cannot divulge any information due to their contract. Hmmm, I believe it is okay to say something like it was a restaurant shop without naming the brand of restaurant, or that they had gotten a pre payment check in the mail. But now the OP who came here asking for help is just saying that he is waiting yet another time for the pay promised. Pay being promised and not received multiple times was the reason he contacted the forum in the first place. So either the job was a scam or the poster is a scam in my mind.
From my recollection of the conversation he is not being paid by Western Union. He said that was a choice he did not take.
From my recollection of the conversation he is not being paid by Western Union. He said that was a choice he did not take.
@sandyf wrote:
From my recollection of the conversation he is not being paid by Western Union. He said that was a choice he did not take.
This is the direct quote from OP
"I selected the payment to be paid via Western Union. The point is that HS hasn’t sent the payment yet." He posted this on 2/14/25 @ 4:40PM.
Based on my limited English understanding, he did claim that he chose the Western Union route as payment method. And I fully believed that OP is currently in denying mode, but too proud to admit that he got scammed.
@kisekinecro wrote:
@sandyf wrote:
From my recollection of the conversation he is not being paid by Western Union. He said that was a choice he did not take.
This is the direct quote from OP
"I selected the payment to be paid via Western Union. The point is that HS hasn’t sent the payment yet." He posted this on 2/14/25 @ 4:40PM.
Based on my limited English understanding, he did claim that he chose the Western Union route as payment method. And I fully believed that OP is currently in denying mode, but too proud to admit that he got scammed.
Your English is fine. Think that we shop in the same general area too.
@BayShopper22 wrote:
Your English is fine. Think that we shop in the same general area too.
（Handshake) Thank you. I am in Los Angeles area, more specifically sgv area
@kisekinecro wrote:
@BayShopper22 wrote:
Your English is fine. Think that we shop in the same general area too.
（Handshake) Thank you. I am in Los Angeles area, more specifically sgv area
Hey. I’m in Southern CA on occasion, but currently, I shop the greater San Francisco Bay Area.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2025 01:33AM by BayShopper22.
MY BAD. I was probably remembering what someone else said and attributed it to him. Yes you are right, he used Western Union.
@kisekinecro wrote:
@sandyf wrote:
From my recollection of the conversation he is not being paid by Western Union. He said that was a choice he did not take.
This is the direct quote from OP
"I selected the payment to be paid via Western Union. The point is that HS hasn’t sent the payment yet." He posted this on 2/14/25 @ 4:40PM.
Based on my limited English understanding, he did claim that he chose the Western Union route as payment method. And I fully believed that OP is currently in denying mode, but too proud to admit that he got scammed.
Hey everyone, I just wanted to thank you all for your feedback and advice. Today, I finally received the payment from HS Brands. I've also deleted my profile from their website and have no plans to do any more mystery shops with them. Thanks again for your support!
I have worked for them for 20 years. They are slow to pay but state it takes 60 days. That is after editing, not when you complete the shop. I always get paid. Sorry, you are having issues with them.
At one point, they shortened the pay to 45 days for the larger projects, which still took around 60 days. They updated the pay time to 60 days when the report was accepted and sent to the client. It can take them up to 10 days to finalize the report. You can tell when it was finalized when you get the thank you your report was accepted email.
@hatemelnagar wrote:
Hey everyone, I just wanted to thank you all for your feedback and advice. Today, I finally received the payment from HS Brands. I've also deleted my profile from their website and have no plans to do any more mystery shops with them. Thanks again for your support!
Form of payment?
Western Union or company check?
I don't understand. I signed into my HS Brands account, Western Union is NOT one of the payment options. The options are Paypal or I don't want to get paid (I don't want to enter payment information at this time). I'm betting, maybe even real money, that the OP has been scammed.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2025 01:03AM by Morledzep.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2025 01:03AM by Morledzep.
@BayShopper22 wrote:
Form of payment?
Western Union or company check?
Possibly a cashier's check?...for more than what they were owed?
I suspect we will never know, but in the event that HSB actually offers this as a payment option in other locations, that's a terrible idea. There are a myriad of other payment options that don't scream "scam".
I looked at the list of countries on the HS website where they do business and decided that I wouldn't pass judgement on what might be a routine payment practice elsewhere. But, the fact that the OP wouldn't say where they are tells me they probably made the whole thing up and it's just a troll with intent to damage a reputation.@SteveSoCal wrote:
@BayShopper22 wrote:
Form of payment?
Western Union or company check?
Possibly a cashier's check?...for more than what they were owed?
I suspect we will never know, but in the event that HSB actually offers this as a payment option in other locations, that's a terrible idea. There are a myriad of other payment options that don't scream "scam".
I thought OP posted a follow-up saying they were able to resolve the issue.
@jp43209 wrote:
I thought OP posted a follow-up saying they were able to resolve the issue.
They posted a follow up saying that they "received payment" that day. No actual details on the payment. Just backing down from the initial post about not getting paid.
I would say that if you come to forum and post that your Western Union payment from an MSC has not appeared, and have everyone questioning how you possibly opted for payment in that manner, some additional explanation is due.
Considering that the OP also posted they want nothing more to do with the MSC, I don't see how it would be an issue to explain how that came about.
I know another MSC that was posting for assignments to do business verifications in crazy locations all over the world, and expect that some of those payments may have been made using less traditional forms of payment...possibly even Western Union, but it would not have been breaking any rules to say, "I am in [insert country] and PayPal (or whatever they use) is not accepted here."
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