MSPA Certification Number

This past January, I renewed my membership with MSPA. Since then, none of the Sassie shops will accept my certification number. Does the number change each year or do I have to take a new certification test? I have written to MSPA three times and I always receive a generic response that they receive large volumes of email each day and it may take a long time to respond. Has anyone else had this problem?

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I've never renewed with them. I was gold certified in 2003 and all the Sassie sites still accept my original certification number.

My silver was put in when I signed up with each company over 7 years ago. I have never had to enter it again. I don't renew with mspa either. Also these certs seem worthless once your established with each msp. One last thing you may check is what email the cert is linked to as it only works when signing up with that email.What you can do is sign up with the email you got te cert with then update to the current or correct email you now use.

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.

There is no reason to renew. Your certification is permanent.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

@BuffaloNY101 wrote:

My silver was put in when I signed up with each company over 7 years ago. I have never had to enter it again. I don't renew with mspa either. Also these certs seem worthless once your established with each msp. One last thing you may check is what email the cert is linked to as it only works when signing up with that email.What you can do is sign up with the email you got te cert with then update to the current or correct email you now use.

I've had the same email address for over 20 years, so I'm sure it's a glitch on their end. It would be nice if they responded to my emails.

I'm not understanding why you recertified. Do you still have your old certification number? Just enter that one since they do not expire.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I'm not understanding why you recertified. Do you still have your old certification number? Just enter that one since they do not expire.

I'm asked to update my number. I enter my original number and it is refused.

That's so odd.

Maybe you should contact Surf Merchants.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Maybe you should contact Surf Merchants.

What's Surf Merchants?

I signed up for a new MSC last night and it asked for my certification. I put in my Silver Cert # and it rejected it saying that the number did not match the email address for that number. I checked the number and the email both and they were correct. I have never used another email with anything to do with ms'ing so I know I used the right email address. I finally gave up and left the cert # blank.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I'm not understanding why you recertified. Do you still have your old certification number? Just enter that one since they do not expire.

I've had my Silver Certificate # since 2005 (or was it 2006??). It hasn't expired, either.

Maybe a scam company...I've had my silver certification # for 9 years, and the same # is on my original profile, never asked for an update....should be for a lifetime.

Live consciously....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2016 02:32PM by Irene_L.A..

So, none of you have ever had to pay an annual renewal fee? I had to pay $25.00 for a renewal of my membership.

You are talking membership, not certification. When MSPA started offering membership to shoppers they may have included the option to become silver certified with the first year's membership. The certification should then be permanent while membership would need to be renewed.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

@LisaSTL wrote:

You are talking membership, not certification. When MSPA started offering membership to shoppers they may have included the option to become silver certified with the first year's membership. The certification should then be permanent while membership would need to be renewed.

That is what I thought. I renewed my membership, but none of the Sassie profiles will accept my certification number.

@barbage wrote:

I signed up for a new MSC last night and it asked for my certification. I put in my Silver Cert # and it rejected it saying that the number did not match the email address for that number. I checked the number and the email both and they were correct. I have never used another email with anything to do with ms'ing so I know I used the right email address. I finally gave up and left the cert # blank.

You seem to be having the same problem. I have left all of my certification numbers blank as well.

You paid $25 for a membership and they can't or won't return your emails! Glad I never joined. What kind of benefits do you get with your membership that made you decide to join?

@JASFLALMT wrote:

You paid $25 for a membership and they can't or won't return your emails! Glad I never joined. What kind of benefits do you get with your membership that made you decide to join?

I read somewhere that one would receive more assignments if he/she was a member of MSPA and either silver or gold certified. What a joke! I have no shops for the rest of the month and only two scheduled for next month.

I'm gold certified and i have gotten some assignments that I couldn't have gotten otherwise, but many others with no certification are doing great without it. I've never read anything about membership getting someone more shops though. How many companies are you signed up with? That's the best way to get more shops, that and checking email quickly and scanning the job boards regularly..

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2016 12:43AM by JASFLALMT.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I'm gold certified and i have gotten some assignments that I couldn't have gotten otherwise, but many others with no certification are doing great without it. I've never read anything about membership getting someone more shops though. How many companies are you signed up with? That's the best way to get more shops, that and checking email quickly and scanning the job boards regularly..

I've signed with over 30 companies. There are jobs out there, but they are either age restricted, being banned due to being recognized as a shopper, too far away, not enough time has lapsed, shops at a shopping plaza of which my husband is a property manager or very low paying jobs.

I check every MSC daily as well as prestomaps, but nothing worthwhile.

You need to sign up with more companies. Most of us who make a decent income are signed up with 100 or more.

I recently had the same problem. I tried to enter my silver certification number on a new shopper website and it said the number was not valid. You are not alone.

@LisaSTL wrote:

You are talking membership, not certification. When MSPA started offering membership to shoppers they may have included the option to become silver certified with the first year's membership. The certification should then be permanent while membership would need to be renewed.

Lisa,
Do most shoppers renew their memberships each year? If not, call me stupid.

I may be able to assist you on this, if its relevant. When I become gold certified with the MSPA nearly 10 years ago, I used a different email address. When I changed the email address, the Sassie databases for multiple MSCs wouldn't take my MSPA Gold Certification ID#. What I was able to do was input my old email address (despite my not using it) into Sassie, until the Gold Certification icon appeared. Afterwhich, I went into the Sassie settings and changed the email address again. At that point, the second email address change did not effect the MSPA ID within Sassie. Despite calling the MSPA a few years ago to assist me (they told me that my Gold Certification ID is married to the email address that I registered with forever) and not receiving any assistance whatsoever from them, I've been using this method ever since.

Hope that this helps you some, OP.

Just a quick note.... At the IMSC conference in Chicago (which I think was 4- 5 years ago) the same problem was discussed by execs from MSPA and from their management company and a fix for all of the issues with rejected cert numbers was promised within 6 months. Posts here and on other forums have never stopped citing ongoing problems with virtually everything having to do with registering cert numbers.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

I

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2018 07:04PM by Joy1228ce.

Don't hold your breath. MSPA cert numbers have been an ongoing problem for 3-4 years.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

Yeah I got an automated email telling me how backed up they were and it could be a while before answering me. But they left a link telling me I should consider becoming a member and getting certified.

I would not pay for membership each year. There was no benefit that I noticed. Having the certification, though, does for me.

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