I think what is fair is to be paid according to when the MSC says I will be paid. If I don't like the pay schedule, I don't have to accept the work. If I accept the work, I accept the pay schedule. I understand there is a change in the pay schedule for Feedback Plus that came along with the change in ownership. If the pay schedule were now unacceptable I would not accept the work and my problem, if I had one, would be solved. I find the pay schedule entirely acceptable as long as I understand it and commitments are met with reasonable punctuality.

I shopped Sentry a few times and found their pay low, the payments slow, and the reviewers overly picky and their reports overly detailed. I liked Feedback Plus and am sorry to see the change.

It took my good buddy Dave a few weeks, but I'm happy to report that I can no longer see shops on the Feedback Minus board!

Are you sure there are available shops? Sometimes FP didn't have any, iirc.

Has anyone been paid for the later March shops?

Hi Teri. I did a shop on March 20 and got paid via Paypal yesterday. The note on their Prophet log in page states:

SHOPPERS: Payment for shops completed on or before 3/31/2014 will be processed by end of day today, 4/9.
Going forward (effective 4/1/2014), all payments will be processed 30-60 days from the date the shop is conducted.

I didnt get paid for my end of March shops yet.

Hi Techman,

Maybe they just started processing by region and my region was first, not sure how they do it. From what I read, the previous owner and CEO of Feedback Plus is still on board assisting with the transition, so I bet that you will be paid soon. Anything done after April 1st will be on the 30-60 day schedule.

jmoi@feedbackplus.com is the email address listed on the Prophet homepage to send in your tax ID info, so I imagine if you have any payroll questions you could email an inquiry to that email address and it will be directed to the proper channel.

SteveSoCal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Understood, but not all shops are paid that way,
> Tech. It doesn't make the MSC in question evil or
> financially distressed.
>
> Your standard is strictly based on the calendar
> month and theirs is based on elapsed time.
> Sometimes the two may intersect and other times
> they may not. I don't think it's an issue of
> fairness. It's just a difference in style.
>
> In the end, this works like everything the MS
> world. You don't have to take shops that you
> don't want. You don't have to work for companies
> who's pay timeline does not meet your standards.
> Shoppers don't get to personally dictate how a MSC
> pays, but If an MSC is having a problem getting
> assignments filled due solely to their pay
> timeline, they will either have to change their
> ways or go out of business.
>
> This discussion does beg the question, however, of
> why a MSC with a quick pay cycle sold out to a
> company with a 30-60 day pay cycle. At first
> glance it would seem to me that a quick pay cycle
> is not a surefire recipe for success in the MS
> industry.

Steve trying to equate a company being bought to
their pay cycle is like trying to compare a walmart
be built to a pizza parlor opening in another state.
There is no correlation. I know you are smarter than that.
People sell their businesses for dozens of reasons.
In fact, the smartest business owners sell their business
when its on the upswing at it's peak to maximize total return.
Then they go into something else. Starting a business and then
having it acquired by someone larger then you is
the exit strategy most entrepreneurs have.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2014 02:02PM by techman01.

Mary states:

I think what is fair is to be paid according to when the MSC says I will be paid. If I don't like the pay schedule, I don't have to accept the work. If I accept the work, I accept the pay schedule. I understand there is a change in the pay schedule for Feedback Plus that came along with the change in ownership. If the pay schedule were now unacceptable I would not accept the work and my problem, if I had one, would be solved. I find the pay schedule entirely acceptable as long as I understand it and commitments are met with reasonable punctuality.

BOB'S comment:

Folks, the above post is an example of one that epitomizes both logic and conciseness. Some may recall from a few months back, that, by her own admission, Mary had slipped and become somewhat out-of-hand. Perhaps a dust-up occurred this week in Texas?

Agreed, Tech...I was mostly just trying to make the point that we can only guess at the financial status of the MSCs we work for. We have a number of indicators we can look at (and pay cycle is certainly one of them), though I'm more clued in to worry about a company that is paying progressively later over time.

I think there have been more cases of MSCs going belly up than getting bought out at a profit since I've been in this game. I did have a drinks with a guy at an MSPA conference a few years back (when I was working for a MSC) who had just sold his company to a major player and was essentially set to retire. I guess that's the dream of every small MSC owner.

Not paid yet either. Hope it's soon.

stericycle is one of the few publicly traded companies and if you
comb through their finiancial reports they broke out
the mystery shop division at one point. It wasn't that large of
a number as some may suspect some of these msc's make.
Some of them I think end up underbidding a contract and
it ends coming back to haunt them, but that is true in any
industry.

Feedback Plus always had a few shops in my area (although, not a lot).
Sentry has nothing unless I want to drive two hours away to Cincinnati (which would take a HUGE bonus and I haven't done so yet).
I don't know if any of the Feedback Plus clients will get added to the Sentry Prophet page or if Sentry's current clients will expand into my area or not.
Although, I signed up with Sentry, it doesn't do me much good so far (but always hoping that they sign with more clients!!).

Well, the 9th has been over for a bit now. The message reamins the same on the FP site, but I have not been paid for late March shops.

And, as Mary says, what's fair is to pay according to the agreed upon terms. Initially agreed upon was the 7th.

I loved working for FB. I gave up working for Sentry because they are never satisfied with anything. I've been shopping for years. I guess that is the end of FB now, too. Shame.

Well here's what I am hoping. I am hoping that FB keeps most of their staff (surely an ownership change won't mean people will lose their jobs), and maybe the clients and the reports with FB won't change, either. The pay timeframe change mostly means I won't take any high paying shops, but FB shops, while involving reasonable pay, generally did not involve a great deal of money anyway. With Sentry, I would sometimes be out of pocket for 60 days to the tune of $70 or more, but it was reimbursement with no pay (except for a small bonus), which was unfortunate since I had to pay for a service or restaurant visit at the time of the shop on my credit card or sometimes with cash. With FB, payment would generally be a minimal expense being reimbursed and the rest was a shop fee. Here's to hoping that stays the same.

bgriffin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh. 2 MSC's to be banned from now!



must be here in Denver where you CAN smoke it!

That explains why an employee I knew at FBP called me and it was a different co showing up on caller id...................

Oh. I wonder if employees were laid off or if they chose to leave when the company was bought out.

Some people may have moved on to greener pastures, others might have decided to stay. It likely depends on if they were going to be treated and paid the same--will their benefits stay the same? Hours and work protocol not change (for the worse)? Will the office stay located in Dallas or move to Plano? If nothing changes, I imagine they will stay, since the former owner/CEO is staying on board to help with the transition. I would guess she will see to it her folks get proper treatment (she was in business long enough to know how to keep her employees happy). Hopefully their paychecks won't be delayed to 30 to 60 days too (just kidding).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/2014 08:29PM by JASFLALMT.

Like everyone else I am so disappointed by this. LOVED Feedback Plus. Did a few coffee shops for Sentry awhile back and they weren't bad but it was so nice getting paid timely (Feedback). 30-60 days is ridiculous. I wish I hadn't just accepted three shops for them. Will see how they go.....

I got excited when I checked my Paypal account. I saw a deposit and thought that I must have been paid for my Feedback Plus work. Alas, it was a payment from another company.

So we are now at the end of the 11th, which is two days after the Sentry deadline for pay and 4 days after the pay day that I agreed on. I wonder why some got paid, but not others?

that's par for the course with sentry, @teriw

Has anyone gotten the payment due to them on April 8?

Yes Lisa, I did, but several others did not...

I also enjoyed working with FBP, but have never (or maybe a long time ago I did) taken a shop from Sentry because of what I've read about the reports and the snarky replies I've read on here from the owner. Too bad, FBP didn't have a lot of shops here, but they came in spurts and I thought of them like on par with ICU, resonable pay, interesting shops. Their pay was quick and reliable. Never had any problems with them. Sentry has some good shops around here too, but I just can't bring myself to apply for them. No great loss, but a loss regardless.

Well, to follow up, I was paid for my late March shops. It took a little longer than usual, but it was far before the new pay schedule.

I got paid for mine too TeriW. I can close my sheet out on them for the year
since these were the last shops I am doing for them.