I've been waiting on a payment from Sentry related to a couple shops I performed. I have been emailing back and forth with Dave @ Sentry and he indicated payment would be sent by today. So far I've heard nothing so I emailed again. The email returned indicating the email address doesn't exist. Has anyone else had this happen?

Thanks you!

Are you using dave@sentrymarketing.com? This is the first I've heard about the email not working.

[shopper name removed]

Did you receive my last reply to your email?

Thanks

Dave

Mod note: Shopper name removed since it is not the screen name used in this forum and the shopper has not volunteered it publicly. If you want to refer to a shopper publicly on this forum, please use the screen name they signed up with.

Sorry.

I did receive a reply from Dave at Sentry and he indicated my payment would be sent by Wednesday, but that didn't happen because of an issue on their end with their payments. When I contacted him again he said it would be Friday. I did receive one payment from them on Thursday, but I still have one more that hasn't been paid. I emailed again and asked if that one would be reimbursed on Friday. Friday came and went, there was no payment and no response from Dave. The payment may not be much, but I earned it by doing the job, so hopefully they will resolve the issue soon.

I had a not so pleasant experience with this company and Dave. I too passed the 90 day mark for two shop reimbursements (not making money here). After several inquiries, I was told the checks were mailed, although I never did receive them. With increasing frustration I followed up every other day or so and let Dave know of my dissatisfaction. I stated I didnt plan on any more work with Sentry but wanted a firm date on payment as he stated he had to check with the bank to see if the checks were cashed or not before they were re-issued.

Well, Dave ended up canceling my shopper account saying he felt it was 'in the best interest for both parties given the circumstances' - circumstances of me not being paid and being dragged along for weeks??? OK ...
He reissued payment through bill.com and I did finally receive it.
Good Luck!

If your account was deactivated, it would not have been for checking on payment. Based on your post, it appears as if payment was processed but you did not receive the check(s) in the mail. That is quite different than payment not being processed. A reality of processing payment by check is that some checks will be lost in the mail or otherwise not delivered. Fortunately, the vast majority of our shoppers understand this reality and are pleasant to work with when this occurs. My guess is that "with increase frustration" translates into behavior that was not pleasant or professional. This is likely the reason for the deactivation.

edited to correct mispelling

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2015 01:49AM by Sentry Marketing.

I have decided to not even register w/this msc so this Dave person can not threaten to deactivate me. The majority of posts in forum seem to revolve around payment issues. I have many checks from several mscs & not a single lost one ever.

@Sentry Marketing wrote:

Fortunately, the vast majority of our shoppers understand this reality and are peasant to work with when this occurs.

Peasants? Would be funny if it weren't so sad.

Timely payments are important. Depending on the MSC and its response, if payment is delayed, I may not be pleasant either.

Without payment you might end up being a peasant too!

I could gladly post the email threads - there was absolutely nothing unprofessional about my inquiries. The way it was handled on Sentry's behalf however was.

Post them.

I think your attitude on this thread speaks for its self.

What attitude? I am simply asking you to back up your claim that your communication was professional. You wrote that you "could gladly post the email threads...". I think this is a terrific idea and would allow the mysteryshopforum community to judge your claims for themselves.

Edited to add:

I understand your reluctance to post our email chain because I closed your account based on your comment that: "I will not be doing any more business with Sentry but I do expect to be paid for the work I have completed".

Also, payment for the two assignments was processed within the terms of our stated payment terms. We provided you with check numbers and the dates the checks were scheduled to arrive.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2015 01:59PM by Sentry Marketing.

I did a fine dining shop for Sentry on 9/20/15 and was paid by bill.com depositing directly into my checking account on 11/25/15. The payment was timely. I liked the editor and the feedback.

@Sentry Marketing wrote:

Edited to add:
I understand your reluctance to post our email chain because I closed your account based on your comment that: "I will not be doing any more business with Sentry but I do expect to be paid for the work I have completed".

How is the comment a bad thing? It sounds professional to me.

The OP probably was going to deactivate themselves after being paid but Dave had to beat them to the punch.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2015 03:55AM by MSNinja.

The comment was not unprofessional. The OP did clearly state, however, that they did not intend to complete future assignments for Sentry and I deactivated the account based on that comment.

The point is that the OP insinuated that their account was cancelled for some reason other than their stated intention not to complete future assignments for our company.

Sentry certainly displays an attitude of shoppers needing them more than they need the shoppers.

For all the talk of keeping correspondents polite and professional, Dave certainly has not shown that here. I've had my share of saying things I regret during moments of frustrations, but the owners and schedulers have always worked things out with me and our relationships have grown better as a result of it.

LindaM

For my benefit, would you please elaborate on how my comments in this post have been unprofessional?

Thanks

Dave

Dave was and is standing up to a bully. The way I see it, bullies lie. Dave is providing the OP an opportunity to prove themselves, otherwise the true bully nature of their intent here remains in tact.

singingb said something like I don't like how you pay so I quit. Dave said something like okay since you quit I took you out of my system. Some other outcome was expected?

Um, yes, but that's of course, assuming professionalism. I agree, that with this MSC, the outcome was expected.

Mert,

Would you please elaborate on how my actions were unprofessional? I'd really like to understand if you have some rationale, other than your dislike for my company and I, for your point of view.

Thanks

Dave

No, thank you.

I think it could be taken two ways. 99.9% of the time when a shopper makes that type of statement they are just blowing off steam. I'm fairly certain most companies never hear the statement or if they do they just let it go because they realize the shopper is blowing off steam. If instead they deactivate the shopper it could be that they have concerns about the shopper's ethics or it could be taken as "OMG you don't want to shop for us anymore we''ll lust make it so you can't so THERE." One of those reasons is unprofessional. One of them is not. Although in my personal (and probably not worth very much) opinion it is a bit reactionary. I think it would be very rare that there would be legitimate concerns about a shopper simply because they made a statement that they would never work for a company again.

I'll give an example. I attempted a shop for Ellis once about a year and a half ago. It was a very bad experience where the apartment complex and office were in two very different places and I wasn't sure how to handle it. I called and got nowhere (the idiot couldn't even find my shopper ID in the system). So I cancelled the shop and went home. The next morning I got an email saying they were sorry I wasn't able to conduct the shop worded in a way that made it seem like it was my fault. I swore I would never do a shop for them. Was I telling the truth? Maybe. I still haven't done a shop for them. If they reached out to me to personally would I have a discussion about it and then perhaps do a shop for them? Maybe. I still log onto their shop board once every 4 or 5 months. Had they deactivated me after the incident though, I would have a much, much more negative opinion of the company than I do now.

Also, usually when someone makes a statement like "I'm never working for XXXX again" or when complaining about a business "I'm never eating here again" or whatever, usually that is a way for them to say "this relationship is in danger" and not necessarily that they really are never doing whatever it is they say. It's kind of like when a couple fights and one says "Fine I'm going to leave." They don't want to leave. What they want is so show the other person the level of their unhappiness and hope that the other person reaches out to rectify the situation. When one says "Fine I'm going to leave" and instead of saying let's try to work this out the other one says "Fine let me help you pack." That makes the situation worse and now the first one feels like the other doesn't really care about them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2015 03:03PM by bgriffin.

Ahhh, bgriffin, great post. When I was an editor, the owner of the MSC had me massage the egos of shoppers more than once, informing me that we needed the shoppers more than they needed us and I should try to repair any fragile relationships (such as when shoppers do not like constructive criticism and perceiving it as negative when that was not the intention). While this particular circumstance has nothing to do with editing, the MSC owner could be more concerned about damaging the relationship and possibly the perceived image of the MSC to other shoppers.

I would say that companies and shoppers need each other equally and respect should paid by both parties.

I agree with bgriff to the extent that context matters. I'll elaborate on both points later.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Ahhh, bgriffin, great post. When I was an editor, the owner of the MSC had me massage the egos of shoppers more than once, informing me that we needed the shoppers more than they needed us and I should try to repair any fragile relationships (such as when shoppers do not like constructive criticism and perceiving it as negative when that was not the intention).

I love constructive criticism. I find it helpful. Reading some posts in forum though there are waytoo many sensitive shoppers who would cry at the drop of a hat.

I had a similar exchange recently with another MSC and got a similar result so it doesn't happen only at Sentry. In my case, I contacted the MSC, reported a serious personal issue with the client that developed during and after a shop, then suggested perhaps I shouldn't shop that client anymore. They took away my ability to see that client's shops and the outcome was not unexpected. This was real similar to "I quit" and "Okay, then you're gone." I don't see a lack of professionalism on anyone's part.

While I agree with bgriffin that we frequently say things we don't mean and get results we don't want, we are after all responsible for our own communications and we should take care saying we quit when that's not what we want. I believe that once the relationship gets to the "I quit" stage, it's over. In business "I quit" is not usually answered with "Are you sure?"

@Mert wrote:

Um, yes, but that's of course, assuming professionalism. I agree, that with this MSC, the outcome was expected.