I wonder if anyone else is having a problem as National Shopping Service moves from mailing checks over to PayPal this month.

I got a form e-mail letter that said PayPal takes longer but all payment would be processed by the 21st (now it is the 25th). Before when they mailed checks I often got paid as early as the 10th of the month.

Paypal should be QUICKER not two weeks SLOWER. Does it seem strange that a mailed check is promised no later than the 5th of the month but Paypal can take up to three weeks and we should wait as long as the 21st.

Here is the letter I got from their accounting department:

Recently you opted in to our new payment option of Pay Pal. All January shopping Pay Pal payments have been processed. However, due to the transition, some payment have not yet been received. We expect all January Pay Pal payments to clear no later than 3/21/16. Please allow until 3/21/16 to receive your January Pay Pal funds.

Please note, as we worked through this transition with using the Pay Pal service, we have been educated that future Pay Pal payments will be following the below schedule. The Check payment schedule is listed below as well. If you would like to change your payment method at any time, please login to www.nationalshoppingservice.com and update your shopper profile. If you change your payment method at any time, please allow a few months before expecting the new payment method to take effect.

Thank you for your patience and support during this transition.

Check payments will be sent within 5 business days of the last day of the month, following the month in which shops being paid for were conducted.
Example:
Shop conducted in January 2016. Check for said shop will be mailed between 2/29 and 3/5/16.

Pay Pal payments will be processed in batches starting the last day of the month, following the month in which the shops being paid for were conducted. The Pay Pal processing can take up to 3 weeks.
Example:
Shop conducted in January 2016. Pay Pal payment will be processed and received between 2/29 and 3/21/16.

Thank you,

Shopper Payment Team
National Shopping Service
www.nationalshoppingservice.com
1-800-800-2704

I got the same letter but I still have not received the payment that I normally would have gotten by check by March 10. I took them at their word about the extension and called them today (since it was after 3/21) and was told that they extended it again to the end of this week. I sent a email to find out if this is a one time thing or if it is going to be every month and have not gotten a response yet.

Very happy to report a nice sized payment from NSS that went into my Paypal account.

Sunny, Good to know that they are getting closer. I hope mine comes next!!

I actually like NSS, wish that the big Pizza company they work with would just turn over 100% of their locations to this MSC but.....

They really need to hire a good IT person to fix some internal issues with their database.

As an Independent Contractor I cover a rather large rural territory that covers parts of three states. Whenever it is the start of a new period I am spammed by their folks with dozens (and that is not an exaggeration) of e-mails with "amazing bonuses" for non specific "shops in my area." Keep in mind anything over the cost of the pizza is regarded as a "bonus" they don't consider the time to drive to all of these places, take precise photos and the time to report.

I used to get a similar number of phone calls (sometimes even as I was out conducting other mystery shops) until I put my foot down and had them remove my phone number from their calling database.

They don't have regions or specific coordinators linked to individual IC's so I have gotten to know everyone on their field staff.

How difficult would it be for them to send out ONE SINGLE e-mail with promises and reminders of "bonuses" for "shops in my area?" I could even tolerate one phone call on occasion but not seven in the course of three hours from seven different field coordinators as I experienced one day in 2015.

Now we have this monumentally difficult challenge in using Paypal to make payment to their IC's. It apparently has befuddled their accounting department for weeks while I continue to be blasted with yet more e-mails about those incredible two topping pizzas <sigh>.

Folks....paypal is simple, it does not require a Phd in accounting, mathematics, or information technology. A troop of Boy Scouts earning Computers Merit Badge could have solved this problem in under an hour.

So my plea to NSS is....get some help, hire an outside consultant to bring some expertise to your independent contractor database. None of us need dozens of spam e-mails that say the exact same thing (and really say nothing). Figure out a way to auto-launch a single message at the start of a new period or even one week and get some help over in accounts payable. If Paypal is too difficult, consider ACH direct deposits. You know something is very bad when the USPS can deliver weeks before your current payment methods do.

I was happy to open my mailbox and find I got my January check in the mail today. I had inquired about it a few weeks ago and was told the checks for February had not yet gone out. This was even though I had inquired about January checks.

I just checked my PayPal account and still no payment for January. Should have stayed with checks.

Update March 29th. Paid in full via PayPal.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2016 12:24AM by nslowry.

I just got my payment today via Paypal!

Well perhaps its a case of squeaky wheel gets the grease but my PayPal account was looking great today with my first ever National Shopping Service payment delivered to me electronically (as opposed to checks). I guess I will relent and go back to my diet of two topping pizzas three times a week.