Please enter your report in 12 hours - you will not be paid for 6-8 weeks.

Anyone else see something wacky about how MSC's pay. Why do we have to wait soooo long. I can see waiting the month - but when it gets to be 6-8 weeks - come on now!! It is almost March and I am still waiting for jobs to be paid that I did the first week of January. Really????

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Right, wrong, indifferent, that is what it is in this industry. Yes, it's frustrating at times, especially in the beginning, but you get used to it. What kills me is when I miss the cutoff for a shop getting approved by a few hours or a day, and it pushes the payment another month.

Six weeks isn't bad compared to the 4-5 months one MSC pays at. I did a couple of shops for them early on and learned my lesson!

Each MSP has it's own payment policy.

Each shopper has their own shopping policy.

Does anyone see where I am going with this?

When you have more than enough shops for your plate - payment policy becomes a bigger factor in who I work for. Thus, I choose the quicker paying MSPs quicker than the slower paying.

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

Everybody is right. It is wacky the ratio of when the report is due and when you get paid. The six-to-eight week turnaround works like this: They want the report in 12 hours. You get paid in 1,008 to 1,344 hours, depending on the breaks. On the long end it takes them 112 times longer to pay you than what they've asked you to do.

And, sadly, you do get used to it, and after you're been shopping for a while it seems par for the course. I'd still much rather work for those companies with a quick turnaround time. Trendsource is my absolute favorite on that, paying twice a month like clockwork.

vlade5394 Wrote:
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> Each MSP has it's own payment policy.
>
> Each shopper has their own shopping policy.
>
>
>
> Does anyone see where I am going with this?

>
>
>
>
>
> When you have more than enough shops for your
> plate - payment policy becomes a bigger factor in
> who I work for. Thus, I choose the quicker paying
> MSPs quicker than the slower paying.

Now see in my mind when I have more than enough shops then payment policy doesn't really matter (as long as they stick with it)....as my cash flow is constant. Right now I am waiting on some end of December shops from one MSC but that is their policy ... it will likely come the same week as a company that pays same month. Doesn't matter to me as the flow is constant.

Liz

I think I have more problem with the fact that they want the shop submitted within 12 hours, then they do not have it edited for 3-5 days. If they need more information, you are back to the 12 hours to respond. This is a double standard that irks me to no end. We are required to sit by the phone/computer, but it takes days to get a response after requesting a shop or submitting a shop. More than the pay issue, that makes me realize how disposable we are to the msc. We are shopping to report on customer service and protocol issues, while those same issues plague our industry. Seems a little ironic at times.

This is one of the reason I love the phone app jobs. Payment in one hour to 7 days at the latest.

In the world of mystery shopping, timeliness of getting the reporting data back to the client is paramount for the MSCs. That's the basis of the submission requirements. Their payments to shoppers work the other way. The quicker they pay the shopper, the sooner the shopper is off the hook to answer any potential questions about the shop.

We are not the customers of the MSCs so I don't see how their delayed response could be construed as a customer service issue. It may be a client relations issue, but as long as there are shoppers available to work within the existing guidelines, it will remain the way it is. It's also my understanding that increased pay and faster payment terms don't actually improve the quality of the reports, so there's very little incentive for MSCs to pay any quicker than they do.

After 10 years of shopping, my mystery shopping 'slush fund' is also pretty well capitalized, so I am much more concerned about the pay and quality of the assignment than the pay schedule these days. I can definitely see a correlation between low paying and faster paying companies, and would rather wait 90 days for a far payment than have less $$ in 7 days.

I don't care when they pay as long as they pay when they say they will pay. I've got one MSC that I've done four jobs for and I had to email to ask for payment every time. If they're late, I don't take any more jobs for them until I've been paid; I'm not throwing good "time" after bad.

It's really annoying when you take a job and it says payment in 30-45 right in the shop instructions, then by day 52 I've received nothing and heard nothing but amazingly every time I ask, they manage to pay me the next day.

I think next time they call me, I'll tell them I want another $3 for the previous payment being late.

But other than that, I don't mind waiting for payment. It's the nature of the beast. In my personal work I do my billings once a month and allow 30 days for payment. We are not employees, who are required to be paid at least twice a month (if hourly wager earners) or at least once a month (if salaried). We are contractors, and we either accept the terms of the contract or decline the work.

The MSC is a middleman. He also has to bill the client and wait for payment before he can pay us. It's impractical to think an MSC would issue an invoice to the client for every job as they are done. Likely they bill once or twice a month and get paid two to four weeks later.

Time to build a bigger bridge.

The beauty of being an IC is that I can take or decline whatever shops I want. I won't do age compliance shops, for example. I have also decided not to shop certain fast food chains (including Sonic, McDonald's, and if I ever see shops for them Chick-Fil-A). Others find the photo requirements on certain pizza shops to be too odious and/or tedious. The list goes on and on...

I don't outright decline work from slow-paying MSCs but I'm not going to put those jobs in front of assignments from the good companies (the ones that pay fast and have good clients). Any decent MSC should be able to at least get the check in the mail by the end of the month following the assignment, if not PayPal, PayQuicker, or direct deposit on that date.

Like us, the msc should also have working capital. Contractors manage to pay the labor every friday on a job that lasts two years.

The longer the shopper's pay is held up, the longer the contractor is on the hook for further information, there is more time for any irregularities or scamming to be turned up by dumb luck. And the Number 1 reason is that if the shopping Company is mismanaged and goes under, the overdue shopper pay is the easiest of the bills to write off.

~
up, up, down, down, left, right,left,right, B,A, start.

It is a customer service issue when I receive an "urgent" e-mail and try to rearrange my schedule to fit something in to accommodate the completion. Then I sit and wait for a response. If they will not be checking email or the site for applicants to that particular project, then it is not as much of an emergency as it was made out to be. This is a customer service issue as it undermines the trust between the MSC/scheduler and the shopper. I do not feel the payment thing is a customer service issue if they pay as promised. That is at least something we know up front. This may be a peril of the job, but it does not make it any less rude. There are GREAT schedulers and MSCs, and not so great schedulers and MSCs. Just as "flakes" give shoppers a bad name, these types of incidents reflect badly on the schedulers and MSCs. These things are all intertwined.

I'm agree that it's rude. I'm just saying that you are not a customer of the MSC, so it's not a customer service issue.

As someone who gauges customer service, I think it's important to understand the difference between a vendor and a customer.

jroby1,

We've all been there. The more companies you sign up for, the more choosy you will be as you learn the various payment timeframes.

What's curious is when you said, "I think I have more problem with the fact that they want the shop submitted within 12 hours, then they do not have it edited for 3-5 days."

Today I submitted a shop at 12:15pm and got the grade from the proofreader at 1:07pm. Not all companies are created equal.

**********************************
Silver Certified in the Great White North
**********************************

Wow, we all know that all companies have different turnaround times. I do not understand why my statement is so "interesting". Receiving one back quickly does not mean that the slow turnaround does not exist with other companies. If you have never had that type of experience, then I am glad for you, but please do not belittle my statement by insinuating that it does not happen. WoW!

When you have 250,000 shoppers reporting 1,000's of shops a day, all reports need to be looked at, edited and sent to the client, is it any wonder why you don't get paid in two days?

jroby1 Wrote:
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> Wow, we all know that all companies have different
> turnaround times. I do not understand why my
> statement is so "interesting". Receiving one back
> quickly does not mean that the slow turnaround
> does not exist with other companies. If you have
> never had that type of experience, then I am glad
> for you, but please do not belittle my statement
> by insinuating that it does not happen. WoW!

I was not belittling your statement, jroby1, and I apologize that you took it that way. My point was that every company has its own payment processes and timeframes. It's tough when starting out and the cash crunch keeps happening preventing you from doing other shops, many of us get frustrated. I never insinuated that long waits did not happen and these companies are upfront about them.

It comes down to this: if you don't like that company's timeframe, don't work for them. Leave the jobs to those that can wait for payment.

**********************************
Silver Certified in the Great White North
**********************************

I will take shops from slow paying company's if it is something that I WANT to do and there is not a huge up front commitment from my wallet, the quick stop convenience stores is a good example of this. 5 minutes and a coffee/water that I would have needed anyway along the way. I get reimbursed and make a small amount. It comes in 60 days but for the 6 or 7 I pick up a month it's a nice little surprise.

I do, however, tend not to check those boards as often. After I have made my schedule I will look at these company's to fill in gaps or if I want to go out to the movies (or going anyway) but that's it.

O.o o.O

Happily shopping New England and beyond!!!!!

It looks like we are talking about two different things, I was talking about a requirement to have it submitted quickly (12 hours) with a disproportionate amount of time (5 days) to edit (not pay), and then the same editor requiring a response to questions within 12 hours of sending an email. This is something that you knew when you read the post, since you responded with a tale of a very fast editor. I made a point of not naming any client or MSC, because I was just pointing out something that bothers me, and not something that has caused me so much grief that I will stop working for them.

jroby: There is a good reason that the client wants the report submitted within 12 hours, because it's "fresh" and whereby an employee who is doing a disasterous job needs quick attention, just as a steller employee needs a pat on the back

Sunny Days, I really do understand that, my issue is the length of time that some of them take to edit said report. They take 5 days to look at it, and if there is a question, they send it with the stipulation that you respond in 12 hours. At that point it is no longer a "freshness" issue. The urgency is very one sided, and it puts our pay at risk. I have not yet missed one of these types of deadlines, but it is worrisome that I may have a shop that will get rejected because an editor has requested information with another imposed deadline. Most companies request that you to watch your e-mail for 24-72 hours. When a response is sent five days later with a 12 hour deadline, I am no longer looking for it. This may seem persnickety, but it is one of the things that really irks me.
*****Before someone comes back to say that editors should not need to ask questions, I am not perfect either-but that is a whole other thread. This particular bit has wandered from the original thread as well.******

I am still waiting to be paid for shops performed in November 2013...never again will I work for this MSC.

There's an MS company which insists on a 12 hour reporting time or else, then has multiple site freeze-ups or the dreaded "error code 500" which means neither I nor they have any idea what that means. THEN you get a phone call asking for clarification for a shop you did at the end of JANUARY because they JUST got around to editing the report. Oh yeah, you'll also be paid sometime in April for a shop you did months before. So how is that a 6 week turn around? yeah right

Her Serene Majesty, Cettie - Goat Queen of Zoltar, Sublime Empress of Her Caprine Domain

Through word of mouth, I had found out that a report that I had filed on one day for a convenience store was received in corporate office almost immediately, as the GM was in that store the following day with the report.

jroby1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sunny Days, I really do understand that, my issue
> is the length of time that some of them take to
> edit said report. They take 5 days to look at it,
> and if there is a question, they send it with the
> stipulation that you respond in 12 hours. At that
> point it is no longer a "freshness" issue. The
> urgency is very one sided, and it puts our pay at
> risk. I have not yet missed one of these types of
> deadlines, but it is worrisome that I may have a
> shop that will get rejected because an editor has
> requested information with another imposed
> deadline. Most companies request that you to watch
> your e-mail for 24-72 hours. When a response is
> sent five days later with a 12 hour deadline, I am
> no longer looking for it. This may seem
> persnickety, but it is one of the things that
> really irks me.
> *****Before someone comes back to say that editors
> should not need to ask questions, I am not perfect
> either-but that is a whole other thread. This
> particular bit has wandered from the original
> thread as well.******

I had some burger joints sitting there for 10 days..... I don't worry about it.

If you want fast-editing-review-payment, mystery shopping is not the way to go!

I'm finally at a point where I have money coming in all the time, so waiting is not too much of a deal for me.

I understand the client must get the report and that takes time. The client's happy, the msc gets paid and we get paid.

It's business to me, that's all.

I don't take offense at all.

Canuck Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm finally at a point where I have money coming
> in all the time, so waiting is not too much of a
> deal for me.
>
> I understand the client must get the report and
> that takes time. The client's happy, the msc gets
> paid and we get paid.
>
> It's business to me, that's all.
>
> I don't take offense at all.

I feel the same!

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