I think I am about ready to get stiffed for the first time since shopping . I do not want to yet put the name of the scheduler or company out there because I hope to have the issue resolved. In late December I agreed to do a shop in a rural area that is consistently hard for the scheduler to fill. I did not need the merchandise from the shop so the reimbursement was not an enticement to do the shop. The pay for the shop was an insulting amount , not worth me getting out of bed for, much less drive to the rural location. The scheduler put out an email asking for people to tell her what we needed to accept the shop. I have done this shop several times before for the same bonus amount and did not ask anything out of line. Due to the distance I had to drive I should have asked for more but I did not want to take advantage of the matter. She agreed to the more than fair amount. I did the shop and was paid promptly....but the bonus was not included on the check.. I emailed the scheduler. She admitted it was her fault and promised to get it resolved and that is the last I heard from her.This company pays very quickly. I can't imagine why it would have taken them this long ( over a month) to issue a check. In the meantime I am holding the original check because I did not know if they were issuing a new check with the whole amount or just the bonus. The thing is this shop is ALWAYS on the job board and consistently has difficulties getting filled. I usually take it when I am in rotation ( with the bonus) just to help this lady out.If she stiffs me on this bonus , I will put it on my 10 foot poll list and never agree to take a shop from her again .I have been shopping a long time. I guess I was eventually going to get stiffed down the line.

Hi, sorry you're having trouble with this shop. My understanding is you have an email from the scheduler setting out the bonus agreed on and another stating it was her fault she failed to turn in the bonus. If that's correct, I would go around the scheduler and contact the accounting department at the MSC and take up the issue with them. You need to speak with them in any case to find out whether they will be issuing another check and if so, will it contain only the bonus or the fee and the bonus. My best bet is the next check, if you get it, will contain only the bonus as they have already disbursed the fee. If the bonus was legitimate I feel you'll be paid. If the scheduler lied to you in the first place, not likely you'll get the bonus but they need to know what happened. Good luck with this.

Will going around the Scheduler's back hurt his prospects with his current MSC because people really hate it when you go to a higher level of management or accounting. I've seen it only end up badly, its something you use only when your prepared not participate in any more shops with this MSC. I am no newbie, been doing Retail Consulting since 1981, accounting, auditing, marketing, advertising and forensic in-depth audits looking for fraud. When I was a manager I got hammered for going above my DM's back but I was prepared for all the backlash because he was about to cost our retail chain "hundreds of thousands of dollars with his stealing and sexual harassment". The sad part was the company did not realize I was helping them, they thought I should go through the DM who was stealing and harassing my female employees.



The DM did not get fired, he came back to me asking "Why did you go around my back?" later on when lawsuits started piling up the company wanted me to lie about contacting them about his conduct which I had fully documented and recorded. What do you think I did?

Hello Pennies4Shops. I'm sorry you that problem at your place of employment. If you're suggesting that aimeemom not go around the scheduler, what do you suggest as the next move since the scheduler looks like a dead end? Do you believe she should let this go and not let the company know what is going on? If it's simply a mistake or incompetence on the part of the scheduler that she didn't enter the bonus, that's one thing, but if the scheduler lied to the shopper about the bonus that's entirely different. In either case, do you believe the best course of action is to do nothing and accept the loss? And if that's what you're saying, would you work in the future with this scheduler? Would you be comfortable? How would contacting the accounting department regarding a possibly partial payment on a shop work against the shopper? Once the shop has been completed I believe the next logical contact regarding payment would be the accounting department. She's holding a check she's hesitant to cash because she doesn't understand the status of the payment. What would you do in this case?

I do not think these two scenarios are at all related. In the case of aimeemom she is just trying to find out what happened to money due her. At this point she does not have to "report" anyone. Contacting an accounting department in any of the places I have worked is not considered going above your bosses head. In fact they often prefer the employees do the extra work of followup on this sort of thing. Aimeemom I would suggest you call or email accounting or even the scheduler for a follow up and just innocently ask if they know when your payment will be issued. There is no need to escalate at this point. The story here from Pennies4shops seems to be about whistle blowing which is a whole different level. Pennies4Shops I do hope you prevailed in your fight. I know this type of issue can easily come back and haunt you for being the do gooder.

The OP actually has a great excuse for going around the scheduler. She is asking how the company wants handle the balance, by reissuing a check or just paying the remainder on a different check. It can be made into an oh so innocent question

I would contact the scheduler one last time, politely but firmly, with a deadline, such as, "Please get back to me by (the end of the week, next week, tomorrow)." If you don't hear from her by then, feel free to escalate.