@bgriffin wrote:

@shoptastic wrote:

maybe those posters should take a look at themselves in the mirror.

Not a good idea. I tend to notice how hot I look and then next thing you know I've lost 2 or 3 hours. :/

So we keep hearing! Probably the fantasy is better than the reality. (It usually is.)

I seriously have no clue how this "rumor" got started.

In that post she also complained about the mods in how they handled things. Really? Wow, just wow.

@roflwofl wrote:

I've reported the post to moderators.

Wow, i just joined this forum this morning and am very disappointed with the tone of these posts. I thought it was a forum for mystery shoppers to ask for help and maybe encouragement. This is just typical social media blathering and posturing. No thanks

The majority of what is on there forum is legitimate mystery shopping help. However, as anybody can join, conversations can go sideways.

The value is here. I do this part time, working around my full tIme schedule, and made close to $25,000 last year. I contribute that to this forum.

@kcotton wrote:

Wow, i just joined this forum this morning and am very disappointed with the tone of these posts. I thought it was a forum for mystery shoppers to ask for help and maybe encouragement. This is just typical social media blathering and posturing. No thanks

Hey, kcotton, there are plenty of great discussions that are positive contributions in this forum. This one isn't one of them, but don't let that discourage you. You would have to understand the history of some forum members before you can really make a judgement call on this one.

Kcotton,
I can assure you that this is NOT typical of the threads/postings on the forum. This OP has a history of stirring up imagined insults, to the point where she has been suspended at least once. Please try other threads where you will find that the vast majority are helpful and supportive.

Hello Fellow Forum Members,

I thought you might enjoy hearing from a scheduler on the actual topic of this thread. I schedule for Informa Financial Intelligence (we recently had a major corporate rebranding). We are not an actual Mystery Shop Company. In fact, our Mystery Shop Department makes up only about .01% of the entire company. The reason it can take up to 60 days for payment to arrive is mostly because well we're so small. We have so many shops and only a handful of schedulers, project directors, and editors. Once a shop is completed, depending on the project it can take a few hours to a few weeks for it to be fully edited and prepared for the client. When a shop is submitted without any questions it is usually paid within 10 days after review. This can also vary depending on the day of the week that you submit the shop. A shop that is submitted on a Monday will take longer to be paid than a shop submitted on Friday, That is, as long as the editor can publish the shop before our payment file is run on Sunday. So why do shops take 60 days to be paid in some cases? Usually the answer is missing information. This can be a missing W-9 that was never filled out, a missing business card, a missed mandatory question or any number of things. We would love to pay shoppers faster or use faster methods than mailing a check but when our department is only .01% of the company we don't get to make any of those decisions.

Thanks for the insight, Briana.

Edited for spelling



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2019 06:14PM by kimmiemae.

Personally, I don't mind if a company pays 60 days out when I'm doing shops for them every month because after the first round of shops i will be getting paid every month. What kills me is when i have to chase payment from a company that doesnt pay on a regular basis/when they say they will pay.

I'm pretty happy as long as I know when payment is expected and if the MSC pays in accordance with their promised time frames - or earlier. Though, payment dates more than 90 days out do give me pause.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Hey, kcotton, there are plenty of great discussions that are positive contributions in this forum. This one isn't one of them, but don't let that discourage you. You would have to understand the history of some forum members before you can really make a judgement call on this one.

Hey there,

There are definitely a tonne of great discussions and I will continue on the forum but I do agree with kcotton. I have only been on the forum for a couple of months and have seen a concerning amount of posts with back and forth fights that are never ending.

One of the greatest strengths of this forum is also one of its greatest weakness: Anybody can join with no hassle and open discussion/expression is encouraged - making it very difficult to be "removed."

This means that discussion is wide open and the amount of sharing about MSC's, shopping and more is limitless. The knowledge shared is beyond compare. Folks bounce contrasting ideas off one-another, which can lead to some very good conversations, from which even the most experienced shoppers benefit. At the same time, because the rules are so wide open, we do sometimes have unprofessional exchanges. Some of us do try to curtail that, but we do not have any actual authority to do so. There are some basic rules (ICA Violations, Personal insults) that are enforced by moderators.

@Whatfun14LF wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Hey, kcotton, there are plenty of great discussions that are positive contributions in this forum. This one isn't one of them, but don't let that discourage you. You would have to understand the history of some forum members before you can really make a judgement call on this one.

Hey there,

There are definitely a tonne of great discussions and I will continue on the forum but I do agree with kcotton. I have only been on the forum for a couple of months and have seen a concerning amount of posts with back and forth fights that are never ending.

And coincidentally, it has started when a certain poster has started posting again. Unfortunately, you cannot see the whole situation because the mods have deleted a lot of the horrible stuff this poster has said.

@Whatfun14LF wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Hey, kcotton, there are plenty of great discussions that are positive contributions in this forum. This one isn't one of them, but don't let that discourage you. You would have to understand the history of some forum members before you can really make a judgement call on this one.

Hey there,

There are definitely a tonne of great discussions and I will continue on the forum but I do agree with kcotton. I have only been on the forum for a couple of months and have seen a concerning amount of posts with back and forth fights that are never ending.

@Whatfun14LF wrote:

I have only been on the forum for a couple of months and have seen a concerning amount of posts with back and forth fights that are never ending.

You might benefit from using the toggle button or simply skipping discussions that appear to have devolved into arguments.

I try not to toggle...if I get annoyed I just skim over what is uninteresting to me. If you toggle you might miss something important (or entertaining, at times).

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I try not to toggle...if I get annoyed I just skim over what is uninteresting to me. If you toggle you might miss something important (or entertaining, at times).

I don't know how you keep everyone straight. There are >50 users with the word "shop" in their name. I only have 1 toggled (not ishop123), but I'd forget and engage and then regret it.

I got a LOT of help from this forum and still do. Do you do a lot of mystery shopping?

@kcotton wrote:

Wow, i just joined this forum this morning and am very disappointed with the tone of these posts. I thought it was a forum for mystery shoppers to ask for help and maybe encouragement. This is just typical social media blathering and posturing. No thanks

Trust me, you know. Certain people stick out like a sore thumb.

@SoCalMama wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I try not to toggle...if I get annoyed I just skim over what is uninteresting to me. If you toggle you might miss something important (or entertaining, at times).

I don't know how you keep everyone straight. There are >50 users with the word "shop" in their name. I only have 1 toggled (not ishop123), but I'd forget and engage and then regret it.

@SoCalMama wrote:

I don't know how you keep everyone straight. There are >50 users with the word "shop" in their name. I only have 1 toggled (not ishop123), but I'd forget and engage and then regret it.

Hey! Why would you toggle me? lol
I only have one person toggled as well, but that user seemed to be getting easily annoyed.

It looks like the OP may actually have left the room. ???

One can only hope and we get our peaceful forum back.

totally agree. It's nice to be paid sooner then later, and if I had all the shops I could do and this was the criteria I'd use it Sometimes I'm lucky enough to be there, and Ipsos / Second to None / Maritz wins.

Wait...you toggled someone who got annoyed...I'm confused. It's supposed to be the other way around.

'"To toggle or not to toggle, that is the question." Kind of a quote but not.

So much simpler to not toggle.

@iShop123 wrote:

@SoCalMama wrote:

I don't know how you keep everyone straight. There are >50 users with the word "shop" in their name. I only have 1 toggled (not ishop123), but I'd forget and engage and then regret it.

Hey! Why would you toggle me? lol
I only have one person toggled as well, but that user seemed to be getting easily annoyed.

@walesmaven wrote:

In the business world payment 60-90 days "net," is the established mode of doing business. We are in that world; if you want weekly of monthly pay, become employed.

Not in any industry I have ever been involved with - except Mystery Shopping. Most every invoice has been Net 30 Days, often with a cash discount for early payment. Some short - e.g. Net R.O.I., Net 5, 7, or 10 days.

The reason why most MSCs are not that fast in paying is that they:

1. Are undercapitalized. (However, some are mega million $$ transnational businesses.
2. Want to shift the burden of a client which rejects their report (the one that they engaged us to draft) to us rather than factoring that in as a risk/cost of their doing business;
3. Are cheap, petty, and poorly managed. (However, some are well.)
4. Don't give a ---- about their suppliers.(Us.)

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Wait...you toggled someone who got annoyed...I'm confused. It's supposed to be the other way around.

What I meant was that if the OP was so easily annoyed, SHE should toggle people. I didn't toggle her. A lot of annoying people are still interesting. Those who aren't, I skip over.

Rousseau, isn't it our report being rejected? I do not understand why you are saying their report.

Msaddict, MSCs engage shoppers to write reports. But the shopper has no intellectual property in the report written. The report belongs to the MSC.