I've posted a somewhat 'horror' story experience from this company before, but now his tops it all.

I'm on my phone now, but will post more later when I'm home. in the meantime don't shop with them! I know they have Sassie and Prophet systems. Avoid their scheduler 'Nikki' - I'm probably going to be burned $150 or more because of her.

[www.jmridgway.com]

So...my best analogy to what happened (twice now).


You go to the doctor because you haven't felt well. Have some tests done. Doctor walks in:

Doctor "You have cancer." Closes your file and walks out the door.

You begin panicking and run out the door after him trying to get answers.

You "What? Where? How? What will happen? Will I live?"

Doctor "You'll probably be OK." As he continues to walk away.


That's how I feel about what happened to me - their idiot scheduler sends me an email with some rather significant consequences/information, and then fails to provide any follow up and is a nightmare to track down and get some information. Aside from the fact that it's clear she lacks any experience or knowledge about her job and this industry, she has now ruined more than three of my 'shopping routes'.

When I schedule, hell, when I do much of anything, it's go big or go home. Sure I'll have light days where I do a few, or maybe one, but usually I get 10-15, even 20 lined up for one day.

First incident came a couple of weeks ago when she removed all my shops and the best answer I could get was a)another shopper wanted them for a route and b)she saw I had them scheduled towards end of the month. Um....I don't think it's ethical to have one shopper call you up and you take shops away from someone else, not to mention, don't allow shops to be scheduled until the 30th/31st if you want them done sooner.

Now, I was told to stop all my shops immediately - another dozen emails later and all I can gather is that they for some reason thought my state issued drivers license doesn't have a strip on the back and can't be scanned. Why me? Do you smoke crack and come up with this stuff? Just me? You just think I, of all people, don't have it? Could you maybe have contacted me first and taken the proactive approach of asking about my ID and perhaps even a scan of the back of it? Versus just being reactive and slamming an email like to me? I've demanded them to call me because I can't get a hold of them by phone - but no. No response. Ignored.

Not surprising, I can't get an answer about whether my $150+ worth of payments will be issued either, even though my shops have never been rejected.



AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2011 10:40PM by dkk5685.

dkk5685, Sorry things are so rough. I hope they at least pay you and at best that it all gets straightened out. How long have you been working for this company?

Not long. Just did some last month (thats when the first incident came along) and then just started the round of shops for this month.

I'm approaching 600 shops with over 30 companies, so I think I have a clue how things 'should' be, or are normally run. Just bad customer service. Hopefully the 'store' will switch companies soon! I love doing the shops still.

DKK, I'm on a scheduling/editor group with Bob from JM Ridgway. Since you had issues with trying to contact Nikki at JM and were frustrated, I sent him a copy of the link. He sent me an email stating he had a personal issue to attend to today and did not have time to register for the forum until later but he asked that I would forward a response to you. I don't think it addresses all your concerns as I only skimmed over it but hopefully it's a start:

In response from Bob at the JM Ridgway Co., Inc. who has asked me to post this.



Basically speaking the shopper is right, she can’t do the shop if she has an out of state ID, that does not have the scan able strip that is needed as a part of the shop.



The shops were not given to another shopper just because, …. To better explain:



If the cashier can’t scan the ID to check for age, then the answer is no they did not scan it, thus the cashier is dinged unfairly, and the major part of the shop is if the cashier indeed scans the ID or not. If a shopper does not have the proper ID to be able to do the shop as the client needs it to be done, then they simply can’t do it.



If the client say’s “no ID scan strip on a shoppers ID, then the shopper can’t do the shop”, then we have no choice but to do as the client requires for their needed tests, it’s just that simple.



This issue regarding the shopper’s ID just started, so the shopper is incorrect with there assumption, as the shopper WILL get paid for the shops they did up through the time we started the new ruling, as per the clients needs.



Sincerely;

Bob

J.M. Ridgway, Co., Inc.

Licensed Investigations Since 1924

In response from the JM Ridgway Co., Inc.

First I would like to offer A special Thank you to AlwaysAngie for posting to this as per my request.

I have had a break in my personal matters which is attending a funeral, and was able to register from my laptop while in travel, to allow me to respond to this myself now, as I thought I was not going to be able to until sometime tomorrow.

To all parties concerned: AlwaysAngie was correct in stating; "I don't think it addresses all your concerns". So the below is basically what I sent her and added to it allow for all concerned parties to know & understand the exact entire issue at hand.

None of this is intended to attack anyone's motives, it is simply 'the facts'.

Basically speaking the shopper is right, she can’t do the shop if she has an out of state ID, that does not have the scan-able strip 'which is needed as a part of the shop', that will allow the machine they have to verify the shopper is of age to make an alcohol purchase.

However; the shops were not given to another shopper just because, …. To better explain:

If the cashier can’t scan the ID to check for age, then the answer is 'no they did not scan it', thus the cashier is dinged unfairly, and they get no bonus for doing their job properly, and the major part of the shop is if the cashiers indeed scans the ID or not. If a shopper does not have the proper ID to be able to do the shop as the client needs it to be done, then they simply can’t do it.

If the client say’s “no ID scan strip on a shoppers ID, then the shopper can’t do the shop”, then we have no choice but to do as the client requires for their needed tests, it’s just that simple.

This issue regarding the shopper’s ID just started on 10/24, so the shopper is incorrect with there assumption of possibly not being paid, as the shopper WILL get paid for the shops they did up through the date of 10/24 when we started the new ruling, as per the clients needs.

Fact is trying to be up front about the entire issue, the following was posted in bold blue font, on the very top portion of the survey on 10/24/11:

EFFECTIVE 10/24/11: All shops performed in Arizona and California can ONLY be done by shoppers with valid ID’s or Drivers licenses from these two specific states. If you are scheduled a shop and have other than the ID or Driver License as explained, you must notify your scheduler immediately: {Shoppers with out of state ID’s or Drivers licenses, do not have the scanning strip on the back of the license, thus disallowing cashiers from scanning the out of state cards}. IF YOU PROCEED WITH THE SHOP USING OTHER THAN AS STATED YOUR SHOP WILL BE CONSIDERED AS NOT USABLE NOR PAYABLE.

Yet this same shopper who self assigned themselves, to the shops accepted 4 shops that were completed in the beginning of Nov, effectively failing to read the updated shopper instruction and not advising the scheduler that can no longer do the shops, due to the ID issue.

ON GOING: Prior to reading this discussion today, it was already determined 'over the weekend' that the shopper will get paid for the 4 Nov shops, AND ALL PRIOR SHOPS, even though there was a failure to alert the scheduler regarding the Nov shops, based on the shopper instruction which was posted on the survey on 10/24/11.

IN CLOSING:

1}. Based on the 10/24 instructional posting, I do not see any reason to counsel our scheduler for not clarifying to the shopper of something that was already clarified on the survey, and not followed.

2}. We have no problem allowing this shopper to continue doing these shops for us, once they get a State ID that allows for the test to be properly acted upon.

3}. JM Ridgway has been in business since 1924, and is the oldest continually active Mystery Shopping Company period. That is 87 years in continual business. If we treated our shoppers in such a way that would allow others to think we are bad news, we would have been closed down many years ago.

One more thing:
The clients machines does not work with any ID’s except CA & AZ, as these are currently the only two types of ID’s in the USA that offers what is called a ‘viage ID checking system’, that simply offers a cashier a simple 'OF AGE' approval or disapproval code.

If one has an ID from another state and would like to do these types of shops for us, we invite them to contact the motor vehicle dept., and have them update their state ID’s for their states to allow for such OF AGE checking system.


Sincerely;
Bob
J.M. Ridgway, Co., Inc.
Licensed Investigations Since 1924

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2011 08:25PM by BR@JMR.

All's well that ends well! I don't know the facts, but let's just say generally speaking that schedulers who don't return messages, email or otherwise, suck.

JM Ridgeway sucks. It has business since 1924 so what. That does not mean you are good company. You tread shoppers badly.

Wow, Bob, thanks for getting ahold of me.

1) My ID does have a strip and like I've told the scheduler, between other shops and just personal business, my ID has always been scanned and I've never had a problem. If they grab my ID and scan it, I've quite frankly never know, no matter what state I've ever been in, that it did or did not scan, or what it scanned to. I did work in a gas station back in the day - and we scanned every single ID and never had a problem with out of state IDs.

2) Again, I appreciate any of my emails and phone calls being returned, which is actually my #1 complaint with your company. Your communication is POOR all around. The whole 'ID' thing is moot if you ask me, as this is just a distraction from the POOR communication.

3) The shops were removed before your so-called 'ban' on out of state IDs, and I have the email from "NIKKI" stating "another shopper wanted them for a route", but she promised me all the shops I wanted for the next month. I was a hostess back in the day, and this is no different than giving preferential treatment to servers, etc, or 'making deals'. In the end, it doesn't work out as she's playing so many 'games' with shoppers, for what, I don't know. Promising this, promising that?

4) I appreciate calls from 'blocked #'s" with no message, then receiving a blunt, vague email from the scheduler, providing no details. 20 emails later and I'm still not sure what happened.

Do you get the picture that I'm most upset about the POOR, and well, complete LACK of communication by your staff?

Let me make that clear:


10/20/11 (long before you're ban)

Nikki, #1:
"I had to remove the following from your log"

Me, #2,3:
"Why?"

Nikki, #4:
"I had a shopper doing a route and she’s going to them this weekend"

Me, #5:
"Can you please explain? This messed up my routes I had planned. Am not doing them correctly? "


Nikki, #6:
"I am so sorry
I saw you couldn’t do some until the end of the month and I had a shopper going that way today
I still have you down for Van Nuys and Northridge
I am so sorry I didn’t mean to mess this up
How far are you from these 2"

Me, #7,8,9:
Unless I get a route built up they're 30-40 minutes away and useless to me. Why wouldn't you ask me to get them done sooner? I've done hundreds of shops for dozens - maybe over 100 companies - and I've never experienced anything like this. Removing a shop from me for someone else to do sooner? Then don't make them available to do that late if you want them done sooner!


Blah blah blah...goes on for about another 10 emails and all I get is her promising me all the shops I want next month. This is where your problem started. So then, she gives me all the shops I want, and the instructions read:




YOU MUST BE BETWEEN 21-26 YEARS OLD TO CONDUCT THIS SHOP

PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR REPORT THE SAME DAY YOU COMPLETE YOUR SHOP and DO NOT FORGET TO UPLOAD A COPY OF YOUR RECEIPT AND DRIVER'S LICENSE

Make sure to purchase either a cheap bottle of wine or a single can (16oz) of beer along with a small and inexpensive snack item and put a detailed summary of what happened at check out.

Please make sure to describe all the details of your transaction with the cashier!



I don't read anything about "out-of-state-IDs" in the shop instructions.

Do you get this?


#1 - removing shops from me, for someone else? WhAT? I'm sure this happens a lot, realistically yes. BUT YOU DONT TELL THE OTHER SHOPPER THAT. Make something up.

#2 - She told me I wasn't doing anything wrong?!?!?!?! When was it your realized my ID was out of state?

#3 - don't make shops available until 10/31 when you want them done sooner and remove them from a shopper who schedules them later in the month.

Is this common sense? Am I asking too much?


Although there are many companies I dislike and wonder why I keep working for them - they're BS is legit. Yes, they throw out the BS but it's legit. They might give rough grades and a hard time on surveys, but at least they're being honest and have clear, defined lines of communication and you can at least receive a quick, intelligent response.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2011 05:04AM by dkk5685.

Here's another story if I haven't been clear up to this point:

Just last week, I had a MS first - over 600 shops under my belt and the first time I shopped the wrong location of a store. Happened to be for one of my less favorite companies, so when I saw an email from their editor, I was like "oh great, what are they nitpicking this time?". Nope, a fairly nice email - about a paragraph explaining what happened, and the store # I should have shopped. Simple and to the point, which was fully explaining the situation. I responded, apologizing for being a complete moron (my exact word)- and offered to redo the shop. Editor responded back saying don't worry about it, happens too often, just be more careful. SUPER FRIENDLY!


Now, how this could/would have gone down if the scheduler/company was Nikki/JM Ridgway:

Nikki: You did the wrong shop (<-notice the no punctuation)

Me: Which one? When?

Nikki: Last week

Me: Which one last week, I did several.

Nikki: The alcohol one

Me: They were all alcohol ones...Which day? Which location?

Nikki: Monday

Me: I did 5 on Monday. Can you be more specific?


(Silence, because by this point in time, she's ignoring me/has stopped responding)

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2011 05:24AM by dkk5685.

And just to make this clear, as I already pointed out, when I accepted the assignments there was nothing about the 'new ID' policy anywhere. Clearly, I feel that me performing these shops was likely the sole reason for this new policy, why wouldn't you or your scheduler have the decency to contact me before all this mess got started?


Why? I guess because you don't excel at communication?


I guess you could say I feel set up. Someone knew what was going on, and you continued to deceive me and allow me to sign up for these shops. Don't companies or their 'platforms' have a method to automatically restrict shoppers who don't meet certain criteria? But then, what your emails advertise vs. what shoppers sign up for vs. whats actually part of the shop, don't all match up, so this is likely a little too much for some.

TO: dkk5685

The entire issue boils down to one thing: If a client of an MSP sets a rule for the MSP to go by, then the MSP needs to do as it's client needs it done, as long as it is with in law. Regardless to what we all would think.


I am going to investigate the e-mails regarding the above posts>
November 08, 2011 11:53PM 'AND' Date: November 09, 2011 12:02AM.

'IF' this is true then I indeed need to better guide my scheduler in creating better communications, and I will take the blame as I have always had a belief that in 'many cases', if a subordinate is not performing properly, then it is most likely their managers fault for improperly training.

I will contact you privately once I have had the time to study all regarding.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2011 03:43PM by BR@JMR.

And like I've said - it's not even about the changing of requirements. Stuff happens, on both ends of the MS spectrum. I get it - isn't the first time nor will it be the last. It all boils down to the manner in which it was handled.


PM me your email - I'll be glad to forward the emails.

BR@JMR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> TO: dkk5685
>
> The entire issue boils down to one thing: If a
> client of an MSP sets a rule for the MSP to go by,
> then the MSP needs to do as it's client needs it
> done, as long as it is with in law. Regardless to
> what we all would think.
>
>
> I am going to investigate the e-mails regarding
> the above posts>
> November 08, 2011 11:53PM 'AND' Date: November 09,
> 2011 12:02AM.
>
> 'IF' this is true then I indeed need to better
> guide my scheduler in creating better
> communications, and I will take the blame as I
> have always had a belief that in 'many cases', if
> a subordinate is not performing properly, then it
> is most likely their managers fault for improperly
> training.
>
> I will contact you privately once I have had the
> time to study all regarding.


I like this answer better than the first. I think it would be in your best interest to provide some sort of closure on the communication issue here as well.

Does anyone know if JM recently went from PayPal payments to manual checks being cut?

Does anyone know Ridgeway's payment schedule and who to contact to ask for payment? I shopped for Ridgeway a couple of years ago and had to ask - several times - for payment, which I understand from reading the boards is not unusual. Another shopper on one of the forums suggested someone for me to e-mail and, after e-mailing her, I got paid. Once paid, I decided working for them was not worth it to me because chasing the money is so time-consuming and annoying. Well ---- they got a new client this summer and I shopped for them again. And, once again, have not been paid. Can someone remind me of the payment person?

I stopped shopping with them a long time ago because I didn't get paid for a storage shop I completed and because their pay rate is so ridiculous when it comes to their storage shops. And what's with the "1 cent" at the end of the 7-or-so dollars they pay???? I know of a MS company that pays rings around them for their storage shops!!!


dkk5685 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've posted a somewhat 'horror' story experience
> from this company before, but now his tops it
> all.
>
> I'm on my phone now, but will post more later when
> I'm home. in the meantime don't shop with them! I
> know they have Sassie and Prophet systems. Avoid
> their scheduler 'Nikki' - I'm probably going to be
> burned $150 or more because of her.
>
> [www.jmridgway.com]

Well, I've reached out to "Bob" via PM and haven't heard anything. I'm not sure if I made my point clear, it's not the whole 'ID' thing that had me so upset, but the somewhat unprofessional and lack of, communication.


I now have the appropriate ID- and I wouldn't mind doing the shops again, but it's likely not worth it based on these experiences and running the risk of being like everyone else - out the $$$.

@AustinMom The best payment person at JM Ridgeway is Ann. Her email is AA@JMRidgway.com.

Thanks, Eric, I'll shoot her an email!

Calling "Bob".

You have not responded to my PM. I've asked the scheduler to contact me, I've asked her to have you contact me. I've called the 1-800 for your company and I have gotten no where.

Had to share this one about JM. When I first starting MSing in 07', I got so upset with them for non-payment that I eventually deactivated them without receiving anything. I decided to reactivate earlier this year upon a relocation to another state, and hence accepted a few jobs with them. Upon finding an email contact with JM (I didn't in 07'), I asked about those outstanding invoices and was issued a Paypal payment the very next day. Imagine being issued payment 4 years after I completed the job.

Of course, I was very elated. As of today, I'm awaiting payment in the form of a check for 4 jobs, yet I'm not as frantic as I was 4 years ago. My advice to those new shoppers is 1. Don't deactivate without getting paid first. 2. Don't liberally deactivate, since you never know if you will find another opportunity to go back to a company.

What about Bob?

i did a shop a few months ago and was paid ontime and through pay pal...

I just received my check from JM yesterday. Not sure if they are doing Paypal or the other, yet I'm grateful to receive it. USPS took almost 2 weeks from CA to arrive (JM mailed on 11/2 per the postmark).

I've had similar non-communicative problems with Nikki as well. I also have yet to be paid for alcohol shops I did a year ago now. I requested payment 3 or 4 times, and basically gave up.

Just putting in a quick 2c.

Eric in Tampa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just received my check from JM yesterday. Not
> sure if they are doing Paypal or the other, yet
> I'm grateful to receive it. USPS took almost 2
> weeks from CA to arrive (JM mailed on 11/2 per the
> postmark).

S mail does not often take so long. Was it an actual postmark or did the company use a postage machine that dates the postage as it stamps the envelope? Usually first class mail within the US takes two days.

I stopped doing shops for them. I had to ask to get paid 3 times. I got paid but why should I ask for my pay. Sorry to hear of the people who didn't get paid.