sbrahma -

Perhaps my shop instructions are different from yours; I was instructed to wait in each of the 18 different departments for 10 minutes before going to seek out a sales associate.

Doing the math gives me a possibility of 18 x 10 minutes = 180 minutes of wait time = 3 hours of possible waiting around for the sales associate. I was honest and ended up spending 1.5 hours waiting in each department to be helped, timing each wait period. Perhaps you did not have to do so.

I would assume that each Swedish Furniture Shop is different, depending on the community where it is located. Some may be smaller and others larger.

So - a differing view is nice, but I believe that our shop instructions may also be different, or the actual store layout may be smaller/larger with less/more interactions required.

That really made me laugh. I have not done one of these shops - and hopefully never will.

MissyH71 Wrote:
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> I did it for $55.00 in February.
>
> It paid for the Xanax prescription I needed after
> filling out the 18 different interations with 18
> different employees.
>
> I got a 9/10 on it from Cirrus; too bad I won't be
> seeing payment until football season starts....

I have not done a shop for this company, but I am brand new to them. I haven't seen any on the list for my state and we have a Swedish furniture place. Do they do anything else?

I just signed up with this board because I performed Da Shoppe Von Helleska in mid-January and have yet to be paid. I'm about to fire off another email to the company. Usually they take about 3 months to pay, but this is ridiculous.

I've done Da Shoppe Von Helleska multiple times in the last few years. To which I can only say, I really really needed to pay down that credit card, because every time I do that shop, I stagger out of the store vowing never to do it again. *sigh*

Here are my general tips - to be undertaken ONLY IF you want to do this shop multiple times:

1. Be familiar with Da Shoppe's layout in advance. Make a trial run. Grab a catalog.

2. Go through the catalog at home and pick out some small items. Come up with good questions to ask about these items IN ADVANCE to save yourself coming up with something on the fly.

3. Rewrite their cheat sheet in English with the steps arranged in the order you would perform them walking through the store. Their "cheat sheet" is ludicrous and doesn't even match the input form. Also, print out the input form.

4. Get an inconspicuous voice recorder and clip it inside your collar to record sales associates. (This is legal in my state and I delete the recordings when I'm done with the shop.) Otherwise it all runs together after the first hour.

5. I keep my husband on standby at home with the shop form pulled up. I can call him from a department and pretend to be asking questions about dimensions or appliances, and feed him information to input while I'm still at the store. This cuts down on my form input time later, and he can remind me of any questions I've forgotten to ask while I'm still standing by the associate.

6. Expect to spend a minimum of 3 hours in the store and another 2-3 hours inputting the data.

7. Employees frequently flip their name tags backwards. Act dumb and concerned. "Uh-oh, your name tag's flipped! Wouldn't want you in trouble with your manager!" That usually inspires them to turn them over.

Aaaaaand payment arrived today, 5/4, for a shop I completed on 1/20. They *do* pay, but be prepared to wait.

mine too...I'm surprised. I didn't have to make one phone call or send an email either.


sioushi Wrote:
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> Aaaaaand payment arrived today, 5/4, for a shop I
> completed on 1/20. They *do* pay, but be prepared
> to wait.

They just posted this shop in my area. I will wait and see if it goes up to $120. I shop there anyway, so that would help offset my purchases!

DAMN - I, too, wish I had check them out before shopping for them.

YUCK

Hmm, why is this sounding like our ol' pal: FRANCHISE COMPLIANCE? BTW, are they still in business?

They do pay but LATE! I have been paid consistently by them.

They are still recruiting for jobs they have no intention of paying shoppers for. Does that mean they are still in business?

Lainerz Wrote:
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> Hmm, why is this sounding like our ol' pal:
> FRANCHISE COMPLIANCE? BTW, are they still in
> business?

Hey guys - I have never NOT been paid by Cirrus. I repeat: I have always received my promised payment. It is just a very SLOW payment, and I think their cycle time has gotten slower.

Most recently:
Shop completed 21-Jan-2012, paid 4-May-2012

By comparison:
Shop completed 12-Jan-2011, paid 24-Mar-2011
Shop completed 13-May-2010, paid 15-Aug-2010

One nice thing is that it's not a big out of pocket shop. I never spend more than $5 or so in the cafeteria.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2012 04:51PM by sioushi.

Yes, their payment cycle has increased in the last year.

Huh, I am signed up with them and they never have anything in my area at all...

Great options, childbirth, root canal or the Swedish SFH ! Every masochists' dream!

I, recently, shopped that store to gift my friend their eye benefiting lingonberry compote. Up the escalator, through the lengthy mazes, down an elevator, up a staircase but still separated by a glass wall, more mazes. Finally get to the cafe to find that the sadists have moved their food area downstairs. At last I found it, got the meatballs as well, got on line and watched a "customer" shoplift a jar of jelly but pay for his pillows, maybe he resented being treated like a squirrel!

After an hour I succeeded, yup an hour and this is without interacting with anyone. I was so tired of/from the manipulation that I couldn't even speak to the cashier. Should there be a next time, I'll wait for someone to leave and enter through the exit door.
PS. I also made a mental note to find a shrink!

I am doing one of the shops TODAY! Wish me luck!

I did three shops for them about six months ago. When I didn't get paid, I called them, and was told that they pay THREE months after the end of the month that you do the shop (so if you do a shop in January, you will get paid in April). Haven't shopped for them since.

DanceMom Wrote:
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> I did three shops for them about six months ago.
> When I didn't get paid, I called them, and was
> told that they pay THREE months after the end of
> the month that you do the shop (so if you do a
> shop in January, you will get paid in April).
> Haven't shopped for them since.

How long after the shops did you call them? Did you get paid yet?
Are they a "farmer in the dell" co. passing on their account receivables or just plain old meanies?

marijaldm Wrote:

>
> How long after the shops did you call them? Did
> you get paid yet?
> Are they a "farmer in the dell" co. passing on
> their account receivables or just plain old
> meanies?


I did get paid--three months after the month I did the shops. I think I called about two months after I had submitted the shops. They were nice when I called. They knew who I was since I had emailed them twice and didn't get a response. They have been around for a long time. I did some MSing back in 2004 and then stopped and picked it up again last year. In 2004, they paid much more quickly--and I shopped for them often.