I still have not received my payment (or Email notification) of same from Strategic Reflections for the shops I completed in January.

According to the website, the check should have been processed at the end of February but it is over a week into March and still nada.

I contacted Payroll in early March and was told that the checks have not been processed yet.

I hope this MSC isn't like another one I've dealt with in the past that takes three whole months before you get your money.

BTW, I am not a newbie. I have been MS for over five years.

I have not shopped for them for awhile, but if I remember correctly, the 27th is when they start processing payment, but it's not received until the next month.

I emailed them about this yesterday. Have not heard a response yet.

Thanks for the responses Lisa and David. I guess Big Brother is watching this board. This morning I received an email from Strategic Reflections stating that the checks for January had been mailed out today.

Coincidence? Maybe...

tanmanlovespool Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the responses Lisa and David. I guess
> Big Brother is watching this board. This morning I
> received an email from Strategic Reflections
> stating that the checks for January had been
> mailed out today.
>
> Coincidence? Maybe...


I sincerely hope they are, and that they are reading the following statement:

Strategic Reflections, you are fooling nobody by dating your checks 2/27/12. The postmark on the envelope read 3/9/12. So, at best, you're printing your checks and sitting on them for over a week due to laziness.

At worst, you're printing your checks and realizing that you don't have the money to cover them, so you're sitting on them. Or, just as bad, you think you can deceive shoppers into thinking that it was the postal service that was late by back-dating your checks.

Either way, how about just paying us according to your stated terms?

Still have not received check via USPS. Where are they mailing them from? Overseas?

My check arrived yesterday.

tanmanlovespool Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Still have not received check via USPS. Where are
> they mailing them from? Overseas?


They're based in Cincinnati, OH.

I've been shopping for SR for a couple of years, and I have found them to be very reliable. They have one of the longer payment cycles, but I don't have a problem with it, and I've never had a single incorrect or late payment from them.

Well, until I actually receive my first payment from them, I will refrain from doing any additional shops for them.

Look what is happening with Feedback Plus? They were once very reliable and now they're using unorthodox payment practices or they have someone in payroll who's been on vacation for the past three weeks and didn't train his/her replacement thoroughly.

Mantis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
They have one of the longer payment cycles, but I don't
have a problem with it, and I've never had a
single incorrect or late payment from them.

I don't have a problem with receiving payment, but their terms are a bit sketchy as to exactly when shoppers will receive payment.

Their terms state that they "begin processing checks on the 27th-30th of the month for the prior month's shops". Translation: payment for shops completed in January begin processing on or around February 27th.

Here's where it gets sketchy. The next line reads "Checks are mailed once processing is complete." How about clearly stating how long processing usually takes? A day? 3 days? 2 weeks? 6 years?

Most people would read that and assume that checks would be mailed sometime around the first of the month. I've received checks from SR anywhere between the 5th and 15th of the month, and mail from their office location to my home generally only takes 1 day, possibly 2. In each case, I've received my check the day after it was postmarked.

Here's what gets me: my last check was dated 2/27, but was postmarked 3/9. Now, backdating checks is not out of bounds, but the way in which they did it leads me to believe there's some tomfoolery going on.

My speculative guess is that they picked 2/27 because that's what is stated as the first processing day in their terms, and would give them the convenient excuse of "Well, we began processing when we said we would" if someone were to question it. Like I said, backdating a check isn't unheard of, especially when a company wants to allocate an expense to a certain accounting period. However, 2/27 would be an odd date to start/end an accounting period. It's obviously not the end of a month, if they run their fiscal calendar on calendar months. It's the start of a week, not the end of one, if they run on a week-based fiscal calendar. Unless their fiscal calendar is run on some oddball number-of-days based system, it's unlikely that's the reason.

Even if they did print the check on 2/27, why sit on it until the 8th or 9th (when it was postmarked)? Either you don't have the cash in the account for it to clear (which is bad) or you're drawing out the payment process for some other reason (which may be worse).

SR isn't a bad MSC, but there is a somewhat concerning lack of clarity in their payment process.

I have been doing Strategic Reflections for almost 2 years and they pay 1 month behind, but they do pay and the checks are always good. They will usually put out an e-mail when the checks are sent out this month it was the 9th. I got mine on the 10th.

Well, today is the 14th and I am still waiting. Maybe they're about to fold. Not every company is going to be making a profit in these hard times and if they don't have any reserve cash on hand they have to wait until they get paid before they can pay us. The old pyramid scheme never works out in the long run.

I received my check on March 10th. For the record, I love Strategic Reflections. I've never had an issue with them. I really don't think they are guilty of a pyramid scheme.

tanmanlovespool Wrote:
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> .......Not every company is
> going to be making a profit in these hard times
> and if they don't have any reserve cash on hand
> they have to wait until they get paid before they
> can pay us. The old pyramid scheme never works out
> in the long run.

What are you talking about? They had more than 12,000 shops in January and now they still have more than 10,000 shops. Looks to me that they have enough business.

Not if the company they're working for is having cash flow issues. If the client is slow to pay SF, that slow pay will roll to the IC's.

And if SF undercut another MSC to get this contract they may have quoted too low a price to cover their expenses.

anakin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tanmanlovespool Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > .......Not every company is
> > going to be making a profit in these hard times
> > and if they don't have any reserve cash on hand
> > they have to wait until they get paid before
> they
> > can pay us. The old pyramid scheme never works
> out
> > in the long run.
>
> What are you talking about? They had more than
> 12,000 shops in January and now they still have
> more than 10,000 shops. Looks to me that they
> have enough business.


Income does not necessarily equal cash flow, and income does not necessarily equal profit.

I received an email from them, saying there had been some sort of computer glitch. I received a check not long after. I agree with those who have siad positve things about SR... they are ok with me, and I am really down on MSCs these days. I am going thru quite the Kafka-esque run arund with GfK about a payment from October (and they are telling me I am being impatient and unreasonable. HUH?

I have performed a total of three jobs for SR. I use the Mystery Shopping Bible to log all my MS'ing information. Under the payment tab, there is a column that tells the "# of days taken to get paid." Here is my breakdown...

Job #1 performed on 12/04/2011 -- Paid on 2/10/2012 = 68 days
Job #2 performed on 01/14/2012 -- Paid on 3/12/2012 = 58 days
Job #3 performed on 02/08/2012 -- Not paid yet

I don't usually panic until 90 days have past but I don't rely on MS'ing as my primary source of income.

tanmanlovespool. have you tried calling or emailing them?

I tried emailing them and I got two answers about a week apart, one of which said that "the checks have been mailed." That was 5 days ago and I still haven't received a check. It doesn't take 5 days for a letter to go from Ohio to Georgia.

hmmmm. I am really down on MSCs in general these days, but I would caution patience in this case.. I have waited more than 5 days for a check to arrive. I would suggest waiting a til Friday and emailing or calling again. SR is NOT one of the toxic companies I am coming to loathe. At least I have not had any toxic experiences with them. I understand and empathize with your frustration, believe me. I have been engaged in a 6-month battle with GfK to get paid and they are being really nasty and unprofessional.

It took me 133 days to get paid from ACE but it was during the time period when they were switching to PayQuicker which caused all sorts of problems for me. And of course, the lovely Cirrus Marketing took 117 days to get paid. Both situations required e-mails and/or phone calls but I was professional and even-toned.

Shops...my question to you: were THEY professional and even-toned, as well? That makes all the difference to me. The companies I b..ch about are on my s..t list, not because they made a mistake or I didn't like their shps but because they were rude and disrespectful or crossed some other line. I have never done a shop for Cirrus. I read the posts about them and their infamous shop from hell with sweedish meatballs and decided to bail so I cannot speak to their integrity, but I have always liked ACE--never had any problems. In fact, did a shop for them last week for which I got paid yesterday!

~jersey07032: The woman at ACE was VERY nice. I honestly think the payment issue with them was on the PayQuicker side but since it took so long to resolve, I have decided to not accept anymore shops from them at this time. I did not deactivate my account because I am hoping that they will switch back to PayPal or direct deposit or even checks at some point. They were my first ever MSC...way back in August 2011. ;-)

Cirrus was not as friendly but they were not rude or unprofessional per se. Just a bit indifferent.

What about SR? Have things been resolved?

Mail delivery for March 15: Nada. Still no check.

Sorry tanman....I thought we were talking about Measure Consumer Perspectives. Have never worked for Strategic Reflections.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2012 10:11PM by anakin.

Shop2LiveinFL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have performed a total of three jobs for SR. I
> use the Mystery Shopping Bible to log all my
> MS'ing information. Under the payment tab, there
> is a column that tells the "# of days taken to get
> paid." Here is my breakdown...
>
> Job #1 performed on 12/04/2011 -- Paid on
> 2/10/2012 = 68 days
> Job #2 performed on 01/14/2012 -- Paid on
> 3/12/2012 = 58 days
> Job #3 performed on 02/08/2012 -- Not paid yet
>
> I don't usually panic until 90 days have past but
> I don't rely on MS'ing as my primary source of
> income.


Hi Shop2LiveinFl,

First I'd like to ask you is there really something printed up as a "Mystery Shopper's Bible online ? or is it something of your own making? Good idea to write down how long it took them to pay.

I now have a similar situation. Company I like, said check (larger $) went out 18 days ago. Ummmm - dont think it takes 18 days for one little letter to get here, but "if I dont get it in another _ days, email them and they'll send out another"
Makes me kind of feel like I'm supporting the company and I really cant do that.
Seems to me it's like loaning out your money for a month or so, to strangers. If a person was really flush, I guess it would be alright,or maybe not, but if people were flush they wouldn't be doing mystery shopping, methinks.

See the title of the thread, Anakin? LOL.

I have never had an issue with MCP. They have always paid me promptly.