jersey07032 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Seems Maritz'payroll
> people are being rather arbitrary and punitive. I
> am not going on a rant about Maritz but this is
> definitely not right.
>

the non-payment is not based upon the 'right' of the sub-contractor. rather, the non-payment is based upon the fact that the client won't pay them for an incomplete shop report. therefore, they will not pay me.

what is 'right' for the sub-contractor is not necessarily 'right' for the company or the client. an incomplete shop report is not 'right' for the company or the client. maritz is doing what is 'right' for the company and the client by not paying me for the shop report. what is 'right' for the company and the client is a complete shop report. they are only doing what is 'right' in not paying me.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2012 11:39AM by vince.

Sorry Vince..it just stinks. I guess you are out of options. Not right of Martiz to do that, the shop report was complete, you precalled, you submitted paperwork info from mailing, you went to location and location was closed. End of report.

This is one of those cases that the MCS should pay the contractor (at the very least partial pay). But we are not considered real employees and there is no recourse for nonpayment of wages earned.

I agree with Secret AgentMom entirely. There's "right" and then there's "right."

In my other business, I occasionally make enough money to hire some help.The business is not steady, os I know the "surplus" will not last long. Rather than hire another tutor, I get holp with bookkeeping, house cleaning, etc. Everyone who works for me is an IC. Recently, I had someone come clean. I aked her to focus on the fridge and stove and a couple of other things. She did a great job on the stove but a so-so job on the fridge. Can you imagine if I said, 'well, you didn't do EXACTLY what we had talked about so I am not paying you anything?" That would be so wrong....but we tolerate that behavior from the MSCs every day. WHY? Because the client doesn't pay them? I'm sorry, but the contract is between the shopper and the IC,not the client and the IC. Vince did almost everything he was "contracted" to do. And what he didn't do was beyond his control. So...Maritz Man Up, for heaven's sake! Rant over. :-)

That's why I won't do any bank jobs with Maritz.The pay is way too low for what
you have to do. 1.call the bank 2.get the materials-scan the materials 4.Go to the
bank and scan more materials for $12.00,and then comes the debriefing on their incredibly slow server(s).That's a lot of work for $12.Maybe if more people refused to do them they would raise the fee.Let's face Maritz is reliable pay,but they are really tight with their fees.When gas is almost $4 a gallon,it just does not make sense unless you put the jobs in some kind of route.I myself hate dealing with banks.I put bankers in the same category as car salesman and pawnbrokers( Crooks).Sorry, I didn't mean that to turn into a rant.

I agree, txguitar. I liked the customer platform shops at $15 .... but these are way too much work for way too little money for me

SecretAgentMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sorry Vince..it just stinks. I guess you are out
> of options. Not right of Martiz to do that, the
> shop report was complete, you precalled, you
> submitted paperwork info from mailing, you went to
> location and location was closed. End of report.
>
> This is one of those cases that the MCS should pay
> the contractor (at the very least partial pay).
> But we are not considered real employees and there
> is no recourse for nonpayment of wages earned.

wages are only guaranteed to direct employees of a company who are paid hourly or salary. whereas, wages are only paid to contractors if an assignment is completed.

UPDATE: i recently was asked by maritz to accept this same shop again for a bonus, which i accepted. i was then afterward contacted about the previous visit at the same location where there was a power outage, and notified that i would also be paid for that on top of the revisit. so in effect maritz is now paying me twice for the same location plus the additional bonus.

i wasn't sure what the standard practice was in the mystery shopping industry, but this goes above and beyond professionalism in my personal opinion. they made good on it within a week, but it may have just taken a normal amount of time to process any payment issues. i have always had a good experience with the people at maritz. they are perhaps all the most polite people at a mystery shopping company that i have ever worked with across the board in my personal experience, and i'm not really accepting shops from anyone else right now.

Vince---that is great! I am so happy for you (and feel better about mystery shopping). I have read some negative reviews of Maritz on this Forum but I have to say they are, as a GROUP, some of the nicest people I have ever dealt with. Sure there's the occassional snit, but overall, they are professional, friendly, and helpful.

I just did a shop for them. I will probably never do the shop again (or at least not unless I get a substantial "incentive," as they like to call it) but...I did the shop, got lots of help along the way. I must have called half a dozen times to get clarification and no one got annoyed. One scheduler told me I was over thinking everything (I do do that!) and to relax.

I submitted the shop, including a photo of the receipt. They told me I was missing a photo and the receipt was too blurry. I told them I could not go back to get the missing photo and they said they would let it go THIS TIME. I promised I would send in the receipt.

Turns out I lost the receipt. I have never lost a receipt before. I went through every waste paper basket in the house. Started going through the garbage and decided enough is enough, I am just not going to get paid for this job and it IS my fault.

As it turns out, they are paying me for the shop because, even with the one missing photo, they are able to send it to the client, but they cannot pay me for the purchase. It was for gas, which I needed anyway.

So...good people. Fair. Love 'em!

I'm happy for you!

I'm happy it worked out for you Vince. I do a ton of shops for Maritz and never have had an issue with them. I find the people there, that I deal with, are professional and accomodating.

vince Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> UPDATE: i recently was asked by maritz to accept
> this same shop again for a bonus, which i
> accepted. i was then afterward contacted about
> the previous visit at the same location where
> there was a power outage, and notified that i
> would also be paid for that on top of the revisit.
> so in effect maritz is now paying me twice for
> the same location plus the additional bonus.
>
> i wasn't sure what the standard practice was in
> the mystery shopping industry, but this goes above
> and beyond professionalism in my personal opinion.
> they made good on it within a week, but it may
> have just taken a normal amount of time to process
> any payment issues. i have always had a good
> experience with the people at maritz. they are
> perhaps all the most polite people at a mystery
> shopping company that i have ever worked with
> across the board in my personal experience, and
> i'm not really accepting shops from anyone else
> right now.
>
>



Congratulations Vince !

It couldn't be that someone from the company reads these posts and decided this had to be rectified, could it ??

jersey07032 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Vince---that is great! I am so happy for you (and
> feel better about mystery shopping). I have read
> some negative reviews of Maritz on this Forum but
> I have to say they are, as a GROUP, some of the
> nicest people I have ever dealt with.

agreed.

> I just did a shop for them. I will probably never
> do the shop again (or at least not unless I get a
> substantial "incentive," as they like to call it)
> but...I did the shop, got lots of help along the
> way. I must have called half a dozen times to get
> clarification and no one got annoyed. One
> scheduler told me I was over thinking everything
> (I do do that!) and to relax.

i sometimes tend to overthink things to. it may depend on what it is and the stakes involved. i wrote a short book on philosophy, but haven't completed the final version yet for publication, so i tend to think things through a lot. when i articulate things in writing, it helps me to think them through more thoroughly.

> I submitted the shop, including a photo of the
> receipt. They told me I was missing a photo and
> the receipt was too blurry. I told them I could
> not go back to get the missing photo and they said
> they would let it go THIS TIME. I promised I would
> send in the receipt.

i actually take at least two photos of each item, just assuming that some will automatically turn out blurry. then i select the better shots.

one time i observed a friend of mine who was a professional photographer who took pictures at a group event. he must have taken over a thousand pictures in just a few hours. it's like he barely even stood still for just a moment to take his photos. i couldn't figure out how any of shots would be any good because he had taken them so fast, but he took so many (over 1000) that i'm sure he got some very good ones. then he would select the perfect shots by a process of elimination. all it was was an awards ceremony with several people on a stage.

i'm no expert at photography, but i take at least two shots of every item. sometimes i take even more, depending on what it is. often one is slightly more blurry than the other.

> Turns out I lost the receipt. I have never lost a
> receipt before. I went through every waste paper
> basket in the house. Started going through the
> garbage and decided enough is enough, I am just
> not going to get paid for this job and it IS my
> fault.
>
> As it turns out, they are paying me for the shop
> because, even with the one missing photo, they are
> able to send it to the client, but they cannot pay
> me for the purchase. It was for gas, which I
> needed anyway.

that's nice.

> So...good people. Fair. Love 'em!

me too.

This has happened to me on several occasions for several different MSC's
The rule has always shown to be that in the case of a store being closed during normaly posted hours, you wiil be paid .Also if the shop is out of business ,you will be paid. Again if the shop has benn rebranded,you will be paid.In the case of a store moving to another adress you would proceed with the shop at the new location (if posted or within eyesite.) All of this is contingent on taking a location picture or 2 of the location trying to get a picture of shop address and closed sign.

<<i'm no expert at photography, but i take at least two shots of every item. <<sometimes i take even more, depending on what it is. often one is slightly more <<blurry than the other.

Jersey, you should invest in one of those new digital cameras that have an anti-blur feature available on the phone. They're perfect for people like you and I who tend to shake the camera as we're pushing the shutter button.

I use the anti-blur feature when I am taking the photos inside the store (register, restrooms and interior shots), switch to close-up for any handwritten signs and then use landscape for all of the exterior shots. If it's too dark to get good exterior photos I switch to night landscape so that the flash is used for shots that don't have any light. I also tend to switch to my older heavier camera for most night shots because it takes better night shots where there's a lot of light concentrated like photos of the station canopies, pumps and price signs.

Maritz is a joke.

vince Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> UPDATE: i recently was asked by maritz to accept
> this same shop again for a bonus, which i
> accepted. i was then afterward contacted about
> the previous visit at the same location where
> there was a power outage, and notified that i
> would also be paid for that on top of the revisit.
> so in effect maritz is now paying me twice for
> the same location plus the additional bonus.
>
> i wasn't sure what the standard practice was in
> the mystery shopping industry, but this goes above
> and beyond professionalism in my personal opinion.
> they made good on it within a week, but it may
> have just taken a normal amount of time to process
> any payment issues. i have always had a good
> experience with the people at maritz. they are
> perhaps all the most polite people at a mystery
> shopping company that i have ever worked with
> across the board in my personal experience, and
> i'm not really accepting shops from anyone else
> right now.
>
>


AND this is why I totally LOVE Maritz. I didn't understand why they did that before, but this totally show they are a stand up kind of team! Way to go Maritz and Vince.