UPDATE:

The MSPA has suspended the Freeman Group!

More here:

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]


To the MSPA Board of Directors:

Since 2009, members of the forum community at Mystery Shop Forum have been reporting late, delayed, and missing payments from the Freeman Group, a member of the MSPA. These reports have been appearing regularly since that time. Some shoppers report being owed as much as $1,200.

The MSPA Code of Ethics states that member companies must pay shoppers. It is clear that the Freeman Group has been unable to pay all shoppers in timely fashion for at least 3 years. While some shoppers have been paid, many have reported waiting 8-9 months, and others report never having been paid, or being promised only partial payment.

This letter has a simple request: Remove the Freeman Group as a member of the MSPA until they are able to pay all of their shoppers in a timely fashion, according to a published schedule. Doing so will demonstrate your interest in being an organization of companies that “follow principles of honesty, professionalism, and fairness.”

Allowing the Freeman Group to continue to be a member of your organization will demonstrate that the MSPA does not act in accordance with its vision, its Code of Ethics, or with respect for the mystery shoppers who make this industry possible.

Please remove the Freeman Group as a member of the MSPA until they are able to meet all of their legal, financial, and ethical obligations.

Sincerely,

Jacob Jans
Owner, MysteryShopForum.com

Added 7/20/2012
The names and companies of the MSPA board members are as follows. Many of these are good people with good companies. I urge them to protect their reputation by removing Freeman Group from the MSPA.

Stan Hart, RitterAssociates
Lynn Saladini, ath Power Consulting Corporation
Carl Phillips, Customer 1st
Marci Bikshorn, Service Excellence Group,
Ron Welty, IntelliShop
Mike Green, Customer Impact, LLC
Elaine Buxton, Confero, Inc.
Doug Rector, Northwest Loss Prevention Consultant
Daniel Chailler, Statopex
Rushton McGarr, Market Force Information
Stefan Doomanis, Dynamic Advantage
Cory Jensen, Core Research, Inc.
Lise D'Andrea Customer Service Experts, Inc.
Charles Stiles, Business Evaluation Services
Richard Bradley, Shoppers Critique International, LLC


-----------------------------

Kudos, Jacob.

I would add that they should be held responsible to pay within their stated time line, which I believe is 90 days. Paying in a 'timely fashion' is a bit too vague.

Steve, that is exactly right. I'll update it.

Woohoo Jacob! I've been owed money since January and when a company is a member of MSPA it suggests they have a code of standards. Many shoppers will see they are a member of the MSPA and assume they are a good company to work for.

Great, Jacob!

Some companies with very shaky reputations have posted here saying that we should trust them because they are MSPA members. The poor record of MSPA as a self-regulating industry body is no where more evident than with respect to MSPA management company staff's recent published statements asking shoppers to have patience with Freeman.

So far, I have not seen that the MSPA Code of Ethics is taken seriously when the injured parties are shoppers. Why, then, should we take seriously anything else coming from MSPA as "real" if they not only fail to take action to curb, but also defend, the offending company in such a blatant case.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2012 08:25PM by walesmaven.

MSPA keeps their twitter account private and doesnt allow the public to view it. Who has a twitter account and makes it private? Defeats the purpose.

That's telling them Jacob.

I completed a single assignment for Freeman the evening of 03/15/06; the Ides of March. Pay arrived on 05/13/2006; obviously, this was when they were more solvent. I've read the postings of a few shoppers that since they were using a hotel/motel anyway, the pay, when it arrived, was a plus. It wouldn't be for me, but, I do understand their logic. What mystifies me is WHY all other shoppers continue to work with an MSC that has demonstrated a complete disregard for a contract.

In 2010, I accepted assignments from Freeman to visit 2 motels for de-branding photos. Not having worked for them in 4 yrs., I accessed Volition, read of the problems and promptly canceled the work. The scheduler wrote and promised my money would be paid from a different account and within 30 dys.; I didn't buy what she was selling and remained firm.

My request to all is please satisfy my curiosity as to WHY shoppers continue to be involved with this company. This, to my manner of thinking,is nothing more than the story of the snake who was freezing requesting assistance.

Thank you for posting this Jacob, long overdue for companies attempting to meet payroll on other people's money.

Amen Jacob !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did a hotel in August (2011) and got paid in February 2012.

So 6 months of waiting....

Probably people do these shops because they do not read this forum!!
Also frankly, I have never seen the value of MSPA. What exactly are they Providing? Let us see if they respond to this forum. Very interested.

Bravo Jacob.

Isn't the MSPA the one that puts on these conferences in Chicago and Vegas and
elsewhere ?

if it is, where would they be if shoppers didn't pay and attend ?

or for that matter, aren't they the ones charging big $$$ for some kind of Gold or Silver or Bronze certificate for shoppers ?

Where would they be if shoppers started totally disregarding that organization until they adhered to their own code of principals as Jacob so brilliantly quoted ?

In other words, the next step would be to boycott anything MSPA is associated with, until such time as they show concern for the shoppers this industry bases its very existence on.

The MSPA does have the Gold and Silver certification. They DO NOT have a hand in the IMSC (Independent Mystery Shoppers Conference).

At one time the MSPA invited shoppers to attend their conferences. When that stopped in around 2009, a group of shoppers got together and planned the very first conference just for shoppers.

Thank you for addressing this. I thought I was the only one. I had the hardest time getting paid from them. I did a fine dining shop and it took me over 6 months to get paid. I haven't done anywork for them since.

Shoppingalong,
The Independent Mystery Shopping Coalition, which does the conferences for shoppers that you cite is NOT affiliated with MSPA. IMSC was formed in 2009 in response to the MSPA deciding to discontinue shopper attendance and training in conjunction with MSPA annual conferences. In fact, MSCs that are not in good standing with SHOPPERS are not allowed to come to IMSC conferences. You would NEVER see Freeman group at an IMSC conference!

This is a great start. There are others I would add to the list: franchise compliance and Instant Replay for starters!

Franchise Compliance is it's own problem.

Why in the world would you have Instant Replays on a list of non-paying MSCs. I cannot recall ever seeing anything about pay issues with them and every shop I've performed has been paid in full and on time.

Good going, Jacob. Can you do anything about those thieves with Restaurant Evaluators? I'm still livid about them burning me last year before they closed up shop.

This needs to be posted on FB. If it was posted on FB the reach would be wider and I'd bet you'd get a quick response. That's how people got BofA to drop their plan to put a fee on debit cards. The MSPA may be extremely enbarrassed if their lack of ethics is broadcast widely through FB.

This important letter must not be ignored by MSPA. We, your mystery shoppers, are the backbone of all of your companies. Taking care to pay your workers what we have contracted for with you must be your primary consideration. You need us and we need you. Act now. Freeman should not be allowed to hide under your umbrella.
Regards,

Outstanding Jacob!! I think that all of us who have worked with Freeman and are owed money agree with you fully.

I began a forum on here regarding non payment by Freeman. I was shocked to hear how many other people out there were not being paid.. and those were just the "few" that responded. I can only imagine what the total is that is owed to shoppers.

In my forum, I received a response from LisaP465. She had the same problems, but decided to "take it one step further" and began contacting all of the executives listed on their website regarding payment. She said within 2 days, she was paid in full. I took her advice, and did the same. I sent out e-mails on Saturday, and on Thursday I was notified that I had been paid for one of the two evaluations they owe me for. Of course I did not stop with that.. I immediately e-mailed vgarcia@freemangroup.com (who sent me the money via pay pal) asking when I would be paid for the other assignment I was still owed .. from DECEMBER 2011! I have not received a response, so I will again be sending out e-mails to all of the executives today.

For those of you interested, here is a list of the executive's e-mail addresses:

khofheins@freemangroup.org, jboles@freemangroup.org, kwolff@freemangroup.org, pmoore@freemangroup.org, pobryan@freemangroup.org, pvishy@freemangroup.org, bavant@freemangroup.org, gmarquart@freemangroup.org, dhyatt@freemangroup.org, rscott@freemangroup.org, bgarbacz@freemangroup.org, wtarrant@freemangroup.org, bfreeman@freemangroup.org.

Good luck everyone!!

I was once tempted to accept a shop from Freeman Group I'm glad I did not. I support everything that was said here.

Did you all see their Facebook post?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2012 07:14PM by audrialyn30.

No. Are you talking about Freeman or MSPA?

This is on the MSPA Facebook page:

"Did you know that our member companies share alerts of dishonest shoppers? Make sure you're doing quality work if you want to continue in the industry!"

How about we include this:

Does the MSPA realize our forum members share alerts of dishonest companies and organizations? Make sure your shoppers get paid if you want to continue in the industry.

Once again, boycott Freeman and all other slow-sleazy payers.

The result will be unfilled shops forcing clients to go elsewhere----and hopefully to more ethical mystery shopping providers...

Lisa -- Love that idea.

@ Spik the MSPA. They basically responded to Jacobs letter saying they were handling the matter internally.

Here I can do better. Per the MSPA's facebook post:

While negative posts have been placed on this forum regarding an MSPA member, it is not the policy of the association to respond publicly to internal matters. We will also not allow others to make accusations regarding member companies or shoppers that may or may not have any validity.

The MSPA fully investigates all issues that are brought to our direct attention. Once issues are reported to the MSPA, we work only with the parties involved to reach a resolution.

We hope everyone understands and respects this postion.

Thoughts?