I know that nobody knows me from Adam, so have no reason to trust what I am about to say. I was one of the many shoppers who put their trust in Freeman Group, and performed several of their hotel shops, believing that I would be paid in a timely manner. I fell into the exact same trap as everyone else. And like many out there, I began writing the company, asking why I wasn't being paid. Also like many of you, I would receive a payment here and a payment there, sometimes several months after successfully completing my assignment. One day, when Freeman still owed me for three shops, I received a personal email from Bill Freeman. No, it was not the form letter that he sent to everyone, that only appeared to be personalized. It was actually written to me, asking me to verify my mailing address so that my check could be mailed out that same day. I responded back, asking if I could come the next day and pick my check up in person. Bill Freeman wrote back, saying yes and asking what time because he wanted to be sure that he was there when I arrived. I met with Bill the following day. My visit that day was one of relief, because I was finally able to close my books on that chapter. But it was also a real eye opener for me. I had no idea what this Bill Freeman was going to look like or what he was going to say when we finally met. I can tell you this, in all honesty, I left there that morning feeling like I had just met a once very powerful and successful individual who had been beaten down over the past couple of years. Bill took the time to give me an explanation of how things had gone so terribly wrong with his company. I remember telling him, "Bill, if you would have just reached out to your shoppers back then and opened up to them the way you just did to me now, I have a feeling that things could have turned out so much differently." He agreed. But of course, hind sight is 20-20 as they say.
While at the Freeman Group offices, Bill took and introduced me to a couple of his remaining skeleton staff. One of those individuals was Will Tarrant. It seems that these folks knew my name from the many emails I had sent over the course of several months. I actually sat down and chatted with Will. He told me at that time (about three months ago), that he, Robb, Bill and a couple of others had been working for several months without compensation. They were focused on making sure that any hourly workers got paid. And they (referring to Bill Freeman) were trying everything they could to get the shoppers paid. At the time, Freeman had lost all of their hotel, casino and restaurant contracts, but still had a few shops that needed to be completed under the old contract. That is why we all saw job postings on the website well into the period of knowing that shoppers were not getting paid. Why did Will, Robb and others remain working for a company that was not paying them? My guess is that they had a lot of hope and still some faith that things could turn around. When I met these guys, the decision had already been made, that things had failed and would not be turning around. Will told me about the new company that he and Robb were forming. He made it clear, that even though they held nothing against Bill Freeman, he was not going to be associated with their new venture in any way. Their hope was to begin a fresh, new, innovative, responsible mystery shopping company. And their promise was to take care of their shoppers, first and foremost.
No, I am not one of their elite group of auditors. I have no reason to post here, other than to say that I believe these guys should be given the benefit of the doubt, until they prove otherwise. They don’t seem to be recruiting shoppers. They are just asking that they not be given a bad rap simply because they were once affiliated with a company that went sour.
Jacob, you have been great on these boards in so many regards. You were a powerful force when it came to Freeman Group and keeping shoppers informed. I’m just not sure that I agree with you when you fault Will and Robb the way you are. As much as we would like to hold someone accountable for all of the unfortunate shoppers who never got paid by Freeman Group, I do not think it was Will or Robb’s responsibility to compensate anybody. And if they were fortunate enough to sign Freeman’s old clients, I still do not agree that, that should reflect negatively on Will and Robb. Granted, I am one of the luckier ones who no longer has anything owed to me. Had I never visited the Freeman Group headquarters, met Bill, Will and others, I would likely have very different and bitter feelings toward Service Metrics Group and anyone involved with them. I don’t usually post on these boards. But I felt that my two cents might help to shed some light on a subject that people aren’t real sure what to think about.
Personally, if I have the opportunity to work with Service Metrics Group, I would handle it the way I do anytime I start out with any mystery shopping company. I certainly learned this lesson after Freeman Group. I would start out slowly, doing just one or two shops/audits. I would then wait to see if I was paid as promised. Then I’d schedule one or two more, and do the same. If the company did right by me, I would do likewise by them. This company may offer some great opportunities for past Freeman Group shoppers. It would be a shame to deprive those shoppers of that possibility just because the founders of this new company happened to work for Freeman Group during a very troubling time in that company’s history.
Just a side note...I also pasted this post on another board (Freeman Group Update).