Hi everyone out there. I have been a shopper since 8/31/12. I have done shops for several companies and have had good experiences. I have been paid accordingly and in the time frame I was told. However, one company has yet to pay and I was wondering your thoughts on this company; Cirrus 360.
I have performed five shops on five different occasions for Cirrus 360. Each shop required several departments in a large store to be evaluated. Each assignment took around 4 hours to complete. It took another 2 to 3 hours to write the narrative. The first one I did was submitted 8/31/12. I have yet to get paid. I was informed last month I would be paid mid Dec. Then I was informed I would be paid at end of Dec. Now no one in invoicing will reply to my e-mails.
I have about 30 hours invested with no payback.
Any advise please?
Thank you
R.E.A.

One of the worst MSCs I have encountered. Took me 5 months, 11 emails and the threat of legal action to get paid.

It's also the only MSC I have ever deactivated myself from.

Try threatening legal action; it seems to be the only thing that lights a fire under them.

Is she also describing the shop from hell? If so, waiting for payment is certainly rubbing salt in the wound.

I think so. I suggest that she get really tough really fast. The longer this goes, the probability of payment decreases.

Thank you for the information. I really wish I had looked further into it but all other shops were going so well.
PLease advise. What sort of legal action? I thought of calling Swedish coporate to tell them. Also, to write MSP and the BBB.
Your thoughts.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2013 01:50PM by renatedaveyahoo.com.

Yes, these assignmenst were for the Swedish store.

It depends on the state. My home state, which is where I performed the bonused shop, has a section of the Consumer Fraud Division dedicated to complaints by Independent Contractors.

They had an online form on the state website to print out and mail, which I did. I also scanned the complaint form and sent it as a .pdf file. Worked like a charm.

You've also got the option of going to Small Claims Court, where they could be liable for triple damages plus court costs -if you shopped in the same jurisdiction as their home office.

I would not contact the Swedes. Two reasons:

1. It could be construed as a violation of your ICA, even though they violated theirs first by not paying in a timely manner.

2. Sad to say, it probably won't work. You are a sub-contractor to their mystery shopping contractor (Cirrus 360.) The Swedes, busy as they are, probably aren't going to put your concerns high on their priority list. They will say that whatever business dispute you have with Cirrus 360 is none of their concern. It's no different than if Cirrus 360 isn't paying their rent or cable bill or bounced a check at the postal supplies store. They don't have the time to deal with it, and won't involve themselves in your particular case.

OTOH, the Swedes may want to know of pending legal action against one of their contractors.

What is the forum's opinion on this topic? In my case, after I threatened legal action and subsequently was paid, I self-deactivated and left it at that.

Thoughts? This kind of behavior really makes me angry, in case you can't tell....

Hi guys
Thanks for the advice. As soon as I read your answers I called Cirrus and had to leave a message again. I let them know if I did not get a response I would report them to the BBB and MSP. That same day I received two e-mails and three voice messages. I was paid that same day for my first four shops. I was told I had to submit an invoice, a blank was sent to me by e-mail. I would never have found this on their web site. So far so good. Only thing to be wary of is they pay four months after the assinment.

is there any way on this forum to keep a list at the top "bad companies"?

I am assuming that everyone would have their own interpretation of what "bad" is.

Wish I'd paid better attention to this one before I took my assignment. After having turned in my report 10 days ago, yesterday I get a "you better fix this part by 2pm today or you won't get paid message." I have to travel 1 1/2 round trip to do this and sorry, my Friday is swamped. Part of the reason I didn't do the section they are talkinb about if that the instructions weren't clear. I was given two options; Option A - I couldn't do because I didn't see anything that fit the description. Option B - I did that one, but that means that the part they are questioning now is N/A.

i've offered to go there tomorrow, finish this part up and finish the report. Both email direct and "comment" from the shop log have gone unacknowldged.

Any suggestions? This was a HUGE effort and good money is riding on this.

In order to ensure that I would get paid, I would find a way to fit in the visit that would enable me to complete the report.

I too completed the arduous shop back in November of 2012. I have yet to be paid as well. I have done a great deal of mystery shopping and have never waited so long to be paid. I sure wish I could buy something or use someones' services and wait 5-6 months to pay them! I wonder if they operate under the premise that a lot of people don't keep good track or will just "forget" that they never got paid?

Having read the other posts, I am guessing that I have been too nice in my correspondence with them... time to get threatening.

Thanks for the previous posts.... I'm frustrated for all the people that they have cheated out of money, but glad to know it isn't just me!

I have to admit, I had not checked this forum before taking on the Cirrus job. After completing the assignment, I was worried about possibly not receiving payment in a timely manner, if at all. Per the Cirrus website, it states that payment on invoices are issued 3 months after the month in which the invoice is submitted. Therefore, a job/invoice submitted at the end of December is expected to be paid after the 15th of March. Yesterday, I sent an email to Cirrus, requesting status of the payment I was due. I copied the information found on the Cirrus website stating the pay schedule, and asked when I could expect to be paid. To my amazement, the funds were sent to my PayPal account TODAY. I wanted to share this with all of you. I appreciated the quick response to my request. I did not have to threaten, or email repeatedly. The assignment was extraordinarily detailed, and required a huge block of my time to complete. Yet, I received payment immediately after one email.

I wish all of you success with your mystery shopping endeavors. You are all disciplined self-starters who work hard for every dollar, and are efficient managers of your time and energy. You MUST be, to be a successful Mystery Shopper. What a great group of people! I wanted to share my experience with you, as it may help others to evaluate and negotiate this territory that is the "Mystery Shopping Terrain".

One of my favorite sayings is: "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want." Even when I spend too much time completing a crappy job that doesn't pay much, I learn something. NO job is EVER a complete loss. Some crappy jobs teach us valuable lessons that we can apply to future potential crappy lessons, which we can then avoid. So, if you ever have a negative experience when Mystery Shopping, I hope the big bonus is this: you are able to fine-tune your pursuits to more lucrative ventures. Eventually, you will be able to fill your schedule with jobs that work nicely for you, and avoid those that don't.

I guess I just wanted to say that every experience is a good one, if you learn from it. In this case, I was pleasantly surprised. That, too, is a learning experience.

Cheers!

I recently last week accepted a job for the big department store. I am glad I found your post. thank you. I will never do this shop again. Never.

The company still misleads people with the 'after the 15th' wording. From my own experience, and the notes here from others, while it IS 'after the 15th' ... it's usually closer to four months after the month of completion.

When I asked Scheduler for my payment, she informed me their computer was down they lost my information. They send me following week for my payment. I have no idea how they can lose payment information. Don't they have to pay taxes?? I will not work for them again.

I like to add few more things, after I resend my invoice to scheduler than I received payment in few days. I thought it was just oversight on someone’s part but it happened more than once. I don’t mind later payment as long as they keep their side bargain. I understood ahead of time I will not going to be paid 3 month. I should not have to resend them an e-mail every time I need to get paid, They require for me to send invoice I have done that, that should be all I need to do .

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2013 04:20PM by Namkurtz.

If this is true then they are the most irresponsible unprofessional company (emphasis on if).

This is discouraging. I did my first (and only, so far) shop with them in January. When I noticed I still haven't been paid now that it's April, I asked them. Apparently I should expect payment mid-May, and they confirmed they had my invoice.

SO...I think I have a new "test" for MSCs. I'll do ONE job for you if you're new for me. Depending on the experience (including payment cycle), I'll decide whether you're worth my time.

I thought ath and intellishop were bad but this is ridiculous.

jwolpert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I thought ath and intellishop were bad but this is
> ridiculous.


Have you had problems with ath not paying, or just slow? I did a shop for intellishop on 3/8 and got paid this week, which is actually shorter than what they say ( 2 months later). I did a march shop for ath, that should come this week based on their pay policy. Hopefully your experience was just slow. I was bummed, it was a good paying job and I scored well on both. Have been looking for more ever since and never find any in my area (for ath)

I have done over 50 jobs for ath and have always been paid. they are just slow. Intellishop is slow also but maybe they are trying to get better.

Can someone give me a working email address for Cirrus? I just tried to email them and it came back as undeliverable.

I did a shop on 12/22/12 and got a 10/10 score and have yet to be paid (6 months later). Any assistance would be appreciated!

I read about them in the mystery magazine Jacob emailed.

[www.mysteryshoppermagazine.com]

Not for me. No way.

Try this one: bherbig@cirrusmktg.com

redhippo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Can someone give me a working email address for
> Cirrus? I just tried to email them and it came
> back as undeliverable.
>
> I did a shop on 12/22/12 and got a 10/10 score and
> have yet to be paid (6 months later). Any
> assistance would be appreciated!

I did a job at the same large store back in July of last year and JUST GOT PAID, 11 months later, after submitting my invoice for the fifth time. When they finally paid me it was less than 12 hour after my final email. The shop was only borderline worth the time it took and I should not have had to jump through hoops to be paid.

Never again, Cirrus. Bad business practices.

I found out about this forum and about others' reviews of this company through Jacob's mag. Thank you all for looking out for each other. Now I'm off to introduce myself.

Becky

The correct link for the review of Cirrus Marketing in the Mystery Shopping Magazine is [www.mysteryshoppermagazine.com]. It was published in Issue 17.

this is disturbing. I just contacted them AGAIN for a shop I did in January. Last time they even responded to my email (in April), they told me payment would be May 15th. Well...check the date...it's SIX weeks later, no payment, no response. I've already decided that I'm not working for them anymore, but what else can I do to get paid for this one?

I did have same issues but I send email to scheduler, less than a week I get paid. I hope this will help.

I joined this forum specifically to see if others were having trouble with Cirrus Marketing - and after reading a handful of posts, I see everyone echoing the same experience I had.

1 - Shop for furniture company took me 5 hours to complete, report 3 hours.

2 - Requested additional reimbursement for an extra $5.86 I spent in dining area - they rudely refused any additional reimbursement.

3 - Hounded them for payment, threatened to contact BBB. Received one reply stating my November shop would be paid at the end of March. After the 15th of March, I started emailing daily for my pay.

4 - Payment received after I threatened legal action. I only received payment for the shop fee ($55) and they skipped over my expenses that were promised in the shop description. At this point, I don't care anymore. I have deactivated my account.

5 - My advice: Stay away from Cirrus Marketing!!

No other company has been so rude to me as Cirrus. I wish there was a way to protect newbies from accepting their shops.

Sincerely - A MN Shopper