They asked me to do a [edited for ICA violation] shop at the last minute and removed the age restriction. I did the shop and they denied it do to age. I showed them the email that said they would remove the age restriction and they still will not pay me. They do not even answer my email's now. Beware of this company!!1

Was it an alcohol shop?
What is our age?

OP, you mentioned the MSC company (in your title) and the client in your post.

That company is lame.. Tons of other companies that will treat you fairly.

Also, I see the same thread was opened a month ago by you saying something simular. Is this the same shop?

You posted about the same issue with the same MSC a month ago and several posters asked for more details but you didn't provide any further information. Now you are posting the same complaint a second time, again with no details. A number of posters have been paid for shops performed for GFK after having the age restriction waived so perhaps there is more to the story. Please write again and let us know the details. Just posting the same complaint again with no further details does not give us enough information to try to help you.

Yes..It was an alcohol shop with age restriction. They called and begged me to do it and agreed to waive the age requirement. I have the email. I did the shop and then it was rejected due to age. I asked Cheryl for help and she said she would take care of it. Since then they will not respond to my emails...See below.

From: "Erie, Cheryl (GfK [edited to remove email address]
To: david snyder [edited to remove email address]
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 7:37 AM
Subject: RE: ** ACCEPTED ** [edited to remove shop name] (Brentwood, CA)

There is an age restriction and they did not remove it totally forgot about that. SORRY!

Cheryl Erie
Independent Scheduler | GfK Mystery Shopping | Consumer Experiences North America
GfK Custom Research, LLC | 401 Park Avenue South, 8th Floor | New York, NY 10016
[edited to remove telephone and email address]
Mystery Shopping Website: www.gfkmysteryshops.com
Corporate Website: www.gfk.com


Here is another email from one of their schedulers who I contacted after Cheryl stop responding to me..



It is being taken care of, but will take a couple of days.

Kelly Pettit
Independent Scheduler | GfK Mystery Shopping | Consumer Experiences North America
GfK Custom Research, LLC | 401 Park Avenue South, 8th Floor | New York, NY 10016
[edited to remove email address]
Mystery Shopping Website: www.gfkmysteryshops.com
Corporate Website: www.gfk.com

From: david snyder [edited to remove email address]
Sent: Friday, June 28, 2013 10:25 AM
To: Pettit, Kelly (GfK)
Subject: Re: BRENTWOOD [edited to remove company name]

Hi Kelly,

I have an email from Cheryl that waived the age scenerio on that shop. I also have a receipt that shows I purchased a beer. Who do I talk to too get this cleared up because Cheryl is not responding back to me?

Thanks,

Dave

How old are you?

I've only done 2 shops for them but I kinda like them, minus the whole blowing up my email 9 times a day.

David,

You should have been paid. Hands down. I looked into this and you were in the right (how could the editor miss the "bud" on the receipt-- sigh! And the email acknowledging the mistake by the scheduler - great big sigh!).

We'll have to double check the system to make sure that you haven't been paid through the additionals process that we did have (doesn't sound like it, but they have to check that) and then I can set things up using our new process. It looks like you've kept good records. Can you send me the original email when you were assigned? So I make sure that when we pay you --- it's correct. Once I have all of your info, it will take approximately 2-3 weeks. Please email me at donna.goodwin@gfk.com


I think the other thing that hurt here is that Cheryl has not been with us for several months. So my apologies that it has taken you so long to get some help on this. We are not perfect people and when we make a mistake we own up to it.

Thanks!
Donna

PS. Someone said you posted here before. Sorry that I did not see it. I try to stay current on the forums but I miss things. And unfortunately I miss things in my email too. However, at GfK we try very hard to always make sure that we fix our wrongs and apologize for our mistakes, so please again accept my apology on this matter.


Donna Goodwin
Operations Manager | GfK Mystery Shopping | Consumer Experiences North America
GfK Custom Research, LLC | 200 Liberty Street | 4th Fl | New York | NY | 10281 | United States
Mystery Shopping Website: www.gfkmysteryshops.com

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2013 04:02PM by DonnaforGfK.

I'm GLAD to see that somebody was paying attention to this....Good Job donna...to the OP plz let us know when you are paid.

for those complaining....it obviously took TWO posts on the same subject to get action....sometimes things just don't go smoothly in this business.

Donna Goodwin has always done right by me. She's my "go-to" on those rare occasions when I have an issue with GfK.

David,
I'm going to send you a private email on this too in case you are not subscribed to this post. I don't want to depend that you'll see this here.


All,
Also, a big shout out to the IMSC and to Pam over there. She is the one that alerted me to this post. One of the things that I really like about the IMSC is their advocacy for the shoppers. They are really trying to be that stop-gap between the shoppers and the companies and in doing so that helps all of the shoppers. The other thing I really like and appreciate is that they help the companies out by notifying us of things like this so we can follow-up. I would never want anyone to not get paid what they should get paid. Those who have worked with me, I think, know that I am fair. However, I work 70-100 hours a week and I can guarantee you that I miss things and I don't always see all of the forum posts. The work that Pam and the IMSC do is invaluable to me -- just by simply sending me a quick note to alert me to this post.

Thanks everyone for understanding that we are human too. We really do appreciate all of our shoppers!

Thanks!
Donna

Donna Goodwin
Operations Manager | GfK Mystery Shopping | Consumer Experiences North America
GfK Custom Research, LLC | 200 Liberty Street | 4th Fl | New York | NY | 10281 | United States
Mystery Shopping Website: www.gfkmysteryshops.com

Thank you for your help Donna. I sent you the information that you requested.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2013 04:51PM by dlsnyder65.

I did a couple of cell phone audits for GFK. I have never received such a stupid email back from a reviewer as I did from the reviewer at GFK. This power-hungry little twit, who probably sits in a cubicle thinking of asinine things to write to make others as miserable as they are, ticked me off so badly that I cancelled the rest of my shops and deregistered from the company. GFK needs to mystery shop their reviewers.

I have a high threshold for anger but not for stupidity or threats. Don't threaten me with my pay and don't order me to do something that is absolutely physically impossible to do.

Good Job Donna.

Wow! Perseverance prevails! It appears that you had to post on two separate occasions to get to one desired result. It is a MUST to keep good records of correspondence between you and the scheduler as well as any receipts/POVs from the shops. It appears OP slipped through the crack. It did not help that the original scheduler is on longer working with this MSC. But good job keeping those e-mails and staying on top of things.

I love this MSC and know that communication is key. I have asked a number of times for restrictions to be lifted so that an assignment can be performed by the deadline and data can be received for reporting. I have never been denied. I always wait 2 - 3 days to be sure others get a fair chance to respond. As my son is 19, I have encouraged him to sign up with them as well.

One question, OP - Based on the response from Donna and your previous experience with this MSC.... Are you really done with GFK???

Maybe the title of the initial post may be changed to reflect the resolution?

What does IMSC mean? I know MSC but can't figure out the "I".

I too have had this issue. The age is 21-44 and I am 51. The scheduler says the restriction is removed but they do not change it in the form . I now do not do the shop until I see it is changed there, too. The editor does not know any better and excludes the shops based on the scenario not being adhered to. My scheduler has intervened and gotten me paid for one of the two that were kicked back. In the meantime, I did get to eat a nice meal and it was not a high end shop....

This is an example of needing to be very clear with communications. The two schedulers I deal with on this project know not to approach me unless they are ready to change the scenario when they are talking with me.

IMSC=Independent Mystery Shoppers Coalition (okay I may be wrong on the "C" The IMSC is the group responsible for the shopper conferences held several times a year at various locations throughout the country.

I do have to say that I have had problems with Donna Goodwin in the past not paying for shops. She did not respond to emails nor did she respond to emails either. I just stopped doing shops for them. There are too many other good shops companies out there besides GFK that pay there shoppers.

Can you please send me this info at Donna.Goodwin@gfk.com and at least give me a chance to look into this and see what happened here? Unfortunately, without any info I cannot confirm my misake or give an answer here.

stones Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I do have to say that I have had problems with
> Donna Goodwin in the past not paying for shops.
> She did not respond to emails nor did she respond
> to emails either. I just stopped doing shops for
> them. There are too many other good shops
> companies out there besides GFK that pay there
> shoppers.

Well I must say although I don't work with GFK I am impressed with the responsiveness....

I've never worked with Gfk. I'm tempted now.

I like the way GfK does business for the most part. I like doing their shops, AustinMom.

I like them a lot too. They were the very first company that I did a shop for. I've only done 2 for them so far, their wings shop and cell phone shop. The wings shop was the first one and it went well. The cell phone shop didn't go very well at all as I couldn't get the salesperson to say anything at all about the phones. I sent an email to the scheduler when I got done and was told to write the report per my experience, which I did. Both shops were paid for very quickly. I also spoke with one of the schedulers on the phone about doing a second wings shop but needed to make sure someone had shopped the last one since I did. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do that shop but the scheduler (Beth I believe), was very helpful. If every company I do work for ends up being like what I've experience from gfk I'll be a happy shopper.

Also I really like their wings shop a lot.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2013 12:14AM by bgriffin.

I have never had a problem with GfK. Once, I had a 3rd party problem with one of their shop (the post office lost the package) and Donna was supportive, which was what I needed. It wasn't anyone's fault and it was resolved. I was impressed that Donna was there and I did not feel abandoned.

Why the age restriction? I did many of the wings shops for the MSC that had these assignments before GFK got them and there was no age restriction there. I doubt that the client suddenly targets a specific age group. In addition, I used to go there with my son that falls into the age group.

I generally like them. They are usually quick to respond. I have only had two issues with them, one which I ignored since my health is more important, and the second, a fool me once thing which I will not fall into again. They pay really fast.