If you visit their FAQs page (which isn't easy to find), it now says 30 days. About two years ago they started paying out in 30 for hard to fill shops and leaving the others at 60. With the exception of two video shops performed on 4/29 and submitted the following evening on 4/30, all of my shops for this year have paid the following month.

I've been boycotting WalMart for years over its treatment of both vendors and employees and its pay/benefit policies. Haven't stepped foot in one for more than seven years and don't plan to. Only time I'd ever shop there would be if one of my family or my dogs were dying and needed something I could only get there.

I've known people who've worked there, and they say they're kept just under WalMart's "full-time" status expressly so WM won't have to pay them benefits. And this has been going on for at least 15 years that I know of--it has nothing to do with the new healthcare law. And it's been one class-action lawsuit or other legal issue after another with them--not paying their pharmacists overtime, discriminating against female employees, hiring contractors that employ illegal immigrants (and they claimed to not know--sure, I believe that one), etc. In Maryland there was a huge stink raised when it was found that large numbers of WalMart employees were on the state's medical assistance program because they didn't qualify for WM insurance or couldn't afford to pay the premiums because of the low wages they're paid.

And there have been vendors of WalMart who have nearly gone under due to the price pressure put upon them. They don't make much money selling at the margin that WM will pay, but they make no money if WM stops buying from them.

Such unmitigated greed.... How much money does one family need in order to feel they can afford to pay their employees decent wages and benefits? Do they not understand that without their workers, they make NO money?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2013 02:50PM by BirdyC.

Someday the tumbrels will start rolling again. The mob is starting to gather.

All I know is that there needs to be a middle-class revolution in this country! And I'll be marching at the front....

Since the middle-class has gone the way of the dinosaur, just where are you going to find marchers?

I found it interesting what the person said about Walmart having a fundraiser for their own employees. That reminds me of when my husband was in the Air Force. All the Air Force wives who were pregnant were invited to a meeting where we were told about WIC. I was young at the time and didn't know what it was, or that it was government subsidized. Years later, I have often found it ironic that my husband was a government employee and yet we met the "poverty income" level to qualify for government assistance. How insane is that!?

Most of the shops can be charged. Only restaurant and bar shops require cash

To me, it sounds like a 50 day turnaround. If you don't get paid within 50 days, something is wrong.

Intellishop's payments are erratic at best. My payment yesterday included shops from October but there is one from September still unpaid, and reimbursements I am owed were not paid either. By the time I am paid for the outstanding September shop it will have been 90 days.

It gets worse. When a client has been with a MSC for an extended period of time they expect lower rates. The MSCs agree and lower their rates. They do this by lowering the shop fees paid to us, the people who get the job done and earn them their money. The MSC's and apparently the clients are not concerned that the lower fees result in us, the mystery shoppers, are now working for less minimum wage.

I guess they realize there are always mystery shoppers willing to work for $3.00 to $5.00 per hour. I am not one of them and I am enjoying the extra free time. I have stopped working for most of the MSCs I am registered with.

I was paid on time by Intellishop again this month. They do not have a lot of shops near me but I am happy to do them when they come available on the boards.

My husband LOVES tacos from a certain place, so every month I wait until the shops start bonusing and do one of the fast food shops that get him tacos. Always paid on time.

Let's be fair and put ourselves in the Companies shoes.
To begin, someone has to call on the Customer who is usually a small business dealing with the general public. Not to digress but the buying public can test the patience of Job with their condesending me first attitude and miserly approach to every purchase (e.g. not leaving tips) and never being satisfied since everone is a freakin' victim in America these days.
Then they have to deal every day with a multitude of Government inspectors, auditors and licencing clerks all with a cop mentality trying to get another capitalist swine who has the audacity to attempt to make a profit. 'Cuz that's a sin, you know.
And if they are nice they will only delay a project for the minimum somebody suggested to them would make the supervisor happy because governmental departments are "results" driven - you know, more tickets in the last week. So we slow down
don't we?.
Next our "Mystery Shopping is better than butter with no calories" salesperson has to convince Mr. Small Businss man
(excuse me, I mean person) that this concept can help him (means her too, okay?) be more efficient and therefore increase his bottom line.
Now ask yourself, do ya think Mr. Busy man who just paid his CPA another 1,500 bucks to figure out how he can get compliant with the ADA, EPA, ERISA, OSHA and now the AHCA (Obamacare), among others, is gonna cut our sales "individual" a check for delivering a plan to boost his profits upfront? Naw, you know better.
So that's when we come in, really? We give them AAA reports that make sense so the company can demonstrate our stuff really has a value and we are the best way to evaluate "customer service". Then the company might get paid.
The real problem, as I see it, is developing long term relationships on the shopper/company level. Then too, compensation for shoppers and auditors is low, likely because of the intense editing required, high "flake rates" and so on, creating high turnover and difficulty in recruiting good help.
The answer has to be organizing. Shoppers need to demand better cuts in the action in return for better work ultimately reducing the need for editing (sorry guys/gals). Think about it: Who takes $10 and $15 jobs when fuel and other expenses are nearly exceeding those rates? That's not minimum wage. That has to stop.
Raise the bar. Make membership in a Union of well trained, competent and reliable shoppers really valuable. Make certification the springboard but make it real (like annual continuing education). It's time for the industry to go to the next level like the insurance industry did 150 years ago. It's time no one can afford this menagerie of deals. Compensation needs to be standardized as do deadlines, reporting methods and pay dates.
I open the bid with I don't take a walking job for less than $20 (that's only if it's real damn convienient and pays the gas for the two $50's I piggy back it with, and I ain't bluffin',ya'll. Whoever takes those crap jobs are either new and either don't know better and don't understand economics or they recognize the training value, as I and many others did.
And, you company people, now that the cash flow is established revisiting and adjusting the value of what you are buying in competent and honorable shoppers will only make you more efficient. Right now, it seems, your recruitment is haphazard at best and by trial and error you find decent shoppers. There's got to be a better way. To ignore the reality is accepting mediocrity. Not everyone can be a winner in anything but there have to be resonable limits, goals and guidlines.
Humbly sumitted for your consideration.

What in the world was your point?

Assuming you are referring to FSmith's post, I think the point is that the whole secret shopping thing is pretty haphazard and that we need to take it to a higher level of professionalism. Let's face it, the standards for becoming a mystery shopper for many companies are pretty low.

Many MSCs have created jobs for the lowest common denominator. How many have you signed up with companies that do not even require a writing sample? Background checks are non-existent in most cases.

At the same time, some of the product (actually a lot of the product) I see coming from MSCs is low quality. Specifications are vague, contradictory, full of typos and grammatical errors, etc. How many times have you filled out a report where you have written the same answer over and over?

I realize sometimes the same question is asked in several different ways to test our integrity and our ability to communicate to be sure they get an accurate reading of what we observed, but more often than not, these surveys we complete were written by someone with poor communication and/or reasoning skills and little comprehension of the questions being asked by the clients or the situation they are trying to evaluate. Just today there was a comment someone made that the Big Blue Box Hardware wasn't happy with the results of the most recent round of mystery shops. That is not the shoppers' fault. That is a reflection of the person responsible for contracting for the Big Blue Box Hardware store and the marketing rep at the MSC not communicating sufficiently to come up with a scenario that provides the company with the data it needs to improve its operations.

I've written many times during the short time I've been on this board that I have been shocked at the lack of professionalism by the MSCs. The MSCs are consultants that specialize in marketing. I have to wonder where some of those who run these companies obtained their skill sets because I see scenarios and questions on our reports that fly in the face of everything I learned in college and real life about marketing and statistics. For example, when a question is written that suggests a desired answer, the result is less reliable and less significant than a question that requires the truth no matter the consequence. If I were spending big bucks on a mystery shopping program for my company I would want reports that tell me what is really going on so I could make adjustments, not some sugar-coated, feel-good report that sounds like everything is peachy while my profits go down the toilet.

But, to get high quality data, one has to hire high quality individuals who can think on their own and put their observations into a format that is valid and can be used by the companies. That requires a willingness to pay for such data. Instead, for the most part, we have the Arches, Wal-Mart and ARCo model of using cheap labor and producing a cheap product that appeals to the lowest common denominator but doesn't have a lot of value.

As shoppers we facilitate this to a degree by accepting low pay putting up with crap. Going back to original post, let me ask all of you that defend Intellishop and other MSCs that pay within a window rather than a specific date. Would you take a job at a brick and mortar business that said to you, "You must do this, this and this and we will pay you sometime between the 15th and 30th of next month." For anyone who has held a regular job, which I'm guessing is almost everyone, you expected a paycheck every Friday, or the first of every month or whatever. Wouldn't you be skeptical of a company that wanted you to perform work but the wouldn't give you a specific pay date?

We are our own worst enemies by taking the low-paying gigs, doing the impossible sometimes for next to nothing, and not speaking up. After a year of this type of mystery shopping, I am taking James007's advice, and ridding myself of those companies and those schedulers who annoy me and stress me out. I enjoy mystery shopping and am not going to have it ruined for me. Life is too short to work at something you hate and I don't want to turn this little adventure into something I dread rather than something I look forward to.

Finally, I will say something one more time. We can all go get minimum wage jobs. We don't need MSCs to survive. MSCs need us or they will go out of business. We have the power yet we choose to let the MSCs have the power over us.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/2013 07:38AM by whiterosie.

Your example of payment dates and employees is not valid when discussing Intellishop. The have set it now at net 30 and consistently pay between the 20th and 22nd of every month, a three day window. It is also a positive development to see them change from net 60.

We are vendors, not employees so the expectation of a "paycheck" every Friday is unrealistic. We do not have to report to work at a specific time and stay a set number of hours. The assignments I take offer a great deal of flexibility and much larger window than just three days to perform.

While managing small companies I had a couple specific days each month set aside to handle payments to our vendors. If I was not in the office that day the payments would be made the following day or the day after that. The payments were not late, but they also were not on a consistent date.

The bottom line is I was not defending just stating the payment terms they listed and pointing out they are paying within terms.
I save my vitriol for companies who do not honor their payment terms and/or have consistent "mistakes" with payments.

We don't need MSCs to survive but we need them if we want to mystery shop. They definitely don't need us to survive because there will always be someone else who will do the job. If you think for a minute you're essential, quit and see what happens overall in the business. Nothing. Expecting them to pay on the dot every Friday or the !st or the 15th of the month is unrealistic. If they pay when they say they will pay, they have honored their obligation. Being an independent contractor or working business to business is different from being an employee. Those who expect employee benefits more than likely don't really understand the difference between being an employee and being in business for yourself. We talk a lot about how important it is to be dependable. Its also important to understand this is not employment. This is business to business, which is entirely different.

No not true, They are NOT consistent for payment. 36 60 90 and those dates still change. Your words consistent are invalid. Maybe for you consistent but not for everyone of us.


LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Your example of payment dates and employees is not
> valid when discussing Intellishop. The have set it
> now at net 30 and consistently pay between the
> 20th and 22nd of every month, a three day window.
> It is also a positive development to see them
> change from net 60.
>
> We are vendors, not employees so the expectation
> of a "paycheck" every Friday is unrealistic. We do
> not have to report to work at a specific time and
> stay a set number of hours. The assignments I take
> offer a great deal of flexibility and much larger
> window than just three days to perform.
>
> While managing small companies I had a couple
> specific days each month set aside to handle
> payments to our vendors. If I was not in the
> office that day the payments would be made the
> following day or the day after that. The payments
> were not late, but they also were not on a
> consistent date.
>
> The bottom line is I was not defending just
> stating the payment terms they listed and pointing
> out they are paying within terms.
> I save my vitriol for companies who do not honor
> their payment terms and/or have consistent
> "mistakes" with payments.

Of course they need "us." They don't need you or me but they do need "us." As you say, there will always be an "us" because there will always be someone willing to work for almost nothing. That is the point some of us are trying to make. The pay is low because we allow it. The pay goes up when they get desperate. They only get desperate when there is a lack of individuals to do the work.

So why are we independent contractors instead of employees? I would be willing to bet the No. 1 and No. 2 reasons are they do not want to pay payroll taxes and they do not want to pay minimum wage. As long as there is a large group of individuals who are wiling to put up with it, it will continue. The same goes for the Wal-Marts of the world--as long as they have a pool of applicants that far exceeds their needs and are willing to be treated the way in which they are treated in some stores, it will continue.

I have consulting contacts where I get paid on a specific date or at the same time as regular employees. And i guarantee i don't contract for minimun wage. Why? Because I insist on it as part of my contract.

This all goes back to personal choice but also to what "us" choose to allow collectively. This board has thousands of posts whining about low pay and slow pay. It is almost industry standard because "us" puts up with it. So you can whine about it and continue to put up with it or you can choose those assignments and those companies that make you happy.

There are lots of people who love Intellishop. There are equally as many, like me, who find them annoying. There are lots of people who hate MF, for example. There are equally as many, like me, who have learned to deal with them positively and make some good money by picking and choosing assignments at the right time of the month. It comes down to personal choice and how much you think your time and product is worth. As long as you don't think you have value, you will continue to be nothing but a throwaway commodity.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/2013 04:45PM by whiterosie.

Everyone in the world is a throwaway commodity, which is proved by the fact that when there is a death nothing really stops. Ever. All of us can be replaced. I absolutely don't choose to be an employee, and I do not want this to be turned into an employee based business. I prefer flexibility and freedom, and if I ever decide I want a "safe" haven more than I want flexibility and freedom, I'll get a job. Then I can worry about a pink slip every Friday along with that on the dot paycheck, and I can worry about losing all those wonderful "benefits" instantly at the whim of someone else. No thanks. I do this because I choose to do this, and I don't want it to be employment. Those who come into this work from the ranks of the previously employed don't appreciate how great this is. Unlike employment, those who work harder and more efficiently at this make more and more money. Employees who work harder and more efficiently have bosses who make more money.

Before I started mystery shopping, I never heard of anything longer out than "net 30 days" for payment terms between a client and vendor (vendors to include individual independent contractors). Of course, that doesn't always mean those terms were meant, which is why I started adding on a surcharge to invoices that went past 30 days. Clients usually didn't pay the surcharge, but they paid, and they started paying in 30 days afterward!

But after doing this awhile, I see that payment terms vary wildly. I personally don't see how a company can expect a person to do a job within the first week of a month, then not get paid until the 20th of the following month. But I guess that's not unusual.

As long as they state what their payment timeframes are and meet those, then we shoppers can decide whether we can live with it or not. But if they exceed their own stated terms, then that's both a logistical (for the shopper) and an ethical (on the part of the MSC) problem!

I have a shop tomorrow for a company from whom I was awaiting payment. Their terms meant that I should have been paid by today at the latest. If I hadn't been, I would have cancelled the shop. But, payment arrived yesterday, so the shop's getting done.

Not that we all have much effect on this industry but maybe if companies that didn't pay when they say they will started losing their shoppers, it might entice them to meet their own stated terms!

I know we are free to work for companies whose payment terms we like, and not to work for companies who take ages to pay us but that doesn't make it right for these companies to exploit mystery shoppers. I like my job and feel I give really good value for money. If one company can pay me twice a month for work done ( and I will always go the extra mile for that company) I can't see why other companies don't at least pay in the month after the work is done.

They don't pay more often because they want the use of the money. They are funding their business by delaying payment. It is a common business practice and usually the reason a company has long payment terms. Retaining the money in their accounts gives them interest income and temporary use of the money.

I shop for Intelli shop; they normally take 30-60 days to pay. I look at it like this, I would need an oil change anyway, so when I get the funds it is simply gravy.

I often find myself in a tight financial situation. I schedule any jobs which will require an outlay of cash for the days right on and after payday. At other times, I schedule only shops which require no cash outlay (such as those where I apartment shop, or make bank visits, auto shops, or phone shops.)

It can be tricky, but if you schedule this right, eventually you will have funds coming in to prime the well so to speak. Do not be discouraged, just set realistic expectations and do not strech your resources too thin. Ease into it, and add some jobs you might normally pass on, such as the apartment hunting or auto sale. It can be a lot of work, but these "fee only" jobs will help you in the long run.

Best of luck to you.

Sheila

My compliments to Lisa, Mary and White; each presented excellent point/counterpoint opinions..

Creaky states:

that doesn't make it right for these companies to exploit mystery shoppers.

BOB'S reply:

I strongly disagree that ANY MSC is exploiting shoppers. As independent contractors, we're completely free to conduct business with whom we choose. Therefore, we are, in my opinion, unexploitable. I'll be repetitive: THIS is business. You're not an employee. Should the day arrive when that changes, Bob's "outta here."

I've never had problems with them paying,granted its over 30 days but they pay

In checking my records, I find IntelliShop pays like clockwork ~ the end of the SECOND month after the shop is completed, i.e., I did a shop in March, was paid near the end of May, did another one 9/15 was paid 11/22, and so on.
But in a general way, I do not like to do assignments for them. Their reports are quite in depth and lengthy for the fee they offer. And even after you have crossed ALL your i's and dotted all your t's ~ sure enough there is an email that arrives in the next day or two asking for MORE information. >( Too problematic.

Suggestion: I keep VERY close records ... its a must! How else will I know if I have in fact been paid, rec'd bonuses promised, etc. There was a merchandising company I worked with a few years back. They paid well, IF and when they paid you. I had to make several calls and much effort was spent trying to get them to pay me. That was of course the final time I did an assignment for them. I am fairly certain that they went out of business shortly thereafter.
At Volition.com (I recommend every shopper check ther site) they have/had a nice printable form for shoppers' record keeping. They also have a myriad of shopping companies listed at which to register and check for assignments. They are a wonderful, free resource with tons of useful information ~ mystery shopping included. (Though this sounds like an ad for them, I am NOT an affiliate of Volition.com.)

I have been working in the retail world for over 30 years. And I have learned immensely over the 12 years that I have been doing quality assurance work. Volition has been a valuable resource for me.

Why would I want a printable form? My spreadsheet works just fine ~ probably much better. What is this ~ 1993?

Is their list of shopping companies better than the one here? Are they freer than here?

I visited there... and then found here... here is *so* much better.

Definitely no reason to recommend anyone who has found this site attempt to use Volition. There is no information there that cannot be had here and this forum is much more user friendly

shopperbob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My compliments to Lisa, Mary and White; each
> presented excellent point/counterpoint opinions..
>
> Creaky states:
>
> that doesn't make it right for these companies to
> exploit mystery shoppers.
>
> BOB'S reply:
>
> I strongly disagree that ANY MSC is exploiting
> shoppers. As independent contractors, we're
> completely free to conduct business with whom we
> choose. Therefore, we are, in my opinion,
> unexploitable. I'll be repetitive: THIS is
> business. You're not an employee. Should the day
> arrive when that changes, Bob's "outta here."

Perhaps they are not exploiting me, but they often are insulting me. When I'm offered a $5.00 fee to go to a chicken or burger place I Feel insulted. So, I don't do it even though I was parked in the same parking lot to do another shop.

One of those jobs is up to $70.00 now and they are phoning me to go there, but I am nowhere near that area now. (I've done that location for $105.00)

While I won't do it for $5.00, I will do it for considerably less than $70.00. So, if they would start at a less insulting amount, that particular location would get done without the Huge bonus.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2013 12:17AM by prince.