I thought at first they were a decent company but recently we're getting mistreated, lied to & they won't pay you for 45 business days!
And their shops are often far away so to pay LOTS of money in gas just to get up to drive to their shops & wait over 2 months to be paid, isn't worth it!
The website is easy to use but they've got a very unfair & negligent scheduling manager named Nina G.
She won't let you reschedule a shop if you have to, even if the new Schedule date is within their guidelines either.
She doesn't bother e-mailing you back for days & days if you have an important question to ask her either.
She is very difficult to deal with so I'd not recommend this company anymore to anyone!
I know people are having a hard time paying their bills since the economy is so bad, but I'd warn folks to not use this MS company anymore.

Usually the schedulers of most MS companies are pretty decent & helpful people though luckily!

You do realize the isecretshop is a platform, much like sassie or prophet, and not an actual MSC?

No they have schedulers for iSecretShop. I know it is a platform but they still have schedulers.

bgriffin is right, iSecretShop is just a platform. But, unlike Sassie and Prophet, you can see shops from multiple MSCs in one place. (which is actually pretty awesome and I wish more MSCs did this) I've had very little experience with iSecretShop. I did have an issue where I needed to reschedule, but was told I was unable to. Though, I had a different scheduler and we only had a brief email exchange. That was the only assignment I signed up for so far.

OP, I don't understand your complaint. If their shops are far away, why sign up for them? The website tells you the address and how far away the shop is from the location you select, so that shouldn't be a surprise. If a shop is far away, you could just not select that shop. Also, 45 days is quite common for many MSCs, not just the ones that use iSecretShop. The payment details are in the ICAs, so you should have known the schedule before you selected a shop. Are you disappointed because you didn't thoroughly research before selecting a shop?

Well it is not just 45 days, it is 45 "business" days, which was stated in writing by one of their Quality Control Managers, which means it will NOT include the weekends or holidays either so it could easily add up to waiting close to 2 months to be paid.
Maybe you're quite rich & can afford to wait 2 months but it is getting tough to find a regular job so lots of shoppers are living on a shoestring lately!

And we don't just do 1 single faraway shop, unless it pays very well, we had to sign up for several shops to do, if they are faraway.
There are really NOT many close by shops in our area unfortunately.
I am not sure why but I have heard many businesses don't want to come to our area b/c taxes are quite high here.
We have done shops for them not too far away but that was several months ago.
No their scheduler ALSO refused to reschedule a shop that was close to us also.
She wrote me a rather rude e-mail too. Perhaps they hired a new Scheduling Mgr. but she wasn't easy to deal with & wasted Hours of my time too.
I'd not recommend them anymore.
Do you want to be hassled, harassed & insulted by a scheduler? I don't want to deal
with people like that myself.
I am just stating facts here. Other shoppers complain about Mystery shopping companies.

That is what this part of the website is about.
And the shoppers recommend good companies too.
That is what this part of the website is all about.
Recommending good MS companies & warning other shoppers about bad MS companies.

Most of the companies I work with pay between 60 and 90 days. Some pay quicker, but 45 business days is not out of the ballpark. Perhaps if you sign up with more companies you can find some you'll like better. You'll need to be signed up with a lot of companies to find enough opportunities close by, but I'm sure you know that because I believe you said you've been shopping for a long time. It's possible you're in an area where there's not much work or perhaps there are an excessive number of shoppers. It's getting harder and harder to do well with this because there is a constant downward trend of shop fees and many of the clients are apparently discontinuing their shopping programs. You probably know this works best as supplemental income rather than the main source of income. No matter how long it takes them to pay, once you get a steady stream of work going the money will start coming in fairly regularly if you consistently work at the same pace. I never count on a payment reaching me on a certain date. We are not employees and we don't get regular paydays. That's a little hard to work with sometimes but if you keep doing this you'll get used to it.

I met Tina through ISecretShop, and I am no long shopping with that scheduler. During the bad ice storm, I said I couldn't return to take a pic which they were wanting, and she asked me if I had a friend who could drive to the location and take a pic for me and email it to her.

Hello? No. It's hazardous road conditions, and you want me to send a friend over on hazardous roads to take a pic of a hazardous parking lot?

I don't think so. Some schedulers just don't care about shoppers. Their life is about meeting their deadlines.

Moving on....

I do agree with one thing. I too was snookered by the "business days" thing with the one shop I've done with an MSC that uses them. I did have a couple of conversations with a scheduler who was very nice and helpful on the phone, so I sent her an email when my payment didn't show up in 50 days (I keep a pretty tight eye on payments), and got the "45 business days, not regular days" spiel too. I wouldn't have minded, and I would still have done the shop, but it seemed a little underhanded to me too. There's a huge difference in 9 weeks and 6 weeks. Coincidently though I got my payment the next day.

I don't understand why the OP is complaining about completing a shop when she knew that it would take 45-60 business days to get paid. I can confirm that Nina does not check her e-mails even though she is listed as the contact person for some shops. I e-mailed her multiple times and when I finally called her, she said that I should have called them because she probably missed them.

bit confused too.. don't think they're doing anything you're not informed about before hand. The 45 business days sucks though. Just don't work for them if you don't like that their shop are far away and they take a long time to pay.

This scheduler/company/platform sounds like it's not a good fit for you. Sometimes we get into situations we can't make work or we struggle to make them work and they drive us nuts. Keep signing up with new companies until you have connections with people you can work with without all these problems. But remember, none of these companies will be perfect and even the best of them will require some effort to get along with them over the long, long run.

I have worked for this company before and I can say that they have always paid me. It sometimes has taken longer than I would have liked but they do pay. And Emma the scheduler is great to work with. And sometimes their payments have arrived sooner than the 45 business days guideline.

WantsGoodShops Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I thought at first they were a decent company but
> recently we're getting mistreated, lied to & they
> won't pay you for 45 business days!
> And their shops are often far away so to pay
> LOTS of money in gas just to get up to drive to
> their shops & wait over 2 months to be paid, isn't
> worth it!
> The website is easy to use but they've got a
> very unfair & negligent scheduling manager named
> Nina G.
> She won't let you reschedule a shop if you have
> to, even if the new Schedule date is within their
> guidelines either.
> She doesn't bother e-mailing you back for days &
> days if you have an important question to ask her
> either.
> She is very difficult to deal with so I'd not
> recommend this company anymore to anyone!
> I know people are having a hard time paying
> their bills since the economy is so bad, but I'd
> warn folks to not use this MS company anymore.
>
> Usually the schedulers of most MS companies are
> pretty decent & helpful people though luckily!

I got my pay on the 45th actual day, not the 45th business day.

Thinking back over the years, I only had a problem worth mentioning with one MSP. Is that remarkable? Everything else that happened was either my fault (missed shop, bad report, etc.) which I owned up to immediately and was then cleared up quickly, or was a policy of the company that I didn't understand properly and I had to swallow because I was dense about it. Either way, I haven't stumbled over any company (yet!) that didn't state exactly what they do. Some of them pay waaaaaaay too slowly. Some of them aren't very clear on what they want or have "surprises" on the report that weren't in the guidelines. Some of them don't communicate very quickly or ever when you have a burning question for a shop.

Guess what? I get to choose who I work for --- I'm an Independent Contractor! Like most contractors I have to write off a shop expense once in a while for whatever reason. And go on as if nothing has happened. One thing about being an IC: you better also be a grown-up. And please, learn to spell and punctuate so your writing makes sense. (A really good book for this is "Edit Yourself" which I read some years ago. It made a world of difference.)

Glabow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thinking back over the years, I only had a problem
> worth mentioning with one MSP. Is that remarkable?
> Everything else that happened was either my fault
> (missed shop, bad report, etc.) which I owned up
> to immediately and was then cleared up quickly, or
> was a policy of the company that I didn't
> understand properly and I had to swallow because I
> was dense about it. Either way, I haven't stumbled
> over any company (yet!) that didn't state exactly
> what they do. Some of them pay waaaaaaay too
> slowly. Some of them aren't very clear on what
> they want or have "surprises" on the report that
> weren't in the guidelines. Some of them don't
> communicate very quickly or ever when you have a
> burning question for a shop.
>
> Guess what? I get to choose who I work for --- I'm
> an Independent Contractor! Like most contractors I
> have to write off a shop expense once in a while
> for whatever reason. And go on as if nothing has
> happened. One thing about being an IC: you better
> also be a grown-up. And please, learn to spell and
> punctuate so your writing makes sense. (A really
> good book for this is "Edit Yourself" which I read
> some years ago. It made a world of difference.)


I like your comment here about the need to be a grown up as an IC. I have to admit I botched that one with one MSC and as a result I no longer shop for that MSC and, know what? That one is totally my fault. But I learned from this mistake - this gig is different from waiting tables - I need to be professional at all times and strive to do my best and take responsibility for my mistakes - traits I was able to avoid (mostly) waiting tables during the boom times. (Though I'm told by people still in the business that things have changed in F and B since then.) I guess I have to remember that my last serving job was after the boom and there I realized I was going to need to be professional and I played that part and genuinely liked it.....here I need to assume a professional identity/demeanor at all times if I want the best this gig has to offer.

I can't imagine what these companies must have to go through to get a shop done the right way so they can get paid too.

Canuck Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can't imagine what these companies must have to
> go through to get a shop done the right way so
> they can get paid too.

I think you have a point.....It must be stressful to be a scheduler, think about it, you are exposed to all sorts of variables you have no control over whatsoever.

I think schedulers must all be masochists! There's no other explanation that makes sense to me. I mean, it's got to be an uber stressful job and, from what I understand, with minimal pay. The "variables you have no control over whatsoever" (thank you, squireparty) would drive me over the edge. And then, each month, you get to start all over again. When I run into a crabby scheduler, which is surprisingly rare, I overlook the crabbiness because I know I would be a crazy woman.

I admire and appreciate all of them!

(heart)

The MSC's are our partners and there are hundreds out there. If you don't like one partner choose another, or another or another.

I'm pretty new, but so far I LOVE the isecretshop.com platform. It is helpful to me to be able to see assignment opportunities from more than one MSC in the same place and I've found their format for entering the shop data very user friendly.

Has anyone determined which company the OP is even talking about? I have seen the names of a couple of schedulers mentioned and they work for specific MSCs, not iSecretShop. I also saw someone say they got got paid in 45 calendar days while others are discussing 45 business days which means they are not talking about the same companies. It would help everyone if posters would connect the issues/comments to the appropriate MSC rather than discussing the platform as if it is a mystery shopping company.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Has anyone determined which company the OP is even
> talking about? I have seen the names of a couple
> of schedulers mentioned and they work for specific
> MSCs, not iSecretShop. I also saw someone say they
> got got paid in 45 calendar days while others are
> discussing 45 business days which means they are
> not talking about the same companies. It would
> help everyone if posters would connect the
> issues/comments to the appropriate MSC rather than
> discussing the platform as if it is a mystery
> shopping company.
The one that paid me in 45 calendar days was Best Market Audits, which does a lot of cellphone stores. Their official policy states 45 business days; but I calculated 45 business days from the date when I performed the audit (federal holidays excluded), and they paid me well in advance of that date.

Thanks Jane. There is so much confusion for about the app/website versus the MSCs and shoppers are having a hard time understanding who is responsible for what, such as payments.

Wants good shops'

The shopper selects what they want. Some companies pay for gas. You should not select a shop and than decide that it is not worth it. You need to read all of your Guidelines before you shop. Any new shoppers should only take one shop at a time to get it right, otherwise you will get a poor rating. All of the companies I have worked for, which is many, always tell you how many days before pay. Be more patient until you are sure you understand what the companies want from you.
Schedulers are just schedulers. If you have questions you must go to the client company you are shopping for. I also suggest that you don't use names. Anyone can read this forum including schedulers, etc.

I got paid on 12/30/14 by ISecretShop for the shop performed on 9/30/14, and only after 3 emails. I hate to chase payments. Luckily, it only happened once.

I have performed a number of shops for ISecretShop (platform) and have never had a problem. They tell you who you are shopping for. I wish they still had the job here. I got lots of free, designer clothes. I admit, it was two months after the shop acceptance, but that was stated in the paperwork of the MSC.

ISecret is MULTIPLE MSC using Isecret as the scheduler. Not al companies will pay on the same time frame on that platform,. Anywhere from 30-90 days depending on who the MSC is.

I'll take 45 days for payment.

Some post should be closed if no one has replied to its post within a year or the last reply was at least more than a year.

"WANTsGOODSHOP" has not come back to the board/ forum for a year but this post is re-ignited. This means probably the "WGS" has changed there name and is trying to start a new but old complaint. "WGS" sounds like "Cadet 19".

I enjoy shopping for ISecretShop platform and like their pay schedule.

MODERATOR(S): The Official Shopping list had been updated, maybe post like this one (the OP has not shown up for a year, the last reply was more that a year before a current reply is added). There are times when old posts and replies are "Archivesh". They should be closed and new posts be brought forth. And I know you read all posts

One has to decide if the money is worth waiting for. After you do this for awhile, you don't even really feel the pain of not getting money from one source immediately because you are consistently bringing in income. I would suggest signing up with more companies - there's a huge list at the bottom of every page on this forum. The more shops you do and the more companies you work for, you'll find your groove and eventually not notice that your payment took 45 days. There are many companies out there that pay within 2 weeks, 30 days. Some pay through Paypal while others pay direct deposit.

Also try to work out any problems or questions with schedulers. While some don't give a hoot about shoppers, there are others that really go above and beyond. Given some of the things I've seen, I don't know how some of them are still nice to people FAQ is also an amazing resource.. Best of luck!