Recent Goodwin payments?

Dumb me, saw that people on here had struggled with getting paid by Goodwin, but decided I liked all the places they shopped too much and did about 30 so far anyway...

Now of course I have not seen any payment (started in the beginning of August), I filled out a payment inquiry, and I emailed an address that was provided by a scheduler, all with no response.

Has anyone been paid recently? Any tricks to make this happen?

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Ouch. Good luck with that one! I gather that most folks have just stopped doing the shops because of the payment/non-payment issues.

I divorced them. I finally did get paid after I badgered them over and over again for a lousy $20.00 that they'd owed me for 4 months.

I"ve given up on my two smoothie shops totaling $20.00 in Jan. Never got a response back, I'm done.

Live consciously....

Ahh, glad to read this. I just signed up with them yesterday.

Yes, I had the same thing occur to me. They started offering these shops in my area in July. In October I emailed to ask when I would receive payement. Guess what? I finally got paid in November. I see these shops still coming through, but I am not taking them. Since there is no reimbursement, just a flat fee, it is not worth the trouble, even for the smoothy.

I've done 3 smoothie shops for Goodwin, and had to send several email inquiries to get paid. They did finally pay, but I think it was, oh, 5 months late. I'm done with them. They don't pay much anyway.

Another shopper in my area that I talk to told me he had to hunt them down for a much bigger shop - $90 - and emailed them for 2 or 3 months before finally getting paid.

I only did one shop with Goodwin back when they were paying on schedule. Even that was an unreasonable wait time for a substantial reimbursement for a meal. I was fascinated to receive an email from Coyle the other day indicating their intent to move UP their payments by 10 days from the 25th of the month to the 15th. That struck me as pleasantly proactive, especially with large reimbursements. Now if they only had shops in my area . . .

That all sounds about right- I guess I'll just stay on them. I did finally get paid for the first $60 dinner one that I did after emailing them, but now I've got about 15 smoothies overdue. I keep asking in my emails what the issue is, since obviously I'd prefer not to have to track every single one down, but no answers at all. Aside from just paying me, I wish they would let me know what is going on.

As a random guess . . . and that is all it is as I have no knowledge but am hypothesizing from other payment situations with other companies . . . their clients are not paying them in a timely fashion.

I believe that most of their jobs offer shoppers a reimbursement only. The math works out to shopper reimbursement + Goodwin's fees = what the client owes. From Goodwin's fees come their corporate expenses--Prophet costs, employee salaries, utilities etc. Where issues arise are when a company 'borrows' from shopper reimbursements to pay their company expenses, salaries, utilities, etc. When you have that sort of thing going on, the shopper's money has been used where it was not intended and shoppers will not get paid until more funds come in that cover first the current company expenses with enough left over to cover the oldest jobs first. This happens in companies with insufficient capital to cover their operating expenses with any cushion. It also comes where companies have 'underbid' their competitors in order to get clients to sign and the margins are too slim to support the work contracted for. And somehow it is always the shopper who gets the brunt of it--no payment when the company goes belly up, lower fees for the same work they did last year, late payments, etc.

Yes, in other words, "Pyramid Scheme."

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“Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling."
~Gilbert K. Chesterton

I would call it 'acts of quiet desperation'. But yes, it boils down to a similar type of questionable behavior. But realize that I am not saying that IS what Goodwin is doing but rather it would appear that many undercapitalized MSPs are behaving in this fashion these days with more and more shopper payments being delayed. It is much harder to fire salaried staff or cut back their pay/hours than it is to delay paying those faceless contractors out there. Your staff you know their situation, your contractors are enough arms' lengths away you are not particularly concerned about the impact of delayed payments or reimbursements. That was why I found Coyle's indication that they are moving UP contractor reimbursements by 10 days refreshing. Putting beacoup bucks on your credit card on behalf of a company to either collect interest until reimbursement or to reimburse out of your 'shopper kitty' and thus having less 'kitty' funds to do more work until they get around to paying you, stinks when payments are not made as per contract.

Wow! Glad I read this section before accepting to do the smoothie shop I started to try. This forum is here for a purpose and I have to remember to consult all of you before I start a new venture. Thanks for the reminder!

Is this the same company: Goodwin & Associates Hospitality Services. I just received an email to do a restaurant.

Coyle does not pay well either, but at least they do pay.

Yes, it is the same Goodwin.

I guest I will not do the restaurant shop they offered me.

On something like that it makes sense to check the boards and see if folks with fairly long participation records are indicating they have been paid. It pays not to look at folks who just signed up to sing the praises of a company because they are likely to be shills. I haven't worked for Goodwin for a very long time, the reimbursement was a long time coming but I don't think it was very far outside their stated pay cycle. If I saw a restaurant I really would like to go to, I would check around and see if payment has gotten better and then debate whether I would go to the restaurant anyway even if I never got paid.

I was under the impression from a thread elsewhere that Goodwin was cleaning up their act with payments. I grabbed a smoothie shop last month simply because my SO was bugging to go get her one, and and I saw the one down the street availible for that day. We'll see how long that one takes to get paid.

Regarding what What Flash said above; I just received my Coyle November payments as I was typing this. 15 days ahead of schedule, since the new policy doesn't go into effect 'till 2010! The helps a lot for Xmas since it was a large payment for the week I was gone in November.

I did finally get paid for everything, for the record. I think I just annoyed the person that I kept emailing enough to the point where she just told me to send all of the jobs I did in August, September, and October, and I got paid for all of them at once.

I'm glad you got paid. Unfortunately August to be paid in Nov or Dec is not a great track record whether it was payment due to your nagging or due to bad forum 'press'. But obviously they are still sending out checks.

I did 4 shops for them, against my better judgment, as my husband and son like their smoothie client. I wish I had not. I am yet another who not been paid. Usually, I start contacting firms the day after something is due. However, I was remiss in doing so as I was so busy this semester. I sent a letter tonight. We will see what happens. I will pursue payment, that is for sure, as they are in violation of the ICA I agreed to when contracting with them.

Well, I am thrilled to say I woke up to an email from Amy M at Goodwin, apologizing, explaining some turmoil in the accounting department, and telling me I would be paid today or Monday. I brought my kid to school, did a FF breakfast shop, and came home to find I had another email from Amy, and a payment from Eric. For all shops (the well overdue ones, and the one not due yet.)

Given how Amy handled this, I would do another shop as a test to see if they straighten out their accounting person situation and pay per contract.

If only I'd seen the trouble people had earlier...

I signed up because I, too, love their smoothie client.

Good to hear that, Dee.

Let's see if mine gets paid on time without a email to them.

Has anybody been paid? I just got an e-mail invitation to MSPA certified shoppers for Goodwin shoppers in my area for restaurant evals. Maybe they owe all their old shoppers money and are looking for new shoppers?

I got paid. See the cave. :-)

Just received an encourging email from them, telling me the Accountant became "overwhelmed" and got lost in the job. They have now hired new people, and will be caught up in all owed checks within the last 45 days. I am owed for two, not taking any more until check is in my sweaty little hands.....

Live consciously....

Well, as of today, the only remaining unpaid October shop for me is the smoothie shop from Goodwin.

Looks like that client has moved to another MSC that pays better and quicker, but Goodwin appears to have picked up another restaurant near me that I like, so I hope they come through with the payment so I can feel good about shopping for them again.

They just got a new client here that has lunch take-out shops. It's a pity the client chose this MSP. I would love to do their shops, but with all the payment issues, I am hesitant. If it were any other MSP, I would snatch these shops up. The location is right outside my office building. I need to buy lunch anyway. It's a win-win situation. It's very tempting.

I seem to be getting emails from Goodwin all the time; shoppers must be dropping them. I am really don't want to start with a company that does not pay their bills. Perhaps if people start getting paid. I will give it a chance..

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