Well, I am *not shopping for them.* :-)


Again, I don't care who MSC's hire; I don't care if the employees hate it there and all quit tomorrow. I don't care what they make. It is irrelevant to me as far as I as a small businessperson am concerned.

Their obligation to me is to treat me fairly and pay me per the contract we agreed to before I completed the job. If they cannot, then I want to see the CEO withold their own salary before stiffing shoppers, but we all know that doesn't happen. When they do not do that, I vote with my feet, and my writing to tell others, such as here.

So that is why I have done my last jobs for them until I see a continued on-time payment record as reported by other shoppers. In that regard, I am totally with you, Jessica.

I just received payment for a job I did...right on time. I was surprised (after reading here), and very happy.

Dee. I believe they are making an honest effort to get better with pay and other issues. Behind with me? Yes, they were. Just about caught up without me complaining. That in itself tells me something... My 2c

It wasn't my personal experience though. I am waiting for a solid 6 months of on time reports from folks.

I have been supportive of this company in the past, but the way my last payment inquiry was handled left a bad taste in my mouth. Perhaps I'll shop for them again when they get it together, but for now, I'm just deleting the emails.

More shops for me

I surmise that most shoppers decide whether or not to take assignments if and when there's a continuous availability of shops paying worthwhile fees or reimbursement. Payment issues for this MSP are known, and I shop for them with my eyes wide open.

nicelytwicely Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have been supportive of this company in the
> past, but the way my last payment inquiry was
> handled left a bad taste in my mouth. Perhaps
> I'll shop for them again when they get it
> together, but for now, I'm just deleting the
> emails.


That is why I feel the way I do, even though writing the prez got me paid. I did not like the "we can put you off" style of response. If I turned in my report 30 days late, would that be so ok with them?

I did one job in May and still haven't been paid (it's SEPTEMBER 1st).

I'll never do another one for AboutFace.

These companies are rip-offs.

Almost every single one either tries to disqualify your report or, if that can't be done, just flat-out refuses to pay.

joanna81 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi everyone,
>
> I just want to put a small warning out about them.
> I did shops for them last April, September, and
> most recently in October. Every time I am supposed
> to get paid, I do not get payment and send an
> email. I am usually responded to fairly quickly
> with a note that they are updating their payment
> system and payment will be sent week of XYZ. This
> company is apparently updating their payment
> system every 3 months? Anyways - this causes them
> to issue payments a month later than promised.
>
> My most recent payment was supposed to be Dec.
> 18th. Never got it, I emailed and was told it
> would come this week. Well, it finally came, and
> the payment was made with a credit card so the
> paypal fee was set up to come from ME. It was not
> a huge dollar amount, but that is REALLY shady.
> The paypal fees should be their cost, not mine.
>
> I emailed them and will see what they say. If I
> get a response, I'll update this thread, but just
> thought I would give folks a heads up.
>
> regards.


I have found that they take 60 days to pay. This last payment I received I did have to call and inquire what was taking so long. I completed shops 6-1 and 6-2 and was just paid this week on the 30th.

EuroTrader Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I did one job in May and still haven't been paid
> (it's SEPTEMBER 1st).
>
> I'll never do another one for AboutFace.
>
> These companies are rip-offs.
>
> Almost every single one either tries to disqualify
> your report or, if that can't be done, just
> flat-out refuses to pay.


I have seen two posts by you in this section that say the same thing. I totally disagree with you that the majority are "ripoffs". While the Freeman's, DSS's, Restaurant Evaluators and some others are known to play games with shoppers/payments/reports, most are not like that. Perhaps it is time for you to seek a better group of MSC's to work for.

JazzyJan,

I would be interested to know what they say. If they are paying with a credit card, that means they have not solved their cash flow problem but rather that Paige is paying personally with her card. However, the fact that the Pay Pal fees are being charged to the shopper is not right. I wonder how many shoppers are paid this way and are just ignoring the fees.

Jessica Seinfeld Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> JazzyJan,
>
> I would be interested to know what they say. If
> they are paying with a credit card, that means
> they have not solved their cash flow problem but
> rather that Paige is paying personally with her
> card. However, the fact that the Pay Pal fees are
> being charged to the shopper is not right. I
> wonder how many shoppers are paid this way and are
> just ignoring the fees.


How would this be the case for sure? hat about corporate cards? We had them in my last director level coroporate job. I am not saying that they have solved their issues...far from it. I just do not see the dots fitting together in this post as to the reasons.

I am still owed for June and was told in the last email from them that I am in group 8 and will be paid on 9/18.
Mert has a point, if you know in advance that you get paid in 120 days, that is it. I do not care either, as long as there is no reimbursement involved. I did a shop in May that had a $120 reimbursement. That, I would not do again. But what I do not like is that I feel I may not get paid if I don't contact them and remind them.
I am not taking any more shops with them. I have enough to keep me bussy. If something comes up that is in my route and convenient, I may take it.
I wish them well.

My pay for June was in Paypal. I never have reimbursement, nothing out of pocket, and only take jobs close by that I enjoy....like I do with so many others. This is really the way with this industry, as long as you know up front about the slow payers, it's duable.

I agree. I actually find it insulting that they even bother to have that "When will I be paid?" thing on the site. Tell it like it is, don't lie! And then, don't lie AGAIN!

I work for a few slow-paying companies, and while that's a drag, at least I know what I'm getting myself into when/if I accept a shop. Re: AboutFace, before I accepted my last shop, I actually asked if payments were being made on time, and was told yes. When I inquired about payment and relayed that conversation, I was asked to send proof!

Oh, and I'm in the same boat as patnewman. This shop "payment" includes a relatively substantial reimbursement. No disrespect to EVERYONE who's owed money for their work, but I think that those who are out-of-pocket should be reimbursed the quickest post-payment due date. If I had known I'd be out-of-pocket so long, I would not have done the shop. And again, I specifically asked about payment for that reason.

I was going to take my first shops for them today. I've been signed up with them for years, but they rarely have anything in my area so I rarely check it.

They had two car dealerships on there for a city that I will be in tomorrow. Both said they could only be shopped today or tomorrow. When I tried to pick a date, it would not let me pick tomorrow saying it was too close to the last time it was shopped.

lisams: I had that same situation with another MSC for shopping a restaurant, no matter what date or time I chose, it wouldn't let me sign up. I contacted the scheduler who asked what was my choice and put the shop in my log.

There is another company that deducts fees for using Paypal. It is CRI. I just do no work for them until the shop is bonused enough to pay properly.

I have to say, I'm amazed every time I get the email for this one particular shop, which comes with frequency. The shop itself is actually low-paying, but the reimbursement is substantial. Key word here is reimbursement. In other words, not only would people have to wait months after the promised pay schedule for their measly couple of bucks, they'd also be waiting that long for the over 100+ dollars they fronted!

No thank you, AboutFace! They should tack on extra money for interest -- geez. AND, start telling people the truth about when they'll be paid upfront.

Pass any work on these criminals. They are the only company that dogged me. They had very poorly written instructions, schedulers who misread instructions, and then said I missed one shop (and paid me another) for using the exact same scenarios on both. I have not done any work for them since. Was missing about $100 on that. Since then, become an excellent shopper with plenty of work at fun place. I get frequent requests to do shops with good pay and have good relations with the various company schedulers. Key to doing well in this line of work.

I've had no problem with the schedulers or shops I've performed, just their payments!

AboutFace shoppers should not be charged a fee by PayPal in order to be paid for your shops. Should you incur a charge for receiving the funds in your PayPal account, please contact me ASAP so we can research the issue for you. I can be reached via email at heather.stokes@aboutfacecorp.com with any questions regarding shop payments. We value our shoppers and thank you for your continued support.

AboutFace is proud to announce we are officially caught up with shopper payments. It has been a long hard battle, but we have won and are so proud of our shoppers for hanging in there with us! Your patience and graciousness has been unbelievable! If you believe you have not been paid for a shop you completed more than 60 days ago, please contact me at heather.stokes@aboutfacecorp.com so I can research this for you. Thank you again and we look forward to all of you shopping with us in the future! Happy Shopping!

Congratulations, Heather. Any chance that AboutFace can move towards payment at the end of the month the month following the job such as many of your competitors do? 60 days is still within the bounds of reasonable, but it is really at the edge of it. If money is laid out on behalf of AboutFace by credit card, it will have to be paid prior to receiving reimbursement or start accumulating interest charges to the shopper. Shoppers know they can lessen the pain by putting charges on their cards after closing date for the monthly statement, but that won't buy them 60 days.

Hi Heather. I am a bit disturbed that my shop history has been removed from the About Face website.

Great news and good luck going forward! Not to burst the bubble, but I second the motion to reimburse faster than 60 days.

We are working on developing a new payment cycle as well. I cannot disclose any information at this time, since it is still in development, but I can say our ultimate goal is to become one of the fastest paying companies out there. This will not happen over night, but we are one step closer to that goal as of tonight by getting the payments caught up to this point. We are hearing your concerns, and welcome your suggestions as well. Thanks again for all of your support!

Mrcomputer101, send me an email so I can pull up your account and research that for you. I'm not aware of that happening, and I just checked my own account and my shop history is still there. It could be a glitch in Prophet. Thanks!

I understand it won't happen overnight Heather and I understand that announcements need to be made when decisions have been made and the cycles are in place . . . not before. And fastest paying in the industry is often not beneficial to shoppers as it tends to come with lowest fee structure in the industry. But some nice balance would be fine.

I'm looking at my records and all shops have been paid for July, so I can file that stuff away. I have 4 companies that have not paid me for August. Two of them I know will pay by the end of September--like clockwork. The other two companies I only will work for with significantly higher than normal fees because although they pay when promised, their promised date will keep them open and unpaid for about another month. While it is really sweet that three companies have already paid me for September shops, that fast is not essential. So for me, at least, somewhere nicely in the middle of the road and reliable as clockwork will get me to reconsider whether to work with AboutFace in the future at normal sort of fee structures.

Kido's to "About Face"...I had a job for them that I totally forgot about. The reminder went to spam (yahoo), and I got an email nicely telling me the situation. I was asked to "please" give them a date I can do shop and they were beyond nice to me. I don't work for them often, so, I think this say's alot about the scheduler and maybe the Co.

My last job for About Face required a ridiculous amount of dialog, mostly unnecessary. After each five simple yes/no questions a dialog box followed. What more can I say? "Her name was Sue; her favorite color is blue; she played the kazoo; sex was taboo." Then I get an email, asking for a summary dialog of the entire shop which was not asked for in the report. All this for less money than I typically pay for a bottle of wine.

I must have lost my mind to accept such a petty assignment, and hope I get paid before I die and without a Paypal deduction.

FYI: I just checked my payment history and noticed that my previous job for About Face in 2009 was paid in 6-1/2 months, and after considerable prodding.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/2010 06:19AM by ShopUntilYouDrop.