From 30+ years experience with mystery shopping, I feel the 60+ days waiting for a payment from Sentry Marketing is excessive and not the industry norm; however, if you accept an assignment with the knowledge that you'll receive nothing until then, you have no complaint. Possibly of more concern is that we get no response to our inquiries other than an automated response that they "will get back with you." At least that's what happened to me until David Agius, President of Sentry Marketing Group, emailed me about their policy of no payment until 60 days from the date the assignment is accepted. While I appreciate his response, it came only after I emailed the Project Manager who assigned me the shop, indicating that I would file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau if payment was not received within 5 days. The check was received two days later. Lessons learned. There are far too many other shopping firms who are happy to respond promptly to inquiries and promptly pay what they have agreed to pay.

i'm confused. you threatened them w/in 60 days of report accepted or 5 days? How do u know exactly when report was accepted by client?

The report was confirmed and a confirmation number was issued (thus starting the clock for 60 days.) The payment wasn't the issue as much as the lack of any response after that.

So you got paid after 60 days?

Jack

As I indicated to you in our email exchange email, the check was already in the mail when you contacted us. Your threat to contact the BBB had no impact on the manner in which your issue was handled.

With regard to the requests for assistance that you submitted, one was answered in 16 hours and the other in three days.

The policy regarding paying from the date of assignment acceptance had been in place, and posted, for years.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2015 04:32PM by Sentry Marketing.

Jack,

Welcome to the forum. I hope you decide to stay and share your vast and extensive knowledge with us. I also hope you are open minded and willing to still learn.

What is the industry average?

When you requested the shop you agreed to their terms by the way. I consider 60 days longer than average, plenty of companies that take as long or longer.

Money in the bank is always a good thing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2015 10:49PM by isaiah58.

There is such a lack of patience in this world nowadays, and that's sad. I can only go on my own experience. I now know what the payment policies are for each MSC I shop for. I refer to the listing once a month or so when I do my check of shops I have or have not been paid for. If something is beyond the stated time, I check the website to see if any notices have been given and then I contact them. There are a few companies I end up doing this for. The vast majority are on time and don't require any checks. The ones that do tend to be responsive once I initiate the contact. I think one thing we don't see on our end is that some businesses are not big businesses with buildings and a ton of employees, but are run by one or two people with a small staff, if that. Now, that's not our problem, of course, but a little understanding that things happen doesn't hurt. As for Sentry, since this topic is about them, I have found that after the 60 days has elapsed, if I just open a support ticket or contact Dave, I get a pretty quick response and payment within a couple of days of that. I guess I could get all bent out of shape that it's a little late and I had to email, but I just don't think it's worth it to get so upset. Dave's responses to me have been quick and with accurate payment information. This is only my opinion, of course, and I certainly understand frustration ... but I prefer to save my true upsets for things that are more major than getting a payment a few days late and/or having to open a ticket or make a phone call, depending on the delinquent MSC.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2015 12:24AM by Orrymain.

The assignment was conducted on Friday, 7/31/2015. On Monday, 8/3/2015, the report was sent back to the shopper for revision. The report was resubmitted to us on the same day and published to the client on 8/4/015.

The shopper submitted the initial request for status of payment on 9/27/2015. On 9/30/2015, 61days after the assignment was completed, the shopper email the project scheduler.

Not complaining, just an observation. Unlike previous months, payments for July's shops did appear to take longer. My two shops from July were paid after 75+ days. My payment for a shop on 7/15 just arrived yesterday for example. This does not justify the OP not learning how to use the website to check the status of their shop and payment.

isaiah58

I apologize that your payment was later. Your payment, along with approximately 150 other payments, were delayed due to a mistake on my part. I don't anticipate this happening again as we are nearly done with the transition of projects to our ShopMetrics platform with payments made via bill.com.

Again, I apologize for the delay.

Dave

Dave,

Good morning. I appreciate and accept your apology. I hope that like myself, the majority of your shoppers were patient and did not complain. Perhaps a email to everyone affected would be helpful? This delay was highly unusual for your company, which is a good thing. Based on my limited experience, I've found your company to be very responsive and easy to work with. You stick to good standards while recognizing you need to maintain a good relationship with shoppers.

Thanks, Dave (really). Your communication is pretty darned good, especially here on this forum.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2015 02:50PM by winemaker.