Perhaps you are correct.

Sayonara

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2015 02:21AM by Sentry Marketing.

I thought I would check to see what others were saying. I received my payment in my bank account today so my issues with Sentry, for now, are resolved. Dave has been communicating with me in email and I hope we can put this issue behind us. I hope I can continue doing shops for Sentry and I'll be more attentive to when my payments should arrive and, when they do not, I will work with Dave to resolve those situations. I really hope that works.

Currently I am still active with Sentry and have not been deactivated, nor has there been any threat of deactivation.

I used to shop for Sentry but I don't anymore. The available shops have lost their allure for me. I was paid relatively close to on-time; within 5-10 days of the advertised time frame.

My last shop for Sentry was before their acquisition of Feedback Plus, so I cannot attest to recent personal experience. However, there is a considerable amount of empirical data, based on the number of threads regarding payment problems with Sentry since the acquisition of Feedback Plus, versus complaints of payment problems against other MSCs..

Assuming [and yes, I know what happens when one assumes], that the number of complaints being posted is directly in proportion to the size of the MSC, then the logical conclusion is that Sentry must be the largest MSC in the United States, and possibly in the world. Certainly they must be larger than A Closer Look, Market Force, and About Face combined. Even if, as has been suggested, there is some type of targeted vendetta against Sentry, that cannot explain the sheer volume of complaints against Sentry.

I sincerely hope that Dave and Sentry can resolve the problems that appear to be plaguing the company at present.

What "empirical data" are you talking about? I paged thought the first five pages of posts under the "Mystery Shopping Company Discussion" and there are 16 post about company payments that have nothing to do with Sentry. That's not an OPINION, it's a FACT.

leverly's payment was actually for a Feedback Plus assignment and not a Sentry assignment. Sentry payments are NOT RUNNING BEHIND. Feedback payments are running a few weeks late and we are on track to have the issue resolved in the next 10 - 15 days. The shoppers who have submitted issues are being communicated with and so far, everyone has been understanding. In fact, leverly was paid on time for the assignments leverly completed for Sentry.

Like you said, you have no personal experience with our company for nearly two years. The "volume" of complaints that you and a few others refer to is simply not supported by fact. It's just a load of crap that represents this forum at its worst. It's unfortunate that a small number of petty forum members damage the credibility of the entire community. I've made many friends by participating in this forum and Sentry has implemented several process changes as a result of feedback read on this forum. It's sad that you and a few other insist on bullying Sentry (and other companies) by posting vague, biased and inaccurate information. This is certainly no way for "business-people" to act.

Sentry Marketing -

Can you share what "process changes" you implemented from the forum?

I'm glad that the payment issue (or non-issue) is over now.

Your shoppers will be thrilled. Not getting paid for our work is our biggest worry.

marklewis

I'd love to discuss this with you one-on-one. You can contact me at dave@sentrymarketing.com.

Thanks

Dave

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2015 10:07PM by Sentry Marketing.

Excuse me, but no one on the Defendant (SENTRY) side is recognizing my hand (raised in the corner). But I have a question.------------->You, SM, brought out Feedback Plus in April 2014. I shopped for FB+ and was satisfied with their pay and schedule. I continue to be assign shops, even, after being bought out. And I still was paid on schedule and on time. Which I am assuming that (maybe) they had a positive cash flow so that they (FB+) could still assign and pay shops.

So the question is ----->It has been 18 months, the OP never said that he did a shop for FB+, but You (SM) indicate that he did. Why would Feedback Plus be having pay issues, rather than SENTRY, because that is whom they are now?

FB+ does it still exist? I attempted to log into my FB+ account (today) and could not get off the login page, but I did get into my SM account. So how is it that Shoppers can still assign for shops in FB+? While the OP posted his first post, 19 of November, it took you about 15 days to solve that payment issue. Now you are saying that "all other shoppers, whom were having the same issue" via FB+ have to wait another 15 days for the problem to be solved. So aren't those, You, SENTRY MARKETING issues?

I am not the enemy. I, as a Shopper would like to know----->if YOUR business or any MSC, is have financial issues, or unable to "pay on time" their Independent Contractors, then let us know. As a BUSINESS, you have an obligation to let your contractors know something before it gets to a complaint or bad mouthing crap level..

I'll sit down now.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2015 01:32AM by sojo917.

Dave wants to know why this forum picks on him? Because he makes it so much fun!!! People complain about late payments form other companys, some jump in and agree, others defend the MSC and after 8 or 10 posts the thread is gone and slips into never never land and no one ever remembers it again. Someone post about Sentry and here come poor mistreated Dave and tries to justify himself and his company and will not let it die. he keeps it going and keep us entertained and laughing for weeks. How long has this thread been going on now? Maybe he is right. Maybe Sentry doesn't get more complaints than other MSC's. Maybe it's just that he makes sure that everyone keeps a running record of the Sentry posts so we won't miss out on the fun.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2015 01:54AM by barbage.

Me again. Dave was correct, it was a Feedback Plus shop. According to the shop, payment inquiries would be directed to Sentry, so I assume that payment comes from Sentry. My issue mainly was that the support email I was corresponding with at Sentry suddenly came back as undeliverable. I tried it again recently and received the same response. I'm guessing that support@sentrymarketing.net no longer exists.

In the end I received the money that was due me. My only comment (yes, I know I said I was done commenting) would be to say that, if you know payments are going to be weeks late, just tell the shoppers before they have to contact you. That way no one is upset as they know the payments will be late.

This was enough said for me:

@Sentry Marketing wrote:

..... Like any other company, shopper payments are late from Sentry for a variety of reasons. ....... The support ticket system was put in place to so that issues important to shoppers didn't get lost in the ocean of email every receives every day. .........

I work a lot of companies that have NEVER been late with payments. I also work for companies that get loads and loads of e-mails, but they don't seem to get lost.

I've never worked for Sentry. There are a couple of minor reasons why, none having to do with this Forum. This thread confirmed my earlier decision. Very unprofessional 'professional'. Certainly not the only one I've encountered, but the most publically vocal in making excuses his business.

Yeah, my sister is 'interested' in a few shops that Sentry has out there, but she is leary of applying for any of them after reading all this stuff about Sentry, and most notably, its owner... I explained to her that the forum is absolutely correct - that Sentry takes way too long to pay shoppers. A *good* MSC pays within 6 weeks, others manage to pay within two weeks. She asked me yesterday why Dave puts so much effort into defending what is obvioulsy an issue with his shoppers, rather than using that time and energy fixing his company's issues... Good question!

I'm not going to comment on the company because so much has been covered. I will say this about checks "lost in the mail." In addition to all the occasional assignments with companies who have paid by checks over the last seven years, I have had two separate companies I perform ongoing, monthly assignments for which pay by check, one has been two years and the other three years. So several hundred mailed checks later, not one has ever been lost in the mail. Not one has ever been late by more than a couple of days and those were always around this time of the year when all mail runs a day or three behind. If I had to base it on my own experience, and I do since there is nothing else for me to base it on, frequent excuses of the check was lost in the mail are akin to the dog ate my homework.

LisaSTL,

So the US Mail has never lost a piece of your mail? That is nothing short of amazing.

Your insinuation that we are being dishonest when we mention that checks are lost in the mail is a little off base. You see, we don't actually print and mail the checks from our office. Prior to using bill.com to process payments we processed payment via our bank's online bill pay interface. The checks were printed and mailed by FiServ.

Feedback Plus printed and mailed checks for years, including the 18 months I've owned the company. Guess what, we get 2 - 3 returned checks per week.

You say that you don't want to comment on our company but that is exactly what you've done. This is just another post by someone with an agenda. After all, you went ballistic went I suggested in jest that a thread be deleted but didn't say a word when a tread actually was deleted.

Happy holidays.

Is it possible reading is not your strong suit? I never said the USPS has never lost a piece of my mail, ever, but then again I certainly don't recall it ever happening.

It was you who suggested this was a frequent occurrence within the mystery shopping industry. What I did was comment on my experience with many other checks from many other mystery shopping companies being mailed to me. I then clarified my opinion was based only on my own experience and based on mine it makes me think the excuse is a load of caca. At no time did I specifically mention your company, rather the concept in general.

Then again, my experience could lead a reader to conclude it is a rather unique circumstance that mystery shopping checks are lost in the mail which could then lead them to question why you find it happening so often with your company. Possibly you should also question why it happens so often. If the problem lies with the vendor you have hired and tasked with mailing out payments to shoppers and the same group also mails checks to your other vendors it may behoove you to make it a priority. If their incompetence is causing other checks to be lost, next thing you know the lights might get turned off.

Lisa,

I read your post and clearly got the message.

Please don't put words on my mouth. I never said that our checks our lost or delayed any more or less than checks mailed by other mystery shopping companies.
Any reasonable person would understand that when a certain volume of mail is sent out, some of the mail will be returned, delayed and/or lost. Your attempt to project nefarious reasons for this is just another example of your bias.

What readers should conclude is that you have an agenda and this is the motivation for your post.

It looks like MSC's follow this forum. I think that PayPal is the best way for us shoppers to get paid. I try to avoid shopping for companies that pay by check even though the one I shopped for paid without a problem,

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

No Dave, you obviously did not get the message. You have accused others of being demeaning to you, yet you suggest I am not a reasonable person by questioning what appears to be above average cases of returned or lost mail? If you want to assume I've never done anything but mystery shop then maybe it would not occur to you that I have been involved with businesses and charities who frequently send out mass mailings. Of course some things are returned or lost. The concern is what appears to be the volume of mail returned or lost versus the volume sent. By your own comments it was suggested more is lost than should be based on amount sent by the average company.

As to anything nefarious about my comments, or my alleged bias, I stated the fact checks being delayed or lost by the USPS has not been an issue for me. I also suggested you take a closer look at the company responsible for sending out your checks if it has been a problem. My thought is a reasonable person would find neither of those to be nefarious or injecting bias. One was sharing my experiences, the other a helpful suggestion to a fellow business person.

Lisa

I never claimed above average rates of our mail being returned, lost or delayed Those are your words. I stated that a reality of sending items, including checks, is that items are lost, delayed or go missing. The "concern" you mention is an assumption you are making that an "above average" amount of the checks we send out are returned. The suggestions are unfounded, but that doesn't stop you from posting about them as if you are arriving at some type of reasoned conclusion.

I got your message very clearly. Like I said, It's ironic to have our integrity question by someone who became unhinged at the joking suggestion a thread be deleted from this forum and then say nothing when an actual thread is deleted. You know what they say about people in glass houses.

I know that you'll have some witty reply to this post. I've said all I need to on this matter.

I work for a large automotive chain. I receive calls from customers on a weekly basis complaining about not having received one thing or another in the mail. Many times a letter was received, just not noticed. Letters get stuck together. Other people in the home overlook the piece of mail one way or another. And, yes, the USPS machine s destroy mail, sometimes carriers even delivers mail to the wrong address.

We get blamed all time when documents from 3rd parties are missing. If someone finances, they blame us if their payment notification is not received. Those same people get confused when advised to call the finance company. Most find the notice, they eventually figure out where they or a household member tossed it. People drive around with old expired insurance cards, they received them in the mail but due to life throw them away or in a pile.

"We pay our shoppers on time with no more errors than any other company. Period. We've been in transition this year as we migrated mystery shopping and payment platforms. The vast majority of our shoppers have been pleasant, patient and professional when it comes to reporting an issue with payment. It's a very small majority of shoppers who handle things in an impatient or unprofessional manner."

"The reality is that payment issues are a part of this business and something that happens to EVERY company. Sometimes the issues are the result of a poor payment process on the part of the MSC, other issues are related to bad mailing address, email addresses or bank account info supplied by the shoppers and others, like lost checks, are out of everyone's control."

"I am well aware of the issues that existed with the payment processes that Sentry and Feedback Plus used for shops completed on the Prophet platform."

" We are in the process of converting the last of the Feedback Plus payments to check and processing them in bill.com and these payments are delayed by a couple of weeks."

"We think moving payments to bill.com will solve a lot of our process issues....."

All of the quotes above are from you in this thread about payment issues with Sentry so how are my assumptions now unfounded? You have admitted to problems and your own words make it seem excessive. Since you also chose to assert payment issues are just a part of this business, it is not out of bounds if I chose to assert payment issues have not been an issue for the vast majority of companies I have worked with over the years. BTW, do you have some sort of proof you have made no more errors than any other company? IMO, and it is my opinion whether you like it or agree with it or not, a year to straighten out payment problems seems a bit excessive. And I'm still trying to figure out what a small majority of shoppers might be. Was it a minority or a majority of shoppers who have lost their patience after a year?

You can accuse me of bias all you want. The reality is I have commented and participated in the discussion on this thread and this thread only and limited my comments directly to what you have said here while you are bringing up some other thread from months ago. Please do not flatter yourself that I have some sort of bias. To expend the type of energy necessary for some sort of vendetta I would have to care, and frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.

Wait. You're supposed to be Scarlett, not Rhett!

But last time you wanted to be Scarlett. Have you forgotten already?

I only wanna be YOUR Scarlett!

Lisa

What proof do you have that we make more mistakes than other companies? Have mistakes been made with payments for assignments that you have completed for Feedback Plus or Sentry? If you don't have first hand knowledge, I guess your just speculating.

It's wonderful that you never experience an issue regarding payment. Judging the from the number of posts on the forum, other forum members experience issues with payment from a variety of companies. You can cut and paste quotes from my posts all you want, however, it is not going to change any facts.

@Sentry Marketing wrote:

I've said all I need to on this matter.

Not surprising, but evidently not. Could be a condition called lastworditis.

"You can cut and paste quotes from my posts all you want, however, it is not going to change any facts. "

@Mert wrote:

Not surprising, but evidently not. Could be a condition called lastworditis.

and they say that not a word. The winner is.....MERT you called it.

I have a different view entirely of Sentry Marketing. For a brief time, I did some scheduling work for Dave under another company. The majority of the shoppers I spoke with liked Sentry and were eager to schedule other assignments.

I am not claiming that other people's concerns are invalid or not legitimate; I just wanted to throw in my two cents.

Wow. Methinks Dave has an ego the size of a dying sun. I mean, the OP came on here to gather information and share his experience. He stated that he was concerned about a late payment and a bounced email and that is what drove him here. Then Dave posted that the OP should have contacted him first before coming here. Uh... he did. The email bounced and that triggered a concern.

The OP had nothing but nice, professional things to say about Sentry. Other than the late pay and the bounced email; he even offered some non-biased, very fair critical observations. But Dave would not have any of that. Instead, he lectured the OP about his having come here in the first place.

This is forum where shoppers get to comment and share their experiences with one another. Dave goes on and on about being professional and polite, and yet, even when people are professional and polite on this forum- a forum for shoppers to share their experiences- he still wants to give a lesson about professionalism.

That's some serious insecurity. Many other commenters are not biased against Dave and/or Sentry, but he accuses them of some vast conspiratorial bias against him on this forum. Again, that's very insecure. It should make anyone think twice about doing any kind of business with Sentry- not only as a shopper, but as an investor, as a supply-chain provider, as a utility company, as a server, etc...