Shop done in Sept. Major oil change company client. Still no pay. I am not alone.

You're not alone. I'm missing a payment for a shop done 9/21. My early-September shops were paid a week or so ago with a note that the remainder of the September shops would be paid by the end of the month... But, that's today. :/

I guess we'll see.

I'm confused by your post. What do you mean by "STILL no pay?" When did you expect payment from HS Brands for September shops? You are probably alone in complaining about September shops because complaining today is pretty quick on the draw. Payment is due "approximately" today or so, according to their guidelines.

HS Brands's payment schedule: "Payment: Shoppers must use our PayPal system to get paid. Payments are submitted to PayPal approximately 60 days after the last day of the month in which they were shopped. Shoppers must set up their own PayPal account at www.Paypal.com.

If you completed the shops in September, then then payment would be approximately 60 days after September 30, which would be approximately today.

They are one of the slower paying MSC's but you will get paid. I don't like to do much work for them because I do not like the wait of 60-75 days to see my money.

I am being owed for 90 days + now....dont know where to turn to to get my payments and from whom. Team i was dealing with is not responding to my mail. pathetic company to work with!

The website says September shops should have been paid by yesterday. On the website, it gives you the email of the contact. Go there, send an email. She has most always responded back to me very quickly.

I called today, and the clients have been slow to pay, so payments are behind but they are trying to get them out by the end of next week. It sounds like maybe they need more clients.

My August shops got paid 11/02. My September shops show payment pending. I have never had an issue with this company paying. Sometimes they pay earlier and sometimes they pay later, but they always pay. Meh, I know their wait time and I still choose to do shops with them sometimes. I think it is a bit premature to be asking for payment now though.

Still waiting to be paid for a shop completed months ago......I am finished.

Mod note: Your multiple threads on the same subject have been combined as only one thread is needed and to keep replies in the same place.

I understand from your original post that we're talking about an oil change shop. I do those for two companies, both with long terms, and don't mind waiting on reimbursement of money I would have spent anyway.

From September to the first of December does not sound like a stretch to me considering the long payment terms of this MSC. That said, I understand you don't want to wait. I recommend MaritzCX and Market Force for faster pay in general but they don't have oil change shops in my area.

The solution for you may be to give up oil change shops altogether and concentrate on shopping only with the fast paying MSCs. I will continue to do oil change shops because I love that $25.00 to $39.00 reimbursement and most of the year I'm driving heavily to shop.

@MDavisnowell wrote:

I understand from your original post that we're talking about an oil change shop. I do those for two companies, both with long terms, and don't mind waiting on reimbursement of money I would have spent anyway.

From September to the first of December does not sound like a stretch to me considering the long payment terms of this MSC. That said, I understand you don't want to wait. I recommend MaritzCX and Market Force for faster pay in general but they don't have oil change shops in my area.

The solution for you may be to give up oil change shops altogether and concentrate on shopping only with the fast paying MSCs. I will continue to do oil change shops because I love that $25.00 to $39.00 reimbursement and most of the year I'm driving heavily to shop.

Try Best Mark, VERY quick on payment and they have oil change shops. MOST are for specific brands of cars but they do have one client that allows any car.

luckygirl, I forgot about Bestmark. Doesn't work for me tho, I don't drive their brands.

@MDavisnowell wrote:

luckygirl, I forgot about Bestmark. Doesn't work for me tho, I don't drive their brands.

Might not be in your area but they do have one client that allows any brand. .. I drive a Honda

According to HS Brands, I should have been paid by end of November. Apparently, this is not an isolated incident with them. Once I am paid, I am finished with them, and will only shop for MSC's that abide by their own rules.

I've shopped with them off and on.. Maritz is my company of choice, with Intelli-Shop a close second. First time it's happened to me and I can understand the issues. My only complaint is that they should make enough money off the shops to take care of their overhead, with enough money to spare in case something like this happens.

It's just going to cost the clients more money in the end...

SS4U - Yes, we understand they're later than you expected on your payment and that you're not going to shop for them anymore. When a shopper is unhappy with a company's payment situation that's a logical and typical next move on the shopper's part. You have posted many times that the payment is late and your posting about the late payment does not seem to result in the payment being made, at least not to date. Perhaps your goal is to simply make the company look bad on the forum.

I was aware going in that this company had long payment terms as clearly posted on their site and also discussed many times on this forum. It is what it is. If you are unwilling to wait on the long window payers then take care to not accept their shops. Any perusal of their terms as posted on their website or any perusal of discussions on the forum would have told you that as far as they are concerned knowledge is reassuring but patience is a virtue.

HS Brands does not, as far as I know, respond to attacks on the forum and as far as I can tell they are totally indifferent to complaints here about their payment dates and whether or not they make those dates.

I do a lot of work with companies who do not pay on a prompt basis but they pay more or less when they say they will. I understand they are working with undependable cash flow just as I am. I handle my end of it by arranging my business so that I don't depend on a payment until I have it in hand. I do fully understand that not everyone can do this and that's why it's important not to shop with the long term payers if it creates a hardship for you when a payment is late or not exactly when you expect it.

New shoppers should be aware that there are multiple companies out there who don't pay on the dot. In those cases, knowledge is power. Follow the forum closely and you'll soon know who's who in the world of payments. Just because a company is slower than usual doesn't necessary mean they should be written off. It's not only their circumstances at play here - your circumstances are also vital as to whether the relationship can work.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2015 06:50PM by MDavisnowell.

My portal has a payment pending for September today. I did three in October for $64 and won't see that til next year. Sorry, but I'm not wasting my time with them anymore. I can do a FF or gas station in place of their shops and get paid in two to four weeks.

@MDavisnowell wrote:

I do a lot of work with companies who do not pay on a prompt basis but they pay more or less when they say they will. I understand they are working with undependable cash flow just as I am.

While I generally agree with this statement there are some exceptions. Smaller companies are definitely affected by undependable cash flow. As large of a company as HS Brands is, they should be well capitalized enough to pay exactly on time. A company that large that does not have a cash reserve large enough for at least 1 full month of payments (and probably 2-3) is playing with fire. I understand that smaller companies with only a few employees might not be that well capitalized, HS Brands should be.

bgriffin, of course the companies who can pay on time should pay on time. No disagreement on that issue at all. The fact is some of them don't pay exactly on time and we have to decide whether to work for them or not. Some of us can afford to wait and will. Some of us can afford to wait and won't. And some of us can't afford to wait so the decision not to shop with them is inevitable. Those companies will make no changes until they start running out of shoppers. Is that likely?

You seem to be missing my point. I'm not saying HS Brands can pay on time and doesn't. I'm saying HS Brands is much too large of a company to not be able to pay on time. They do thousands of shops per month and they can't generate enough cash flow to keep a 1 month cushion in the bank?

All I know is that I hope I'm paid for one shop I did last month come the end of January... was a good paying shop for not a lot of work.

I've noticed they've pushed back the payment date now to the 15th for those September shops. That's also when the October shops technically should be paid. I like the company and don't really mind waiting a bit. I do agree they should have a cushion to keep shoppers paid, but all you can do if you're that frustrated is not shop for them anymore. I'm not that frustrated. I like them.

Yes, I understand they should have enough money to meet their terms. I can understand that sometimes that doesn't work out. I should have a great deal more money than I have but that didn't work out either. MSCs have to register shoppers from the available pool. We have to hook up with MSCs from the available pool. We should all make the connections that work best for us. I wish everyone had more money, especially me.

Are you a full time mystery shopper?

Not exactly. So far this year I've done 1,245 shops but I'm 77 and retired from full time work. Are you a full time shopper?

You have to keep a close watch on your shops. I had one shop which was completely missed by Service Sleuth while the rest of the shops were paid as they promised. I also missed it until I discovered that it was way, way over due. I notified them and it was paid immediately.

Who did you notify? I am owed a substantial sum that is well over their stated 60 days.

@PasswordNotFound wrote:

Who did you notify? I am owed a substantial sum that is well over their stated 60 days.

Their stated 60 days is usually more like 90 days, because it is approximately 60 days AFTER the last day of the month in which the work was performed. So, if a shop was performed September 1, it would have been payable around November 30. Yes, they are 4 days late so far this month! Sigh. Payment shows pending so I am watching and expecting payment pretty soon for September shops.

Payment for shops done August 1-31 was due approximately October 31. Payment for shops done October 1-31 should be due approximately December 31.

@PasswordNotFound wrote:

Who did you notify? I am owed a substantial sum that is well over their stated 60 days.

I notified my scheduler because I was sure it was missed by the Accounting Department due to the fact I used to do a lot for them. It was maybe four months or so overdue. Without any reply or explanation, the payment was there promptly in my Paypal.

Correction: It was actually more than 6 months. It is very easy to miss things when you are doing a lot of shops for the MSCs and they pay you in bundles. I have a bad habit of presuming they are always correct and I am at fault...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2015 11:16PM by risinghorizon.

I received payment for one of my shops and received a message that the other shops would be paid soon. I just don't understand how this is acceptable. We have a contract with them and they are obligated to pay it as laid out. My parents own a scheduling company where they schedule nurses and CNAs for hospitals. The hospitals pay them and they pay the nurses/CNAs. When the hospitals are late with paying my parents, they still pay the nurses/CNAs even if it means getting a $100k loan from a bank to cover it. My parents will pay interest on the loan before they'd be late paying their employees. Why isn't the same expected from companies who lay out clear expectations of their deadlines and payment schedules?