Does anyone know about the company wide systems transition that was announced in the e-mail today? It says:
Greetings Shoppers,
You are receiving this email because we would like to make you aware of an exciting new opportunity. We are in the process of merging our two existing systems in an effort to broaden the amount of Interactions Marketing projects available to you. To access these new opportunities, you will be required to re-register. By doing so, you will have access to projects that go beyond mystery shopping including audits, intercepts, food and retail demos, mobile tours, grand openings, and other special events.

Please note, if you do not register in the new system, effective January 4, 2016; you will no longer be eligible for assignments.

If you are interested in this exciting opportunity please reply to this email. An onboarding specialist will then send you a link to the application for your specific area and you will need to complete the necessary paperwork. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to Dominique Adams at dadams@interactionsmarketing.com.

I responded back that I wanted to continue. So then I got an e-mail saying:

Thank you for responding to our email and wanting to continue working with Interactions Marketing! You will need to have steps 1-3 completed by the end of December 2015.

By reregistering, you will have the option to register for direct deposit. Direct deposit will usually take up to 4 weeks to activate, you will receive a paper check in the mail until it is active. If you do not choose direct deposit, you will be mailed a check. Payroll is completed every 2 weeks.

Below are the steps that will need to be completed in order to reregister:

Complete an online application.
Complete an I9 form – you will need to verify your identification by designating an Authorized Representative who MUST be at least 18 years old and NOT an immediate family member. The Authorized Representative will act as a representative of Interactions to sign off on your I-9. You will only have 24 hours to complete the I-9 form. Once we receive a completed I9 from you, you will then be sent login information to Workday to complete the new hire paperwork.
Pass a background check. YOU MUST SIGN AND RETURN the Criminal Background Check Release Form in order for us to process your background check. ONCE YOU ARE CLEARED YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO WORK YOUR FIRST EVENT.
Workday – Workday is the software we use to collect your new hire paperwork. You will receive login information and a link to login to complete this portion. THIS MUST BE COMPLETED TO OFFICIALLY BE HIRED INTO THE SYSTEM.
It will take 24 hours for your information to be processed in our event system. You will receive an email with login information to login to your profile.

After you are officially hired in, you will begin to receive event notifications to your email from notices@interactionsmarketing.com when there is an event opportunity, and you’ll need to log onto our site using the username and password you were sent to view the event details. Therefore, it is important to check your email daily.

From there, you can either apply for or decline the event. If you apply for the event, our system will notify you via email (usually less than a week) if you are scheduled to work the event. To cancel for a scheduled event, we require an email notification at least 96 hours in advance. We do not tolerate no-shows for our events, so we ask that you only sign up for shifts you can commit to.

Now, that we have went over the hiring process, let’s get started with Step 1, completing the online application.....

I've never had in all my years of working to do an I9. W4's yes, but an I9? And i (not the company mind you but ME) have to find someone who will be the authorized representative for Interaction to sign off on the I9? huh????

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2015 02:25AM by goodkitty.

Certainly would get a loud WTF???? out of me. Is this perhaps a merchandising company rather than mystery shopping? They aren't on my radar or on the Official List of companies here.

Hmm, I wonder... I need to check my companies - I do mystery shopping work for Interactions - maybe, though, it's a different Interactions since this says Interactions marketing. Now I need to go see which Interactions I do work for if there is more than one! LOL

I just looked around and these guys were originally Daymon or are part of the Daymon group. They have been through a number of changes if I recall correctly and I just haven't followed them through their journeys.

So the company I do work for is Interactions marketing.... which appears to be this one that sent the e-mail. Nice company so far, pays promptly and all. I'm just not sure about this merge and I 9 thing. So sad. I've enjoyed the shops I've done with them.

Well, I haven't received the second email yet, but if I do, it will mean the end of my working with the company.

The email says: "We are in the process of merging our two existing systems.." I'm registered with them but have not done any work with them. In my area they only have grocery stores, and I'm over them. What two systems do/did they have?

It is not computer systems - it is their employee classification system. Interactions had several different divisions - Daymon Caliber (mystery shopping), TriplePoint Interactions (events and promotions), and CDS (Costco and other store sampling). CDS samplers are W2, event personnel and mystery shoppers were IC. I had no clue they were all connected until I was working a TriplePoint event at Costco, and a sampling person told me we worked for the same company. I thought she worked for Costco because, after work, I had to mystery shop the samplers for Daymon. I had to peel through a few layers of that company, and that was the problem. One person could be working as both W2 and IC on the same day for different divisions. They told me they could not have someone under two classifications. They transitioned event personnel to W2 a few years ago (same type of email), and now it appears they are attempting to transition mystery shoppers.

Marg704 - so, you think that the work that I do for Interactions Marketing is going to transition to me being an employee with a W2 form? That would be interesting. BTW, you should remove the names of the clients since the MSC is mentioned.

@Flash wrote:

Certainly would get a loud WTF???? out of me. Is this perhaps a merchandising company rather than mystery shopping? They aren't on my radar or on the Official List of companies here.

I used to do a lot of work for them they were a good company and paid on time.

Yes, I worked for them as Daymon and as Caliber. But we sort of went our separate ways when there was a scheduler who never awarded the ones I had requested even though my scores on the shops were always excellent.

I am assuming that anyone who works for them in any capacity will transition to employee status, but the transition has been going on for years - little by little - through their many divisions. Back in 2012/2013, I was told I could not work for both sides of their company. I had to pick a side. If I wanted brand ambassador work, I had to become an employee and could not mystery shop as an IC for the other division. Yet a friend was still performing brand ambassador work as an IC up until this year. They don't have a lot of mystery shopping in my area - they lost their grocery store account, so it didn't matter.

I just don't know a lot of shoppers who are employees - there just aren't enough shopping assignments to warrant employee status. Maybe shoppers would be interested in sampling work - who knows. As for schedulers, Interactions employees are booking all of their jobs - mystery shops, events, brand ambassadors, etc. No more scheduling company.

I've loved doing shops for Interactions, but this is a no-go for me. I don't want the I9 hassle. They have enough information without that. I think it's going to an extreme, especially with shoppers who have done numerous shops for them. I'm not the least bit happy about this, but it's their call and I'm sure a lot of folks will decide to go along with it. Not me, though ... and I'll miss doing shops I've done regularly for a long time now.

I have done several I9's for work that I have found on the web. All that is needed is a Notary Public to check over your two forms of ID and sign off that they have done that. The first time that I had one done I changed banks because the Notary Public was an A@@ about it. I do wish that that one had been a shop, but I didn't get into MSing until a few years had passed.