I saw on another post that someone else had a similar problem as me with Shared Insights.

Last year, Shared Insight mailed me a payment check for a shop I completed for them, 7 months AFTER the shop was completed (very very late). The bank found the check had 'staled' when I cashed it, and therefore, I did not receive my payment successfully.

When I asked Shared Insight to reissue my payment, they declined to reissue the payment. I had sent them my bank statement showing where their check failed to be honored. Because they refused to fix the problem, they failed to pay me.

I have filed a Better Business Bureau complaint and will be filing a small claims court case against them for the amount of payment due, the bank charge that occurred, the court and service of process fees, and travel fees. I also will be contacting the Retail company that I shopped through Shared Insights, to share with them the Better Business Bureau report and small claims pending case.

Without honest business practice and fair payment to shoppers, there is no mystery shopping business.

Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2016 09:50PM by bbb.

P.S. For those of you who have never shopped for Shared Insight, I would avoid this company. They were extremely inadequate in their forms and failed to pay me on several other occasions.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2016 09:39PM by bbb.

Issuing a bad check is a felony in most states. You should visit your local courthouse to see what self-help resources they have to proceed with a small claim. You could be able to recover your fee and damages.

I've done shops for them. So far I haven't had any problems.

Are they new? never heard of them. Thannks for the tip.

Are they new? never heard of them. Thanks for the tip.

I've done 5 shops for them and was paid on time for every single one of them, but I get paid through Paypal, not by check.

I did 5 shops for them in 2015, and in all cases, I was paid near the end of the month after I did the shop. The first payment was by check, and the remainder by PayPal. I would not hesitate to do more assignments for them.

OP, your situation is unfortunate. Exactly what is a "stalled" check and why did it result in your bank charing you a fee? Did you ask your bank to reverse the fee?

What happened to cause the seven month delay, what communication was going on between you and them?

Like others here, I have shopped for them with no issues being paid.

Unless your loss is substantial, incurring additional expenses beyond reason may not be wise or recoverable.

I hope that you did not join here just to post and run.

I've been shopping with shared insight for almost a year and have never had any issues. They always paid on time and I have never had an issue with cashing their checks.

I have shopped for them for five years and never had a late payment.

Sorry, this makes no sense. Why would you continue shopping for them if they failed to pay you on several occasions? This is not logical so it is hard to take you seriously without a more detailed explanation. On the stale check, are you saying they sent you a check that was already stale? Or perhaps what happened was they sent you a check, you mislaid it, and tried to cash it months later?

I don't know whether they are under any obligation to replace the stale check, but of course it would be nice if they did. If you received a good check which you simply mislaid then I believe they would be entitled to charge you a fee for re-issuing the check which would probably cancel out what they owed you. If they sent you a pre-dated check which was already stale when you got it, then this is their responsibility and of course they should make it good.

Here's hoping to hear from you with some more information, and here's hoping you didn't join our forum with the sole purpose of bashing this company. That would make you look bad and would not reflect badly on them at all. We're used to fly by screaming wonders who get crossways on a deal and come here to blow off steam and pigsty the MSC. Hope that's not who you are. Hope you'll turn out to be a positive contributing member. Welcome to the forum.

@bbb wrote:

P.S. For those of you who have never shopped for Shared Insight, I would avoid this company. They were extremely inadequate in their forms and failed to pay me on several other occasions.

Deleted because this was a duplicate post. How did that happen? Beats me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2016 04:41PM by MDavisnowell.

OP is a hit and run!

Yes, most of the hits are runs.

I wanted to try shopping again for Shared Insight. Who's the contact person now? What stores are available to shop?
A female staff deactivated my account after I asked them for payment. I didn't get my check for almost two months so I became alarmed. This was in 2013. I called them almost everyday when I realized that my account has been deactivated. I have a high shopper score so I was sure it was not about my record as a shopper why my account was blocked. I eventually received my check though.
I happened to log-in a few weeks ago and saw that my account was back to active although I did not see shops available.

Hrm. Seems odd. I had a yogurt shop scheduled with them once, went to the location and it had closed. Got a phone call on the way home to tell me not to shop it and I told them I was just leaving. Didn't even have to fill in a report or anything, they just sent me the check.

That sounds more like my experiences with them. Always above board, great work to pay ratio and incredibly nice. Their only client here closed their stores

It seems this company is a hit and miss. I have successfully done shops and have been paid on time. BUT, it seems lately (this past month) they have been giving me the run around when I email and when I call they don't call me back. Yes, they should be paying via PayPal.
Also, they just took on a big client from another company. I was doing shops for that client with the other company and it was a very well paying and very efficient. Now that this client went with Shared Insight, the pay went WAY down and now I have been getting inefficient service. Even when they call begging me to take on shops, I normally help out. It is sad because I really like shopping for that client, but it seems like it may not be worth my time anymore.

My experiences with this MSC have been consistent and painless. I only do one client, but the pay is appropriate for the report, and I've never had to contact them regarding payment.

I just resolved a non-payment issue with them. I had to chase down my payment in April for an early February tanning shop (close to $50). The website kept showing my payment as "carried forward" and then paid, but I was never paid. I called twice; the first time I was told I was being paid "that day". Another week went by...no payment. I called again and was told that I was being paid "that day". Again, no payment. Ryan verified by PayPal account and they had the correct address. So, I believed him and waited a couple of days. I never received any payment. Finally I had to call back a third time. I spoke to Ryan. He said he would overnight a check. I asked for the tracking number, which he said he would email immediately. Four hours went by and still no tracking number. I called again for the second time that day to say I did not have a tracking number. He said, "Oh, I'm just getting ready to do the check now." Yeah, OK. Again, I asked for a tracking number and he said he sent it to my email address. I even asked how he was sending it, UPS or FedEx. He told me UPS. I asked him to resend the tracking number while I was on the phone. It never arrived. He gave me a number and when I said that was not a UPS number (1Z......), he and said they use Stamps.com. Stamps.com does not ship via UPS...this is a postal office service? At this point, I had had enough. I asked that the money be deposited via PayPal and I actually refused to get off the phone until I had the email in my inbox. If I had not have stayed on the phone, there is no way I would have been paid. I find it hard to imagine you can't get the PayPal payment right twice and then you can't get a tracking number to me after 2 requests. There's no reason for a shopper to have to chase a payment and then be given the run around for several weeks. I felt like I was lied to. I will not complete any other shops for Shared Insight.

Also, no one ever returned a voice message I left, nor did anyone respond to my payment inquire made on the site. Not a good sign!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2016 02:52AM by mimimi.

Come on don't lie. I just got paid yesterday.

I have shopped with this MSC for over a year. I have never had any problems with them. They have always communicated with me and paid without every having any problems. I would have to say that I would recommend them.

I see Kern is scheduling a job for Shared Insight in my area.

I have shopped with them for three years. They had a paypal hiccup this month, but everyone was affected, not just me. They resolved it the same day it was brought to their attention. Other than that, I have never had a problem being paid by thm. I use paypal, but they also offer paper checks.

Always make copies of checks before you deposit in case​ something goes wrong and you have to go to court etc.