And I took grandkids to the see Secretariat. Oh well, at least we saw a great movie if I never get paid. lol

In August I hadn't received payment from Goodwin and as I was reviewing my records late October, I realized that I still hadn't been. So, a shop in June and no word or communication from the company. I emailed them, received a response within a day and another from another person a couple of days later saying that I would be paid in early November. I was, but I wouldn't lay out any significant money to shop for them, mine was a small amount, and if I hadn't followed up, I have no illusions that they would have never paid.

I don't know how companies like this can stay in business. I guess there are always new shoppers who get don't realize what they are getting themselves into.

I am owed a small amount, but this is the second time I got burned by them.

Same experience for me. It seems like it was my responsiblity to remember to ask for my pay or I didn't get paid.

I'm keeping an eye on them. They seem to have several new clients, but I have not shopped for them because of payment problems I've read about here. Getting paid on time and without having to chase the money is pretty important to me. I stay away from companies who make you beg for payment and/or pay late. So far I've stayed away from them. Irene, I'm waiting to see if they pay you within 60 like they promised. Anyone else have recent Goodwin experience?

I did an ice cream shop for them and the scheduler forgot to give me my $2 bonus so I emailed her a few times and when she was in tehoffice she paid me the $2. The shop was incredibly easy and I got paid when I said I would. I have no problems with them at all.

I have a shop from July, one from late August, some from September and October that are still unpaid. But of course, according to their 90 day cycle, the only one thats delinquent right now is July. I am waiting to contact them regarding it until August is past 90 days as well, so I can do it for both together. It is definitely a hassle to have to track down payments like that.

The only reason I shop for this company is because this particular client has locations all around my regular place of work and I buy lunch there anyway. This way, it's free lunch if I ever get my money. I would never go out of my way or accept any shop from them that was not something I was already doing anyway.

I'm waiting till the end of this month, and then will email them. They promised they will pay quicker, but so far no....going after $10.00 is ridiculous, but, it's my 10.00....come on guys.

I agree with all of you, I did wait awhile, I am not going to lose sleep over $12 but at the same time, I went a little out of my routine to do the shop and I expect to be paid. I wonder if they let their client short them money or extend their terms the same way? Overall, I consider it a bit unethical and will be hesitant to take anything else offered.

rvini Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I agree with all of you, I did wait awhile, I am
> not going to lose sleep over $12 but at the same
> time, I went a little out of my routine to do the
> shop and I expect to be paid. I wonder if they
> let their client short them money or extend their
> terms the same way? Overall, I consider it a bit
> unethical and will be hesitant to take anything
> else offered.


You are absolutely right. We are not doing this for charity. $12 here, $10 there, these are our wages. It's not like shops pay $200 a pop. We should be paid everything we are due. I wouldn't even have issues with their long 90 day pay cycle, if they paid then. But having to track it down with e-mails is what gets me.

This is off subject, but I took a $20.00 check to my bank, and the teller says, "Don't spend it all in one place". I was embarrassed this was my wages in one check.

Irene, nothing to be embarrassed about. I regularly get checks in those amounts from different companies. Sometimes, there is just one job you do the whole month for a company.
As for the teller's reaction, I've actually deposited $1 mail-in rebate checks before. So I think, they've seen it all.

I think that the teller has an attitude problem. To some people $20.00 is alot of money. The teller was lucky you weren't shopping him/her.

I did feel he shouldn't have made that remark, I have business at that bank and that was rude. I do wish they would all use paypal or DD....much easier...that bank isn't shopped, or else.....

It was an uncalled for, unprofessional remark. Period.

I was finally paid for the big $10 June shop....but I had to email two times.
I now have a spreadsheet which makes it easier to spot the non pays. I found over $100 in missing payments, bonuses and reimbursements.

All but one is paid to date due to my new system.

As far as Goodwin..there's too many MSC's who pay on time and with out grief ... I'll leave it at that.

Good news...I asked when I can expect to be paid, and days later received an email from payroll, saying I will be paid for my early Oct. job by Dec. 30th.

I finally received payment for a shop in July also. AM said she forgot and had not realized that I had not gotten paid yet.

As for me, I didn't forget. I just didn't feel like bugging her until my 90 days were up. As a matter of fact I sent her all the correspondence I had with her leading up to the shop and payment, just to refresh her memory.

But that $10 finally came. I thought I was going to have to starve for the holidays.

I have to decide if I want to continue to do shops for them. They seldom have shops in my area, more Downstate at the Pubs.

Goodwin paid me...yeah, my $10.00 is now spent.

Goodwin finally has one shop in my area, but I am debating on taking it or not because of the payment issues mentioned here.

The thing is there jobs are low paying. I wouldn't do a large reimbursement but 10.00 to enjoy a smoothie or such, that's o.k. waiting 3 months for.

$10 for a smoothie isn't too bad; what I've noticed is the jobs here are reimbursement only and the list of items you are required to order add up to more than the max reimbursement......then you have to wait to be paid .... not doing those any time soon......

Goodwin has a couple of rather nice restaurant shops in my area, one walking distance. But I am holding off until someone actually posts that they consistently pay in much less than 90 days. I loath letting someone benefit from the float on my money.

I have shops from last September, October and November totaling more than $300 that I have never been reimbursed for, nor was I ever told there was a problem with my reports (that were submitted correctly and on time). I just did a google search on Goodwin to see if others had this problem and came across this site. I would strongly discourage people from working with Goodwin.

Welcome to the forum Zebra. Have you contacted them? It would appear that squeaky wheels get greased.

On August 11 2010, Goodwin posted the following comment. Rather than pull up that thread again, I am quoting it here, primarily because it has a phone number, but also because it has the attitude shoppers are dealing with.

"We at Goodwin & Associates have read your posts on this forum and feel that is our responsibility to respond. We would first like to thank all of the valued shoppers that provide us with quality reports. We enjoy working with you and appreciate your hard work. The reality is that we have over 50,000 shoppers. We pay all of our shoppers that submit valid reports within the defined payment terms. Due to our quality assurance measures, there are numerous shop reports that we reject every day. If the shopper went to the wrong location, didn’t follow order requirements, didn’t get a receipt, failed to provide details, turned in the report after 24 hours, we questioned the integrity, etc. then we simply discard all of those shops and redo them. We only submit quality reports to our clients and we only pay the shoppers for reports that we can use. If they don’t follow instructions or don’t produce quality work and we can’t use the report, then we can’t pay for it. We are not "scamming" our shoppers. We’ve been in business for 11 years and have over 500 clients. We have a BBB rating of an "A". We didn’t build our business on scams. There are also shoppers that don’t receive payments for reasons outside of our control, like they moved and didn’t update their shopper profile with the mailing address for checks or they changed PayPal email addresses and didn’t tell us. We eventually catch up with those shoppers, but it takes a while. Then, when you are paying a few thousand shoppers each month, there are always bound to be a few shoppers that slip through the cracks. When that happens, we jump on it and pay them right away when it is brought to our attention. If anyone on this forum has any questions or concerns about their payment for shops they completed, please contact our office directly to get it resolved. Posting complaints or threats on a public forum will not help expedite your payment, as our accounting office does read these forums. Your comments may hurt the brand image of a quality company built by hardworking individuals. Please contact our office directly at 603-223-0303 and a member of our team will gladly assist you. Thank you.

Goodwin & Associates Mystery Shopper Program
603-223-0303"

Flash Wrote:
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> Welcome to the forum Zebra. Have you contacted
> them? It would appear that squeaky wheels get
> greased.


Thanks Flash. I did contact them and am keeping my fingers crossed!

Zebra, I bet you get paid, as most of us are, after inquiring (though sometimes repeatedly...). Good luck, and keep us posted.

Seems like it is about time for Goodwin to post another self-serving response.