Without violating any confidential information, I will try to explain the situation. I am posting this here for two reasons. 1. If there are any 'employees' or 'representatives' of MFI on this site, hopefully, they can relay this information to their supervisors in hopes that a resolution can be made. 2. Just as a general warning to other shoppers, considering doing shops for MFI.
I took the assignment to shop a national wireless provider. As part of the shop, I was to activate new service with this provider. The shop was a 2 parter. The first part paid a certain amount after the completion of the shop. The first part went great... no complaints.
The second part paid a small shopper fee, and then an additional much larger amount as a partial reimbursement for your bill. This half of the shop was to be completed after you received your first month's bill, one month after the initial shop. I filled this report out the day it was sent to me (April 14, 2016). I uploaded all photos of my bill as required and submitted the survey. I was expecting payment around May 10th. On May 12th, I changed my direct deposit info because I opened a new account (going through a divorce).
I never saw payment in either account, so I emailed helpdesk on May 20th to ask when to expect payment. They replied that I had recently changed my direct deposit info, so they would be mailing a check. Two weeks later, still no check. I emailed helpdesk again. They responded that the payment should have been made in May, but was not for some reason. And that the payment would be made for the small shopper fee, but that I would not receive the much larger reimbursement because the first month's bill showed a credit (because of traded in devices).
Just for discussion purposes, let's say that the shopper fee was $4 and the reimbursement was $60 (not the actual numbers, but close enough.) MFI says that since there was a credit on the first months bill, there was no reason to pay the $60 reimbursement. The guidelines simply stated that I would receive the reimbursement for my bill. Not "First month bill only", not "as long as there is no credit on first month", no stipulations... just that I would receive the reimbursement once I completed the survey.
So, I was upset to find out that they did not plan to pay me the majority of the money I was expecting from the shop. So between June 8th and June 19th, over a dozen emails were sent back and forth between myself and A supervisor at the helpdesk, named Midge Kennedy. I tried to remain as professional and polite as possible, but I was very upset that they kept making up reasons that were not in the guidelines for why they did not want to pay me the reimbursement amount. Eventually, she offered to pay half of what I was owed, as a compromise. I said I was willing to accept that if she would apologize for making the mistake in the first place and for saying that I had done something wrong. She refused to do that, and said that I was not owed anything.
Eventually, I got the Vice President of Operations, Emily Kehrberg, involved in the conversation. Emily said that she understood my side of the story and even though that was not the intended purpose of the guidelines, they did not clearly express that in the guidelines, so she was going to approve my payment. YAY! SUCCESS!
Or so I thought.... That was June 19th. They said the payment would come through in July (10th - 15th is normal direct deposit time line).
I should also disclose that before I got the last email from Emily Kehrberg, I had filed a complaint with the BBB expressing the entire situation. This complaint was sent to MFI on June 21st, but I called and closed the complaint because at the time, I thought they were finally going to honor their agreement and pay me.
So July 17th rolls around.... Still no direct deposit and no further emails, phone calls, or correspondence of any kind from MFI. I decided to log on to the portal to see if the payment had been made yet, only to find out that I had been restricted, so I no longer had access to the portal. I emailed Emily and asked 1. Why I was restricted? and 2. When to expect my payment. 18 hours later... no response. So I emailed helpdesk. Again Midge Kennedy responded... "There was an accounting issue so payments were not made correctly. I can't answer any further questions until I hear from accounting.". Honestly, I didn't completely believe her, but I decided to take her at her word. I asked why I was restricted, and she refused to answer me.
At this point, I don't expect to get a payment from them. If I do get a payment, it probably won't be until August... 4 months after the survey was completed. 3 months after the payment was supposed to be made.
BEWARE... MFI has no respect for their shoppers. They lie. They make up stories. They come up with hundreds of reasons to reject reports or not pay. They will not return phonecalls. They would rather email back and forth and keep shoppers waiting for months to get answers. They will close your account the second you become an inconvenience to them. There are dozens of better companies that pay more for services and actually honor their agreements.
Just thought I would warn you. If you are an employee of MFI and want any additional details, feel free to let me know. I can share the entire email thread.
Thanks for taking the time to read this...
Alex.
I took the assignment to shop a national wireless provider. As part of the shop, I was to activate new service with this provider. The shop was a 2 parter. The first part paid a certain amount after the completion of the shop. The first part went great... no complaints.
The second part paid a small shopper fee, and then an additional much larger amount as a partial reimbursement for your bill. This half of the shop was to be completed after you received your first month's bill, one month after the initial shop. I filled this report out the day it was sent to me (April 14, 2016). I uploaded all photos of my bill as required and submitted the survey. I was expecting payment around May 10th. On May 12th, I changed my direct deposit info because I opened a new account (going through a divorce).
I never saw payment in either account, so I emailed helpdesk on May 20th to ask when to expect payment. They replied that I had recently changed my direct deposit info, so they would be mailing a check. Two weeks later, still no check. I emailed helpdesk again. They responded that the payment should have been made in May, but was not for some reason. And that the payment would be made for the small shopper fee, but that I would not receive the much larger reimbursement because the first month's bill showed a credit (because of traded in devices).
Just for discussion purposes, let's say that the shopper fee was $4 and the reimbursement was $60 (not the actual numbers, but close enough.) MFI says that since there was a credit on the first months bill, there was no reason to pay the $60 reimbursement. The guidelines simply stated that I would receive the reimbursement for my bill. Not "First month bill only", not "as long as there is no credit on first month", no stipulations... just that I would receive the reimbursement once I completed the survey.
So, I was upset to find out that they did not plan to pay me the majority of the money I was expecting from the shop. So between June 8th and June 19th, over a dozen emails were sent back and forth between myself and A supervisor at the helpdesk, named Midge Kennedy. I tried to remain as professional and polite as possible, but I was very upset that they kept making up reasons that were not in the guidelines for why they did not want to pay me the reimbursement amount. Eventually, she offered to pay half of what I was owed, as a compromise. I said I was willing to accept that if she would apologize for making the mistake in the first place and for saying that I had done something wrong. She refused to do that, and said that I was not owed anything.
Eventually, I got the Vice President of Operations, Emily Kehrberg, involved in the conversation. Emily said that she understood my side of the story and even though that was not the intended purpose of the guidelines, they did not clearly express that in the guidelines, so she was going to approve my payment. YAY! SUCCESS!
Or so I thought.... That was June 19th. They said the payment would come through in July (10th - 15th is normal direct deposit time line).
I should also disclose that before I got the last email from Emily Kehrberg, I had filed a complaint with the BBB expressing the entire situation. This complaint was sent to MFI on June 21st, but I called and closed the complaint because at the time, I thought they were finally going to honor their agreement and pay me.
So July 17th rolls around.... Still no direct deposit and no further emails, phone calls, or correspondence of any kind from MFI. I decided to log on to the portal to see if the payment had been made yet, only to find out that I had been restricted, so I no longer had access to the portal. I emailed Emily and asked 1. Why I was restricted? and 2. When to expect my payment. 18 hours later... no response. So I emailed helpdesk. Again Midge Kennedy responded... "There was an accounting issue so payments were not made correctly. I can't answer any further questions until I hear from accounting.". Honestly, I didn't completely believe her, but I decided to take her at her word. I asked why I was restricted, and she refused to answer me.
At this point, I don't expect to get a payment from them. If I do get a payment, it probably won't be until August... 4 months after the survey was completed. 3 months after the payment was supposed to be made.
BEWARE... MFI has no respect for their shoppers. They lie. They make up stories. They come up with hundreds of reasons to reject reports or not pay. They will not return phonecalls. They would rather email back and forth and keep shoppers waiting for months to get answers. They will close your account the second you become an inconvenience to them. There are dozens of better companies that pay more for services and actually honor their agreements.
Just thought I would warn you. If you are an employee of MFI and want any additional details, feel free to let me know. I can share the entire email thread.
Thanks for taking the time to read this...
Alex.