Reminder NOT to shop at JMRidgeway

I recently completed a shop at JMRidgeway. I'm not going to go into detail or reveal the client but the shop was rejected for frivolous reasons. After further researching the company they have dozens of complaints from shoppers on this forum about past due payments, no payments, poor communication, and frivolously declining shops. They are either incompetent or unethical and I advise everyone to avoid them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/2016 04:56AM by Jbrz123.

Create an Account or Log In

Membership is free. Simply choose your username, type in your email address, and choose a password. You immediately get full access to the forum.

Already a member? Log In.

@Jbrz123 wrote:

I recently completed a shop at JMRidgeway. I'm not going to go into detail or reveal the client but the shop was rejected for frivolous reasons. After further researching the company they have dozens of complaints from shoppers on this forum about past due payments, no payments, poor communication, and frivolously declining shops. They are either incompetent or unethical and I advise everyone to avoid them.

Not going into details makes it impossible for any of the more experienced mystery shoppers here on the forum to help you figure out why your report was not accepted. Since you are a new shopper, you should utilize the knowledge of the more experienced folks here. There's no point in bashing a company without giving any details. That just makes you look foolish. Please post again and give details so others can help you figure out what you did wrong.

This is a really good company. I've worked with Ridgway for about 7 years with no rejected reports or payment issues. It's kind of a joke for a new shopper to come on the forum and tell others to avoid a company without providing any details or explanations. You made a mistake and didn't get paid so everyone should avoid the company?
It was just my experience. I wouldn't have posted it if I didn't see a lot of other people complaining. I'm glad youve had good experiences with them and hopefully I'm wrong.
OP, we do need more details so we can come to our own conclusions as to what went wrong. Do NOT name the client since you already named the MSC. You can tell us what type of job it is and what the editor's comments said about your report.

I do not do too much work for this company because they do not have a lot of shops in my area. I have never had a bad experience , no editing issues and I have always been paid on time.
I completed an apartment shop for them. The guidelines were almost identical to another MSC where I completed the same shop for the same client. I'd rather not get into it because I don't want to reveal myself but if you work with them just be cautious.
@Jbrz123 wrote:

It was just my experience. I wouldn't have posted it if I didn't see a lot of other people complaining. I'm glad youve had good experiences with them and hopefully I'm wrong.

The problem is that you did not tell us your experience. You gave a frivolous warning bashing the company without explaining what happened or why you feel that way. Posting warnings based on nothing helps no one. It makes you look like you got it wrong and are doing a sour grapes posting.

If you want to actually post your experience, there are many here who could help you figure it out.
@Jbrz123 wrote:

I completed an apartment shop for them. The guidelines were almost identical to another MSC where I completed the same shop for the same client. I'd rather not get into it because I don't want to reveal myself but if you work with them just be cautious.
That may be the problem right there. Even though this shop was through a different MSC, you shopped the same exact location for the same exact client. How much time lapsed between the two shops. Apartment shops by nature have a long rotation period, usually a year or longer. Without more details, I am speculating that you got busted by the apartment complex/client themselves. It is very easy to out an apartment shopper.

ETA: Did you copy and paste your previous report into your newer report? Again, the client probably busted you.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/2016 03:10PM by Sybil2.
@Jbrz123 wrote:

I recently completed a shop at JMRidgeway.

@Jbrz123 wrote:

I'd rather not get into it because I don't want to reveal myself but if you work with them just be cautious.

If you don't want to give details, it's probably better to drop the warning and not get into it. Did you know you misspelled JMRidgway's name? It was misspelled twice, so I'm assuming it was not a single typo. You can't spell their name right but they are incompetent? Wow.
Since you folks are assuming I screwed up the assignment I might as well tell you what happened. I did an apartment shop and the editor failed me for "not asking about housing in August/September." In my report I answered "Yes" to the question "Did you ask about housing in August/September" and I also included it in my description of the shop. I emailed them a couple days ago so hopefully it will get resolved.

And Jay C, your condescending comments are petty. I spelled "JMRidgeway's" name wrong because JMRidgeway is not a real word and my autocorrect tried to fix it. Your reply also has a hanging modifier but you don't see me correcting your grammar.
That said, it seems like the issue is not yet resolved. Editor flagged and declined the report based on something that you said you did. You have contacted them and are waiting hear back.

@Jbrz123, why not wait until the matter is resolved before flagging the company here and advising people not to work for them? Isn't that similar to the behavior that got you got you upset; Jumping to a conclusion before all of the facts are in?

In addition, you should understand that if you are hoping for the company to make a decision favoring you, publicly bashing them when the issue is still up for decision may not be the smartest approach...
Phew! scared me. Just signed up and completed a couple shops for this company... Just signed up for this forum and this was the first thread I read. Made me nervous.
I've done shops for this msc and the only issue I had was that I had to remind them to pay me each time. That being said, they always apologized and within a few days I received a hand-written check. I'm doing a shop for them tomorrow and have no worries about it.
I've had great luck with this company. The shops in my area are few and far between, but frequently are bonused. The reports are easy and fair enough and the pay has been too. I haven't received any negative commentary and all has been well for year I've been with them.

MegglesKat
I did my shop for them yesterday. It involved going to an insurance agency and getting an auto quote. I looked online and the agency's hours yesterday were 10 AM - 4:00 PM. I arrived at 10:41 and the lights were off and no one was there. I looked up a phone number and could only find an 800 number which was for all of these agencies throughout the country. I took a few time-stamped photos of the door with the hours posted. I hope I get paid for this. I didn't see anything mentioned about this in the shop guidelines.
That may be one of those grey areas where they want you to call ahead to see if they are open. Did they offer a number in the shop guidelines? Sometimes a company will pay you half of the fee for a "go-see" if their hours are correct, but they are closed. I had this happen with a cinnamon shop.

MegglesKat
Having never worked for JM, or remember any recent posts about them, I looked into the OPs claims with an open mind.

I failed to find the consistency of complaints the OP feels help support their need to "remind" us about anything obvious. The third post by the OP leads me to wonder if this is a alter ego created by an existing member?

That being said, a further post almost eludes to the OP potentially double dipping in a way that may have violated their agreements with multiple MSCs. OP, did you submit reports to two MSCs for the same shop? If not, does the client expressly regulate time frames between visits regardless of the MSC being utilized?

Your definition of "frivolous" may be the issue here?!?

My posts are solely based on my opinions and for my entertainment, contact a professional if you need real advice.

When you get in debt you become a slave. - Andrew Jackson
Isaiah58, you may have nailed it right there. It seems the problem would either be double-dipping or ignoring the rotation. I always find the use of words like "frivolous" to be entertaining. IMO, a frivolous rejection would be a few typos or uploading a photo upside down. How often does that happen? The reality is what shoppers convince themselves is frivolous is more often critical to the integrity of the shop.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
I have done 3 shops for JMRidgway with no problems. It did take a little longer to get paid compared to other companies, but they did pay.
I have done a few shops for this company. They do require very detailed narratives and they pay VERY slow....but they do pay and I do believe they are a reputable company.
I've done four shops with them. No problem at all, but it depends on the client as well. One client I will NEVER do another shop for them based on the work vs. the pay. As for the others, it was no problem at all and I hope more are offered in my area.
I'm not a big fan of JMRidgeway, their jobs pay well ONE time. And the rotation periods between them have to be long because you're going to deal with the same exact people again 6 months or a year from now when you do it again. In CA all of their jobs were long trips that I had to plan routes for. And here in AL, there are very few shops from them.

But everyone defending JMRidgeway is right, they are easy to work for, very supportive, and they always pay fairly for the work you do.
Warning: This User Has Been Banned or Is No Longer Active
I almost did a shop for JM Ridgeway - ended out not doing it because the photo requirement seemed a little intrusive to me and I was not comfortable with it. I was just not sure I could pull it off without issues and I contacted a scheduler there who told me something along the lines of Great, now I have to find someone else to do it. I felt guilty and let things stay until the last minute when I committed the unpardonable sin of bailing.....at the last minute. I was deactivated from JM Ridgeway for this and I take responsibility for that deactivation as I should have flat out said the first time around - this just does not work for me and not bailed at the last minute. You know that saying, live and learn? Here I say, mystery shop and learn. I'm much more proactive with shop related issues these days and I would not bail at the last minute unless it was something EXTREMELY serious as this is work, just like any standard non independent contractor job. I'm actually grateful to JM Ridgeway for this experience and the lessons I took away from it.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login