BTW - my son is owed $150 so between us the total owed is $850.

Sandyf - You haven't posted how much you are owed. While I understand that you are urging caution regarding our IC agreement, like anng, I don't believe our contract requires us to continue confidentiality when the MSC is obviously ignoring our emails and phone calls.

@plmccut wrote:

BTW - my son is owed $150 so between us the total owed is $850.

Sandyf - You haven't posted how much you are owed. While I understand that you are urging caution regarding our IC agreement, like anng, I don't believe our contract requires us to continue confidentiality when the MSC is obviously ignoring our emails and phone calls.

Amen.

If the MSC is obviously ignoring our emails and phone calls, WHY SHOULD I RESPECT THE CONTRACT if they've already failed to uphold their end by paying on time? If they can't pay on time - they should at least explain the situation.

What they're doing is not only childish and immature but unprofessional and on Monday I will be filing a suit against them in Small Claims Court.

Sandy - you are a soft person. You don't understand the value of a dollar. I am currently out $400 and I live paycheck to paycheck. If you want to donate $400 to me, I would graciously appreciate it. If not, shut your mouth and let this MSC own up for its actions.

Great way to have a civil conversation....
..

@bgriffin wrote:

Great way to have a civil conversation....
..

Civil? The only thing civil is that a lawsuit is coming.

Glad you can afford to be out the money.... not all of us have that luxury.

@bgriffin wrote:

Great way to have a civil conversation....
..

Having or not having money has nothing to do with telling someone to "shut their mouth" simply because they disagree with what the other person said. Especially when the other person said nothing offensive in the slightest.

Emotions run high when someone takes the bread out of your mouth that you need. While I am not condoning what anng said, I do understand. My son, for instance, is currently unemployed so that $150 would have bought a couple weeks groceries for him and his family. I am not in that position but am still on a fixed income so the reimbursements ARE important to me.

Emotions do run high when you haven't been paid, but that's no reason to smack down another forum member with a shut up.

For sure, i was just attempting to maybe reign the conversation back in a bit. Otherwise it just turns into a screaming match.

Oh shut up roffle woffle!

You wanna go mano a mano right here, bgriff? Oh, hey, wait, we're on the same side. Hmmmm.... things sure get out of hand when the players stop keeping their eyes on the ball, huh?

Nah you'll hit me over the head with one of your roffle tacos or something.

That's how I roll.

I love roflwofl tacos. They have been my new favorite order at Chipotle, LOL.

My 2 cents:

Okay. Assuming he died in February, WHY did I get invites for pizza shops in March, April and May? Of which, I completed 3 shops in those 3 months. I am owed $90. My point: Why didn't the employees or administrator of his estate STOP the shoppers from shopping by sending out job offers, begging us to do shops and bonusing those shops?

The operative word is *STOP* the shoppers by simply not posting ANY jobs?? We had no way of knowing of his death. Who is to reap the financial benefits if he is dead since February? Who pockets the money the famous pizza place paid NSS since February? If they were greiving, lost and confused, they should have stopped offering shoppers shops. The family or whoever was in charge, KNEW we were performing a service and were PAID contractors. They knew exactly what NSS was.... as a business.

It reminds me of people who are in Foreclosure and rent out their house to the tenant for months and then the tenant gets an eviction notice from the home owners Bank! (it happened to me)...

@anng123 wrote:

@sandyf wrote:

There are more than one person with each name even if to you it sounds like an uncommon name but the Wozniak family may have layers of family going back generations. The one in Connecticut died in Dec 2016. He was older than the one who owned NSS and lived on the other side of the country. It is likely that both of them had a linked in account...you really need to dig deeper folks before deciding you have hit the jackpot on info...Check the person out carefully. I did check on the one in Connecticut for no more than 2 seconds when his bio said nothing that even was closely related to someone owning a market research company and a pub on the west coast.
The same goes imho for those who out the door want to sue or get in touch with the client and even those who start badmouthing the company which sometimes happens when a check is one day late or the writer has messed up themselves in some way. We need to give it some time to see how it plays out. There is nothing the client can do that I can think of especially if they are no longer a client as it seems and you are breaking your contract by contacting them. If you have some insight into how you think the client might help let us know. You might want to continue to mystery shop in the future. If you are tempted to contact the client think carefully about what ramifications that will have on you. Word gets out about these things. People jump companies and it will not just be NSS but perhaps connections to other msc that you shop with that that move might have consequences for.

NSS already broke their contract with us with not paying and running away... what company functions without no one in the office for 2 weeks or no email responding?

The wozinak that died has the same face as the one on linkedin that owns NSS.

Now unless you want to tell me two people are dopplegangers....

I gather you did not take the time to fully read my post anng. Or perhaps you had trouble understanding it. I was referring to the many who seemed to think the guy in Connecticut was the owner of NSS when the only connection was that he had the same name. It was only in the last few days that someone found a notice that the real Matt W that we are concerned with had died. You began saying your were thinking/planning of contacting the clients long before it was confirmed that the real Matt W who owned NSS had died. I am just cautioning you and any others that say they are thinking (or will) contact the clients. It really does not have much to do with how much someone is owed. I do not want to lose even $1 but I cannot see how contacting the client will get me even $1 back. The client will have no reason to pay us directly if they have already paid for their services. And since they are no longer clients... The schedulers for NSS and even the board members are in future likely to work for other msc's. Perhaps they already do. If your name gets around that you contacted a client against your signed contract you may be banned....I do not plan to contact any client myself so this will not affect my life if you contact the client.. You do not in any way need to heed my warning. It might turn out that the client will send you a check and wish you luck. In the meantime there are probably other methods of trying to get your money back. It seems if they declare bankruptcy that we will be creditors. I do not know the law but I do know that vendors are near the top of the list to be paid as are employees. I do not know where we would fall. If they owned the building and they declare bankruptcy there is a chance we would all get paid. Looks like a pretty big building. But they may have no assets and we may get nothing. I have not been in this particular situation before and other mystery shoppers have so I think it would be prudent to find out what avenues others who have been in this situation have pursued I still would like to hear ideas on this subject from those who know more about the law than I do.
For those who need to know I am owed almost $100. If you think it important to see my 1040 from last year to see whether I have the right to warn people and to discuss this subject forget it. I would feel the same way whether I was owed $1 or $1000. Although I might be more upset if it was closer to $1000. And due to the fact that in my market I cannot get full reimbursement without a bonus, yes I am counting the small bonuses as out of pocket because I had to spend more out of pocket than they are willing to reimburse. That is the only way I would take these jobs.

I couldn't believe this was happening after SandyF's first post, then Paul emailed me and asked me to do the Japanese BBQ in my town wavering the 3 month deal. He had to know they were in trouble but offered me a bonus so I took it. I'm now owed 60.00 for two restaurants....yes, I want my money, but calling Sandy out won't get it for me and in bad taste....shame on you. I know SandyF, she is the nicest fairest smartest girl , I'm offended.

Sunny - I should have seen the handwriting on the wall. In April I didn't see any shops and contacted the scheduler that I usually worked with. She said there was a "computer glitch" and then fixed it and assigned me my usual several shops. In May the same thing happened and again, I contacted my favorite scheduler and she assigned me several shops - oddly enough the shops were all scheduled with just a couple days in between. I emailed the scheduler for the end of period date and told her I would look at my calendar and then have her change the dates so that there would be more time in between shops as I did not want to be outed. And that's what I did. She changed the dates for me. During this interaction there was not one clue that the company was going down the tubes. So I kind of blame myself for this but I would at least being repaid the money I put out up front. And I agree with you that someone should have put a STOP to any work being done. Perhaps we should post on the FB page where Matt has been reported as dying to ask if anyone can put us in touch with a family member or if they know anything about Matt's other business interests. And I'd like to know if the folks at the Auburn restaurant are being paid. Or was the restaurant shut down. Somewhere, someone has some information. If I lived in that area I sure would be happy to do a drive by and would have no hesitation in doing a walk in to either the NSS building or the Auburn restaurant to find out if anyone would be willing to provide some info.
Also, does anyone have a relationship with any of the other MSCs in California or in MSPA or IMSC who might have heard something?

@anng123 wrote:

@plmccut wrote:

BTW - my son is owed $150 so between us the total owed is $850.

Sandyf - You haven't posted how much you are owed. While I understand that you are urging caution regarding our IC agreement, like anng, I don't believe our contract requires us to continue confidentiality when the MSC is obviously ignoring our emails and phone calls.

Amen.

If the MSC is obviously ignoring our emails and phone calls, WHY SHOULD I RESPECT THE CONTRACT if they've already failed to uphold their end by paying on time? If they can't pay on time - they should at least explain the situation.

What they're doing is not only childish and immature but unprofessional and on Monday I will be filing a suit against them in Small Claims Court.

Sandy - you are a soft person. You don't understand the value of a dollar. I am currently out $400 and I live paycheck to paycheck. If you want to donate $400 to me, I would graciously appreciate it. If not, shut your mouth and let this MSC own up for its actions.

Actually from my point of view anng it is you who have trouble understanding the value of a dollar. And I also think I should honor a contract if there are other ways to get what I want. By the way, since you have money issues I can use someone to clean my house. I would be happy to hire you for $400 worth of housecleaning and pay you if you live nearby. I pay around what mystery shop companies pay. I do not believe in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. There are more mature ways to settle fights. Filing a suit against them in small claims court sounds like a great idea. Good luck to you and all the rest who are out of money.

Ouch!!!

Thank you both bgriffin and roflwofl for making me laugh while I write these ridiculous maddening things!!!!
Anyone willing to pay our gasoline so that Irene and I can take a drive up to the bar in Auburn..same state.?
I have a contact email for one of the board members. I will email her to see if she will reply. I will let you all know.

I'll admit I haven't done a shop for NSS for a couple of years, so they owe me nothing (does that disqualify me from commenting now?). Perhaps if I had I would have paid closer attention to this thread, but it seems to me there is a LOT of speculation in this thread. I mean what are the facts?

1. The owner of NSS has passed away
2. Payments appear to be about 1 month late
3. Employees are no longer answering their email

That's all we KNOW. Or did I miss something?
I think all of this talk about filing bankruptcy and suing the board members or whatever is just a bit premature. I'm not saying that won't be the end result, just that the situation isn't there yet.

Hell, I have 2 companies that are over a month late for $1000+ payments (each) and I haven't even bothered to email them yet because based on their track record I know they'll pay.

To correct your email - payments are two months late (March shops should have been paid in May) and not only are employees not answering their emails the company itself is not taking any phone calls or allowing anyone to leave voicemail messages. And we "think" the owner has passed away based on a facebook message. IMHO, nothing has been proven. No one said anything about suing board members although one poster said she intends to file a complaint in small claims court. I mentioned bankruptcy because when companies go silent like this one does it often means they are going to be filing bankruptcy. And we as unsecured creditors will be on the bottom of the list for payment. If they owe us money, they may very well owe money for the building where they are housed, utilities, employees' salaries, etc.
That's why I am quite willing to contribute to sandy and Irene doing a fact finding trip to Auburn!

If March shops should have been paid in May and it's the beginning June, how is that two months late?

Maybe I should have spelled it out a little differently.
Last check I got was for the Jan 1-Jan 31 shops - checked mailed Mar. 10
Feb 1-Feb 28 - no payment received but check should have been mailed by Apr. 10
Mar 1-Mar 31 - no payment received but check should have been mailed by May 10

Way I look at it, when June 10 rolls around they will be 3 months late for the Feb. shops and 2 months late for the Mar. shops.

If the check should have been mailed April 10th, May 10th would be 1 month late and June 10th would be 2 months late. So currently they are between 1 and 2 months late.

As for bankruptcy, that is not likely IMO. Not because I think they are going to continue to be a viable concern but because what would be the point? Simply dissolving would be an easier way of going about things.

You are correct, they will probably just disappear into the sunset; however, if the owner did, in fact, die - someone will inherit the assets if there are any. We don't know if they had any (like owning the building they were in), for instance.

And creditors have to be paid if the assets go into probate. That's why it would be really, really good if we could figure out just what the Heck is going on. Personally, in my heart, I know my $700 is gone but I would still like to know who, what, where, why . . ..

griffin - regarding those 2 companies that owe you $1000 and are late paying -
Are they
1. Still posting shops?
2. Still sending emails about needing shoppers for those shops?
3. Can you call those companies and speak to someone or are your calls answered with a recording that tells you no one can take your call?
4. Have you emailed their accounting dept. and received no response?
5. Have you emailed your schedulers at those companies and had no email in response?
6. Are the shops that you normally do for those two companies now being posted on another MSC's job board?

You missed my point but it's ok.
I understand you're potentially out a lot of money and upset.