I did 4 shops that were put on their invoices October 16. According to their payment policies I understand I would be paid at the end of the month following the invoice which would have been November. I did not sign up with Bill.com opting instead to take the 2.00 and get a paper check. I did not have expenses and they were bonused shops. I have sent them a "ticket" and followed up with that "ticket" via email ( twice) as the automated response to the ticket requested, Any ideas from anyone on forum.

You may want to do a search on "Sentry" for the last 90 days. You will find a lot of advice in some of those recent threads. Since I do not work for Sentry, I will not attempt to advise you.

aimeemom

I'm happy to look into your payments. Please email me at dave@sentrymarketing.com.

Thanks

Dave

aimeemom, too bad that submitting two tickets has not resulted in payment. It's aggravating to have to chase payments, and get only automated responses.

This forum allows shoppers the right of anonymity. It would be nice if the company would respect that and suggest a method for shoppers/forum members, to get paid without revealing their identity - particularly when they have followed the recommended avenues.

I quit shopping for them a long time ago for multiple reasons. I don't like bill.com and I don't like the idea of the new payment method I have heard of, but those aren't the initial reasons I personally don't want to shop for them. I think it's just more convenient in many ways to do the bulk of my work with companies who make it easier and more lucrative for me to shop and get paid.

I would never reccomend anyone to conduct shops for Sentry. I got sucked in when they had assignments posed on Gigspot. I registered for three assignments but cancelled the third when their schedulers kept calling about me “accepting” the assignment on Gigspot and i had done so hours earlier. What they pay per assignment is not worth the hassle. Now, let’s get down to when they pay, I completed shops over 45 days ago (mid-November of 2017) and have not been paid as of mid-January 2018. When I addressed this on their site I was told I would not be paid unless I signed up for Dwolla. I have no intentions of doing this. I then filed complaints against this company for withholding payment and was verbally assulted via email by the owner of the company. Listen to the reviews for Sentry Marketing, LLC. There is a reason shoppers say to steer clear of them.

Isabella, Sentry is not withholding your payment. You refuse to take the steps required to get paid. Sentry uses Dwolla for direct deposit of your pay, you need to sign up with that service to get paid, Period. Do not sign up then do not get paid. Or sign Up. And get paid. The ball is in your court! It is as simple as that. Sentry does not have any other form of payment available for Shoppers. So it is your only option, so just do it. Then you can decide to drop Sentry, if they have not already dropped you by then.

Actually, they cannot make you sign up for Dwolla when the terms you accepted a shop for back in November of 2017 was with billpay.com or paper check. They are withholding my payment. Others need to be aware that this happens.

Oh, and I decided not to take on more assignments as they were the most obnoxious company I have ever conducted shops for. I even cancelled one assignment after completing the first two shops.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2018 07:57PM by Isabella3.

But those are no longer viable options. Currently there is only one method of payment. Either sign up. Or don't get paid. This is an unfurtunate timing issue as they have moved to a different method for payment. But you are wrong. Sentry is not withholding payment. They have given you an option to get paid; you are refusing to take the steps to get paid. Take the steps to get paid. And I will agree to disagree with you.

Isabella has a valid point. Our shops are considered small contracts. She contracted under the terms she would be paid via check or Bill.com. She completed her part of the agreement and can not suddenly be required to use a payment form not previously agreed upon. It probably would be considered Sentry is withholding her payment at this point because there is nothing stopping them from issuing a check.

Years ago when ACE switched from paper check to PayQuicker, shops completed prior to the change were still paid as check. No shopper was required to sign up with the new service to get monies previously owed them.

Although I see your point Lisa. Sentry never paid by check. The check came from Billpay.com. As Sentry no longer works with Billpay.com, Billpay.com is not going to produce a check for her. If she checked her ICA it will say that. It does not say Paper Check from Sentry. Their only form of payment is direct deposit by Dwolla currently. It is unfortunate, bad timing. But it is what it is.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2018 08:40PM by Lady Marius.

While I do agree that @Isabella3 should not be compelled to register for the new payment service if she did the shop under the agreement that she would be paid through a different avenue, were I in her shoes, I would likely bite the bullet, sign up for it, collect the payment and be done. The time and effort it takes to file complaints and go back-and-forth with the company would bring me nothing but unnecessary frustration and stress - especially if I were planning to cut ties anyhow. Moreover, not knowing the relationships that folks at Sentry might have with other MSC's, I would not want to risk inadvertently burning bridges elsewhere.

At the same time, were I in charge of Sentry, I would consider simply writing the check and moving on. Surely, doing so is far less work than dealing with an angry shopper, dealing with complaints, etc. Plus, there is a strong chance he'll take the time to respond on this thread as well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2018 08:42PM by MFJohnston.

This adds a wrinkle.... Here is their pay policy as posted on their Shopmetrics site:

"Sentry Marketing pays via Bill.com, with direct deposit being the main method of payment. To register for direct deposit, you must enter your information into bill.com. NOTE: Entering your banking information into GigSpot will not enroll you in direct deposit payments from Sentry. Sentry Marketing also pays via check, with a $2 fee. Pay statements are generated on the 16th of each month. Payments are sent by the last day of the next month. If you have questions about a payment, please click the following link to submit a support ticket: [sentrymg.wufoo.com];

Once again, it is a contract. It is expected both parties adhere to the terms of a contract. It does not matter who writes or mails the check, only that if a check is the method of payment agreed upon at the time of the contract, that is how the contractor is paid. What Sentry did or did not do during the interim is irrelevant. Expecting a MSC to uphold their end of the bargain is not unrealistic nor should it be a bridge burner, even with the MSC in question.

Deleted as unnecessary.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2018 08:56PM by MFJohnston.

Lisa I am going to agree to disagree. Her contract was to receive payment from Billpay.com by either check or direct deposit, not Sentry. As Sentry no longer has a business relationship with Billpay.com, that is not a viable option. I agree that having to sign up with the new service sucks, and would probably be upset myself if I was being told I had to sign up for the new service to get paid. But I would just do it, and get paid. And I would never accuse a MSC of withholding payment, when they have provided me a method to get paid. And I still do not believe it is an issue of withholding pay, just an unfortunate timing issue. So as I said I will agree to disagree.

She had no contract with Bill.com. Her contract was to receive payment from Sentry. Regardless of them now giving her another avenue or what anyone here would do to get it over with, a contract is a contract. On this forum we promote independent contractors acting as responsible business owners who adhere to their contractual obligations. I expect nothing less from the MSCs.

@LisaSTL
So, we have a contract violation.

We are talking about something on the order of $50. How much time and effort would you put into enforcing this? What's the end play? If Sentry simply refused to use Bill.com, would you bring them to small claims court over the $50, when you were given an avenue by which you would be paid?

I have better ways to spend my time squabbling with an MSC over what I view as a minute detail. I might reconsider having a business relationship with the company - especially if I felt I had been berated by the owner, but at this point, its about getting paid and moving on.

Read my last comment again. What you, or LadyMarius or anyone else, would be willing to do to make it go away does not change the premise. Isabella could still decide to register with Dwolla just so she can get her money. If she then gets paid it does not suddenly make the situation right or ethical.

In ten years of working with dozens and dozens of companies, this has never happened to me. As I stated earlier, when ACE made a change of payment providers they continued paying by check for all jobs contracted to be paid by check.

I don't disagree with you. Nonetheless, my question is still valid: What would you do? How much effort would you put forth in order to get paid through the previously agreed method?

Part of running shopping as a business is deciding how to deal with other parties when they break agreement with me. Ethically, there is nothing wrong with forgiving a company, moving on and not getting paid, quietly cutting ties, etc. I have a business to run. I can't afford to be bogged down with it. There are several MSC's whose procedures and habits are frustrating, distasteful, unethical to me. I choose to deal with them (or not) based on what serves me best. As an example, I don't have a "ten foot pole" list. Rather, I think of it more as a "You want me to do that? Okay, but my fee is $XXX" list.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2018 10:01PM by MFJohnston.

I agree with both Lisa and MFJohnston that non-payment due to Sentry's internal decision to change payment methods would be a contract violation and also that it would probably not be worth it to take it to court or pursue it legally. However, if Isabella3 goes unpaid because of her unwillingness to register with dwolla, she might still take her case to the court of public opinion, making multiple posts on this forum. Others will chime in, resulting in a lot of bad publicity for Sentry. It appears that is already happening. Dave Agius is no dummy. Rather than face massive criticism on the forum for breaking contracts with shoppers, I'm sure Dave will write a check to Isabella and to any other shopper who has already performed work and does not wish to be forced to register with dwolla.

When ACE started doing PayQuicker years ago, they made no offer to shoppers of payment by check. Many shoppers, believing they had to register with PayQuicker in order to get paid, just registered and got their money. Anyone who contacted ACE and complained, asking to be paid, received a check. There were a lot of posts on this forum from unhappy shoppers who did not wish to register with PayQuicker, and Julie asked those shoppers to contact her so she could make it right. ACE briefly tried working with dwolla after they dumped PayQuicker. I don't know what happened, but ACE quickly dumped dwolla and now pays all shoppers with checks. I am sure Dave will handle this in the same way. My advice would be for Isabella to contact Dave directly and ask that he write her a check.

rofl,
You make the assumption that the owner is actually concerned about bad publicity. Does history support that assumption in your opinion?

@Isabella3 wrote:

.... and was verbally assulted via email by the owner of the company......

The focus of this topic, so far, has been about getting paid. Above is the part that most bothers me. Nobody should be have to deal with verbal abuse (even through email) for requesting that their part of a contract be upheld.

roflwofl, thanks for clarifying. I was trying to remember the exact circumstances. While I may have given credit where it was not due, I did not want to disparage ACE if my memory was faulty.

And to answer the question about what I would do, I will have to let you know if it ever happens. It would depend on a number of factors. For instance, is this a company who has treated me with respect and has there been quid pro quo in our relationship?

Let me ask you this question and change up the scenario a bit. You sign on with a company November 15 and agree to a job with a significant reimbursement. At the time the ICA is executed the payment terms are 30 days. December 15 rolls around and you don't receive your reimbursement. When inquiring you are told the company changed their terms on December 1. The new terms are now 180 days so you will be paid May 15. What would you do?

You dodged the question. Use the OP's situation. You have recently signed up for the company and we are discussing payment for the first (and only) two shops you've done for the MSC.

Your question to me:
First, I don't do such a shop with an MSC that I do not know reasonably well. Assuming I had done so, however.... (I am assuming that my payment inquiry and the response were a respectful email exchange and that the funds I am awaiting are significant to me - say $2,000.): I send a certified letter to the MSC respectfully requesting immediately payment of the amount owed. In that letter, I explain that the ICA under which I did the work had a December 15 payment and I fully expected the MSC to uphold their end of the contract. I include a copy of the ICA and the documentation from them that my shop was successfully completed on time.

Should I not receive a satisfactory reply (payment or promise of immediate payment) within two weeks of getting the confirmation of receipt, I send a second certified letter, respectfully expressing disappointment in their reply (or lack thereof) and again request immediately payment, include the ICA, etc. I also state in this letter that should I not receive payment in full by a specific date, I would file in small claims court for not only the amount due, but also requesting funds to cover my time and expenses for having to go to court to collect and "unspecified damages." (Different states might have different laws for "unspecified damages." However, most should allow additional penalties for a company that is blatantly disregarding contracts).

Should I still not receive payment, I would file in small claims court.

The two situations are not really analogous as, though they both represent a breach in contract, the one presented by the OP seems to involved a relatively small amount of money and a way (though annoying) to collect payment immediately. However, the one you presented me represents a significant amount of money (to most folks) and no way to quickly remedy the situation - thus, creating a potential personal harm. Because of the differences, my calculus of the scenarios differs significantly.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/2018 12:26AM by MFJohnston.

I think shops completed in November, are invoiced in December and paid January 30th? I am waiting for mine too, if I am reading their policy correctly, that's when they pay?

So we are back to how much money is involved. In other words, was it a little breach of contract or a big breach of contract, LOL. Again, my goal was not to tell someone what they should or should not do. I liken it to when we discuss reimbursement only dining shops where some bristle at the idea of them being called "free" meals. We all need a basic understanding of contracts and then we are free to make our own decisions about what works best for our businesses as each situation arises.

I don't look at it as telling somebody what to do, rather as giving ideas on how to navigate a sticky situation, fully anticipating divergent opinions.

I would suggest that the quantity of money involved is very relevant to the response. I'll put up a pretty good stink over $10,000. I won't worry so much about a nickle. We are also talking about a scenario when payment can be collected as opposed to one that cannot be (for six months). This has the potential to do financial harm to somebody, and, therefore, justifying a different response. In the scenario you presented me, a small claims court judge would take the MSC to task. In the scenario presented by the OP, the judge would not as there is really no harm to the OP.

As of this minute, the Sentry website still says it pays via bill.com.

As far as I know, we have updated all payment information to reflect the transition to electronic deposit via Dwolla. If you let me know where you saw the bill.com reference, I will promptly update the information.

Thanks

Dave

@MFJohnston wrote:

This adds a wrinkle.... Here is their pay policy as posted on their Shopmetrics site:

"Sentry Marketing pays via Bill.com, with direct deposit being the main method of payment. To register for direct deposit, you must enter your information into bill.com. NOTE: Entering your banking information into GigSpot will not enroll you in direct deposit payments from Sentry. Sentry Marketing also pays via check, with a $2 fee. Pay statements are generated on the 16th of each month. Payments are sent by the last day of the next month. If you have questions about a payment, please click the following link to submit a support ticket: [sentrymg.wufoo.com];