So I go to a game for Service Scouts last Saturday night.....I get up bright and early to get it submitted on time. I do the report and submit, close my laptop and go on with my day. Later that evening I go back on the website and the game that I reported is still showing there. I know I submitted it but I click on it again and hit submit again. There is something telling me that I have to submit a W-9. Now I have been doing shops for them for close to two years so I wonder why they are just asking me to submit it now. Nonetheless, I think to myself, I will submit when I go to the office during the week when I have access to a printer and scanner. I go on the website today and see that it states the shop was "missed". Then I see a message that they had to submit it for me today. I email them to ask what happened and tell them that I am sure I submitted it. She tells me I did not get a "submit confirmation" because I did not attach a W-9 and therefore she had to submit for me. I attach the W-9 right away and let her know that I did it. She grades my report and the next thing you know, it shows the shop completed and says "payment denied" because it was not submitted on time. So I email again and she forwards my email on to the person that denied it. She emails me back and states, "because it was not submitted on time, we have denied payment, please let us know if you have any other questions. Have a good day!" Needless to say I am not amused. I have submitted reports for two years with no issues. You would think at the most they would hold payment until the W-9 is submitted. There was no warning email that other companies send out telling me that my report was in danger of not being submitted on time. I got nothing from them. Yet I get multiple daily emails and text messages because they never have enough people to cover the shops. I'm just irritated and venting. Those reports are far from easy or quick and they just denied it with a "have a nice day!"

That is a stupid system, but I would have done the W-9 on Sunday night, not some point during the week.

I would have if I would have known it would prevent my report from being submitted. But I guess because I have been doing shops for them for like 2 years and never had an issue before, I didn’t think it would be a problem for just getting my report in on time.

Try to escalate your complaint to someone higher up. It would seem to me that they can't afford to lose dependable shoppers. I get their "back on the board" emails too.

Yes, do escalate -- politely and professionally, of course.

And admit your error. When the submit button wouldn't work and TOLD YOU you needed to submit your W-9, you need to get that W-9 in so that the submit button will work.

A sincere apology might help, since you're an experienced shopper for them.

I was with you through the first time you tried to submit the report and assumed it was successful. After realizing the W-9 had to be submitted, I would have submitted it right away. It took me 30 seconds to find a fillable version online, fill it in and save it to my computer. I assume you don't have a printer, which means you could not sign it, but by using the form with everything filled in except the signature, you would have been able to submit the report. You could have then sent an email to the scheduler immediately to let her know your situation and would send a new one when you had access to a printer. They would have had the report and you would have bought yourself the time.

I never even thought to submit it without a signature. I should have done that.

I've had something similar happen to me over a pizza. I was asked to correct the times on my report. I did correct the times and was than denied payment because I didn't get the times right the first time. I stopped doing shops for that MSC. I now wonder if it was the editor who did this. Some people go on a power trip over assignments.

The weird thing is they went through the trouble of editing it, stated that it was good and no corrections were needed. Why edit it only to deny it for a late submission. Makes me not want to do anymore shops for them.

Sorry, jenniferling. As others have posted, I would also escalate this. My reason would be "Then I see a message that they had to submit it for me today." If, in fact, your report was submitted/published to the client, I would hope to receive payment, even at a reduced rate, due to the missing W-9.

That is what I was wondering Mert, are they still using my report and just not paying me? Does anyone know who I could escalate it to? They have a “contact us” tab which just gives you the standard, general email address.

I have not shopped for them for over a year, but I believe that Tracy is still the head of the scheduling and her email is tracy@servicescouts.com. You can try to escalate it to her.

Your in the right. Be the squeaky wheel while at the same time apologizing for your “error” in not responding to the W9 quicker. In the end your probably get paid.

@jenniferling wrote:

The weird thing is they went through the trouble of editing it, stated that it was good and no corrections were needed. Why edit it only to deny it for a late submission. Makes me not want to do anymore shops for them.

If you can't resolve it with the higher ups, get written confirmation that they did NOT use the report. If they edited it, seems like they might have. If they used it, they need to pay for your work or it's theft of service.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2018 05:47PM by iShop123.

OK I am going to email Tracy, I will let you all know how it goes.

So looking back at my emails, Tracy was the one that originally submitted my report when I emailed them to ask what happened. I emailed again per the advice on this post and she stated that the report was used which she said is better than having the shop excluded in which case I would have owed for the tickets. Nevertheless, she stated that she advocated for me and since I have a good rating and have never been late before and they have agreed to approve my shop! Thanks to everyone that encouraged me to try one more time!

That's good news, Jenniferling! I've worked with Tracy for years, and she is one of the real good schedulers within this industry. Definitely a scheduler that I have high respect for, and its through her advocacy of your established work that my respect for her continues to grow.

I'm disgusted that they would even attempt to use your report without paying you. It makes me wonder how many other people they've done this to.

Service Scouts doesn't exactly "pay" you unless in special circumstances, such as parking or food reimbursements.

Wherever the case payment was initially denied when they planned to use the report.

@Eric in Tampa wrote:

Service Scouts doesn't exactly "pay" you unless in special circumstances, such as parking or food reimbursements.

Yes, I've noticed that the team nearest me has open shops every week and they will bonus them come Friday or Saturday.

So this month I e-mailed them and offered to do the shop if they would bonus it at the time. They told me they couldn't. The next day I get an e-mail from another scheduler offering a bonus on the shop, so I did the shop. My friend likes the team.

I would not do the shop for reimbursement only which is $20 of food which doesn't even cover two hotdogs and two sodas. Bottled water is $4.50. The scheduler I talked with said he doesn't understand why it is so low. Oh, and I had to do two food purchases at difference concessions and see if they up-sold me a drink or food to go with the drink I ordered. They will reimburse for parking unless they provide a parking pass.

Even with the bonus, I won't do another unless I like the team playing.

I have to figure in the cost of the free tickets and parking in my reimbursement for it to even justify the time I spent on the report. I think it took me about eight hours total. I had to do 10-12 separate interactions and take pictures of and describe the employees if I couldn't see a name tag. That was difficult since only three of the 12 I interacted with had visible name tags. Most were on lanyards and flipped around.