I believe so... I do know they bought a large company but maybe its another one. There have been quite a few mergers in the last few years so I ma have confused it with a different one.

This is a guess, but it seems to me, they wait until they are paid by the client before paying shoppers.

The wait continues...one of my April shops just hit 100 days since being completed.

HS bought Service Sleuth
SeeLevel is bought Beyond Hello and Research Services Group.
As far as I know, there is no connection between HS and SeeLevel

@ceasesmith wrote:

HS bought SeeLevel?

Update: I left a message for the head of finance (dianne). Coincidentally, I got paid for SOME of my April shops after having left the message. She didn't think I was important enough to get a call back so she had one of the foot soldiers call me and tell me that 'we don't know what going on'. This situation just keeps getting better.

Feel free to call ms. dianne and see if you get paid too: 800-723-1150 x 100

Well lovely. I remembered I did a shop for them a while back. Low and behold way over 70 days but the sassie site is marked paid. I emailed them and they seem to think paid is good enough and to check with PayPal. I requested the transaction ID so we'll see where that gets me.

Thanks for the clarification! Whew, well I knew they bought someone! Isn’t that about the time they started stretching out the payment periods?

@KSSPete wrote:

Every company we do the scheduling for will pay you, as long as the shop was done correctly.

A while back, Lorri fought for several people on this forum to get paid by another company. She even fought to get two people paid that didn't even get their shops through KSS. That company is gone, yet everyone was paid. Never saw the people that were trashing KSS apologize to, nor thank, Lorri Kern for her part in making sure that happened.

Please do not tell people to beware of shops we schedule. I believe we have proven that if you are assigned a shop through us, no matter the company responsible for paying you, we will do what we can to make sure you see the payment you deserve.

I do understand what the people here are going through that are owed payment. I'm in no way saying it is okay to wait longer for your pay than what was agreed upon.

I may be new to the forum but certainly not to MS. For anyone new to Mystery Shopping I mentioned that KSS is scheduling some of the HS Brand shops and if payments are delayed then shoppers should be advised.

I reached out to the scheduler for my HS Brand shop on April 15th, 2019 that I have yet to be paid for......and the scheduler is with KSS. Not only have I still not been paid by HS Brands but I never received a reply from the KSS Scheduler.

Glad to hear KSS has gone to bat for mystery shoppers with other companies. Makes good business sense to do so when they get paid by the same MSCs that shoppers do.

I am speaking of my personal experience. Fellow Shoppers are welcome to pay attention to my comment or scroll on by.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2019 11:27AM by middleclassmom.

Beware means to be cautious and alert to danger whereas be aware means to have knowledge or perception of a situation or fact.

Maybe you just used the wrong words?

There is no reason to "beware" of anything we schedule. Beware of companies that do not pay you at all. Be aware that HS is a couple of weeks behind, and as some have pointed out here, have admitted this and are working to fix it.

Well I'm sure there are still folks out there awaiting pay. From my point of view the issue/thread is closed. It took alot of phone calls and emails but they paid me and I got them to give me a reason as to why I wasn't getting paid. The head of finance emailed me and mentioned that they were understaffed and could not meet their deadlines. HS Brands dropped the ball here by not communicating with their shoppers. KSS if indeed they stand up for the shopper as I've read on here, did not stand up for this shopper. If your still waiting to get paid, I would recommend hitting up the phone lines until you get to the top.

OMG this is Measure Consumer Perspectives, too?!? There's another $300 that's overdue with no pay date in sight. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some valid points have been made here. It is important to be paid/reimbursed according to an established schedule and per the ICA. My guess is that HS Brands does not pay KSS erratically and unpredictably, and that KSS does not run their payroll in such a manner. For many HS Brands shops, shoppers are required to make a purchase with their own money. Being reimbursed 90 days later is the equivalent of giving HS Brands a 90-day, interest-free loan. HS Brands and KSS need shoppers to stay in business. When payment issues arise, prudent shoppers proceed with caution.

@MSF wrote:

Some valid points have been made here. It is important to be paid/reimbursed according to an established schedule and per the ICA. My guess is that HS Brands does not pay KSS erratically and unpredictably, and that KSS does not run their payroll in such a manner. For many HS Brands shops, shoppers are required to make a purchase with their own money. Being reimbursed 90 days later is the equivalent of giving HS Brands a 90-day, interest-free loan. HS Brands and KSS need shoppers to stay in business. When payment issues arise, prudent shoppers proceed with caution.

I'm not going to pretend like I know how Lorri's business completely runs. What I do know, is that yes, I get paid on time, all the time, working for her. I also do know that she most certainly does wait for payments from her clients at times, as does any business (btw, you are a "business")). I wouldn't call it "unpredictably" or "erratically", but I also wouldn't call HS Brands being a few weeks late once either of those things either. That would mean this happens often, and it does not at all.

Yes, you should be paid when the client says they will pay you. As should KSS. As should anyone. It doesn't always happen like that, unfortunately. I did an April shop for HS Brands. It should have been paid on June 30th. It is a little over two weeks late. Why am I not complaining? Well, they are a very well established company, so I know for 100% fact that I will be paid. As will you. No doubt whatsoever. Have you never paid a late bill in your life? Nothing has ever gone wrong in your life where you fell behind for a few weeks?

Just saying. Let's save the "beware" talk for companies that have a history of not paying you at all, not for the ones that are a bit late, and not for the scheduling companies that go to bat for you regardless if it was through them or not.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2019 04:58AM by KSSPete.

KSSPete,
I understand what you're saying, but it is concerning and questions are warranted. Will this be the new regular? Is this a red flag that the company is going under? Will I ever be paid? We all have every reason to be cautious, especially with the lack of response to the inquiries. On one of my reports, a point was deducted from a 10 to a 9 because of late submission. However, the fact that it was submitted the next AM rather than the same day was because the website shut down for maintenance, therefore it was out of my control. So, I see that HS Brands does not like the shopper to be tardy for any reason whatsoever. Well, I don't like my payments to be overdue, so points will be deducted on my list of who I prefer to work for. Make sense?

@KSSPete wrote:

Have you never paid a late bill in your life? Nothing has ever gone wrong in your life where you fell behind for a few weeks?

Yes, and when I have been late with a bill payment, there has been a LATE FEE attached....that's what happens in REAL LIFE. MSCs don't pay us a "late fee" when they are late with our payments, though. Just saying.

@KSSPete, this is not a one-time occurrence for HS Brands. Not only have they been late before (which has been discussed in other threads over the last several years), but they don't pay on a set schedule. Sometimes they make payments weekly and at other times, such as now, weeks or months go by before they make the next payment. A single shop fee may not be a concern for someone like you. There are others who have laid out a considerable amount of money and time for multiple shops. They likely have had one or two credit card payments due and may have needed their money to pay for other things. Let's not forget that HS Brands did not notify shoppers that payments would be delayed, now THREE WEEKS and counting from when they should have gone out. Shoppers had to make multiple inquiries, i.e., chase payments. The person who started this thread stated that they were finally paid after being the squeaky wheel with the HSB payroll person. Others are still waiting to be paid. This is a concern to shoppers, and it should also be a concern to KSS. Uncertainty for shoppers about being reimbursed and paid is something that could make it more difficult for KSS to fill shops.

Yes. I will say clearly that KSS has always done right by me. I've found your schedulers direct and honest. This is clearly an HS Brands/Service Sleuth issue and NOT a KSS issue. I wrote a nice, but direct, email to payments@HSBrands to see if I can get any clarification and assurance that this won't happen in the future. I have no doubt that we will get paid but 2-3 months is already more than long enough.

@KSSPete wrote:

Every company we do the scheduling for will pay you, as long as the shop was done correctly.
...
I do understand what the people here are going through that are owed payment. I'm in no way saying it is okay to wait longer for your pay than what was agreed upon.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2019 01:24PM by fuzzymo.

My April shop finally is showing as pending payment so hopefully it will be paid today. As someone pointed out, HS dropped the ball in this one by not communicating when they realized there was a big issue. I’ve had late payments before and those companies generally posted on their website as soon as there was a problem OR they contacted shoppers via a mass email. HS Brands did not do this. I don’t know why but they would have had an easier time with shoppers if they had. Being understaffed - especially if it’s in payroll- is something they already knew about so it’s not like it’s a surprise to them.

I just got a notice that I have shop pay coming, but cannot yet see it.

One of the first rules of business I learned after entering the world of self-employment in 1963, was to always communicate when there was a problem; ostrichitis does not contribute to a positive outcome of any situation, As for me, though, in the 13+ years of my association with SS, there has never been a single hitch. I have been paid, according to their schedule, for the 225+ shops completed and never needed to chase my money.

Payment of expected amount just hit my bank account.

The president of HS Brands, Mike Mershimer, is on the board of directors of the MSPA. He is also the immediate past president of the MSPA. He should know better....

@shopperbob wrote:

One of the first rules of business I learned after entering the world of self-employment in 1963, was to always communicate when there was a problem; ostrichitis does not contribute to a positive outcome of any situation, As for me, though, in the 13+ years of my association with SS, there has never been a single hitch. I have been paid, according to their schedule, for the 225+ shops completed and never needed to chase my money.

The MSPA is set up to protect the interests oft MS companies. That is their sole mission.

And on the 93rd day, I am paid. I’m so disappointed with the lack of communication over the delay in payment. Or was it a change in payment policy? Who knows because of previously mentioned lack of communication. I’m undecided as to whether or not I’ll take anymore of their shops in the future, especially the ones that involve reimbursement for required purchases.

I just got paid for April. Shop was done April 8 so it took .....106 days. Not as bad as some others but definitely over the past when it was 60-75 days and not within the 90 days.

I just received payment for April shops today.

Just to put in my two cents worth: I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Pete and another scheduler at KSS (Ryan, I believe). I have found it quite disappointing that HS and MCP (Measure Consumer Perspectives - which was bought by HS) cannot pay their shoppers within a decent amount of time. Other MSC's can pay within two weeks of a shop and pay every two weeks to the day. Why is it that HS (and MCP) cannot pay even at the 90 day mark which is in their ICA with those of us that shop for them. I am in the 4th month of waiting for payments that were done in early April. That is just inexcusable. Although I enjoy doing the shops and there are many on my job board, I will not be signing up for any until every shop I have done in April, May and June are paid. HS/MCP is handling this so unprofessionally. How would they respond if we, as shoppers, waited 4 months to turn in a shop/survey? They have done themselves a terrible disservice by their actions, lack of communication and taking out interest free loans by holding on to shopper payments for over 90 days so they can collect the interest. I do believe that they will see they will lose some very professional, talented and reliable shoppers and it serves them right. But on the positive side - I hope KSS gets newer clients that we can shop for because I very much enjoy working with them. I have known Pete and worked with him many more times than Ryan and they both are gems! I remember Pete going to bat for us to help us get paid in the past. He was right on top of it, as he is on this site regularly. Thank you Pete for working so hard and doing extra work to help us, your shoppers! I, for one, am very grateful

As I read the many posts on the subject of SS and communication, of which I agree should have been handled in a more business like manner, there is one point needing clarification: The difference between "can" and "will." It has been asked why CAN another MSC quickly pay, while SS takes longer. I am certain SS CAN pay more rapidly; but that is not their business model.

I just got a follow up to my delayed payment, in all fairness I forget to see if they paid at the 70 day mark. After a stalled attempt to get them to recognize I did not in fact get paid they sent me an email about April payments even though my shop was in March but I just got both my shop in March and may (which is early). I think I'll continue to shop for them but watch their pay dates better.

I am happy to report that 96 days after my shop for HS Brands I have now been paid. Thank you to everyone who posted email contact links as I reached out to the one for Jackie who assured me that she would look after my payment for my April shop.

While I am glad to have been paid, I should not have to send numerous messages to receive a payment nearly 100 days after a shop was completed.