Big Ticket Purchase for White Clay

Just last week I conducted a mattress shop for White Clay. They needed me to visit a store, take some photos, engage with a salesperson and purchase a specific mattress. The cost of the mattress was over $500, which I charged to my credit card.

I can happily report I received my reimbursement plus my agreed upon fee via PayPal in about 24 hours. It was a good experience, one I'd be happy to do again.

AP

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2020 04:30PM by coolshopper.

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More Discussions About White Clay (All Companies)

I have had a great experience working with White Clay. They are a quick to respond to messages at all hours of the day and into the evening. I have done many of shops for them from your typical "shop for a mattress" to purchasing a mattress from a certain store and taking the mattress home (and of course you get to keep the mattress). They are quick to pay and even quicker to reimburse when they ask you to purchase a mattress from a certain store. I had my money back in my account the morning after the mattress purchase. I would definitely recommend and do many more shops with the great company.

Hmmm.....these look suspicious to me. They may be legit, but two "new" posters, with each one these being their very first posts....makes me wonder if White Clay, which IS legit, has "hired" a couple of people to plug this shop. Maybe they are afraid shoppers aren't going to put out a large outlay of cash. Not saying it's not legit, but it just looks suspicious that there are these 2 posts in one day by "new" members for a particular shop. Just my 2 cents.

I worked with them since they were Marketing Endevors, and I always had a good experience with them. I can’t speak on the mattress purchase though, never did one of those.

@guysmom wrote:

Hmmm.....these look suspicious to me. They may be legit, but two "new" posters, with each one these being their very first posts....makes me wonder if White Clay, which IS legit, has "hired" a couple of people to plug this shop. Maybe they are afraid shoppers aren't going to put out a large outlay of cash. Not saying it's not legit, but it just looks suspicious that there are these 2 posts in one day by "new" members for a particular shop. Just my 2 cents.

Should not be that hard to research that.

According to my shop log, I completed 19 jobs for this MSC spanning a period of 13 years; all were paid as agreed My greatest out-of-pocket expense was $32, but, predicated upon the past, I would not hesitate to accept work that required a higher expenditure from me.

I don't do high end restaurants because if something goes south for whatever reason, I am out the money. This is how I feel about the mattress shop. Unlike a meal, at least I would still have the mattress, but I still spent $500 plus that I did not intend to if the report is not accepted. I would assume the report is narrative laden. They aren't giving away a mattress for us to check whether the employee was wearing their name tag.

Are the mattress shops on the job board or invitation only.

@audrialyn30 wrote:

I worked with them since they were Marketing Endevors, and I always had a good experience with them. I can’t speak on the mattress purchase though, never did one of those.

My experience exactly, both as Marketing Endeavors and as White Clay. My suspicions were just that these were brand new posters both giving a positive outlook, and on the same day, about a shop involving a large outlay of cash. If it is true, great. I would like to see a more "seasoned" shopper/Forum poster who has done this come aboard and post about it. I would feel more comfortable about even contemplating such a shop if there were more positive reviews from more seasoned Forum posters, that's all.

Shop is available in OC, and they are looking for the best!

You can thank me later....

@SoCalMama wrote:

Should not be that hard to research that.

The shops I see do not mention a purchase requirement or reimbursement. They only have a fee listed. Do you know if there is more than one version of the shop?

@coolshopper wrote:

I can happily report I received my reimbursement plus my agreed upon fee via PayPal in about 24 hours. It was a good experience, one I'd be happy to do again.
AP

I noticed the first poster was new but the second has been a Forum member for at least year.

24 hour $500 turnaround pay? Wow!

@MSF wrote:

Shop is available in OC, and they are looking for the best!

You can thank me later....

@SoCalMama wrote:

Should not be that hard to research that.

This is not the type of shop that I would do. Sorry.

The ones I see on the board have a $40 fee and no purchase requirement or reimbursement.

@Madetoshop wrote:

24 hour $500 turnaround pay? Wow!

I totally agree with Guysmom.

Iquote=MSF]
The ones I see on the board have a $40 fee and no purchase requirement or reimbursement.

@Madetoshop wrote:

24 hour $500 turnaround pay? Wow!

[/quote]

@Bena wrote:

I noticed the first poster was new but the second has been a Forum member for at least year.

This is true, but after being a member for almost 2 years now, this was that poster's very first post, same day as another first-time poster who just joined just prior to posting this, within 2 hours of each other, both about the same shop supposedly involving large amounts of cash. That's what prompted the caution in me. However, I just checked the US job board, and there are NO large purchase mattress purchases of any kind that I can see, just the regular-type mystery shops.

Hey, this is Ziggy from White Clay. For some background, I work for a mattress company that only wants LICENSED retailers to sell their products. However, sometimes they identify unlicensed stores that are selling their brand. So their question is, "How are these unlicensed stores getting their hands on our mattresses?"
To answer that, we send people to the unlicensed stores and actually BUY my client's brand. Once we have images of the tags on the mattress, we can trace back where it was manufactured and figure out which licensed vendor is secretly selling the beds to the unlicensed stores, then put a stop to it.

It's difficult to get people to front the money for purchases this large. I actually asked those shoppers to come here and vouch for the legitimacy of the project so that other shoppers feel comfortable that we'll reimburse them within hours of the purchase.

Hit me up with questions. Thanks, everyone!
-Z

Also, because we only do 2-3 of these a month, they aren't listed on our job board. We typically just reach out to our best shoppers in the area of the unlicensed store.

Thank you, Ziggy, for coming aboard and explaining this. Perhaps it would have been helpful if the first two posters had been instructed to state that you had indeed asked them to post about these shops. PLUS, if they are available only in such small numbers, and you don't post them on your job board, it would seem to me that a lot of us shoppers would get our hopes up about doing one of these, since they are rare and unseen. But thanks again for coming on board and explaining.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2020 11:13PM by guysmom.

Hey there, yes, my fault. I was hoping to have a forum that I could point prospective shoppers to so that they could see previous shoppers vouching that it's not a scam, but clearly I didn't think it through enough. Thanks for calling me on it. And please don't hold it against those kind folks above who posted here as I requested. -Z

Hi there. I'm a bit confused. If you are only interested in your veteran White Clay shoppers doing these and you only reach out to them directly, what was the point of the post here?

Also, what is the point of the non-purchase shops for the $30 shopper fee that ARE listed on the board?

@ZiggyZ. wrote:

Hey there, yes, my fault. I was hoping to have a forum that I could point prospective shoppers to so that they could see previous shoppers vouching that it's not a scam, but clearly I didn't think it through enough. Thanks for calling me on it. And please don't hold it against those kind folks above who posted here as I requested. -Z

MSF I think Ziggy came here to clarify why the sketchy posters wrote what they did as they were not very successful in making their point.

I appreciate the transparency of the MSC.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

Thanks, but I'll wait for his response. He clarifies by saying that he wanted something that would reassure prospective shoppers. But he said that he only reaches out to his veteran shoppers for this shop. He contradicted himself.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

MSF I think Ziggy came here to clarify why the sketchy posters wrote what they did as they were not very successful in making their point.

I appreciate the transparency of the MSC.

What sized mattress did you have to purchase? Did your $500 reimbursement fully cover the cost of a mattress and box spring?

@coolshopper wrote:

The cost of the mattress was over $500, which I charged to my credit card.

I can happily report I received my reimbursement plus my agreed upon fee via PayPal in about 24 hours. It was a good experience, one I'd be happy to do again.

AP

@MSF wrote:

Hi there. I'm a bit confused. If you are only interested in your veteran White Clay shoppers doing these and you only reach out to them directly, what was the point of the post here?

YES! That's what had me confused about Ziggy having the 2 posters come and post. While I appreciate Ziggy's openness in explaining what was behind this, my question also is WHAT IS THE POINT of even having ANYONE post about the legitimacy of these shops if they are NEVER on the shopper board and ONLY offered to a select few, so that the rest of us will NEVER have an opportunity to do these???

In other words, why post about something that 99% of us would never even know about or have an opportunity to try out for in the first place??? That's what I don't understand.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2020 04:39PM by guysmom.

Hi. Ziggy, I am interested in completing one of these shops. I am in the Raleigh Durham, NC area. Thanks.

@guysmom wrote:

In other words, why post about something that 99% of us would never even know about or have an opportunity to try out for in the first place??? That's what I don't understand.

Probably because that 1% who are offered the shops might be hesitant to sign up, or White Clay might want to enlarge the pool of shoppers.

Spending $500+ for a shop is a no-go for lots of us, including experienced shoppers. Telling us the who what where and why is reassuring. Some of us might be inclined to do the shops now that we know there is a story behind them.

If Ziggy wanted to expand his shopper base because he didn't get a bite from current shoppers that he tapped for this, a simple invitation from him, the MSC owner, would have been a wiser, more frank, and more effective move. Many experienced shoppers have done hotel shops, where a $500 outlay is not uncommon. The same type of shopper would probably not be hesitant to spend the same amount for a product that will be reimbursed.

@Susan L. wrote:

@guysmom wrote:

In other words, why post about something that 99% of us would never even know about or have an opportunity to try out for in the first place??? That's what I don't understand.

Probably because that 1% who are offered the shops might be hesitant to sign up, or White Clay might want to enlarge the pool of shoppers.

Spending $500+ for a shop is a no-go for lots of us, including experienced shoppers. Telling us the who what where and why is reassuring. Some of us might be inclined to do the shops now that we know there is a story behind them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2020 05:02AM by MSF.

Did @ZiggyZ. contact you for one of the supposed $500 reimbursed "Big Ticket Purchase" shops? I see there are a bunch of new mattress shops on their board now with no purchase requirement and only a $25 shopper fee.

@audrialyn30 wrote:

Hi. Ziggy, I am interested in completing one of these shops. I am in the Raleigh Durham, NC area. Thanks.

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