I have done numerous shops for Direct Scheduling Services over the past few years without any payment issues. Things changed in the fall of 09 when I had to start hunting down my payments. I kept getting the run around, but finally got paid. I did one more shop on 12-30, was told I would be paid on 1-15-10. I wasn't paid on 1-15. Had to keep requesting payment. Finally received a partial payment. Emailed at least 4 more times asking for the rest of my payment and received no response. Threated to post on the message boards and contact the BBB and received a very nasty response from them along with a promise to pay after the money cleared paypal 5 business days after 2-17. Still no payment. I am only owed $15. If the company can't pay me $15 they owe me from December, chances are they won't pay you either. FIled my complaint with the BBB tonight.

Posting and filing BBB are definitely appropriate. If you search this and other forums you will find an ongoing saga of Melissa Benson and DSS and contractual payment obligations not met--plus ugliness when you attempt to collect. Definitely a situation to steer clear of.

Thanks Flash. I found the other posting on here and will file with the CA Attorney General's Office tomorrow as well. My goal is to make other shoppers aware so they will avoid the company and avoid the hassle. We all have better things to do than work for free!

Replied on the other thread but will reply here also, since I started this thread. Heard back from the BBB last night, they are contacting DSS about my complaint-the business already has an F rating. Will let you know if it gets resolved.

Cracking up because I am still getting job postings from DSS, like I will ever do another shop for them!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/2010 06:30AM by SMB.

This I am posting below was posted at VIOLATION tonight. I have no clue if SMB contacted Melissa or just June, but I know for fact that SusanMB, who posted last summer-fall, did contact Melissa, and got a bunch of BS excuses and the royal run-around. June, the scheduler in this thread, also was scheduing for the notorious JCA last fall and winter. She has not responded anywhere with the same type of critique, which leads me to believe she now is aware of Jason's scams. I wonder why she is not so of Melissa's?

Shoppers, make sure you know who and what you are getting into before signing on the dotted "I will" line.

begin copied post:
Susanne you are making a mountain out of a molehill. You contacted me about payment and I told you Melissa would pay you. Did you contact Melissa, NO!!! You went on to continue to post this garbage on here. There are even others not involved or even shopping for DSS now posting trying to make something out of a $15 payment you were missed.

Once again, I will tell you to contact Melissa. You know how to contact everyone else, now contact the right person IF you are owed payment. I don't know if you are really owed payment as I am only scheduling for Melissa and I don't have access to that information.

Melissa stated she would be paying all missed shoppers on Monday. She has accidentally missed some shoppers due to a lot of reasons I won't go into here.

Everyone will be paid. Anyone who contacted me has been paid if a bonus was missed, etc. These things have happened and were not done on purpose, they just did. I apologize for Melissa.

If you are owed a payment contact Melissa or me and we will take care of the payment. Posting on here and complaining you are not being paid is not going to get you paid. An email to the right person will.
June Raeder-MacKinnon
june@ramackscheduling.com
RaMack Scheduling Services

end copied post.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2010 10:14AM by dee shops.

And here is my response on Volition. The fact that a scheduler would respond to me like that is mind boggling!

June,
All I can say is you and Mellissa are two peas in a pod.
1. I sent you an email on 3/16 asking if you could look into why I had not been paid what was due me in JANUARY and never heard back from you or Mellissa. When did either of you email me and tell me I would get paid Monday?
2. I have sent Mellissa numerous emails this month-all of which went unanswered by her. They were on 3/12, 3/11 and 3/9. Since she can't seem to answer my emails about payment, and you are suggesting I contact her-please tell me how I can contact her and get a response?
3. These were all in response to the numerous emails I sent her in Jan and Feb. I emailed her 1/17, 1/22 -to find out where my payment was that I was supposed to receive on 1/15. She only paid me part of the money so I emailed her on 1/22, 1/25, 2/5, 2/8, 2/9 and 2/15 and 2/16 to find out where my $15 was. I did not get a response until 2/16 when I was PROMISED I would be paid via paypal 5 business days later. I have seen nothing and have received no communication from Melissa. I told her if I was not paid I would post on Volition and contact the BBB, which I did do when I received no response. She had every opportunity to handle this quietly and chose not to.
4. If you think this behavior is acceptable on her part, then you have serious issues, like her. I do not think it is unreasonable to post on here and other forums when I along with other shoppers have this much trouble getting paid. I don't like working for free and being treated rudely when I ask to be paid MONTHS later. Hopefully some of the 500 people who read this post since it first started will take note.
5. Yes, $15 is a small amount, and the fact that she is dragging her feet to pay me indicates severe monetary issues or organizational issues.
6. I have all the email threads asking to be paid, responses agreeing to be paid by Meliissa on specific dates, and the email with the job indicating there was a bonus which I am happy to forward to you, Melissa, or the BBB when anyone needs documentation.
7. Why did Colchester in Huntington Beach get paid on 3/6 for a Jan. job when I am still waiting to get paid some of the money for my Dec. job?

8.Here is a portion of the email from 12-30 regarding my shop:
I have scheduled you to this xxxxxx shop for today with a $25 bonus. Thank you so much and let me know if you have any questions!

We are currently caught up with shopper payments, so December shops and any bonuses that had been dropped by our payment export will be paid by 1/15.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2010 04:02PM by SMB.

I guess if schedulers are taking jobs from people with reputations for non-payment, they might feel that they need to deflect. I can only wonder why they would take these sorts of jobs, where they know there is going to be an issue.

It seems that before firms go belly up, they always bring in the outside schedulers for jobs they used to schedule on their own. Is that the sole predictor? Surely not, as firms have many other reasons for needing outside help. But when I have read of payment issues with a company, and then sometime later, see an outside scheduler being brought in, I run the other way.

Good point Dee. My jobs were all scheduled by Mellissa. I just happened to find June's job postings for DSS on this forums job board and thought I would see if she could assist me. Based on her track record scheduling for companies that don't like to pay and her rude response to me, I would have to be crazy to ever do a job she scheduled me for!

I think its deplorable that anyone would schedule for companies who have financial issues like this and JC. JC has had payment issues for years, I know I had them with him years ago-maybe 2 or 3 and stopped working for him because I found the amount of time the reports needed did not justify the reimbursement. Throw in having to hound him for payment and it was a no brainer to cut them loose.

Should we start a betting pool on which Monday of which week in which year I get paid? HAHA! I'll throw $10 on the "when donkeys fly" date.

I'm glad I'm taking the advice to read, read, read! Now I know who NOT to work for. Thanks!

SMB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Should we start a betting pool on which Monday of
> which week in which year I get paid? HAHA! I'll
> throw $10 on the "when donkeys fly" date.


Sure, why not. I'll throw down $10 on "The Monday after MB/DSS file(s) bankruptcy."

Too bad we shoppers ever have to have these kind of conversations. I am really getting tired of shoppers payments and reimbursement capitalizing MSC's poor management practices, especially without interest or permission.

SMB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Good point Dee. My jobs were all scheduled by
> Mellissa. I just happened to find June's job
> postings for DSS on this forums job board and
> thought I would see if she could assist me. Based
> on her track record scheduling for companies that
> don't like to pay and her rude response to me, I
> would have to be crazy to ever do a job she
> scheduled me for!
>

That might be the reason she reacted that way, though. If she had nothing to do with the job itself, she would not be involved in the resolution.

This was my email to June on the 16th, to which she claims she responded but did not. I have checked the junk folder and the spam filter as well. In it I state that I contacted Mellissa several times and received no response. She claims she emailed me back and told me to contact Mellissa which would be odd advice when I wrote that I have tried contacting her and am not being successful. If you were the scheduler wouldn't you pick up the phone and call DSS and try to be helpful instead of slamming me on the message boards?

Hi June
I am wondering if you can shed some light on why Melissa isn’t paying me the $15 she owes me from a Dec shop? I have contacted her numerous times and received either no response or a nasty response. She promised to pay me the $15 5 business days after 2/17 when she would deposit the $15 in her paypal account to transfer to me. You can let her know that I filed a complaint tonight with the BBB in CA as well as posted on several shopping websites.
I have been shopping for over 6 years and this will be the first time I have ever been treated with such disregard and lack of professionalism from a shopping company.
Thank you

Updated info for all of you following the saga.

I was contacted by June on Sunday through Volition and exchanged several emails with her. I forwarded a few of my emails to her from Mellissa as proof I still needed to be paid which she passed on to Mellissa. I receieved a short but sincere,apologetic email from Mellissa on Monday stating that she was mailing me a check. I hope this all coming to an end!

SMB, I would wait to make sure it clears before using the $. But that's me.

Dee, honestly, I am a bit worried about cashing it. If it bounces my fees will be more than the check was wriiten for! I'll see what bank it is drawn on and see if I can take it in there and cash it directly.

It may just sit near the computer as a proceed with caution reminder for me.

Will let you guys know when it arrives and clears!

Update- its been a week now since I have heard from Mellissa where she told me she would mail me a check. Still have not received a check and I live close enough where it should have arrived within 3-4 days.
Apparently this Monday was not the Monday I was getting paid either.

Monday, December 30, 2999? It will go to your great great grandchild.

As Wimpy said "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today".

I did one shop for Direct Scheduling last July and payment was very late but I did get part of it, then was paid the rest 2 months later. I prefer to work for the companies that pay fast, like Feedback Plus and Monterrey and QAMS. They're my favorites. Then other companies that pay in a month or two are fine. The companies that take over 2 months to pay OR do not pay when they have announced they will pay are not companies I work for more than once or twice. (It doesn't take long for shoppers to figure it out if a company doesn't pay!)

Yes, they dig their own holes. And considering the number of shoppers with the same/similar issues, the company is beginning to look like swiss cheese. They could have saved their reputation by getting payments out. It will cost them a whole lot more to rebuild their reputation.

I'm in the same scenario as SMB - I can't even get a response if they even received my email. If you can't pay me right now because of XYZ reason I can deal with it (for 15 bucks though, come on) but at least have the common decency to answer an email (and put on your big girl panties because people only get madder when they are ignored).

I would never do another job for DSS again. What gets me is that the job I am inquiring about I went out of my way to do a day earlier for them!

So I am waiting until tomorrow. Payment on the last of the month for a shop performed during the month before, right? I guess we shall see. And then I did a lot of them in August.

I must be naive, but why does June want to get this involved if (as she states) she has nothing to do with payroll. When JC&Assoc. was going down, she personally wrote to me and told me to schedule their shops through her, that they didn't lose RR (only restaurant I did), for them. They did in fact lose them in CA. My guess is she is trying to get shoppers for her own scheduling Co., that's why she gets so involved with losing companies. This DSS thing is beyond sickening for a lousy 15.00. I hope you get more for your time and stress.

Irene_L.A. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I must be naive, but why does June want to get
> this involved if (as she states) she has nothing
> to do with payroll. When JC&Assoc. was going
> down, she personally wrote to me and told me to
> schedule their shops through her, that they didn't
> lose RR (only restaurant I did), for them. They
> did in fact lose them in CA. My guess is she is
> trying to get shoppers for her own scheduling Co.,
> that's why she gets so involved with losing
> companies. This DSS thing is beyond sickening for
> a lousy 15.00. I hope you get more for your time
> and stress.

Considering the Freeman thread, I find it odd that you would make this kind of comment. Is that because Freeman still has a restaurant, but this one does not? As, in the end, both companies lie to shoppers.

Dee, I find your statement very dumb, I worked for JC, and June, as stated, I never worked for Freeman, and don't bad-mouth companies I have not had experience with. My posting was directed to above that is having a tough experience. You really love to pick without thinking first...I'm sorry you have such venom with Freeman and various other companies, but Dee, don't put words in MY mouth. We can all see how you love to "stir up the pot".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/2010 04:14PM by Irene_L.A..

Irene, you are welcome to your opinions. I am welcome to mine. And I voiced it, and stand by it.

But, everyone knows, Freeman does pay, just late. DSS is gone, I haven't heard anyone say they would do another job for them, including me. Learn to seperate, don't lump them all into one. You know nothing about my non relationship with Freeman, why suggest because they have a restaurant I want it...I eat out enough, thank you!! You state accusation, not truth.

Irene, I read by what you posted here, stating you wanted to go the celebrity restaurant when family was in town.

Everyone knows that to date, Freeman HAS paid. They pay late enough over a long enough period of years and with enough haranguing by shoppers that it is unclear whether they will continue to pay or become the next Orilio.

DSS is not "gone". They, like Freeman, do pay shoppers. It might be using the calendar of Uranus, but so far, shoppers have been paid (though with a horrific amount of effort and tons of false promises.) They continue to solicit shoppers, just as Freeman and Restaurant Evaluators both do, and they continue to have sloppy, negligent payment problems that border on fraudulent solicitation of shoppers. All three are guilty of treating shoppers like their personal interest-free loan company and have horrible shopper communications when the bill is unpaid.

I did not accuse you of anything.

I currently have started both state and federal fraud complaints against Ramack and Direct Scheduling Services. I have also filed a complaint concerning wire fraud with the FCC and the FTC. I would be happy to add any other non paid shoppers to my complaints and filings. If they owe you money (Past Due) please pm me and I will try to get you restitution. I hope to have their websites closed down by Monday. I live in Washington State, both of these companies/people failed to register in Washington State. Also they are sole proprietors and have no corporate shield to hide behind. Hopefully a little jail time will help clean up the industry.
I spent a day tracking down addresses and State / County business licenses and filings. I checked Washington, California, and Wisconsin.
I really need a shopper in San Bernardino County, California to help with the cause. If you live there or can go to court there, please let me know. You must be owed money from Direct Scheduling Service. I will pay the civil fees, but a local criminal fraud complaint will get a lien placed on a piece of property in that county.

Thank you for posting your efforts. It is wonderful that someone is attempting to bring a stop to the abuses this MSC and her outside scheduling firm bring to shoppers. :-)