EVERYBODY----Thank you so much for all of your input! I have great news!

TODAY I GOT EMAILS FOR BOTH SHOPS, THEY PAID ME THRU PAY PAL TODA!!

Well, all but the bonus. I called and the woman I spoke with looked back at the paperwork and agreed that I was due a bonus that was not paid. I am supposed t o get a call back tomorrow. Hopefully the bonus will be vpaid eventually.

Thanks again for your willingness to help out.

Congratulations!

SteveSoCal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can understand the offense with calling it a
> 'Ponzi scheme'. It implies that he is
> intentionally defrauding shoppers.

Yes, I did it on purpose. I wanted to hit the ego. It gave him a pause for cause, for sure. He said the comment hurt. Then followed it up with making me "a raving fan." I guess the pause it gave was not long enough for any meaningful change to happen...

>
> I guess that's the big question; Is Bill
> intentionally allowing shoppers to financially
> prop his business up at rates far below the
> interest he would have to pay on a loan to
> reimburse them, or is he blissfully unaware that
> underpaid shoppers are being financially burdened
> by his irresponsible behavior while he's
> jet-setting around the world?

Yea.
>
> Either way, it offensive and shameful. This
> debacle is turning his name from one that used to
> be associated with quality customer service to one
> that implies a company under financial duress.

Rather sad, all in all. I had associated the name with quality when I had finally gotten my first assignment. The first became the last. Quality is only for clients to try and achieve, I guess.
>
> I listened to the podcast interview with Bill
> posted on his twitter page and found it
> interesting that he and the interviewer with
> chastising the new school of hospitality
> management for being too focused on the
> financial/business aspects of the job. Very
> telling.

Ya, that was a trip. It's telling that they cannot negotiate the middle ground with excellent service AND a well-run financial establishment.

Edited to add:
It rather seems like the demise of Orilio to me...some shoppers are more equal than others, some shoppers get paid before others, and in the end, many shoppers could be left holding the unpaid invoices.

I am lucky that I am tenacious enough to have gotten paid and gotten out in both cases.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2010 09:13AM by dee shops.

ggumbaroni@yahoo.com Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> EVERYBODY----Thank you so much for all of your
> input! I have great news!
>
> TODAY I GOT EMAILS FOR BOTH SHOPS, THEY PAID ME
> THRU PAY PAL TODA!!
>
> Well, all but the bonus. I called and the woman I
> spoke with looked back at the paperwork and agreed
> that I was due a bonus that was not paid. I am
> supposed t o get a call back tomorrow. Hopefully
> the bonus will be vpaid eventually.
>
> Thanks again for your willingness to help out.


YAY! I bet that feels great.

They do take a while to pay but they always pay.

lucky7s Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They do take a while to pay but they always pay.

I think it might be more accurate to say, they have always paid. Past tense. We have to recognize that none of us know what will happen in the future. Other companies (PRG, Orillio, G3) always paid until one day - they did not pay. A history of late payments, paying some shoppers out of order in order to entice them to do further work (robbing Peter to pay Paul), etc. definitely a red flag.

Should you take a job for Freeman? That is up to you and your situation. I personally have taken jobs for obviously "at risk" companies before, but I did so after carefully weighing the situation and assessing the risk I was willing to take. Would I take a job for Freeman now? Not unless they pre-paid me my fee and reimbursement ahead of time. I doubt they would do that.

One week after contacting the corporate office and poor Darlene who answered my call, I was paid in full with $5.00 Bonus from Freeman.

hello, i would like to talk to bill freeman myself or someone in corporate, for dec and jan shops i did. They told me in an email in a couple of weeks past. I like doing shops for freeman group but already out 2 shops. when they are paid I will do more shops for them. I really enjoy doing those hotel shops.

I did shop Jan.14. E-mail them 2 times it has been 14 weeks. I will not do any shops for them again. They owe me $62 for motel and Bonus shop of 80. They did to send our money!!! NOW!!

Betty that's quite a coincendence because I'm about to write them again for a shop I did on Jan 15th that was $60 with an $80 bonus. This is the 4th shop I have done for them, I was paid for the first 3 after about 10 weeks. It's been 15 weeks now for the January shop and I want my money. I will be contacting them today and I'll let you all know how it goes.

I CONTACTED THEM AGAIN " We have brought this to Accountings attention. We are working to get your payment to you as soon as possible." That was last Thursday.

Betty I got the EXACT same response, and its the same one that they've sent me the last 3 weeks. I am reporting them to the BBB today, enough is enough, I want the money I am owed!

Just got e-mail from them said I would be paid May 21, 2010.

Wow did they give you an excuse to why they were so late? I haven't heard anything more from them yet and I filed my report with the BBB late last week so waiting to hear what they are going to do.

I got rude with them. Told them that I was promised money in 8 weeks and needed it now; it has been much too long to wait for money due.

Good for you! When I told them that they didn't seem to care. Did you end up calling them or just emailing them again?

Lets see if you actually get it then, or just get another email that delays it. It has happened before. But some people get paid, some get postponed. I got fed-up and went to Freeman himself and got paid within a couple of hours. Of course, that took 9 months.

I e-mailed them. Every week.

After emailing for weeks then months I contacted corporate and talked to a very bewildered young woman. She looked me up and said she would try. I gave her one week before contacting Bill Freeman directly (granted my payment was five months overdue). One week to the day I received my payment by paypal with a $5.00 bonus. Not much, but I am very thankful to Darlene at corporate headquarters.

Well my husband finally got really mad that they weren't paying me so he called them today and told them they needed to pay me the money TODAY(he's a debt collector, lol) and guess what? An hour later the money was in my paypal! I HIGHLY recommend calling them. They told him they had my payment scheduled for the 20th but why woudl they do that? It's already been 16 weeks! Anyways....yay for a happy ending!

My experience has always been better with collecting money from MSCs when contacting them by phone. It's much harder to ignore a phone call.

Except when they don't answer their calls, like a certain Chicago firm we both know... :-)

I called them about a shop I did in January. Was told I would be paid by the 20th. Will let you know:-)

I did shops for them in Dec and Jan. I am out about $145.00, on the cost of the rooms, and have not received payment. I have written them twice with a canned reply that they are working on it. I will NEVER do another shop for them. Has anyone contacted the motel chain? I am seriously thinking of doing that to see if they can speed up this six month delay in payment. I too am glad to see that someone did get paid. To me this is definitely a shop at your own risk company.

Bunny: I would call them! I've had the exact same problem and so we called them and told them that this was rediculous and we needed the money TODAY. And one hour later that money was in my account. I highly reccomend calling!

Hello everyone,

I am new to Freeman Group and got a few email invitations about motel shops in my area. So I completed three shops for them this month(May 2010). The company requires shopper to send them expense paperwork after the shop which I did right after every shop. At the mean time, I was communicating with one of the staffs there about a particular shop. Just to make sure that they did got my expense paperwork, I asked the staff if they received my expense paperwork. The reply was that they did not get them and asking me to resend it. I was a bit shocked since I might not be paid if I did not bring up the issue. I had a very bad experience on not being paid with another company. The company just claimed that they did not receive my expense paperwork and they could not pay me since they already closed the client's account by the time that someone finally sent me a response. But the truth is that I did send them all the required paperwork which I could show them the evidence. And I also tried to contact them many times after the shop to inquire about the payment status but never heard back from them. Anyway, I was not reimbursed for the shop and it's about $100.
Get back to my Freeman story: I resent them the paperwork two days ago and asked them to notify me when they got the paperwork. But by now, I haven't heard back from them. I am a bit worried right now since I completed three shops for them so far. Any one here could advice me what to do or what I should pay attention to in the future? Thank you!

First, Freeman is just terrible about responding. Because in the past they have used "never got the paperwork" as an excuse, my last shops for them I sent in the paperwork by email with a specific request that I be notified of receipt. Of course that same email can be forwarded to them over and over until acknowleddged. And if the email has not kicked back to you, you can be pretty sure it went through, especially if you are sending the stuff as a response to the scheduler's information about the job.

You will get paid eventually but you will be 'chasing payments'. These shops are fresh and new. They probably told you 8 weeks for payment. It seems to be running about 18 weeks with prodding.

I have not gotten an reply from my last email to the Freeman Group. They owe me for two shops in Dec. and Jan. I am contacting the BBB and Super 8. I am glad that Bill Freeman is enjoying his life, but I am not related and do not want to help support his lifestyle.

Carole

I tried to send them the paperwork a few time and ask for confirmation from them, but NO reply at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone here is communicating with Pam or Michele? Any reply??

I have once again emailed them for my payments that are due for Dec. and Jan. Monday I am calling the BBB and visiting the labor board for the state of Texas to see what can be done. Too many people are getting nailed by this guy who appears to be living it up on the money he does not pay. I am also contacting Super 8 to see if they know the type of people with whom they are dealing. Enough is just enough!

arole Grider