I've been kicked off Market Force 3 times and they have taken me back. I did have to ask more than once though.
ATH has been slow and a lot of narative but I don't see in more shops for the big number bank.

bigdog,

My experience is opposite of yours. I have done 43 shops for Market Force (blue portal) and have never had a problem. I find that the ath bank shops I have done have very little narrative compared to many other shops. I like these alot. They do pay slow (on average 57 days for me); however, since there is not any out of pocket expense it doesn't matter to me as long as I get paid (and they always pay).

Goodwin and Associates owes me more than $300 from the Fall of 2010. I should have received it by mid-January and have received nothing: no emails, no replies, nothing.

Frontline Focus...payments are late...have to call and beg to get paid. If you can get them to answer their phones. No responses to mulitple emails and voice mails. They owe me for shops done in Dec. It is now the middle of March and nothing received. They advised I would receive payment for Dec shops in Feb.

Ritter associates their pay is so low its absurd

Ath Power They do banking evaluations for a pretty low pay rate and then take forever to pay you. They process a check and then take 7-10 business days to sign seal meter and deliver check to the Post Office. They really take it to the 10 day limit. My last check from them was supposed mailed on the 10th business day and then they say that it takes 4 more business days from MA to NYC. I could walk faster.

It's interesting with all the companies I've seen listed. Nobody said Frontline Focus. There's an actual "subject" regarding their lack of pay..... or having to chase down for payment.... I eventualy was paid from them but I had to make a trip to their HQ to get the money.

National. Took a pizza shop under duress. Don't like the pizza from this client. Did the shop. The pizza was burned, skimpy toppings, surly order taker.
So I did a report that was less than complimentary.
Got an e-mail. Photos not satisfactory. Not going to pay no how no way.
Okay. They need eva;uators worse than I need their clients inedible pizza. Had already decided that I would not do any more pizza shops for them but it streams me that I won't even get paid for the one I did. Guess they can't take an honest evaluation. Told them to termiate me!
Now that's off my chest I can get on with my life!

CheeChild Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is a spin-off on the other topic of shops you
> will never do again.
>
> Are there any MS companies you will never shop for
> again?
>
> I can name a couple:
>
> Direct Scheduling Services....stiffed me on pay
> and will not respond to emails or phone calls.
> It's like they fell off the face of the earth.
>
> Certified Field Associates: assigned me a shop
> and emailed me a notice that I was assigned, I
> printed out the paperwork from their website, went
> to do the shop and when I returned to do the
> report, the shop was no longer in my box. I
> called the company and the person I spoke to
> argued with me saying it WASN'T assigned me and
> that I should disregard their "automated"
> assignment emails. He questioned me as to HOW I
> got the paperwork. I told him I got it off their
> web site because it was ASSIGNED to me and he
> argued with me more, saying it was NOT assigned to
> me so I COULDN'T have gotten it from their web
> site, and questioned how I got ahold of their
> paperwork, insinuating that I did something
> underhanded to get ahold of the paperwork. Asked
> to speak to his supervisor and he would not
> transfer me.
>
> Market Force: after doing many of their
> low-paying jobs they deleted me for no reason. I
> wasn't too sad about it because I was
> contemplating not working for them anymore anyway.
> Too much reporting for too little pay.

I had a job disappear from the job board between the time I left the house and returned in the afternoon. Just by chance I was doing another merchandising job for the same company (Rand McNally under MF) and had to call the "emergency #) on how to return product. I got the VERY TOP DOG of that project. While we were waiting for faxes, etc, we were chatting and I told her about the job disappearing. She looked it up and saw that it had been pulled. She promised me I would be paid for it. I honestly don't know for sure as I don't keep track of who pays me for what. I don't have the time, and if they stiffed me, I don't have the time to fight with them over a lousy $10 or so. But she was very nice. Another time try asking for the PROKECT MANAGER, not his supervisor. If he refuses, hang up and call again. OR.... if HE CALLED YOU check your caller ID. His phone number will be there. The last four digits the the 518 #'s is their 1-800 extension #. Handy to know.

My friend did a FF shop with them. Reported within the time frame.

One of the schedulers calls on the phone and says you need to answer question x. (Um, it was answered otherwise the report would not go through. But ok, will go back into the report and make sure it's "answered".) My friend even added a descriptive word or two in the narrative to make sure the scheduler *KNEW* the question was completely answered. The question had already been addressed in the narrative.

My friend called CSE back to make sure they had received the updated report and make sure everything was ok with it. By now, he was sweating the 12 hour deadline. Same person said everything is fine, looks great, it's accepted.

Fast forward a month and half, and there's the call asking about pay. Got the run around. FINALLY the scheduler calls back and says the report was NOT accepted because it was turned in too late.

HUH??? The same person had verified it had been accepted at the 12 hour mark. And it was ok.

My friend did another shop - had a different scheduler name. When he called with a question about the shop, it was transferred to the FF guy. The FF guy said it didnt' matter whose name was on the email, they all had free range in house to schedule/edit reports.

That ended that relationship.

ijdk,
I am confused. What company did your friend do the fast food shop for? I have never seen fast food from Consumer Service Experts unless they were part of an airport circuit, where the deadline is 48 hours.

Bestmark because they said I was late doing a restaurant shop and shorted me $8(its the priciple) The person who called me extended it and she would not return phone calls or email. Sent them an email saying I will never work for them again.
There are lots of other shops that want me to work for them.

I am glad to read about Marketforce termination. I received a form email, "Congratulations on completing 100 shops." One day later, my bank shops are removed from my accepted shops. I called and emailed, I was told that I gave an incorrect social security number, which was not true. I was asked to mail a copy of my social security card and driver's ID, which I did.

I mailed the documents. About two weeks later, I received an email. I was told," I am sorry, your Marketforce independent contractor agreement is now canceled." I called and they said, I might be able to be reinstated later on. However, I never heard from them again.

Marketforce is not he best company to work for. However, they do have many bonused shops. In addition, if you have a slow week, there is always some shop to pick up.

I don't think I will work for Maritz again after the way I was treated. And I did like them originally, even with the silly reminder call each time.

So far Maritz has been very good for me to work with although I haven't taken any jobs in 2011 because of the middling pay.

Trend Source! Just finished printing out their Manuel to do a shop and it was 9 pages long. They also want 12 pictures !!! The good part, they will pay me 9.00 HOLY COW!!

I will never work for Cirrus again. I spent 4 hours on a shop and 6 hours on the report. I don't mind narrative, but good golly I have other things to do. Average pay is under $10.00 an hour. The last one I got dinged because they said I did not give enough information.. I thought I did!

Franchise Compliance because of the pay issues. Had to contact BBB before I could get my pay from 4 months previous. $100 reimbursement too, so wasn't just waiting for $10 or $15.

OMG, EPMS after today. I say that now, but I know the next begging and bonused email I receive I will convince myself that they are not nearly as unorganized as they are.

walesmaven Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ijdk,
> I am confused. What company did your friend do
> the fast food shop for? I have never seen fast
> food from Consumer Service Experts unless they
> were part of an airport circuit, where the
> deadline is 48 hours.


The company was CSE. They offer some FF shops (besides the airport ones) in some areas. They are far and few between and my friend thought it was a good one to do get a feel for the company. Totally got burned on it!

CSE...very difficult to work for, yet they insist on sending emails for their lame airport jobs. I apply for the ones I want, doing four in a day at the mall, but have not gotten them in over 6 months, would like to know what I did to them, I'm now an 8....guess they have their own agenda.

I think you should consider yourself lucky, Irene! Even their "simple" shops, IMO, are anything but. I've done two shops for them, scored a 10 and a 9, but in both instances, they came back for more information. Their redundant narrative requirements are silly, and extremely time consuming. Once you deal with the form, even that short phone shop is NOT so short. I haven't deactivated yet, but I'm getting really close.

Everyone has their own ideas of what is intolerable and we won't all agree. I hate the side of EPMS that does written shops and love the side that does audio and video recording. But, even on the video/audio side, you have to work with the division manager (Robert) and ignore the schedulers and the automated "nastygrams" or you will go nuts!

I like working with CSE on their airport circuits (am doing 35 of their airport shops this month and did 35 last month).

Absolutely! And that difference of opinion is what allows companies to stay in business, though for each of us there are a few we personally feel should close their doors. It is also why it is important for shoppers to try a shop or two with every company they can to see if it works for them. The only exception to that is those companies that are not keeping up their end of the contract in terms of payment or have a history of serious toxicity.

I've only done one job for CSE, as they don't seem to have too many in my area, at least not right now.

The one I did was for a regional discount store chain. Total time prepping, in the store, & doing the report was about 2.5 hours, and I got paid $30, on time. They did want some detailed narrative, but it wasn't *that* bad. And I got a grade of 9!

They recently posted shops for two other locations of the same regional chain, which I applied for. I love the store & shop there anyway, and for the time, the pay isn't that bad, at least to me. I hope I get them!

Flash you are my hero. I love reading your posts

Bestmark- Rude and very demanding. Write 250 words on buying a sandwich, they have to be crazy!!!!! Stay away from them

I agree, Bestmark is very demanding. I've done 3 shops for them and after each shop they send me numerous emails and phone calls requesting more and more information.


Aliasllt Wrote:
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> Bestmark- Rude and very demanding. Write 250
> words on buying a sandwich, they have to be
> crazy!!!!! Stay away from them

I have a different experience with Bestmark. I have never had a problem with them. I completed my latest shop last month and got paid with no questions asked.

I Didn't have a problem getting payed it was just the back and forth. Im glad you had no problems with them.


computer_man Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have a different experience with Bestmark. I
> have never had a problem with them. I completed my
> latest shop last month and got paid with no
> questions asked.