I was told by a scheduler that I was chosen to complete an account opening shop where they would be able to monitor the account for 90 days. The type of account they wanted me to open was a checking account combined with a savings account, and it was an account where a minimum balance of $5,000 had to be kept in to avoid paying a $25 monthly fee, and turns out that there was an early closure fee for closing the account before 180 days. I told the scheduler I would do it if they would reimburse the monthly fee and early closing fee. The scheduler checked with the project manager, who said that the monthly fee would be reimbursed but that any closing fees should be minimal and would not be reimbursed. I emailed the scheduler and asked her to please inform the account manager that the closing fee was $25 and was not minimal and to please see if that could be reimbursed also. She wrote back that there was no need to check with the project manager, that closing fee was not going to be reimbursed. She told me that there are plenty of other shoppers who want to do the shop if I don't want it.

How fair do you think that it is for the shopper to have to pay over 10% of their shop fee so that the MSC can monitor this account? I don't want to tie up my money in an account for six months that I don't plan on keeping (I already have 3 checking accounts with other banks). The thing is, none of this was disclosed up front. She didn't even know that there was a monthly service charge with this account, much less about the closing fee. I guarantee that other shoppers who don't do their research are going to be quite surprised when they find out that they are responsible for paying that fee. I also think it's a little shady that the MSC didn't disclose this information to shoppers first, don't you?

Edited to add that Briana has resolved my problem. I knew that Informa was a great company!!!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2020 03:43PM by JASFLALMT.

I think that the monthly service charge And closing fee should be revealed upfront. I believe the MSC should cover both.

Reading between the lines... It's a shop that pays $200 and is going to cost you $25 in fees, by the time all is said and done (MSC covers monthly fees). So, effectively, it is a $175 shop that you accepted, thinking it was $200.

Yes, you should feel burned. This is the sort of thing the MSC should have known up front and advertised it accurately. I wonder if the MSC made an agreement with the client, not realizing that shoppers would have to pay these fees and therefore be stuck with an unexpected cost that would truly eat into their bottom lines? In other words, they may have been burned by the client and are now stuck with a project that might actually struggle to be profitable for them at all. So, the project manager might be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

How to respond, however, is the real question. I'd ask myself if I was willing to do the shop for the $175. If not, I'd not feel bad about declining it. If so, I'd quietly agree and make a note to myself about this MSC and/or client not always being 100% forthcoming.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/2020 11:23PM by MFJohnston.

I politely emailed her again asking her to please let the project manager know the actual cost of the early closing fee and that it isn't minimal, and here was her response:

Never mind – you do not sound like you are serious about competing this project and I need shoppers I can rely on. I withdraw my offer of this project to you."

That's insulting!

Several thoughts here. First, I would not decline the shop merely as a matter of principle. I would decline it if the final fee did not meet my requirements. Second the attitude of the MSC is more than insulting. It is condescending and demeaning. I don't know who the MSC is or how much business you do with them but I would have serious second thoughts about continuing the relationship.

It's an outside scheduler that I am dealing with. I do a lot of work for this MSC, mostly well-paying online shops. In fact, I am scheduled for an online loan inquiry shop for this weekend that pays $120 (4 lenders). I did one last month that paid $180 (6 lenders). These shops take 45 minutes to an 1.5 hours at the most (that's total time for all segments).

But I didn't decline the shop, though I did politely add a little pressure to see if I could get that closing fee reimbursed. She didn't like that, I guess, and refused to try and help me get proper reimbursement. I don't know how she thought that was okay for the MSC to gouge shoppers by $25.

The thing is, with this brick and mortar opening shop, I wasn't sure whether there was any reporting about the customer service and banker interactions or if it was SOLELY for the data tracking purposes. I feel if they need shoppers to help them get their client data about how other banks operate, $200 is on the low end of the spectrum, especially high-end accounts like this one. I don't really feel like I should do it for less, and I do have other things to do...and with the 90 day tracking, it might be more onerous than it's worth. Also considering I can make nearly that much without having to get dressed and leave the house, why bother?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2020 01:06AM by JASFLALMT.

That sounds like a scheduler who knows you were being stuck with raw deal and is trying to hide it by making you feel guilty. It’s likely best not to have the shop after all that.

I think naming the scheduler is completely appropriate in this instance because the response was so disrespectful.

I'm seeing this more and more...where schedulers treat shoppers in a really unprofessional manner and just want shoppers who are so desperate for work that they will put up with abuse. The only way to fight that it to name and shame them, so others can take appropriate action and avoid their shops...and the MSC should definitely know how their outside scheduler is acting!

@JASFLALMT wrote:

It's an outside scheduler that I am dealing with. I do a lot of work for this MSC, mostly well-paying online shops. In fact,

In that case I would continue my business with the MSC and avoid the outside scheduler.

She's scheduled me plenty of shops with no issues at all, but this time...well it sucked. The MSC is Informa and the scheduler is Judy Inboden. I didn't want to name her because I was hoping that this was a one time instance (previously she has always been great), but...after that (perceived) snide response, I got ticked off.

I emailed her again with this:
"I have never flaked on an assignment. However, I do object when a MSC makes shoppers pay fees to conduct shops. I believe that if other shoppers know that they are responsible for paying the closing fee, they will also think it unfair. It's over 10% of the shop fee. That's not minimal or trivial."

Her quick reply was this:
"Oh no, thank you for making my decision easier. I do hope we can work together much more frequently. Have a great day."

So I just don't know what to make of that.

This MSC doesn't work that way. They used to schedule shops directly, but for awhile now they have been using Judy. I did email a contact at the MSC politely explaining the situation, but I didn't hear back.

@LIJake wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

It's an outside scheduler that I am dealing with. I do a lot of work for this MSC, mostly well-paying online shops. In fact,

In that case I would continue my business with the MSC and avoid the outside scheduler.

Forward the email thread to Informa and make sure they know that's how shoppers are being communicated with.

I haven't worked with them in a while but Julius Wolf used to handle direct scheduling for me and was always very understanding about shoppers not having to incur fees. This is a company that used to pay you to FEDEX back the paperwork and also always paid fairly in the past. I know they used to understand the value of having good shoppers....I hope that hasn't changed.

I am reading between the lines. Why would you accept a job where you weren't sure of what 'tracking' for 90 days entailed? It sounds like you have already concluded that it is not worth your time. Move on. You found out that monthly fees would be reimbursed so you would not need to invest $5K in cash for 3 months. It's up to you if you feel investing $5K for the next 3 months in order to avoid paying the early closing fee is worth it. You asked the scheduler to check about the early closing fee with the PM. She did. You asked her again and she retracted the job offer. Yes, she probably has a long list of interested MSs and needs to get the job scheduled. Could she have answered you in a nicer way? Absolutely, but we all know terse replies happen. I totally agree with you the MSC needs to provide all details up front. Thank you for the heads-up. Hmmmm, would ShopperBob fire them?

Steve, I did email Julius about it Wednesday night, but only asking about getting the closing fee reimbursed and not the way the scheduler responded. He never replied.

Madetoshop, you didn't read my post correctly. The $25 early closure fee was a charge for closing the account before 180 days. That's the only fee the MSC was not going to reimburse. But IMO I should not have to pay any fees to do the shop.

Hi Jasflalmt,

We typically cover all the fees associated with opening, maintaining and closing an account. I have contacted the scheduler and project director so that we can resolve this issue. Julius is no longer an internal scheduler with Informa. You can always reach out to me if you have any issues at all and I will respond ASAP. I am in the office from 6:00 am to 2:30 pm Pacific.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2020 03:39PM by MSFDINF.

Briana, thank you so much! I just emailed you.

JASFLALMT, Congratulations on being persistent. You were right and the scheduler was wrong. Happy to see the MSC rectify this..

It did not surprise me that Bri stepped in and rectified the situation, as she is quite proactive.

To answer Madetoshop: I am shpperbob #1, a kind, sweet, loving and understanding person; not at all like shopperbob #2. I would have instantly understood that perhaps Judy was experiencing a troubled day and sent her thoughts of Kumbaya.

90 days project duration and the MSC would pay the $25 fee for low balance. 90 additional days with a $5K balance in order to keep the account open (for a total of 180 days) without monthly fees and to avoid an early closing fee of $25. Or close the account at the end of 90 days and incur the $25 early closing fee.

In any event, I am happy you are getting the fee reimbursed. I am not liking that you were given inaccurate information from the scheduler but perhaps the original decision was overridden since then by Briana.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Steve, I did email Julius about it Wednesday night, but only asking about getting the closing fee reimbursed and not the way the scheduler responded. He never replied.

Madetoshop, you didn't read my post correctly. The $25 early closure fee was a charge for closing the account before 180 days. That's the only fee the MSC was not going to reimburse. But IMO I should not have to pay any fees to do the shop.

The pool of shoppers who have $5,000 to let sit for 90 days or 180 is very small. They are fools.

I did a shop in Las Vegas because they had exactly ZERO shoppers who had a credit line on a credit card of $50,000 in order to do a purchase.

It's pretty rare that anyone has a pile of money that they don't mind letting sit somewhere, much less shoppers. Most people shop because they can use the extra cash or perks. There are a lot of stay at home moms, young people retired people, people supplementing Social Security, etc. Anyone want to let $5,000 sit for 3 months? 6 months? Sheesh.

Don't know anyone who would be fool enough to do that either. That was not a suggestion but an option under the circumstances foolish as it may be. She-Sheesh!!!!

I just finished letting 10K sit for 2 months because I got a $200 bonus and 1.7% interest. Now 1.5K of it is getting transferred to another bank, where it will sit for 2 months in return for a bonus of $300, and another 5K is going to a different bank, where it will sit for 2 months and get a bonus of $200. Everything risk-free and FDIC insured. You can call me foolish but I won't care.

Churn, baby, churn!

I remember when they used to give toasters to open a new account.

@SoCalMama wrote:

The pool of shoppers who have $5,000 to let sit for 90 days or 180 is very small. They are fools.

I did a shop in Las Vegas because they had exactly ZERO shoppers who had a credit line on a credit card of $50,000 in order to do a purchase.

It's pretty rare that anyone has a pile of money that they don't mind letting sit somewhere, much less shoppers. Most people shop because they can use the extra cash or perks. There are a lot of stay at home moms, young people retired people, people supplementing Social Security, etc. Anyone want to let $5,000 sit for 3 months? 6 months? Sheesh.

I let a bunch of money sit in an emergency fund for peace of mind. I keep 1/3 atock, 1/3 cash (high interest savings), and about 1/3 in real estate (three homes, not rentals though).

You would charge 50k for a MSC? I couldn't imagine if something went wrong where they decided not to pay, or if the MSC went bankrupt.

You all are not in the 'pool of shoppers.'
LOL. Disco Inferno, burn that mother down. We keep 10k plus in our non interest bearing checking account at minimum. We are comfortable with that. Our so called HY savings account linked with our checking pays a whopping .01 %. We have never transferred money to it. Years ago, it was a MM account that the bank ended. I t was automatically changed to this sad savings account.

I opened two new CCs a few months ago. My many DD's tuition was due. 4k in charges for the first 3 months got you mileage or points/cash. Easy money or airline tickets. We have churned most other CCs and it is now slim pickings. Never did the bank perks as I have figured out the interest vs the interest paid on CDs. Almost home and time to get off this train. It's been a long day.

I'm sure that SCM was reimbursed quickly and also it is likely she purchased an item that was returnable.

@Niner wrote:

@SoCalMama wrote:

The pool of shoppers who have $5,000 to let sit for 90 days or 180 is very small. They are fools.

I did a shop in Las Vegas because they had exactly ZERO shoppers who had a credit line on a credit card of $50,000 in order to do a purchase.

It's pretty rare that anyone has a pile of money that they don't mind letting sit somewhere, much less shoppers. Most people shop because they can use the extra cash or perks. There are a lot of stay at home moms, young people retired people, people supplementing Social Security, etc. Anyone want to let $5,000 sit for 3 months? 6 months? Sheesh.

I let a bunch of money sit in an emergency fund for peace of mind. I keep 1/3 atock, 1/3 cash (high interest savings), and about 1/3 in real estate (three homes, not rentals though).

You would charge 50k for a MSC? I couldn't imagine if something went wrong where they decided not to pay, or if the MSC went bankrupt.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I'm sure that SCM was reimbursed quickly and also it is likely she purchased an item that was returnable.

@Niner wrote:

@SoCalMama wrote:

The pool of shoppers who have $5,000 to let sit for 90 days or 180 is very small. They are fools.

I did a shop in Las Vegas because they had exactly ZERO shoppers who had a credit line on a credit card of $50,000 in order to do a purchase.

It's pretty rare that anyone has a pile of money that they don't mind letting sit somewhere, much less shoppers. Most people shop because they can use the extra cash or perks. There are a lot of stay at home moms, young people retired people, people supplementing Social Security, etc. Anyone want to let $5,000 sit for 3 months? 6 months? Sheesh.

I let a bunch of money sit in an emergency fund for peace of mind. I keep 1/3 atock, 1/3 cash (high interest savings), and about 1/3 in real estate (three homes, not rentals though).

You would charge 50k for a MSC? I couldn't imagine if something went wrong where they decided not to pay, or if the MSC went bankrupt.

That makes sense. I was imagining some insanely expensive hotel and gambling combination.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2020 01:45AM by Niner.

I was thinking a nice piece of jewelry, perhaps?