I learned the hard way when I lost 2 jobs (Family Dollar and Dollar General) that I had been merchandising for 2 years. An email message was sent to me by Certified in regards to filling out a survey. I clicked on the link in the message that would take me to the login and there was no survey. So, I just figured the survey was not directed to me or any of my job assignments. After I completed one of my assignments I went to login to file the report. Well, to my dismay I had been removed from the assignment. When I called to find out why, it was explained to me that I had not filled out the survey. I explained that I never received the survey. They looked it up and disputed with me that the survey had been sent to me and not completed so the assignment had been re-posted and picked up by someone else. I was livid. Then about 2 months later I receive another email message saying I have a survey to fill out. Again, I click on the link that takes me to the login page and when I sign in there is no survey and again my assignment was not listed. So I called Certified and explained that I never received the survey. Again, it was confirmed that it was sent to me and not completed. The associated then explained to me that I cannot click on the link from the email message to login I must put the website address directly in the address bar to go to the login page. Sure enough I did that and the survey was there. But again the assignment had been re-posted and picked up by someone else. I spoke to management and said I had lost 2 of my assignments due to a glitch in their system and none of the email messages sent to me stated that I had to login directly to the website and not use the link on the email message sent to me. DIDN'T SEEM TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE! They were not about to take the assignment away from whoever picked it up and re-assign it to me. It irked me because these were assignments that I had been doing for a couple of years. Now as stated in previous posts the Georgia Anagram balloon merchandising assignments are no longer available from Certified Field Associates.

Is it really worth it for what the pennies on the dollar they pay? Why people continue to put up with this company's crap is beyond me.

mystik, why so judgamental? Some one's crap is other people's treasure.
I take jobs from Certified that are past due and heavily bonused. How do you know the previous poster was not in the same situation? She never talked about the pay.
Abc, it happens, you live and you learn. Keep looking, you may be able to pick up your shops again.

I agree with Mystik. I have done work with certified for years. I used to get paid very well for doing movie jobs. I even got my dad into doing jobs for them. They started giving him a hard time with doing some of the jobs about not paying him, after he was doing jobs for them on a continuous basis. Or they said they would pay him X amount of dollars and then all of a sudden it was less. They changed things around in the beginning of the year or the end of last year, and that is when everything went to crap. I won't do any jobs for them anymore. The reason they have so many bonus jobs is because they have lowered the pay on all the jobs and screwed so many people over that no one will take them. If that haven't done it for you yet, then you are one of the few lucky ones.

I have not seen any from Certified Field Associates that are heavily bonused.

I had an issue with them recently where they called me to ask me to take three assignments at a store. I declined then but I told them that if I found other shops in that area I would complete the assignments. I then went to find other assignments in the area and scheduled the dates. The problem was that the materials that I needed had not arrived yet so I could not finish these assignments for Certified Field Associates. I called them and asked for a little extra to go back, and they said that they would not do it. I was livid myself. They told me that I had to wait for the materials to arrive, even if they didn't arrive within the dates they post on their website. It is a very bad marketing company.

$8 an hour for merchandising. Are you people nuts? I take some of their low paying trailer checks but only if I like the movie and then my wife and I go.

Bonuses don't usually appear on the website. You either find out about them through emails or they will call you. I live in a rural area, so I get calls quite often. I love it when they say "we have an assignment in your area, and we're paying $20 for the first hour!", and then it turns out to be an hour away. Lol, they never seem to understand why I won't take it...

Yeah. Here you go. I have a neurological condition called Tardive Dyskinesia. Some of the side effects when it acts up cause me to not be able to hold still and sway all over the place. I was on a Family Dollar assignment when it flaired up. I explained (as always) and identified my med alert necklace what it was so they don't think I am drunk (I can't drink due to my meds).
Yeah, well the clerk tells her boss I was drunk, who in turns tells the District I was drunk who in turn told Certified that I was drunk! I went into thorough detail of my disease caused by taking a medication. I informed them that I was highly insulted as I explained to them the issue. Want to talk about ADA!?! I am in a chair when needed?!
Guess what certified did? They kicked me out!
Whatever. I now work for 42 different sites. One site I am self-assigned 100% and I do up to 6 shops a day. I take nothing under $20 a shop. CFA is my "welcome to MS site". I am not VERY busy.

There are a lot of benefits to MSing and merchandising, but the downside is that we are not employees and we have no benefits, no sick days, no vacation, etc. Also, as independent contractors the ADA protections that apply to employees do not protect us.