Yes, Im definitely doing that, hopefully they will pay in one week...

The company is not Swiss, it's located in a European country though, that is why I decided to post here ( apart from needing a good place to moan

They asked if I knew someone who could do some shopping for them, as they advertise the vacancy on the Internet, English is the language they work with and German is not one of their requirements.

I thought I could advise anyone who might find their advertisement and sign, to ask the money for shopping upfront, they seemed to be a very serious company, I'm thinking their employees aren't very good with informing shoppers exactly what is expected.

And I'm really hopping this won't be more than lack of communication....but of course..I won't be working for them anymore

Sorry, I missed how long you have been waiting to be paid? Did you mention that?

Is it this one? It looks like they are "hiring" now...

http://www.msm-group.com/de/karriere/index.php

I found one advert on kijiji.ch but it's only available in German and Google translation looks terrible

Anyway, if it's this one, it's here: http://schweiz.kijiji.ch/c-Jobs-Heim...AdIdZ348800246

Next week will be a month I'm waiting for it.

No, that's not them.

If by next week I haven't received my payment, I'll be reporting them to the corresponding authorities. And of course I'll be here naming and shaming them.
I'm sure they are recruiting now, as I refused to carry on shopping for them.

The reason why I'm not saying who they are yet, is because, I'm still waiting for my payment, and I know they are always looking for English speaker to recruit, so if somebody comes across with this forum and finds out I been complaining, they might refuse to pay me for ...I don't know breach of contract or something like that. But as soon as and if I get my money, I'll be naming them anyway...just so you know where to stand with them.

That right there may have just invalidated any point of remaining secret regardless, because if they were reading this then what incentive would they have?

Not that I disagree with you!

I'd just have been cagey a little while longer, that's all. Or go all out now, and name them straight away, and then go to them and tell them why, stating exactly what they did to bring down your wrath.

It is not unusual that companies take 30 days to make payments. Don't panic just yet. Give it another week.

What's a betriebung?

Please see here.

Yes! You are so right!! silly me....anyhow; I hope they won't be snooping around.

Yes, I know, it's just that they were not clear with me about certain points (distance, budget) from the beginning and its just now that they are coming with these concerns, whilst before, when I was doing the job, it seemed they were fine with that.

And also, the fact that now its me who is contacting them constantly, as I don't receive any explanation or clear statement from them if I don't ask for it.

Let's see what happens next week.

Don't give them the products before they have given you the money.

OMG!! Idiots! I would be so angry. Hope you can find a way to get your money back! Wish you the best of luck.

Hi everyone, I thought of passing by and let you know the outcome about this issue.
Early this week I wrote them an email, telling them I was very disappointed about the treatment I had received, after the hard work I've done for them. Not only because they had not paid me up to that date but also because they did not explain me clearly about important issues (distance, budget) before starting the job and now they were not being polite enought to keep in touch and let me know what to expect and when.

I sent the message to my contact and his manager, didn't receive any answer until yesterday.

The message was from the manager, sent not only to me but to other shoppers. He explained the project was being audited by accounts dept. because they had overspent and they had to check every single receipt.

That was why payments were delayed and more information was requiered from all of us (obviously the same happened with other shoppers).

Anyhow, he understood we had done what we were told, on the time requested and any error that occurred was not our fault or concern, so apologized for the delay and sent the payments as for yesterday.
I checked my account and yes! I received a nice lump of money!! Phewwww!

As I suspected, this issue had to do more with incompetent people in charge of this project, than with the company itself. The person who was in contact with me all this time, didn't even write an email apologizing or explaining all this, which would have been the most sensible thing to do from the beginning.

Thanks to all of you for your advise and support! Now I have plenty of household products to dispose ....Washing liquid, shampoo, shower cream anyone????

Happy Ending on the complaints corner at last!

There is a first for everything... not that I'm complaining...

Could you also clarify this, just for the sake of anyone doing mystery shopping in the future. Do you actually get to keep the products purchased? The payments received cover products, expenses + your time?

This is a horrible thing to happen, i hope you get everything sorted soon! Good Luck!

Well, it depends on the project I think. For one project for example, I was asked to buy some products and send all by courier to them straight away.

But specifically in this one, I had to buy their client's and competitor's products as well. It is supposed they'll send a courier to pick up their client's ones and was told to dispose the competitor's.

Yes, they paid for products, traveled time,Km and worked hours at the store and/or at home, when sending the reports.

So in the end, comes a quite nice sum of money, enought to make a housewife with a German level A2 and tied at home by the school schedule, happy!

If I was to advice anyone thinking carry on mistery shoppings, I would definitely recommend to ask all the money for purchasing beforehand. So then, you are sure they know how much you are expending and won't be any surprises.

Cheers!

Thanks! I've already been paid! I'm so relieved

I am very glad that story has a happy ending

Thanks for the explanation Mariposa, I guess it was all just bad managers running the show.

Intrigued though as to what they were trying to achieve, I mean is it the buying experience they were interested in knowing about? Is it about the sales persons' interaction? Placement on the shelves? How easy it was to find the product?

They were tracing products with issues (scratches, wrong codes, dirtiness) I suppose to improve the quality of their presentation. At the same time, compare them to competitor's.

Have a great Easter Holiday!