Payment issues for consumer connection? Please advice!!

[divya]

Hi,
I am having payment issues with Consumer connection. They havent paid me anything yet and I have done many shops for them. COuld anybody throw light on this?When asked they say they are behind schedule in payments... any good advice pls?? thank you

[Goddess in this Household]

I honestly can't believe they are still in business! They have had payment "issues" for as long as they've been in business, and it's always one excuse after the other. I did some work for them around 10 years ago, and they actually bounced my cheque - took months and many unreturned emails/phone calls to finally receive my payment.

Here are posts from another forum regarding them, and I know there have been countless discussions regarding their payment "issues" on the MyDelphi forums.

This website won't let me put in the full address, but click on this google search - you want the first result from the website that starts with "frugal":

http://www.google.ca/search?sourceid...ection+payment


Good luck with getting paid and then run away as fast as you can. In my opinion, these people are absolute scum.

[ShoestringShopper]

Rats! Wish I'd read this post before I did that shop for them... their website says my assignment is 'incomplete', though I have gone over it and over it and as far as I can see, everything is exactly as they requested. So i've been asking them to clarify what's missing and they won't respond to me. Maybe it's time to make the businesses they contract with aware of their unethical conduct. Hmmm....maybe the better business bureau...

[nwong]

have you been paid since you posted this thread...I've been emailing them, it's been over 90 days since i did my first shop and they can't tell me anything. Does anyone else have this problem or are they normally way behind in payment?

[gameprogirl]

Consumer Connection is garbage, dont waste your time

[virgonomic]

have you been paid since you posted this thread...I've been emailing them, it's been over 90 days since i did my first shop and they can't tell me anything. Does anyone else have this problem or are they normally way behind in payment?

From their web site:

PAY POLICY

Please find below details on how to guarantee payment for work successfully completed on behalf of Consumer Connection.

All Mystery Shoppers are paid via Hyperwallet. If you do not already have a personal Hyperwallet account, (free to set up,) please:-

Register here for FREE: https://www.hyperwallet.com/signup.jsp

Hyperwallet is owned by the Canadian Credit Unions and is similar to PayPal. If you have a Paypal account, you can transfer your pay direct to Paypal should you wish, or cash out to your bank account.

We send payments to Hyperwallet approximately 45-60 days from the LAST DAY of the month your shop was completed.

Payroll is processed once per month, usually starting the last few days of each month, through to the first few days of the new month.

We ONLY pay via Hyperwallet ; no checks are ever issued. You will receive an automated email from Hyperwallet that funds have been deposited to your account. The funds are then ready for cash out to your nominated banking institution.

It is the shopper's responsibility to ensure their email provider accepts notices sent by Hyperwallet and Consumer Connection. (in particular shoppers with shaw.ca, telus.net and yahoo email accounts)

It takes approximately 4 weeks for the client to peruse and verify the data. At this point, payment is then dispersed to Hyperwallet.

For evaluations requiring some form of paperwork (receipts, associate business cards) we must receive your paperwork within 24hrs in order for your report to be validated and approved for payment. Please send receipts in ASAP to prevent any delays in payment, and always scan them into your report when possible.

Note: the e-mail address that you are signed up with on our online system MUST be your Hyperwallet address. Payments will be sent to the e-mail address on the system.

[Thumpersmom]

At one point in time they owed my nearly a thousand dollars. I had to fight them tooth and nail. I called almost daily. Some of my shops were over 6 months old. A couple of them I agreed to drive to another city to do shops for them because it was an emergency and they offered extra pay. These two shops(over 150km away), I have never been paid for. This after I kept copies of every report I ever filed with them as well as the email sent to me outlining the extra fees for this shop. Run hard and fast in the other direction!!!!

Be aware that by posting this there will suddenly be a new member that joins SC saying how wonderful Consumer Connections is and how they always get paid on time.

[Missy_ma]

I have done many shops for this company and always have been paid within a month. I was just about to accept another and with reading this now im thinking i might pass. I absolutly hate having to wait for payments.. i think the best companies are beyond hello, mysteryshoppingcanada, and tell us about us... NEVER waited for payments long from them.. had one problem with mysteryshoppingcanada where they forgot to pay me my gas milage I was promissed it was as simple as me calling, andthey apoligized and were very easy to deal with.. They asked me if I wanted to wait for the next paypal payments or check by mail. within 3 weeks my check was in the mail.

[littlel]

There have been delays in payment - I've had to wait up to 4 months to get paid, but the last few months the payments have been coming in via HyperWallet.

Sorry to hear about the bad experiences!

[endi2000]

I have done many shops for this company and always have been paid within a month. I was just about to accept another and with reading this now im thinking i might pass. I absolutly hate having to wait for payments.. i think the best companies are beyond hello, mysteryshoppingcanada, and tell us about us... NEVER waited for payments long from them.. had one problem with mysteryshoppingcanada where they forgot to pay me my gas milage I was promissed it was as simple as me calling, andthey apoligized and were very easy to deal with.. They asked me if I wanted to wait for the next paypal payments or check by mail. within 3 weeks my check was in the mail.

I can add a few more companies who pay on time if anyone is interested PM me. If there is anyone in Kamloops or Kelowna or Whistler - please note to me where you are and I will be glad to share the info. And my 2cents worth for Consumer Connection is that they do eventually pay - but I agree - if a shop is done properly and in a timely manner - the shoppers should not be held up in their pay just because the client does not pay the company. That is not the shopper's problem and I feel Consumer Connection takes advantage of shoppers by leveraging their accounts against the shopper.

On another note - Consumer Connection has some shops that requires a gift card be used - you do not have to wait to be paid because you have to use the card they mail you. One way of getting your pay in a timely manner

[danglars]

Hi,
I am having payment issues with Consumer connection. They havent paid me anything yet and I have done many shops for them. COuld anybody throw light on this?When asked they say they are behind schedule in payments... any good advice pls?? thank you

Check out www.mysteryshopforum.com. Search for "Consumer Connection".

This company is bad news, as you will see.

[danglars]

have you been paid since you posted this thread...I've been emailing them, it's been over 90 days since i did my first shop and they can't tell me anything. Does anyone else have this problem or are they normally way behind in payment?

The head of this company, Cathrine Ann, was on CBC Radio One on Jan 15/2011. Her story sounded too good to be true. And it is.

She makes out she's gone from being a down and outer to super businesswoman. Trouble is, she forgot to mention that she's done it on the backs of ordinary, decent people, some of whom have given testimonials here.

Apparently she lives in a $1.4 million home, yet she screws her workers out of the money she should be paying them. She hasn't changed; she's just learned home to pay the game from the other side of the street.

GOOGLE Cathrine Ann or go to Cathrineann.com for more of her propoghanda

Check this out. A friend of mine e-mailed Cathrine Ann of Consumer Connection after her CBC Radio One Interview on Jan 15/2011.

What follows are that e-mail and Cathrine Ann's response. I think you'll agree that these add credibility to the testimonials found on this forum.

-------------------
Hi:

This morining, as usual, I listened to NXNW on CBC Radio One. I enjoyed Sheryl MacKay's interview with you. I wasn`t quite clear on what your company did, so I used Google to do a little digging.

Given your previous experience, it all sounded a little too good to be true, and it looks a lot like I was right.

I'm sure you are familiar with the following links:
[www..ca]
[forum.smartcanucks.ca]

There appear to be quite a number of very unhappy people who have done work for your company. Apparently you pay minimum wage or less, yet live in a 1.4 million dollar home.

My guess is you haven`t really changed. You just learned how to play the game from the other side of the fence.

But you're a good talker, I`ll give you that.

-------------------

CATHRINE ANN's response:

Thank you very much for your e-mail.

There are no 'unhappy people' that have done work for my company - do you think we would be in business for 15 years if we didn't pay people? And what is wrong with minimum wage? Do you send horrible e-mails to other employers across the globe that pay minimum wage to their employees? Or should i work 20 hours a day for 10 years and divide up my money with people that only work one hour a day for me? What were you thinking sending me this e-mail? Your e-mail was evil and nasty and you are badly misinformed. You should be ashamed of yourself. What is it about my story that got you so angry? That I was sexually abused from the time that I was a baby? That I suffer from ADD and a learning disability? That I grew up always hungry and cold and mentally abused? That my uncle pimpled me out to his friends when I went to him to help me and my baby? That I dropped out of school in grade 8? What are you so bothered about? I told my story. You read a story on the internet from someone that we fired a long time ago that had their own agenda and that's what you believe? You really should be smarter than that. I said a prayer for you tonight because you must have something that needs healing in your soul. I prayed that you lose your hate for people. Are you jealous because I have perhaps more than you do? Do you know how much I give to charities each year? NO. You know nothing. Yet you send me this evil letter. Shame on you. I pray you learn to be a more forgiving person in this life. If you really want to know what I endured in my life, read my story. Or hear me speak. Otherwise you simply appear foolish and as though you need some forgiveness. Sad that you took the time to write garbage to me. But I pray for you nevertheless. God bless you and change you.

Cathrine Ann

[zelda392]

Hi, I too have done shops for Consumer Connection and they do pay via hyperwallet but it takes 90- 120 days, sometimes longer. I have emailed them and they always respond although not too quickly. Very frustrating. This company was started by Cathrine Ann of Sechelt, BC. The now entrepreneur ran away from her home in Toronto at a young age ending up in Vancouver. Along the way she ate food from garbage cans, spent time in jail and was homeless living in a car. Today some 11 years later she lives in a $1.4 million dollar home that is paid for and owns a multimillion dollar firm with 50,000 associates who perform mystery shopping services to companies both large and small across North America. read more at
http://www.thunderbaybusiness.ca/art...erally-190.asp
So I find it sad really that they have trouble coming up with $10 to pay me for a gas shop when they obviously must be getting paid quite a bit more than that. omg.
I think the only one making money here is the owner of the mystery shopping company. I like Experience Exchange and Performalogics. No payment problems there.

[ColdCoupons]

Consumer connection is a company I have never shopped for or even heard of and I have been shopping for about 5 years. I am sure the rest of you must have LOTS of companies I dont know about. I would appreciate you PMing me with your favourites as I am always looking to add to my client database. Right now I secret shop locally and on all our trips across Canada and the USA. It really helps to stretch the holiday budget when the fuel, meals and hotels are fully or partially reimbursed.

[divya]

I sent a lengthy mail to Catherine Ann and I got paid correctly for 3 months of work and now its back to no payments!! This company is stressful for mystery shoppers!!