Where to sign up and what the process entails:
To sign up with JM Ridgway, go here:
http://www.homejobslistings.com
The first step takes you to a “Fraud Alert” page, warning potential
new shoppers of the standard mystery shopping scam/spam emails, many of
which have been stealing JM Ridgway’s name (sometimes also going by
“Ridgway Shoppers”) in an attempt at authenticity. Of course, these
crooks steal the names of many legitimate mystery shop companies in that
attempt.
Included in the alert is an example of the spammy emails, and an
overview of how the spammers generally conduct business. Shoppers are,
of course, advised to not respond to these emails; and most importantly,
to NOT deposit any checks that may be received if they do, without
having their bank verify their authenticity (which will never happen).
The company also gives the twice-stated request to please NOT forward
them your spam– they’re already aware of it, and there’s “absolutely
nothing” they can do regarding the fact that you’ve received spam
anyway. (Makes sense.) They do provide links to several agencies who
are able to investigate these spammers, and suggest that you report it
to them as soon as possible before the crooks have a chance to change
their contact information.
You must click to confirm that you’ve read the warning, and still
wish to proceed with the registration process. This takes you to a
“Shopper Application Overview” page. Information here includes an
abbreviated version of some of the most basic stuff new shoppers need to
know, including information about communicating with schedulers,
assignment of shops, conducting shops and completing reports, and
payments.
Once again, in order to proceed, you must click to confirm you’ve
read and accept the information on this page. This takes you to the
formal Independent Contractor Agreement (ICA). This covers the general
things most ICA’s do, such as Shopper Risk/Injury, Reading and
Submission of Surveys, Shopper Compensation and Advances,
Confidentiality Agreement, Receipts/Invoices and Copies, and a “Special
Note” to shoppers.
Interesting to note, is that while the guidelines for every shop I’ve
ever conducted for this company state that reports must be submitted by
9 AM the day after the shop was conducted; the ICA says reports are to
be submitted within 24 hours of the completion of the shop. Something
else I found interesting: the ICA states that shoppers may request an
advance for required shop purchases. This is something you never see in
individual shop guidelines.
To proceed from here, you must click that you agree with and accept
all of the terms of the ICA. This link opens a new tab, from which you
to create your SASSIE account for JM Ridgway; and takes you through the
standard SASSIE registration process of filling in your basic
information: contact, demographics, payment. There’s also the place
for you to fill in area (phone) codes in which you shop, and the SASSIE
Privacy Policy. Once you’re finished with this, you just click “Sign Me
Up!” and then must verify your new account from the email which will be
generated.
As I recall, there is no additional information required, such as
writing samples or an “Extended Profile”, once you confirm your account.
Obviously, I couldn’t go through the sign-up process again; and I
couldn’t find any information on the company’s website about if there
are additional requirements such as this.
What others have to say — an overview of JM Ridgway’s reputation on Mystery Shop Forum:
For a while, this company had quite the reputation on forums,
including this one, of being a slow — sometimes VERY slow — payer.
Their stated payment schedule used to be 90-days — and shoppers
reported almost unfailingly having to send an email to the company on
day 91, to “remind” them that payment was owed. However, once
“reminded”, shoppers report that payment was almost always received the
next business day.
Starting a little over a year ago, shoppers began reporting improved
payment experiences, including that the company shortened their stated
payment schedule as described earlier. Many shoppers were happy to
report receiving their payments not only on-time, according to new
payment schedule; but unprompted.
The most recent payment complaint was posted in March of this year;
however, the poster making the complaint hadn’t even waited the for the
full stated payment timeline to elapse. This may have been an
inadvertent miscalculation on the part of the poster.
Another thing some forum members complained about, was this company’s
practice of including harshly-worded, emphatically-stated, and
heavy-handed warnings, and even threats, to shoppers — often repeated
over and over, and always in large multi-colored fonts — prominently
featured in the printable shop questionnaires. Lately, though, the
company seems to have toned this down quite a bit; which has been noted
and appreciated. Although annoying and tiresome, I never actually found
them offensive as some other shoppers did (but I’m easy that way).
Other personal experiences:
Even during the time this company was having payment issues, I
enjoyed working for them. Was it annoying to have to “remind” them to
pay me, on the 91st day after the job(s), every single time?
Absolutely. However, at least when I sent my “reminder”, I had the
money in my PayPal account within 24 hours.
Except once, at the end of a year, they mailed me a check for a large
number of jobs they’d owed me for. They did email to let me know the
“check was in the mail”, and I was thinking, “Oh, boy — here we go… “
because even when that’s the truth, it sounds, well, you know.
But I was happy when it arrived promptly. I was mildly concerned
when it was a handwritten personal check, with no stub or anything; but
JM Ridgway had always made good on all payments; and everything indeed
turned out just fine. That was the only time I wasn’t paid via PayPal,
which was puzzling (and PayPal would have been far more convenient); but
whatever — I got my money.
One time the company even paid a little early at Christmas time, which was very appreciated.
Another thing I like about this company: in my experience, they advocate for their shoppers.
Once I posted a fairly and reasonably stated complaint about a
payment issue, right here on MSForum. I was contacted the same day by
someone from JM Ridgway. Not because they were upset I’d made a public
post, no; but instead to start the process of fixing things. (The
“reasonable” and “fair” parts of my post probably helped my case, I’d
venture to guess. :))
There was another time when an associate I’d shopped at one of the
mattress stores made some ridiculous claims about my behavior during the
shop, as an excuse for why he’d missed a couple of key points of the
presentation he was expected to provide. The associate claimed to have
figured out who I was, and went on to assert that I’d been jumping
around on the beds and other ridiculous things of that nature during the
shop. I was contacted via email by someone at JM Ridgway, along with a
forwarded copy of the associate’s email in which he made these
allegations.
After recovering from falling out of my chair due to laughing so
hard; I explained to the contact person at JM Ridgway that the
associate’s allegations were patently impossible, due not only to the
fact that I’m not an idiot — but also due to a physical disability. The
JM Ridgway contact said they’d take care of things, and apparently they
did — because I was paid for the shop. (Of course, I would have loved
to hear how things went down, too, though.)
Another thing I’ve appreciated is that when I’ve participated in
special projects a couple of times, both Frank and Scott, the CEO and
the President, have emailed me personally to not only make sure I had
all of the information I needed, but to thank me in advance (and once
after the fact as well) for my hard work. They were very pleasant to
correspond with, and it was nice to know of their confidence in me
before setting out on the shops.
After one set of special projects, the reviewer sent a special note
of appreciation for my thorough reports as well as the extensive effort I
had to make in order to meet all shop requirements, due to the
circumstances of a couple of the locations.
