Market Force Information Reviews 158

I happily worked for Market Force for just shy of 6 years. Then, whilst I was out on a scheduled assignment Paul took it upon himself to take my visit off me as I hadn't met the midday deadline for the next day!
After taking a few months of trying to blame the app and then myself, I did get a reimbursement for the meal and petrol. "As a gesture of goodwill" !!!

UPDATE 4-7-2023

I made a point of emailing MarketForce back stating payment had still not been made and that I'd input exactly the same account info. A manager contacted me and finally, on 30th June I received all payments due, so I am happy to retract my earlier doubts, although it should not have taken this long to resolve such a simple matter. I now think there was an employee who transposed a couple of numbers in my account details and failed to correct this until I kicked up enough of a stink. I have amended my rating accordingly.

UPDATE 19-6-2023

Well, My raised payment queries resulted in some nonsensical response about us all knowing about some sort of payment problem as issued on their website (which is certainly absent as far as I can see). Their response said it was now resolved and all payments have now been made.... RUBBISH, I have still received nothing. This is the second time they have said my query is resolved and payment made which is blatantly untrue - I have still received nothing. I have yet again raised payment queries but expect the same result so will probably be making a trip to Milton Keynes if the 25th June payment date results in non-payment again, as I strongly suspect it will.

ORIGINAL POST

I'm new to this and I've just completed my third assignment but have yet to see any payment. My first assignment was in early April and I should have been re-imbursed at the end of April by the latest. Nothing, Nada, Zilch, Nowt, despite my account with MF showing payment made.

I contacted them and was informed the problem was the payment bounced back to them. I know they had my correct bank details, however, mistakes can be made so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and re-entered my bank details VERY, VERY carefully to ensure the same couldn't happen the following month.

Guess what?, payment wasn't received at the end of May either for the first or a second assignment (carried out in early May). My third assignment was early June so I dont expect payment on that until the end of June, although the way things have gone so far I wonder if I'll be seeing that payment either.

It's now the 10th June and despite raising queries against the first two assignments nothing has been paid into my account. I have not even had the courtesy of a response to my latest payment queries which suggests they are avoiding providing an answer. I sincerely hope I am wrong but this is the classic way a scam company operates. It's also the way a company about to go bankrupt behaves. I am very wary and won't be carrying out any more assignments for them until I receive the payments due.

I wonder how many others have this situation?

I will be more than happy to leave a retraction review if/when I receive payment, so you may want to watch this space...........

I am astounded P Coleman is still causing issues for this company. So ironic when it is a mystery shopping company testing service and how customers are treated. I brought him to the attention of management 18 months ago and he is still being rude, obnoxious and upsetting shoppers. Why?. Why is he still employed by them. The very reason I left too, because of him. MF need to wake up and stop blatantly ignoring the issue.

I do some mystery visits for Marketforce, and just lately when visiting Wetherspoons pubs they have required a photo of the table number to be taken as proof of where you were sat. This has suddenly come about and has caught other mystery shoppers out too.
Although I didn’t take a photo of the table number I was sat at, it was contained within my receipt but Marketforce refused to accept this as it wasn’t a photo of the table number and didn’t pay me for my report. My report was detailed and contained a lot of useful information.
The only point of taking a table number is for proof of where I sat which was in the receipt. Surely, as it was a new requirement and not used in mystery visits before, couldn’t the evidence of the table number on the receipt been acceptable on this occasion? This new requirement wasn’t publicised anywhere other than hidden amongst the normal jumble of requirements.
I enjoy doing my visits but don’t like being penalised for poor publicity on their side when there was sufficient evidence.

One of the main reasons I left this company was because of the despicable way Paul Coleman spoke to me. It was completely inappropriate, and I know for sure he wouldn't have the guts to act that way face to face. I came here to write my review and found that so many other people here have a specific issue with him too. Amazing that he still works here. Paul you can't shout at people just because they're "working for you". You aren't as important or special as you seem to think.

Been a mystery Shopper for years with Market Force got to say always been a good experience.

It's a bit poor people slagging off individuals such as Paul who work full time for the company if you have an issue with anyone write to the supervisor

Five stars from me

Absolute shambles of a company! They have an awfully laid out website with pretty much zero jobs for someone to sign up to. To 'qualify' for a job they send the most horrendously written 'instructions' and then ask a series of questions which includes questions for which there is no information (trust me, I'm a proof reader in my spare time and there is lots of lacking information!) which makes it utterly impossible to get through to apply for a job. What a fat waste of time. Avoid like the plague folks!

This secret shopper company is a joke. After doing all the work and sending a review. I did not get paid or a refund for the money I spent to do the review. RIDICULOUS. Stay away from them.

I've worked for market force for 7 years doing mystery shops. They were never very helpful or efficient but had a lot of jobs. Since being taken over they've got steadily worse.
Withdrawing payment for completing the jobs a while ago. They now seem to only have a handful of clients & take absolutely ages to process the reports.
If it weren't for one company they work with i would have dropped them years ago.
Absolutely appalling company

The worst customer experience I’ve had.
Obviously, I can’t give less than 1 star, but if I could I would.
Sparky Shopper must be talking about a different mystery shopping company and a different male staff member. I’ve done hundreds of shop (all of them professionally, as I rarely got a proof reading query, or if I did, it was the proof reader who misinterpreted something). I’ve had the rudest of responses both on the telephone (if it got answered) and by email. For example, they offer a pittance of mileage compensation for some late assignments, but when you ring you are refused it because you live within 3 miles of the location. There’s 1 or 2 female staff members who go over and beyond to be helpful, all of which is negated by the negative staff members. Marketforce has sadly lost the way, lost nearly all their clients, stopped paying the already pittance fees, forgot about inflation and cost of living increases and still kept the same miserly reimbursements. I could go on.
The joke is this company is supposedly helping their clients give customers a better experience.

Worked for marketforce for years over 300 assignments done, yet the way Paul coleman emails a reply has made me leave, seems to forget without shoppers hes screwed. Paul mate you used by good when shiv gallie was around if you dont like your job or are stressed out find a new job. Ive also email the md your email, maybe you need to review all the complaints mf before you lose more contracts!

I have honestly never had an issue with Paul- always found him polite and accommodating. I don't understand anyone having problems. Hes efficient, work-focussed? The company have been great, over many years. I don't have to invoice them.. Yes the pay runs over a bit, but the account page is very clear, and getting paid twice a month, and being able to track where your pay is at is brilliant. If you think they don't pay enough- it really is as simple as don't do the jobs. when working for other companies, take note of the time spent invoicing, chasing those invoices, working everything out ( twice), to check you've been paid correctly. all this is done for you on MF.

Terrible organisation and therefore useless feedback for companies. HGEM and Tern much better.

There are many other good mystery shopping firms that pay reasonably or well, like ESA, ProInsight, Tern, Customerwise etc. I recommend shoppers do not work for nothing, as it's not just the eating of the food, it's the time taken out of your life for prep, observation and notetaking, and form filling after the visit.

I've done around 300 assignments for them. Sadly now when I login and I click "jobs" all I can see are charity cases only. How else can you explain "job id: xxx" and "we will pay you 0" written together? Doing an assignment is often 45 min in a pub, taking notes and then filing a report which must be done in time and in professional language. And they will pay you NOTHING except for partial refund of cost of purchase (it might be 100% depending on the assignment.
I earn 15 pounds per hour in my regular work... I will not fulfill their charity cases...
The worst is Paul who treats you like you're a noone...
I need to look for another mystery shopping company...

Updated 19/07/2022 - sad to say, I endorse everything that Roman and Anonymous (recent reviewers) said in their reviews.

Unfortunately Marketforce has become a sad ghost of what it used to be. They have lost all their lucrative clients, Pret, itsu and Greene King to name but a few. I wonder why that is ? Those they have retained, Wetherspoons, Five Guys and a few other minor ones have become so badly paid, they are scarcely worth doing. I mean, for instance ‘Five Guys’, who at one time paid a fairly decent fee of £7.75 ( plus a reimbursement ), now they expect you to do the assignment for nothing or a pittance, except when no one has picked up the jobs and they need them done. Their reports are long winded and picky. Also the reimbursement of £9.75 hasn’t changed for Wetherspoons in years despite the increase in retail prices and of course since COVID ( what a great scapegoat COVID’s become ) fees have been deleted entirely. Shame on Marketforce for using their valuable assets ( shoppers ) and treating them like worthless commodities. I hope you read these reviews and see what shoppers are really feeling.
Please buck up, and stop asking shoppers to do charity work. You can afford to pay us.
PS: Any ‘excellent’ reviews on here have to be fake or misguided.
If anyone wants to work for charity, why not get a job in an Oxfam or Cancer research shop, rather than wasting your time and effort putting money in the pockets of a mean and greedy Corporate Company.

They need to work with their shoppers and meet a mutual ground. It seems like they don’t care about the fact they aren’t paying great but yet want people to put time and effort towards these assignments. Honestly the company needs a revamp in its customer service and how to negotiate pay - honestly have never come across such two faced company. There’s one team member who is amazing, Elaine - honestly the company is lucky to have you. Market force really need to look into restructuring their approach to keeping shoppers happy alongside clients!!

I have worked for over 11 mystery shopping companies for many years and I can honestly say Marketforce is a good company to work for. They have a decent pay rate and a straight forward pay date system.

The only thing I would criticize is that the shops available are usually for the same two companies every week and mostly just food/ drink shops.

Doesn't pay great but I only take on assignments in my local area so I don't have to travel very much. I always get reimbursed on time.

I've been with MF for a number of years and have been mostly happy! The payments have ALWAYS been on time, the briefs are always explained clearly, and occasionally I get a call/email asking to help with extra mileage expenses. BUT, lately the assignment fees are getting to be a COMPLETE waste of time. A betting shop job with only a reimbursment, a well known pub chain with again only a reimbursment, both with NO FEES! Come on MF! we all know you are getting paid handsomely for these programmes, PAY YOUR SHOPPERS! (btw I do not expect a reply from MF!, after all this review does show them in a positive light!)