The Mystery Shopping thread - part 6

Scaredy_Cat_3

Bit of advice needed please. I was asked to do some phonecalls for BARE - I accepted without knowing all the ins and outs - now it turns out on at least one of them I am required to spend my own money - which will be reimbursed eventually.

The last thing I remember reading about BARE was how slow they were at paying. Can anyone tell me what they are like now? How long will I have to wait? Is it safe to do this?

blindman

Scaredy_Cat wrote: »

Bit of advice needed please. I was asked to do some phonecalls for BARE - I accepted without knowing all the ins and outs - now it turns out on at least one of them I am required to spend my own money - which will be reimbursed eventually.

The last thing I remember reading about BARE was how slow they were at paying. Can anyone tell me what they are like now? How long will I have to wait? Is it safe to do this?

DOH! NEVER take a job in haste!

BARE pay on the 25th of the month following the job.

They pay your fee in Euros and if you pay expenses out in £'s they convert that to Euros.

Then they add the two together and send it to your bank, who will change it to £'s

Because of this double exchange you could lose money!

I was £20 short last month :eek:

busymumof2_2

Becles wrote: »

The advantage of paying Class 2 NIC's to gain maternity allowance is for ladies who are not employed enough hours to claim SMP through an employer, or not employed at all.

Hi, I'm new to this forum although I've been ms-ing for just over a year.

I opted to pay the class 2 nic's back when i started ms-ing on the basis that I would like to have another baby at some point and had read somewhere (might have been here actually!) that paying class 2 nic's would allow me to claim for SMP. I've since read/heard that in order to claim for SMP in this situation (i.e. self-employed with low earings and paying class 2 nic's voluntarily) you have to show the tax office when you claim that you have earned a minimum of £30 in at least 13 out of the 66 weeks prior to X no of weeks (might be 6 weeks?) before your EWC (estimated week of childbirth... due date week basically!).

Does anyone know if this is true? If it is then I'm going to have to pick up the pace somewhat for at least 13 weeks in the next year before we decide to go for another! I also heard that if I did manage to qualify, that I would only get 90% of my average weekly earnings instead of the statutory amount?

Help! I'm so confused!

Thanks
BusyMum

Becles

I think you're getting SMP and Maternity Allowance mixed up.

If you've paid your Class 2 NIC's and you don't have a Small Earnings Certificate, you are just assumed to be earning enough to qualify for the higher rate Maternity Allowance which is around £117 a week now. You don't have to prove any earnings at all.

All you do is fill the form in with an expected week of stopping work. They send you a sheet, then you post that off with the actual date when you stopped work.

It's really easy to claim, and no need to send and proof of earnings.

If you have a Small Earnings Certificate, it's the same process but you only get the lower rate which is about £27 a week.

busymumof2_2

Thanks, I think you're right, I'm getting the two muddled up!!

Just found this article on the web... http://www.dwp.gov.uk/advisers/ni17a/ma/ It says what you say, right at the bottom of the page, phew! They don't half make it confusing!

If the link is any use, would it be useful on the 1st thread post?

Thanks for your help!

BusyMum

Scaredy_Cat_3

blindman wrote: »

DOH! NEVER take a job in haste!

BARE pay on the 25th of the month following the job.

They pay your fee in Euros and if you pay expenses out in £'s they convert that to Euros.

Then they add the two together and send it to your bank, who will change it to £'s

Because of this double exchange you could lose money!

I was £20 short last month :eek:

Yeah thanks! Lesson learned!!! :rotfl:

In my defence, they phoned when I was full of cold and feeling like death (and hence my judgement was clouded) and I was taken by surprise as I was waiting for a call from GR to reschedule an assignment because I was so ill. I was in no mood to ask about the ins and outs, although I did ask general questions and was told they were easy calls (doh... well she would say that, wouldn't she!!!)

Thanks for the info though - I'll certainly be more careful next time. At least I guess I can view it as a foot in the door - this is the first work I've done for BARE, they've always ignored me in the past, so maybe they'll give me more work in future... who knows... ooh did you see that pig just fly overhead? :rotfl:

Peridot1

Hi everyone

I have just gone to print the questionairre for an assignment I have on friday but the job notes and questionaire are missing when I print preview. :mad: Is it worth emailing gap or should I just cancel?

Thanks Peridot.

hayley11

Hi

Just a quick question...has anybody dealt with mystery-shoppers.co.uk? My OH friend said he's just joined up with it and I just said i'd never heard of it and i'm registered with most of the ones mentioned on the first post so just wanted to check if anybody on here had heard of them?

Thanks, Hayley xx

bylromarha

TNS-have worked for them for 4 years. never any probs. Did an emergency job for them back in august, verbally promised £5 extra to get it done. Has the payment appeared?

Emailed, rung, emailed again, rung again-lots of chasing, still not appeared in my bank account. Getting fed up, it's only a fiver, but it's also a principal!

Any tips?

Scaredy_Cat_3

Is anyone else having problems with submitting a report to Gap? It shows I gave a contradictory selection for the item ordered, and whatever option I choose, it won't accept it. Any ideas?