Mystery Shopper Magazine

If you’re looking for a company with a wide variety of assignments, and above average pay, look no further than JM Ridgway. Founded in 1924, JM Ridgway is “in business to improve your business” according to the header on their website. The company headquarters are located in Los Gatos, California and based on their job board, they mostly have assignments in the United States. Ireland and Canada are listed on the job search, but at the time of this article there were no jobs listed for those countries.

JM Ridgway has a wide variety of assignment and generally has above average pay for most types of assignments. Furniture shops pay around $25 while a fun visit to an ice skating rink pays around $12 plus reimbursement for having your skates sharpened.

The grocery and party store shops only pay $10 (unless a bonus is offered) but have a good reimbursement rate. Buying things that are actually needed increases the profitability of these shops.

The shops that have been available in my area were apartment shops paying $30 and mattress shops paying $15, although bonuses are sometimes offered. Even though there was quite a bit of narrative involved with the reports, I had no problems getting them submitted. I also had to contact a scheduler to reschedule a shop and received an email in just a few minutes. There was no problem with rescheduling once since the shop was not overdue.

Signing up to shop for JM Ridgway is a three step process that begins by going to this website. This link will give you access to the Sassie Reporting system. You must first read an overview of the company and agree to that, then click on the link on the bottom of the page to continue to the Information and Agreement page.

After agreeing to a standard independent contractor agreement you will be directed to the application. Upon submitting the application, a verification email will be sent to the address provided. The job board is immediately available to search for assignments.

To apply for jobs, simply click on the job board tab and search by country, state or radius from any zip code. Most jobs are available for self-assignment.

JM Ridgway also utilizes the Prophet Reporting system, but the only jobs I have seen listed under these job boards are for Arizona and California. You can sign up at this link. You must type “I agree” in the appropriate box and then provide an email address. From that point a basic application will be made available. After receiving email confirmation, you can log on to your account. Jobs are mainly searched by state with this system. There have been no shops available so I do not know if jobs are self-assigned.

A search of MysteryShopForum.com only revealed one thread for this company. Most of the comments seem to be complaints about the time it takes to be paid. Some posts mentioned that it took 94 days to be paid.

The company FAQ states that payment will be made by the end of the month following the month the shop was completed. It has been my experience that they pay as promised. Contact information is readily available for anyone experiencing pay issues and some of the posts suggested that it is easy to resolve pay issues by using the contact information.

I have not completed an abundance of assignments for this company, but with my limited experience, I would recommend signing up with them. The reports are straightforward and the pay is above average. For anyone that is serious about mystery shopping, there should be no problems completing assignments for JM Ridgway.