The Shop Logs

Well, I have taken a first step back to shopping in my new home state. I guess you could question my thought process, shopping a chunk of my new shops for a company associated with the previous G3 mystery shopping company that left many shoppers unpaid, but what’s a little potential controversy between me and virtual strangers on a website/email? Well, it seems like a large project for them - so, here’s hoping!

It is a menu survey audit. I knew I’d be rusty & it would take me time to get back into my groove, but geesh, I over estimated my own ability I’d say.

The route was pretty easy to plan, because by now I know the major intersections (we’re talking FF places here, so they are easy to locate). Although I was caught a little off gaurd when three FF places within .2 miles of each other were all in three different towns. Apparently I Shop the Nexus of the Universe should be my new signature line. I did the 18 shops over 3 days and did remember how I LOVE the flexible scheduling you have when MSing. Although, I was bummed using a Prophet system, not being able to rescedule after the first time (something always comes up to change your route) and I had to email a scheduler. He was a little concerned the second time understandably, so in the future I’ll just do the shops ahead of time for them & then email saying they are done early - please move my due date up so I can enter the data.

We had a friend staying with us & I had intended to reschedule the audits, but, my AC went out in the house so we really needed an excuse to get out & about. Turns out it was a good thing to do because my eyesight has deteriorated drastically in the last year. He needed to read prices to me. We only did five (that was all I could stand being such a hack & really knowing better) and then I took to him the mall for the remaining shops, but he hardly noticed/minded those.

I picked up some good ideas & the rest of the audits this week have flown by! I have 10x binoculars (less than $20 at Wally World) in the car. I do the Play areas first on the two big chains & I can usually get a better shot of the hours for that place if I get out of the car. I take pics of the menu boards as I pull up to order, just asking for a minute to decide. At the end, on the way out, I take pics of the turned menus (breakfast if it is PM or Lunch if it is AM) instead of two trips, luckily that has worked on all of the places that offers two separate menus. I copy the prices at the Big Mac store, at the Whopper place I rely on the pics when I get home, at the Baconator place I copy the prices there. 10 minutes at the places I need to copy the menus and 5 (with a bout 15 at home looking at pics) of the take-a-pic-&-drive places.

All in all, I think I might be ready to jump back in! Selectively of course…….

Well, this is one reason I can’t say I’ve missed mystery shopping.
I accepted an easy shop at a music store around tax day. I dragged DH to the mall with me and to his credit, he held on longer than I thought he would. He found athletic shoes while I did my shop. I got the paperwork done as soon as we got home, even checked it (within thenext couple of) business day. Looked like that one went through fine according to the shop log.
Little scenarios like that make me think about getting back in to mystery shopping just as hobby, just to get out there, an excuse to have something to do. It gets lonely in a new place, you don’t always know your way, or any people….
…and then…..
Erin emails me today: that the “evaluation was returned for more information on 4/17 and again on 4/20, with no response” - interesting that this is the first email I have received! No messages on my phone either. How urgent can this be? I check the shop log and there it says “URGENT, 2ND REQUEST! This evaluation is being returned to you for additional information.” Now, I know my schedule didn’t cause me to miss this because LITERALLY this is the only shop I have done so far this year. If she emailed/called she coudl have just said ‘you did a shop for me’ and I woudl have known EXACTLY to whom I was speaking. I emailed her back saying this was the first I had been contacted & I woudl update the shop within ten minutes. What a dorky system they must have over at beyondhello-themirror if that is the best they can do with contacting such a busy shopper as myself!

Alternate Title: My Battle Against Stupidity (Mine or hers - either one works here)

A scheduler for Kern has been trying to fill an assignment in one of my preferred towns. I was interested, but didn’t have enough scheduled over that way to pick up this roadhouse-style shop without some token incentive (after all, DH would accompany & I needed to make it look like I’m trying to make a profit).

The emails with “urgent” in the title started 12/13 from this scheduler. 12/19, 12/21, 12/26, 12/28, 12/29 saw emails sent out by the scheduler to shoppers that had previously completed the shop. When I replied to her on the 19th I asked for a bonus; all she was able to come up with was $5, don’t get me wrong I was specific and NOT out of the park on my request. When I replied on the 21st (after seeing her post it as ‘Urgent’ on Volition.com also) I said I could complete it for a bonus. So when I did not get a response to that I took it as she had found someone to do it, good for them. It is always the right price for ’someone,’ right? No … it was not filled apparantly. After Christmas she was still sending out emails to those who had previously completed the assignment. Well, you know I upped my bonus in my offer to complete it the 28th. This thing is not going to get done without some extra monetary effort lady! She was “not able to do that, but could give me $5″ I had already spent too much time on this - is she kidding? Her last email to ask me if I’d do it has me deciding if I should just email her back that she should have taken my first offer or fold my fingers politely in my lap …. (third option, type this to you readers).

For reasons that currently escape me, I had to cancel a nice weekend dinner at a dessert factory restaurant. I was scheduled for the 4th of this month and emailed my scheduler a little more than two weeks in advance. Hey, I am not one to turn down those types of places lightly.

A couple of strange things happened. Mystery Guest emailed me a few days in advance about my ‘upcoming shop.’ I promptly forwarded them my origianl email inofrmaing them that I would not be able to complete the shop and they needed to replace me (over two weeks ago). Then I heard nothing, I of course, hoped I was not on their poop list, but I had retained the original email & forwarding it to them must have cleared the air - and if it didn’t - there was nothing else I could do anyhow. Today (Sunday?) at noon MG calls “Calling to rescedule your shop.” Ever the idiot, I was not sure if I had forgotten to do somehting over the weekend, so I *played* dumb for a couple of minutes until it became obvs. this was about the dessert restaurant. This shop was due the 4th, I cancelled twice before and at the start of the month & they were ‘just getting back to me?’ One of two things were going on here. She was looking to guilt me into helping her out with thise shop, hoping I would feel some guilt about having an actual life or forget I cancelled with them twice & hope I felt I owed them one. The second, equally likely scenario, MG are idiots that waited until the last minute. Her idea of me shopping woudl be either tomorrow or the next day for lunch, quite a ways into town . . . . um, that won’t work, I need to schedule lunches pretty far in advance. She said she could “proboably put me back in the rotation then.” Huh? Had a doen something squirelly? Doubtful, more likely she was looking to use my (mystery shopper’s) guilt to her advantage.

Oh, did you fall for this too?
I open the email, because YES it’s my anniversary, but how large is this bonus? Maybe we could work something in on the way to our special time?

DEAR XXXXX,
Bonus offered-$2.00 for completing this assignment TODAY 10/16/06 or
TOMORROW *

We have a Mystery Shop at aandf location(s) in your area for Monday 10/16/06 or Tuesday 10/17/06. Please accept the assignment online and enter the report for this Bonus.
* Total payment for this shop is $10. (NORMAL PAYMENT IS $8.)

Huh, I would have padit hem NOT to send me notices of such ’special’ bonuses as it only raises my blood pressure.
Usually I respond with a counter offer, on the OFF chance . . . . . I am just tempted to mark them as SPAM right now.
Get real criny!

I was looking up luxury car shops KSS is farming out and had the occasion to review my SASSIE Shop Log through Kern.

Total # of Shops: 36 Average Rating: 6 Last Shop Rating: 10

Average 6??? Did I forget to do some shops or what?
Turns out 24 of 36 had no rating. The others were 10s.
Shall we do the math?
24 zeroes and 12 tens; 120/36=3
I am stumped…
Kern, where the heck did my average rating of 6 come from?

I picked up some of those call & schedule shops for pet stores from Shop N Chek. I figure it is an easy way to get back into the Mystery Shopping groove.
Apparently you still have to be able to read a calendar to mystery shop. *the nerve, huh?*
Well, I was a day late on a call shop for them, actually knew I couldn’t do one on that date & logged in to cancel & cancelled the wrong one (a-duh), and therefore I expected to be a few dollars short of payment.
Guess what they sent me instead?
Well read on:

“Due to a special contractual agreement between Shop’n Chek and our Clients, we are occasionally able to accept for Quality Control review a small number of shops where the shopper did not shop during the assigned dates or hours.

Variance (email only): Did not shop during assigned date(s).

Normally your shop would be audited and then invalidated and you would not be paid for this shop because it was not done on a scheduled date or during the assigned times.

However, this shop is being forwarded to Quality Control for further review on the other aspects of the shop. In the future, any shop you conduct might be invalidated if you do not adhere to the guidelines. If you think you shopped on the correct date then please refer back to your Contractor Payment Invoice and e-mail HelpDesk@shopnchek.com for clarification.

It is very important to read your guidelines and CPI very carefully to ensure your shop will be valid. Many shops are invalidated every month because shoppers do not do them on the scheduled date.

Thank You

HelpDesk”

They were ….so……..helpful……intriguing.

I could go shop a high class jewlery store in the ‘big’ city for 5% of the cheapest piece in the store…. I wonder if it occurs to the Mystery Shop Provider that a select few can pull this shop off & yet the payment is so minimal, let alone scaled down if you could truly afford to shop this place…..

COMMENTS: You will receive $27 for doing the shop.

Please note for this shop you must be comfortable talking about luxury
watches with a sales associate. The watches in this store can cost from
$500-$30,000. A purchase is not required.

I had to turn down one of my favs tonight…..Mystery Guests called about a restaurant shop in my soon-to-be-neighborhood. I told the scheduler I would gladly take anything in the second week of July, but she said they can only schedule 7 days out….too bad I got that call so soon!

See my recent post.
I sent in my application today……I am hoping for a call back.

^sigh^
There are many things I normally tolerate, but sometimes they break through when I am not paying attention..
this is one of those times.

Focus on Service posted this on the V:

Title: “Mystery Shoppers for Longhorn Restaurant - GA, PA, OH, IN and NJ” (p.s. nice confidentiality, oh well..)
Content:"Focus On Service is in immediate need for Mystery Shoppers for Wooster, OH, Merriville, IN, Hamilton, NJ , Daphne, AL and Morgantown, WV Longhorn Steakhouse restaurants. There is a new Longhorn opening in Commerce, GA and shoppers are needed right away! We reimburse up to $40 per shop. You can sign up at www.focusonservice.com Wooster, Ohio needs shoppers immediately! You must go to www.focusonservice.com and sign up so we will have your information available when searching for shoppers!Please only email me if you have an important question, as your scheduler will contact you when ready. All locations need shoppers right away! Thank You and Happy Shopping! tiffanym@focusonservice.com”

It is also worth noting the obnoxious colors didn’t copy - pity.
I see that Pennsylvania = West Virginia? Alabama? Do they want that shop filled? Forget the casual spelling error we have a failure to know state acronyms or even read a map……..geez.

I recieved an odd sort of emal today from a scheduler. It made reference to identifying numbers from a shop, but I don’t have any outstanding shops with this Mystery SHopping company. I called back & left my contact information, but haven’t heard back yet…..
I would be ticked if it was someone just trying to fill a shop only because they are making it sound important…

I’ll post when she returns the call.

I am a woman, therefore I have had many ‘breakups’ with guys that were not skilled in letting a gal down easy.
Maritz has joined the ranks of some skanks of the past.
Another thoughtless MS company keeps showing how they have no idea where I actually live & this all is making me feel a bit 10th grade geek this week; well, thanks, you can help by reading on…..
I guess I hadn’t shared this with you yet because it is a bit awkward. I should have known better than to get in to a mystery shopping situation with a company after I had changed their profile information to my new place & GA and placed them under the cumbersome GA MS Favorites File. But shoppers are such suckers when the anonymous voice identifies itself as a scheduler, regardless of the company. Thus resulting in my “Smooth Move” of the 7th.
Of course, I’ve repressed it a bit, but here are the details as I recall them: My DH calls to ask me why Maritz sent me a large package there; good question, it is because the IDIOT I spoke to about shops in GA & assigned me one in MI & then sent the info to GA- don’t make me explain in any level of detail at what level I hold her intelligence please. I then get the autoreminder email & respond with the situation. I suggest they simply resend the inforamtion to me at my current, MI, address & I can complete the shop (within one mile of my house).
Well, I got the call in the evening; it has been awhile since I’ve been dumped, I don’t remember if the evening is the “pref” time or not. I know it is difficult to get people from Maritz on the phone after business hours sometimes. (Ahh, I do remember the paranoia that sets in after the dumping) The girl sounded young, possibly this was the first time she had made this call herself, maybe she was still dealing with the inept festival of bad dumpers in her life. I, as I had been all though school years, was kind & genial to the dumper. She told me how “they” really can’t resend materials, and how “they really don’t just let her” send to a different a different address than what the profile supplies.
(side note: how many times have you called them and “they” have given you your password though? Hmp.)
I suggested to her that maybe the person who called me shouldn’t have scheduled me for a different state than my profile address then.
She had nothing to say.
I asked, so what do we do? Do you want me to shop it or not? She latched on to that not like a terrier. Thanks for letting her “off the hook.”
And with that she hung up.
I felt dirty and embarrassed in my own house all by myself that night, I had been dumped my a mystery shopping company.

As an aside I have been thinking about the new house, wonder if/how life will be better down there. This surrent house is destined for resale, I get to pick the next one honey! By then we will need to do a exterior makeovers as they are becoming more important to moving homes on the market - I found this place Barrington Real Estate that has the most comprehensive listings available for Barrington real estate here at New Castle Realty. I should suggest to Maritz, Sung from AthPower (who keeps emailing me on “Urgently Needed Shops” w/0 zips/addresses) or the bulletin boards giving me listings for states other than MI or GA to use a realtor!

I am slowly changing over my addresses in Mystery Shopping company profiles as I log into them. Since I am on a self imposed MSing vacay I really am not changing more than a few over a week.
*regardless*
Maritz called me Friday and asked if I could do a couple of shops. Well, they gave me names of towns I had never heard of before. This did not seem atypical, I mean how often do MSPs tell you of an opportunity “in your neighborhood,” which turns out is 40+miles away? (it was rhetorical - say A LOT) I said since I had never heard of those towns they must not be near me. The person on the other end of the phone said the computer showed ‘blahsville’ less than 5 miles from my home. Of course both of us were dumb-asses. She was giving me shops in GA while I lived in MI….it took both of us 3 minutes to put this all together. She offered to look up shops for me in MI, whic was time consuming as she had difficulty with the zip code I was giving her, repeatedly. She ended up offering me a shop less than one mile away, from my current addy & DH called me to tell me she shipped the info to my NEW addy……naturally am less than 801 miles from the location there…..
Maritz’s email Contact Us is being stupid & I will need to contact tomorrow I guess…..

Yeah….
Thanks…..

The headline is “catchy” on the page after you login, but…. behind “Rising Gas Prices” the real article is underwhelms….

Message Posted on Shopper Portal April 22, 2006

Rising Gas Prices

In an attempt to assist our Shoppers with better managing their mystery shopping assignments for Shop’n Chek during this period of increased gas costs, we are going to temporarily allow you to complete 4 shops per day. Please read the following guidelines very carefully:

I am thinking fee increase, you? And then… the favor they do us is to let us collect their pitiful wages en masse….wow….thanks.

The scam site took my feeds down, thank you very much.
I see they still have Melanie Jordan’s Ask the Coach section up, but she is aware of it and I assume they have reached an agreement.

If you are not reading this at
http://www.shoplogs.com/wordpress
it is stolen.
Response from admin@mystery-shopping-online.com on 4/10:

All you had to do is politely ask me to remove the content and I would have, simple as that.
I simply searched for some relevant RSS feeds and your one was the first one that came up so I included it as it was relevant to the site I was making.
You seem to have a God complex for some reason which is pretty sad, you don’t know me but have already labled me as some m.f thief…..hardly.
The script that I use does not allow one to “give credit” to the author as far as RSS feeds are concerned so there is nothing I can do about it.
I am actually going to post this in our support forum so other people can look at what a prat you really are.
Your feed will be deleted by the end of the week only because you have stated that I may not use your content, not because of the crap that you have posted on your feed lately, in fact feel free to add more as I find it rather amusing…..

The software/script does not allow this because you are stealing. You can copy & paste the old fashioned way - type in the credit, you can sign up for a personal feed otherwise you are stealing. If Terry knew this about the software/script why is it used? Shoudl I assume he contacted the others or is simply waiting to be discovered - there I go applying logic again.
No other fact, or opinion as most of this seems to be matters.

Look at the lower right box……doesn’t that remind you of anyone? Melanie Jordan perhaps?
Compare the posts on www.shoplogs.com/wordpress to the posts in the upper right corner…theiving jerks….they won’t remove it!

I am sorry to interrupt my normal blogging, but you need to read the responses I received from http://mystery-shopping-online.com/.
I sent them an email:

Your main index displays TWO instances of original content from MY blog.

Cease and desist immediately!

(many more were later found)

And admin@mystery-shopping-online.com responded:

If you don’t want your content on other peoples sites, don’t sydicate it!
And if you gonna be such a jackass about it instead of sending a polite email asking to remove the feed then you can get stuffed, I’ll remove it when I’m ready.

Terry.

p.s Thanks for the link

(I will be getting Terry a GPS Handheld for Christmas, so he can find his head & then remove it from his butt.)
Syndication is supposed to go to a reader, personal use. To repost it w/o the author’s knowledge is sneaky. If you have read this blog for content instead of just stealing it, you would not be surprised at the email sent, except to state that I am toning it down a little bit.

My Response? Why do you think I would respond to THAT? Of course you’re right, I did respond:

“You in fact may not use syndicated feeds in any way you like, unless the publisher gives you that permission in his terms of use.” Syndication does not equal you get to repost anything you want in an effort to turn a trick. Your site is copyrighted, so it appears you should understand this: You may not use my content on your site. Currently you are using my content and give no credit to the original author, indicating you are doing so maliciously.

Had you contacted me and had a site that contributed anything useful to the industry I might have let you repost. It is not on me to find the people stealing form me - you - & politely request anything - - those are my words, not yours.

There, let the blog-scraping MFers repost THAT on their SCAMsite!
Another scraper - the bastards!

Well, one thing I did not sink to doing was a shop on my mini-vacay…..I was in GA, near the $90 resort shop & didn’t accept it…..of course I didn’t tell DH that I was interested, he would have stopped me for certain! win-win!

So, the “LOW” - Cheap Overwork/undeRprIced gas station shops I took, and my friends I reached a new low….. I had always wondered how it would feel to take a shop & do a half-ass job, and I found out that no one noticed! I received (random - have they always sent this out?) feedback on the shops and received 5/5 just proving they WERE expecting the kind of work they were PAYING FOR! Huh, who knew? One cashier chatted me up & I forgot to get her name, intead of going back, I just wrote on the report, “forgot name.” 5/5! Huh….

These shops were within 5 miles of the ole homestead, so no harm to the pocketbook, but I didn’t take a chance by returning to finalize and faCts I may have fORgotten….. I did not give them much effort at all & I guess that is what they accept/expect….. the level of quality you buy with that pitiful amount of money….really, huh….and all this time…..

Well, I actually did receive my payment today. Good, full amount & all. Get a load of this though:

“We do want to point out that several penalties have been put in place that we clearly outlined during February shopping. Shoppers that did not submit their shop reports before midnight on same day of the shop to meet our “real time” reporting contract with client were not paid. In addition, shoppers that failed to answer questions correctly on the survey as well as delay in returning their phone units were also penalized $10.

Please keep these penalties in mind when reviewing your payments. If you received an email from one of our editors about information lacking in your reports, information being inaccurate in your reports, or the fact that your report was not submitted on same day as the shop, you will see a penalty in place. We have all of these restrictions and rules outlined on the first page of the guidelines in big red letters. They are also on the survey itself and we sent out 6 mass emails to all shoppers on this project regarding our requirements for payment. “

I must say that I can respect payment deductions for tardiness. However, the first paragraph seems to say you had to BOTH delay AND leave out information. The second paragraph goes on to say that if you did any one of the items that resulted in an editor email there IS a deduction. (must I comment on their consistant inconsistancy?) Okay, well at least I was paid the full amount - that smarty-pants email must have made some point.

“We have all of these restrictions and rules outlined on the first page of the guidelines in big red letters.” Um, yes, and red marker scribbles on the top of the sticker - - so professional. Almost as professional as an “I-told-you-so” email with (non)payment.

Allegedly I have been paid!

I am doing these cell shops again for the instruction nazis, these people need an editor to proof directions before sending them out into the world….
I read the directions and (having done these shops before) do know where to find the tag #.
You look at it:

(P.S. this is a crappy pic & paint edit, but I got an email from the co. right before I sent the equipment back & should never take pics angry again.)

What does the red marker print mean to you?

Well to me it was a lame attempt at highlighting, to the MSP it means “N, ” now had I been told via any method to look for the letter in red I would have seen this as an N. They didn’t mention it & I didn’t give it a second thought.
My review comes back this AM:

Your evaluation of N S AND R for Corporate Risk Solutions has been reviewed.

Comments : Shopper-
You failed to put the tag number in correctly. The Letter S or N followed directly by the number.

I got an 8/10 because they are unable to reprint a tag, but have no problem insisting that I reprint 20+ pages of ‘new’ directions (not really new). The Shop Log still shows I will receive $95, for the time being. Now, one thing I know about this company is they will try and weasel the fee from me. Bastards! I am mad thinking about having to go through this whole thing with them AGAIN!!!!!

Like a true smart a$$ I reply:

“There is a red marker scribble over the “#” sign.
Am I to assume that is an “N?”

I did not read anything to indicate the red marker scribble was anything but a scribble.”

This one is clearly their lack of mastery of the English language and here I sit predicting they will try to deduct $10 from my fee! *fuming*
I love how I have to print a billion pages of instructions because they have changed procedures, but they can’t reprint these stupid tags - - - instead some idiot is running around high off the fumes from this RED MARKER & they are the ones who decide if I will be paid or not…yeah…in love with this MSP all over again!!!

Or at least the smoke of work.

The last two times I have received equipmentfrom Corp.Risk Solutions I am risking my respiratory health if I inhale while I open the FedEx.

Since they stiffed me on the now infamous bonus(only read if you want to be angry), I wonder if I have a case for OSHA?

I have these crazy visions of what must be going on down there where they are packaging the FedExs for delivery…….luckily I can share my vision with you….. That guy in the middle with the red eyes has packed my last two packages. If you look closely you can see he is calling for another cig. to exhale into my package before sealing it. Now that’s a work ethic.

Well, turns out the mystery shops that are making me an overnight millionaire are taking up some extra time.

Chorus: “Suprise, Suprise”

I submitted the resceipts only to log on again (a fluke) shortly after and see the receipts “needed submission.”
I had already submitted them, but put it down to CoRI ignorance.

Chorus: “Suprise, Suprise”

I resubmitted without comment to CoRI, because did they suddenly start to care now?
Of course not, I blogged the “proof” that they were sub-creatures to me, called ‘em “crackheads” and resubmitted. Smooth move……

Well, I had submitted sub-par pics.

(Chorus: “Suprise, Suprise")

When I actually could click on the link “View Submitted Receipt” and saw the extent of the horror (I mentally noted to switch my pic software back from whatever I downloaded recently) I got it, but was still peeved that they couldn’t have told me the first time my pics were the problem, instead of asking me to upload the same crappola.

So I fired off (Chorus: “Suprise, Suprise”) this:

“Jobs @#$^%^, @#$^%% and @#$^%$ will have updated receipts by the end of business FRIDAY. It would have been more efficient to tell me the receipt quality was the reason they were not showed as submitted instead of letting me resubmit the same receipt.”

To which I received a NICE reply (Chorus: “Suprise, Suprise"):

“Hello Penny,

I agree it would be very helpful to know exactly what the problem is when submitting a report. Even as a scheduler, we have to search to find why a shop has been rejected. With (Co. Name Omitted) being a new client there are a lot of bugs that need to be worked out of the system. Please be patient with us. We are as they say “learning something new everyday”. Eventually things will run much smoother. Thank you for you help with this matter.

Have a good day!

Carrie Kern

Scheduling

Corporate Research International

130 E. Sandusky St.

Findlay, Ohio 45840

ckern@mysteryshops.com

www.mysteryshops.com”

Well, ahem, yes, that’s, well, err…..right then……
I am at a loss for words.

I am not sure if I am the crackhead or the company in this case.
Gosh I knew better than to shop for CoRI, but the new year and all, I guess I just thought they might have changed. Well, that delirium has subsided.

I shopped a stupid series of the cheap gas station shops for them - man they were right in my neck fo the woods - I couldn’t resist.
The entry was relatively painless, once I got past the ‘you’re-giving-us-too-much-information message’, and I KNOW I entered the receipts because you can’t get into the report without the receipts being uploaded first, the two pics are at the end.

Well they were missing two out of three I did on one day and one out of two I did on another day.

Shall we pause for a moment and stroke our chins? Dare I apply *logic* (uh oh, there goes another quarter to CoRI’s swear jar) to this situation? Be warned, I did just finish watching Erin Brockovich on TBS.

Let’s say for the sake of argument that I hacked into CoRI’s report page cleverly bypassing the uploading of the receipts. How smart of me, I will just provide them the information for free. Does it ring true that I would enter only some of the day’s shops correctly and not the others? It isn’t like I sat down and complete my data entry in one setting is it?

Is this the lone crackhead theory? Possibly - more like the crackhead company conspiracy, or is it so true I just blew your mind?

See Also V Thread

ICU emailed me that they have shops available in my area.
I log on and see a shop that Yahoo tells me is: “Distance: 75.2 miles Approximate Travel Time: 1 hour 19 mins ” - ONE WAY.

I might suggest ICU Associates either has a problem understand the, apparently, fluid phrase “in your (my) area” or some modification needs to occur on their Prophet site. I would not mind seeing other shops that are already scheduled for instance.

I remember that when this MSP first started up there was quite a thread of uncertainty on the V about payment. Ray Sola, from Volition, reported that Marc MacGillivray told him, that LP Innovations (LPI) purchased ICU Associates.

I found this blog while reading MSR. It is called, “Supplement Your Income - Mystery Shopping.”
SYI - MS offers a Watch List, love this idea, interested in the data source. The Reviewer offers generalizations about companies, tendancies (such as late pays, etc.).
SYI - MS also offers reviews of the company with specifics such as:

Number of jobs/clients
Types of Jobs
Rate of Pay
Speed/Method od Payment
If bonuses are offered

This is one to watch…….
http://extracashblog.blogspot.com/

Yep, I was pulled back in with the lure of “just up the road.”
It really was just up the road, but I am also an idiot and forgot the intensive effort required for this company to barely compensate a shopper…..funny my college degrees looked SO CONVINCING…..I was just starting to feel clever.

Allow me to do the math:

Lured in by the shoe shop, but actually did the math before I started dreaming of new shoes.
Got tricked into the entire stew when I saw my zip code……. I’ll give ‘em that time for free.

Cool I am able to load to my cart without taking one of their stupid training courses, get excited take four total, none more than 3 miles from home. 4 minutes

“Oh, I see that I do need to take the training after all… well for $7 and $2 reimb. how much could their be?”
(when will someone give my inner voice her proper meds?)
There are 79 pages to the training slide show - OMG - I am NOT kidding - I wish I was!
I get through 29 and then cut straight to the test, 7 questions…. 15 minutes

Whatever…I am on the road….check the camera….holy poop…..stop at the drug store, $17.99 for the batteries. I know the holidays did this to the camera, so I am not counting it against the shop, but I was tempted to once I wrote it here.
*free*

At the gas station, pumping (freezing), taking pics of the restroom, etc. 12 minutes

Report time ten minutes, coming to grips with the message “text entered too long…” repeatedly and often… two minutes

Total
43 minutes that’s right for $7 and $2 reimbursement….who’s the marter now, b!tch?
The concurrent shops will not include:
Scheduling time - 4
Training time - 15
“text entered too long…” time -2
and the next three shops will take 22 minutes……must I figure out my hourly wage for you?

Posted to Volition (see thread)

Happy New Year!

As always, at ServiceCheck, we very much appreciate the hard work of every mystery shopper, and we do our very best to keep you informed, provide assistance, and help you shop.

Many shoppers have made great use of the wonderful list of MS companies that Ray Sola, Volition.com’s administrator, has provided on this website. Many web-surfers-turned-mystery-shoppers sign up with 2, 3, 4, or in some cases, 20+ mystery shopping companies for many reasons. For some shoppers, you want to pick up some extra cash to supplement your income. Other shoppers enjoy the occasional shop for fun. A distinct few have achieved SuperShopper status, seemingly shopping, and miraculously, not dropping!

As a mystery shopper, especially those Super-Shoppers out there, you are probably used to filling out contact forms with your name, email address, home address, phone numbers, etc. Many of you are aware that the IRS requests, in some cases, that you report all of your income derived from mystery shopping. Some MS companies even request your Social Security Number or Taxpayer ID number to assist with this process.

It is important to note that due to the nature of the industry in which we are all involved, both shoppers and companies have the potential to be defrauded, abused, and our information stolen.

On the MS company end, schedulers and executives work very hard to protect the integrity of each mystery shop completed. Companies put lots of effort into selecting good shoppers, training others, and coaching many more to achieve this level of integrity. Shoppers take exams companies provide to them in an effort to secure shops. Still many more cross-reference all of the information received to make sure that data is accurate.

As a shopper, your willingness to give out some of your sensitive information makes you a prime candidate for identity theft, fraud, and many other ’shady’ schemes.

Here are some simple ways to protect yourself against identity theft, fraud, and fake mystery shopping companies:

1. Know your MS company!
Mystery Shop.org is the Mystery Shopping Provider Association. Member companies of the MSPA adhere to a strict set of ethics. If there’s a company you’re not sure about, feel free to see if that shopping company is registered with them.

NCPMS, the National Center for Professional Mystery Shoppers is also a good resource to learn more about mystery shopping companies.

If a company is NOT listed, they may still be legitimate. Give that company a phone call and ask for more information about them. If they’re legitimate, they won’t mind a polite inquiry.

2. Give your information on an as-needed basis.
If you don’t feel comfortable giving a company your social security number, and you’re not sure they even really need it, don’t give them your social security number! If they give you a hard time about it, or refuse to make arrangements for you, just walk away. If it doesn’t seem right to you, or you think they don’t need it, or if you’re just not interested in taking the risk, don’t risk it!

It’s not worth it to give a fake social security number either. There are several negative outcomes from doing this.

If someone asks for your Social Security number or Taxpayer Identification number for tax reasons, feel free to ask a CPA, tax-preparer, or visit the IRS website at www.IRS.gov. You’ll find the right, accurate, information there.

3. Keep a paper trail, and KEEP YOUR EMAILS
We’re in the digital era, so you can make a CD, or save files on your computer, or simply print out all of the information on each MS Company that has received your information. Though often times, this info will not be used, keep it anyway. You never know what might happen in the future.

If you’re concerned about eating up space on your own computer, get a free Gmail.com account that comes with 2.6 GIGABYTES of storage space. That way, you’ll never delete those important emails. Or emails that can come in handy if you think you may have given your info away to an illegitimate shopping company or person.

4. Get a PayPal account!
Some shopping companies pay with PayPal. This is a more secure method of sending and receiving money via the Internet. The website is www.PayPal.com . You can find more info there on how PayPal works.

5. Get a Taxpayer Identification Number
Some shoppers already run small businesses and choose to use their Taxpayer Identification Number, rather than the Social Security Number, to do their mystery shopping taxes and accounting. This is a good idea. Please check out the IRS website at http://www.IRS.gov to learn more about how this can help you as an independently contracted shopper. For even more info, see your tax professional.

If you have other tips to share with shoppers, please feel free to list them in a reply to this post. Many shoppers have excellent suggestions and tips to share!

Thanks again for your time, and I wish each of you a wonderful year in 2006. At ServiceCheck, we build businesses and develop our shoppers, one cheerful contact at a time!

Kim G., Director of New Business Development
ServiceCheck Inc.
www.ServiceCheck Report.com
www.ServiceCheck.com

I used to do this “Type of Shop: Bar/Dine Combo ” with my sis in law, she was the younger shopper & I was … not.

When we used to do it we did the bar & dining in the same visit, that is still the same. The bar was Drink for her(drink for me) appetizer for us, but the dining was the full on deal: entrees for both of us, dessert to share, she drank at at the table too, but I made away with my share of calories. No, I did not like the reveal parts, especially when they did not identify her appropriately, but it was a decent meal…

Now the shop consists of Friday/Saturday nights only[pretending I have something better to do], now I (the less younger of the two) can have a drink in the dining room with her it will probably go straight to my head because the appetizer from the bar is at the table and there is no dessert.

Plus, where I used to get reimbursed for the bar bill I now have to pay for it myself! Dining room still comped, but Geez - way to cheapen up NSG! Gotta wonder how much less the customer pays when I am picking up more of the tab, creating a smaller bill to be comped….I am sure NSG charges them less for such shops…eyeroll…

First, count me in!

Second, I did wuss out in 2004 by not going to Orlando, I so knew I should have attended! Forget Anaheim, CA - way too far. Plus, I would have been bummed to attend a rerun conference. Now that the location has been announced I am so excited. (See Volition Thread) Also the same weekend as the Chicagoland NASCAR race in Joliet. May I suggest booking a flight before the auto season revs up in February?

Third, kudos to the MSPA for responding to the survey of MSPA certified shoppers. The unscientific poll through Shop Logs revealed the top reasons for not attending to be Distance/Travel Costs, Conference/Hotel Costs, Time Away From …, Lack of Interest. The MSPA had a captive audience in their email certification system and listened to them (so far). Other questions on the MSPA survey that have yet to be answered (they reopen January 3rd):

Hotel Cost: The lowest choice given for per night hotel cost was $80-95/night
Conference Cost: The conference cost was bragged to include: “2-days, including a Welcoming Reception with appetizers and drinks, Continental Breakfast on both mornings, and Lunch and Dinner on Saturday ” for a range of $125-225. (I don’t have complete notes on this, does anyone remember more accurately?)
Content: And then most importantly, they solicited content ideas! I will be excited to see what comes from the suggestions they received. I know I suggested: an editor’s forum ( I want to hear from my fav companies what the big mistakes are), NO motivational speakers - we are already there, clearly we are motivated, maybe a book study/Q&A with an author - I suggested Poynter, This one is just a pipe dream - I would like to see a list of companies with outstanding complaints against them (as I am sure MSPs can see a list of shoppers).

TJ,
After we spoke on the phone I did not received an email from you.
I am going to post the info. here for now.

I will leave this up for a week or until I receive an email from you.
Penny

Groups that are informative and supportive in the MSing community:
http://forum.volition.com/
http://p216.ezboard.com/bmysteryshopresources

The online class I teach:
http://class.universalclass.com/MysteryShop
discounted price $16 when using the code: ShopLogs

Cheap MS Companies:
http://www.shopnchek.com/
http://www.mysteryshops.com/shoppers/prospective.asp

Ones I Like Working For:
http://second-to-none.com/normal.htm
http://www.virtuoso.maritzresearch.com/default.asp
http://www.mintel.com/
http://www.a-closer-look.com/ACL/home.htmlhttp://sassieshop.com/2crs/index.norm.php

Some others to check out:
http://www.speedmarkvision.com/index.norm.php
http://www.sassieshop.com/2kern/index.norm.php (schedulers)

Email Recieved from CoRI:

“Wow what a great commission.

%$#% &$^&^’s Digital shops receive an $18.00 commission plus reimbursement for the ^%$^%. No-photo assignments have a $12.00 commission plus reimbursement for the *&^*&*. For an added bonus, you will be reimbursed up to a $1.00 tip for having the *&^*& delivered.

Here is what I have near you:”

And what they had near me is 75 miles round trip. Here comes the math teacher in me, ready? Let’s assume that I am ‘lucky enough’ to get the $18 gig. Traveling mostly highway miles, I would spend one hour traveling, at least 10-15 minutes in the store, maybe twenty minutes on the report (in all fariness I haven’t done these in ages, so I am not sure, tell ya what make it 30 minutes incase I cut myself while mutilating the pizza for photos). Now I am making less than $12 per hour before gas and mileage….plus my time….I have only just mailed all my holiday cards, I still have presents to purchase.

This leaves me saying: “Wow what a cheap commission”

“Huntington, NY Clothing shops for ladies only $16 “

Okay, how did you read that?

You could read it: “…this shop is only for ladies & it pays $16″
I read it: “this shop only pays $16″

Shall we call this experience or a negative attitude? Well, sometimes they are one in the same in this business!

Check out this action research by Deva, almost John Stossel!

I received this email from CRS tonight & it was all I could do to only reply in this (trust me it is restrained) crisp manner:

“Shoppers,
This is a reminder that all S****** and R***** shops are due on 12-05 Monday. We are disappointed that almost 200 shoppers have decided to wait until the last day to complete their shops. This makes it very difficult for us to get them wrapped up and over to client by the deadline. Please make sure that if you are not going to be able to complete the shop tomorrow that you communicate with Person1 or Person 2 so that they can plan accordingly. We strongly recommend that shoppers do not apply for these shops if they can not complete them by the due date. Shoppers that cause us delay or do not complete assignments are not considered for any more shops with us.
Thank you,
CRS”

*shed a tear for the poor MSP*

“I am sorry that you are disappointed that shoppers have decided to wait until the last day to complete their shops. I schedule many shops for many companies and use the entire timeframes allowed often.
I did not think this made me a poor shopper.
I complete shops within the allowed time frame and will continue to do so, but would rather not receive a reprimand unless I am actually tardy in completing the work.”

Taken from Volition:

Retail Accessories: Credit Card purchase required ($75 to $300) with Optional Return. Can visit Anytime during open business hours between Start and Due dates; shops MUST be completed before the end of November! Return visit can be made after a minimum 30-minute wait after completing the Purchase visit OR on a different day during open business hours, BUT by the Due date. No gender requirement. Detailed store information, Guidelines and form available to selected shopper.

Shop pays $15 Shopper Fee plus BIG $85 ADDED BONUS!

BRIDGETOWN, NA 0123 (BB)
ST. JOHN’S ANTIGUA W, NA 0123 (AG)

Ummm… 1. the fee 2. oh let me pay $696 (according to Travelocity to meet the shop requirements) 3. the fee! 4. Having Homeland Security frisk me on my way back into the country, because who goes to Antigua for a $15 shop? I would assume I am smuggling something. 5. THE FEE!!

The Mileage Trap:
Of course, I am still in love with my mileage reimbursing company.
I am doing okay with the CSRs, but this month the shops are pretty far flung.
I would generally decline today’s distance, but these get automatically assigned. I did one tonight 89 miles round trip. Do you know the only problem with these shops is I feel the need to pack other shops in to my trips, you know, to get the most out of the ‘Paid’ mileage.
I get my time sucked up by the vitamin shop, where I have to casually work up to asking if the cashier is the owner, ya, smooth. Then I go to a cell phone shop where the “Have you heard about….” guy talks to me for 55 minutes, even wthout bringing another associate in to our conversation (thank God).
That sucked the joy out of the mileage…and my soul.

I receive this email: “Subject: WE NEED YOUR CONFIRMATIONS “
So I sCurry to open it; geez, did I foRget to do something for thiS shop???

Nope, turns out the yelling in this subject not only continued in the email, but was only intended for some of the receipients.
Who was it intended for? The shoppers that don’t follow directions - the same shoppers that probably didn’t even confirm after the yelled email.
Who actually got the message? The same shoppers that actually scurried to read it & care what it says that have ALREADY confirmed.
What effective communication this MSP is demonstrating…..

I just reread an email offer from earlier today:
quick serve, ‘gourmet’ coffe shop with a HECK of a name.
Let’s just say it could be offensive to anyone of Hispanic heritage.
Hey, I know I am just bread that didn’t get baked all the way, but whew - that name turned me off & I was going to get PAID to GO THERE.

“… Individuals who spam the list will be banned from it. No exceptions - 1 strike your out policy.”
Do you see it?
No this is not a test for colorblindness…..just one of my pet peeve grammatical errors…..

Random edit from another mystery shopper:

‘Wow, the third word is a typo - so sad.’

Subject: Circle of Service - New website
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 11:50:38 -0400
We are exited and pleased to announce the launch our new website on Friday
October 7th. You will notice small navigational changes and large
improvements in the overall look and feel of the website.

Might those large improvements include spellcheck on their email program?

Intellishop just sent me a duplicate payment from 9/28. Now I do like the cash rolling in, but not when it makes me lose sleep……
I emailed them back & we’ll see what they say. I am sure it will be along the lines of since I am such a superior shopper they felt a bonus was in order. Ya know, what every worker hears on Mondays.

This email from Service Intelligence was posted on MSR:

“As we are all extremely aware, the suffering experienced in the Southeastern United States has been beyond our imaginations. Our hearts go out to those whose lives have been impacted.

As a community comprised of Customer Experience Champions; whether it is on a personal level, client front line oriented, or for society in general, we realize the potential for involvement to increase humanitarian efforts. Service Intelligence is dedicated to going “Above and Beyond”.

How can we help our community in the aftermath? There are many ways, and many of us have already taken valuable action. Whether it is to volunteer our time, donate to various vital organizations, or send needed supplies. I applaud everyone’s contribution to date, as it will make a difference to those in need.

I have spoken with many of our clients who have also been affected. In many cases, the sites are permanently damaged and the staff has been required to relocate. I have been impressed how our corporate citizen partners, amidst all havoc, have demonstrated concern and have taken action to assist those in their community.

Now focusing on our shopper community. We have a wonderful, loyal network of professional shoppers and evaluators who really care about the quality and importance of what they do every month. It is as a community where we find our strength. Although this month it appears we have been weakened, through commitment and dedication we will regain stability. We find that the best use of our resources is to help our fellow community members directly affected as a result of Hurricane Katrina and Rita.

What can we do as the SI community to strengthen ourselves? We have discussed and will be initiating Operation Hand Off (“OHO”). Operation Hand Off (OHO) will directly benefit our valued shoppers in the afflicted areas. Operation Hand Off (OHO) will consist of two fundraising programs, Internal and Shopper oriented donations.

Internally, our staff has been participating in many fundraising efforts. Service Intelligence corporate will match dollar-for-dollar the cash contribution made by our internal staff of champions.

As for our shopper-oriented donation, we are working to create a special “Hurricane Relief Shop” that you can sign up for to add to our fundraising efforts. Service Intelligence will be donating all proceeds raised, directly to the shoppers in the affected areas.

Gordon Edwards, our new Vice President Operations, will be heading up the donation effort at Service Intelligence and you will be hearing from him in the near future. He will be collaborating with Navi Vaid, Operations Manager, and others in our Program Delivery Support team.

I look forward to seeing what all three of us (SI, staff, and SI shoppers) can do for our affected shoppers. Please let me thank you in advance for your generosity. I know that together we can really make a difference in the lives of the SI shopper community.

Thank you SI Champions!

Best regards,

Byron B. McCann
President & CEO

Service Intelligence, Inc.
Champion the Customer Experience™”

I recently accepted an offer from Speedmark to survey hours of fast food restaurants. I had completed these shops previously, but one of the locations was ficticious. The company paid me anyway, which I liked.
When I received their most recent email offer asking me to reshop it did include the non-existant shop again.
When I pulled up the specifics, the list actually said “No Such Location.” The next question I have is, since I reported it last time, even though they are assigning it again - - - will I be paid for this “shop?”

I am a member of Mystery Shopping Central; I was a member of Construct-A-Shop, run by Heather Mitchell, and when they closed Heather refunded my membership and extended me a membership in MS Central. I have been able to look at the program they are running there without any risk and could probably answer questions on it if anyone out there has them.

I recently received a survey request and will post the link here as many of you may wnat to weigh in on some of these items also: https://www.mysteryshoppercentral.com/News.aspx

In the survey I was asked questions about the amount of time I spend on routine MSing function by hours per month. Some innovative ideas came through: hourly rates for shoppers, shoppers bidding on jobs, webcasts with industry experts (I have been interested in podcasting these), and automated invoicing (possible ICA red flag here).

The process of bidding on jobs is facinating I think. Newbies could pruchase experience essentially. Some MS companies could get a good deal, while others would have to increase fees. I wonder what MS Central has up their sleeve on this one….

I would love to get with some one who personally knows the MS professionals to connect me to potential podcast candidates. I admit this has only been a “back burner” idea so far, but this has me excited.

I have used the ole MS Excel spreadsheet for awhile now and might be interested in a program that automatically generates invoices. I can do that myself, but what if they were printed and mailed by someone else x number days after payment due. I would pay for this, a manager for my financial side of the business. I do wonder about MS Central doing it for me, knowing the amount of payment/type of job/company might be an ICA violation.

The survey says the results will be announced September 15th, but I took this on September 18th and I did not notice results. I am sure they are on their way. This could be interesting.

I just read a post about Service Intelligence.
I do not shop for them so this is completely second hand information. But it made me do a double take so you get to read about it now.

“I just received an e-mail from SI regarding Hurricaine Katrina’s impact on their community of shopper’s. The VP also stated that while the gas prices are affecting everyone, SI won’t be able to adjust fees due to the fixed contracts with the clients. “

Is it me or is this slightly Elaine - esque (Seinfeld)?

‘We know it is costing you more to do the same work for us, but we’re going to keep paying you the same amount of money. Just wanted to let you know though….in case you thought we were being ignorant, no, we’re just going to see how much crap the shopper pool can sustain.’

I guess I have avoided the cheap Satan for awhile….I was surprised at the Assignment Report Review after I submitted my last report.
I do like the idea of reading the entire report on one page, so book like, seemingly as if the MS Company thinks my IQ is near 100.

Kudos to the ultimate cheap Mystery Shopping Company!
May you live just long enough to fill out my next route!

Trying out a new company this month, that pays mileage!
Yes, I am back on the mystery shopping roadways. Ban Consult sounds great so far, well, they had me at mileage really. The paperwork comes through the mail, leading me to believe it is a small business, but one that will keep loyal shoppers with a mileage payout!

“From all of us here at xxx to all of you out there” - MS Company
“So from all of us at Aerosmith to all of you out there… ” - Aerosmith, Amazing

This may explain the paltry fee increase “during this difficult time.” The $.50 phone shops are a thing of the past…$1.00 is what they are paying now(again). They were paying that before, but due to the most recent slash they are able to trot this one out again “during this difficult time.”

“…remember, the light at the end of the tunnel may be you, goodnight."- Aerosmith, Amazing
“…we send our warmest regards and best wishes. “-CoRI

I received an email from Evelyn Gledhill at Service Slueths offering extentions on any assignments:

“We know that gas prices are affecting everyone. To try and help our
highest-rated shoppers, we are going to extend the due dates to the middle
of the month for our September shops. We hope that this will allow you
to combine our shops with other shops you may be doing in the same area
or coincide with planned trips. If the due date posted doesn’t quite
fit, please feel free to contact me and we’ll try and work something out.”

While I tried to negotiate with the un HELPful DESK at Shop N Chek to complete an audit they had listed for an area I would be in today, but the shopping window did not start until tomorrow:

“We appreciate the offer, but we do not assign shops here at help desk. If the date you are interested is not offered, we are unable to assist you with a new date.”

I replied asking if a scheduler could be contacted:

“I’m sorry, but the assignment can only be conducted on the dates shown; we cannot add new dates at this time.”

While I was out today I came across a gas station that I was supposed to audit that had no gas! I made the inside purchase (only reimbursed for $.75 and told to pay on debit card, the cashier said I had to purchase more than $1.00 to use a debit card) and she said they had been out of gas since Monday! I called into a scheduler and they told me I would just report it as closed, but Muskegon, MI? No gas?!? When I returned home I now see the company has postponed my other visits until after the holiday weekend.

Here I go again to reschedule & postpone.

Still No Commonsense…
These guys are giving me a complex….
I hate the follow-up call & I got one on a recent cell phone shop. The CSR was bithcy, to the people before me, a about the company to me and then by the sounds of the dispute to the manager that gave her the mystery shop results.
I was memorable because I forgot that this company you have to live within 5 miles of the store location and well, I forgot and gave a real address that I (still) thought would be in the coverage area. So I did blow that.
When the lady from snotty, nasty company got me on the phone she questioned A LOT more though. “The CSR alledges she smiled and waved, that you had your back to her & did not see this.” No that is not true, for the first minute I stood looking at phones where she was in my line of vision (arguing with the guys before me). “The CSR alledges she mentioned blah, blah, blah, however there is no mention of this in your report.” Whatever I wrote in my report is what she mentioned, it isn’t like a week later my memory will improve - hey I already did a mind dump once I hit “Submit.”
But the best part of my interaction with the Stupid Nimrod Company was over the contract and business card submission. This company asks that faxes have the business card/receipt over the contract language thereby only resulting in one page faxed to them (note: the IC has to copy it like that though = -$). In the last year I have simply scanned my business card/receipts on top of the contract and submitted the scan twice online, once for Contract and once for Receipt/business card. Well, for the first time I had it rejected on this same shop.
Co-inky-dink?
By way of comparision the other Contract with business card I submitted that day has been approved…..

Four emails (to unHelpfulDesk) , 3 uploads, two messages and one phone call later I am going to make some mad cash - - - - $12!

As I browsed the FAQs for an answer to these questions and more I found out that my real problem was that I was expecting to make money in exchnge for my observations: “Although a great many shops do have a Shop Fee, the objectives of Mystery Shopping are best served by those who approach doing shops with a spirit of community service and consumer advocacy” well….I never thought of it like that…..here I though this was supposed to be a for-profit venture for ICs.

I searched for other Mystery Shopping Blogs & I let out a big WTF tonight!
Check out my June 20th post on an Audit Job and then chekout the HIGHJACKED version!!!
http://www.get-paid-to-shop.us/alerts/ is where I then find MANY of my posts - can I get a WTF?

They are scraping my blog and putting it on their site….I am just worried that they might be a scam site… I may have to post on Volition to find out…I just hate being scraped!

Remember the shop I did where I lost the pics from my digital camera?
Well, I now own a second media card for that camera (the voice of preparation broke through) and I was feeling pretty, “lesson learned” about the whole thing….
And Then:
I get an email informing me that my report was never submitted. ?!?WHaT?!? Sure enough, the company that makes you download their MS Program , the one with the sample/test shop that you “sync,” did not get my report. I like that they let this go for two weeks, but I am the idiot that apparently had the photo directory screwed up, so I don’t get to say much (But you know I’ll tell you what I think).
Good For Me: I save my narratives to word and just clear them outta the company file when I need the space, or after I do a second similar shop.
Shame on Them: 2 weeks?
Good For Me: I still had the pics (albeit from a pic phone) in my email
Shame on Them: that awful software - did some drunk sevant give them ideas for that thing?
Good For Me: I got on the phone to their “tech support” phone number & got a call back early the next morning.
Shame on Them: The scheduler scolded me and told me she is my tech support. Hey, this lady doesn’t remember the last email I sent her & will only do email - - - I think I’ll talk to a detacted, logical person over the phone thanks though.

Real Lesson Learned? No more shopping for them….Have you figured out which company?

Hi,

My name is Bobbi, and I have done Mystery Shopping for about three years and Merchandising for about one year. I enjoy it very much. I am also a Notary Public.

I live in the Northern San Diego area, so if you have shops here, give me a try!!

Thank you

Bobbi
blondebobbi@yahoo.com

AKA - secretshopper.com
This company is driving me crazy with their feedback, or more precisely, their lack of feedback.
The last five casual dining shops have all resulted in the same feedback:
“Grade 3 Good Audit - thank you.”
What’s really a joke is that I have tried especially hard on the last two to see about bumping the grade up to at least a 4. On their ficticious scale of 1-5 I am destined to be forever a 3. It is even more silly that when I have feedback I need to acknowledge that I have read the feedback, but it is always: “Grade 3 Good Audit - thank you.” Enthralling, I had no idea, I am average, I submitted a good audit, detailed, huh? NO chance for me to ever improve to what these average-crazy editors want, because they never tell me. (Shh, must not tell the shoppper, we’ll just do more work editting than necessary.)
Even Mystique’s elusive ten can be accomplished, but this my friend, this is the Holy Grail of the Mystery Shops - a FIVE from Sights on Service.

Mystique used to be one of the quickest paying MS Co.s around, I still like Spies in Disguise personally.
Lately there have been irregularities in their payments. Throughout this period their SASSIE Shop Log stills reports payment within the 3 days.
I have emailed, I have posted on Volition, on their own board and have not received what I believe to be a satisfacctory response.
Please check out both discussions, or on the Mystique site the lack thereof:
http://www.volition.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17243
http://www.mystiqueshopper.com/forum/m_2953/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#3009

In response to numerous emails sent Friday:

“I have been out on medical leave for 2 weeks and I am trying
desperately to get through about 750 emails.

I am not sure on this project because it started when I was out and I
will need to get with my supervisor about it.”

Now, I realize I am a cynic, but what would have happened if I had sent this to a Mystery Shop Co.?
Anyone ever heard of an ‘out of office’ auto reply?

I have been watching a shop and waiting for the bonus. I had completed this shop once before, on the way to a great paying shop I have not seen again (bummer). I know this is an easy shop, but the distance! 40 miles ONE WAY; figuring mileage at $.40/mile I need to make more than $32 to break even before I fill out the report, etc. I put in a call to the scheduler, doesn’t sound like there is interest, and she asks how much I need to have. I tell her $45 and she says she’ll get back to me.
It is obvious these MS companies are feeling the bind too. How can they sustain $45 shops? Shoppers are travelling less with the gas crunch - in MI the unemployment crunch too - and schedulers must be going crazy!
I almost hope she doesn’t have to call me back…..almost.

Whew! This was a close one, entirely my fault too.
I wanted to try some longer work, so I looked at some audits. more work, more money, good for summer.
Well, I applied to an email that came in as I was at the computer, the scheduler, April frm Intellishop, emailed me back with the link to the training and the fact that I needed to score a certain percentage to complete the job. Well, maybe I rushed, but in my expert opinion the questions were all about vocabulary and not much to do with math. I did not earn the required score. I emailed April right after the test and told her although I did not pass at the required percentage I still was confident I could complete the job. She took a chance on me, woohoo!
I completed the one and am scheduled for three more. I talked to the ediotr that reviewed my work and she had two questions , but then said I should complete more.
Wow, had I just given up when I did not pass the initial test I would have really missed out.

Corporate Research International really impressed me last week.
My SIL & I took a couple of bar shops the night before Thanksgiving. They were next door to each other, but mostly wanted to see if we could pull off two drinking shops. We did, kind of….
I lost the receipt for mine (in the car turns out) and was bummed, but at least she had everything from her shop. I chalked it up to experience. I received a good grade on the shop and concluded that if they didn’t say anything I wouldn’t say anything.
Well, I recently found the receipt under my driver’s seat and half heartedly sent it to the company. I was too embarrassed to ask for payment, but I was hopeful - guess what they paid after 6 mo.!

“…Plus the cost for 2 people to xxx and a xxxx rental, whatever your receipt says we will pay.”
From a recent posting on their board.
Now what’s not to like about a company that puts that in writing?!?

Oh Brother.
I have no idea why, but the thread about the MS Co. that did not pay the promised bonus has been removed…..Why Ray Why?
Six pages that could have warned other shoppers and made the company feel some pressure to do the right thing - gone.

I just read this Volition Post that has me all fired up about that big bonus that I didn’t get paid in March.
Read this first and aren’t YOU angry for this new shopper(s)!?!
Some of the veteran shoppers are a little too far up some scheduler’s behind the way they talk about ’shoppers should realize it was just a mistake.’

FOLKS… PUT DOWN THE CRACK PIPES!

In any other industry the contract would have to be honored - why should Mystery Shopping be so different? Because the MS Companies do not have to look us in the face?

BAD Karma, BAD, BAD Karma!

That’s it, my cover is blown! They have used my picture to advertise Mystery Shopping on Yahoo. If you didn’t catch my picture you can see it here. It is possible you did not know you had to be quiet this attractive to MS - well -that would explain your lack of shops, wouldn’t it?
Actually, I have been meaning to ask you normal shoppers to just quit already so we can get down to the business of the dating service that this advertisement is subliminally promoting.

uploading a picture today and got the message:

“…picture to large, no more than 300kb…”

to? How about TOO people?!? Any betS on how They would respoNd if I used the wrong spelling of a word in my narrative?

Well, I am now living the old adage “if it seems too good to be true….” I was promised a hefty bonus and am now told I am not getting it. I have had numerous email exchanges with the scheduler. I did keep it nice; I love these shops! I am sure she does not like me anymore though.
It is my firm belief she made the offer and is now trying to wiggle out of it. I asked her for the name of whoever was in charge and she gave it to me (after forwarding our emails to him). I sent a certified letter, copies of my paperwork received and a copy of the emails to this person. I have yet to hear from the company.
I suppose I will give them 60 days and then send a copy of my correspondance to NCPMS and MSPA.
I do not want to post the MS Co. name until the situation is resolved one way or another.

I completed two shops 10 and 11 days ago. I submitted them before I went to bed that evening. These shops were 7 and 6 days early. Two weeks later I receive two emails - each on a separate day. I needed to reformat the narrative in my reports. I wasn’t completing any shops at that time so I did not check my email on the day I revceived the first email. The second email WAS CAPS - I WAS BEING YELLED AT! I understand the constraints of a scheduler, I acknowledge I used the improper tense in two sections. However, I turned it in early and it had been the same tense right along - I guess this really is a just-in-time business! Schedulers, NO YELLING, especially at people who have taken care of their work early to help the MS Co..

http://www.marketingendeavors.biz/ has a blog on their web site. The owner, Kimberely, has made some funny posts - I especially liked the one about her “second” wedding in six months!
Blogs like this one would be nice if company leaders posted on them, but not if some random editor berates us for our spell checked phrases that aren’t quiet right. Most companies could not pull this off - the blogging would be delegated to the intern.

In an email reqesting me to sign up in a shopper database:

” THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ASSISTANTS.

SINCERELY, ******** ****** FOUNDER
******* ******** V.P. FROM ***”
Even if I didn’t mind the fact that they YELLED at me through the entire email, would I really want to be associated with a database of shoppers that belong to a group founded and managed by such blatant misspellers?