those doggone CORI tests!

I have been spending about half an hour on one. Can't figure out what I am checking wrong, as everything seems to be right from the video.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2012 06:02AM by 57carol.

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More Discussions About SteriCycle Mystery Shopping (All Companies)

I went through the very same thing. I finally started printing out the tests and then marking the answers as I listed to the video or went through the slideshow. At least they show you which ones are correct so eventually, through process of elimination, I passed them.

It is only worth taking the test if they give you 20 shops. When you divide the number of hours you spent reading the slides and taking the test into the number of shops the money CORI pays for each shop still does not warrant spending the time out of your life.

The tests are only the first shoe to drop. The other shoe is answering the redundant picayune questions on the report and trying to get the narratives into the limited characters when the shop is a disaster. Now you are really limping.

Piled Hip Deep, PHD Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is only worth taking the test if they give you
> 20 shops. When you divide the number of hours you
> spent reading the slides and taking the test into
> the number of shops the money CORI pays for each
> shop still does not warrant spending the time out
> of your life.
>
> The tests are only the first shoe to drop. The
> other shoe is answering the redundant picayune
> questions on the report and trying to get the
> narratives into the limited characters when the
> shop is a disaster. Now you are really limping.

the only reason that i haven't done a shop for CORI yet is because you have to undergo 30-60 minutes of videos/testing before you can get a single $10 shop in your area. by the time that you finish the testing, some other shopper has already snatched all of the available shops in that specific area. then you have to wait another full months for that shop to be available, and there's still no guarantee that you'll even get it. by that time, you've forgotten what you learned in the test and will likely have to watch the videos all over again.

Sounds like shops go like wildfire up in your neck of the woods

I highly recommend using the standard test with the thumbnails. The videos are too long. Then just open the test in another window and answer the questions. Usually the test is only 10 to 20 questions and some can be answered without even looking at the guidelines because they are just SOP.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sounds like shops go like wildfire up in your neck
> of the woods

>

just the few that are well-paid. they seem to pay different fees at different locations for the exact same shops.

> I highly recommend using the standard test with
> the thumbnails. The videos are too long. Then just
> open the test in another window and answer the
> questions. Usually the test is only 10 to 20
> questions and some can be answered without even
> looking at the guidelines because they are just
> SOP.

okay, thanks. i'll just skip the videos before taking the tests.

Well at least you are competing against shoppers who wait for the fees to go up. Commissions are based on what they've gone for in the past, that's why you see the same shop for $4 one place and $30 another. This month a certain big box store was posted a few days ago and people are grabbing them up like candy. So far the highest has only been $9. Since somehow it is based on the average fees from the previous months it will only take a couple of months of this BS to screw up the increases for at least the next 6!

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well at least you are competing against shoppers
> who wait for the fees to go up. Commissions are
> based on what they've gone for in the past, that's
> why you see the same shop for $4 one place and $30
> another. This month a certain big box store was
> posted a few days ago and people are grabbing them
> up like candy. So far the highest has only been
> $9. Since somehow it is based on the average fees
> from the previous months it will only take a
> couple of months of this BS to screw up the
> increases for at least the next 6!

i normally don't take a shop for less than $10, so other shoppers snatch them for $9 before i do.

i've been shopping with companies where the rates don't change. the other companies just offer bonuses if the shops don't get taken. but they don't usually change the basic fees from month to month.

CORI is a different animal in that regard. While others are silly enough to take the jobs at $5 to $9 I just bide my time and make what they do for 5 or 10 jobs with only one

That leaves me time for other higher paying shops or to clean out my basement, which is certainly a better use of my time than working for less than minimum wage!

I could never pass their test for that chain that majors in selling bath, bed and related items.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CORI is a different animal in that regard. While
> others are silly enough to take the jobs at $5 to
> $9 I just bide my time and make what they do for 5
> or 10 jobs with only one

That leaves me time for
> other higher paying shops or to clean out my
> basement, which is certainly a better use of my
> time than working for less than minimum wage!

i've just been narrowing myself down to companies that guarantee at least $10, depending on the shop type. and even at $10, i'll require 2-10 shops for the day.

Arch, you are not missing out on anything there! I tried that job once and it was just too much of a PITA to consider which is kind of unusual for a CORI shop. I don't think they ever get to double digits here so somebody loves them, LOL!

Arch Stanton Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I could never pass their test for that chain that
> majors in selling bath, bed and related items.

they sell beyond bed and bath items.

I managed to pass pretty much all of the tests. And I, too, noticed the difference in pay for some of them. I took 2 of the jobs because I like to eat at the places and it was reim. plus $4. Not much but I was going to be in the area and had to eat anyway.

haven't done a shop for them since they offered a 30 cent bouns on a $3.00 shop, which was typical for them. Now at least $1-2 increase at a time, getting slowly better. To be honest most of the shops don't interest me, unless I'm going by there to fill out my route and after at least two bonus increases,

I just passed that one the other day. I was hung up on an answer, very frustrating! Finally figured it out. I had passed it before but they wiped it all out & you have to redo all the tests. Maybe they change some things and that is why. It would be nice if they gave you hints as to which questions you have wrong!I have done some tests for other MSC and they did give hints. I'm not to sure I really want to do that shop anyway. It does sound like a PITA. But, I passed so I'm ready if I decide to do it.

I am stuck on the same test. By the sounds of it Lisa, it isn't worth taking the test? What was the downer on it. I like the store so thought I would like shopping it also. Each time I get stumped it is on one answer. It is very frustrating when you have everything else right and it is one question holding you up. I start to doubt my answers and then give up for a while.

Lisa you are right about being able to take some of the tests without even going over the guidelines, I have done that but still stumped a few too.

Does anyone know this company. I listened to their spiel and it sounded like a real scam to get $2.95 from potential shoppers. I asked, "You charge me to offer you my services? You hold my check until I reach $50 -- no way!"

LesLeraan, welcome to the forum. Extra Money Zone does indeed sound like a scam. There is no reason for you EVER to pay to get shops. Holding payment until some dollar goal is met is not an acceptable situation and you are indeed wise to be skeptical. More than likely this is an 'affiliate marketing' scheme that will just waste your time and possibly cause further grief. Stay away.

The topic of this thread is Corporate Research International, which is a legitimate, if frustrating, company to work with. They pay on time like clockwork but they require testing for many of their jobs and once you have completed the test you discover the job pays next to nothing. Shoppers do work for them, in part because when no one will take the jobs at bottom of the barrel prices, the fees begin to go up and some very well paying jobs may come out of the whole thing.

Well I typically love CORI. It is my one of my favorites, in part because there are so few offerings in my neck of the woods but they always have something.

Most of the shops I do for them are in the $20-30 range, but in reality at a lower price point they are still worth it as there reports are relatively easy typically.

That said, super frustrated with myself at the moment. I accepted one of their shops requiring the time/date stamp and realized after I got home from 2 on the road I hadn't changed the time date stamp after daylight savings time ended. So even the program I use for these which does slow down the process because the only way I get the time date stamp to show is to screenshot each one wasn't going to work because the time would be off by an hour. And that is one of the few things they will reject for. UGH

I have never used a time date stamp on a photo, Shelly, and I have also never had a photo rejected.

Carol

If you have done certain CORI gas station audits in the last 10 months or so and had reports accepted without the date/time stamp then you must be the only one.

There is one that it says it is absolutely required. One time one missed in my conversion the other dozen or so all had the time/date and it was sent back to me.

Now you don't need to use actual words in the narratives from what I can tell, but missing the time date is bad news.

I had a long back and forth e-mail conversation with someone there and my point was that if they are going to require the time/date stamp, they should find a list of cameras that actually include it or recommend easy to use software. Their response was that other shoppers were finding it on their own, so it wasn't CORI's responsibility.

Never done a gas station shop. I have done other reports that said they wanted a time/date stamp, but they haven't been rejected.

Carol

I didn't want people thinking they could do that audit without one. There was a time when CORI would have worked with the shopper on the issue. I don't know if it's them or the client, but there are no exceptions.

I had not done one for a while. A couple of years ago it was recommended, now it says required. The requirement of the time/date stamp has increased the point at which I am willing to do it because of the extra steps required to get it on the picture.

I am pretty sure it must be the client because when I had an issue with it over the summer they mentioned that the time/date is only required for the pegasus shops, not the dinosaurs.

Here's a tip: you can open up one of the presentations and have the test open at the same time. The hardware store is the only one I can't seem to do it with. That one took days to figure out. The question i was stumped on I could never figure out either. I was randomly guessing until I passed. The tests aren't so bad once you find a loophole to making things easier. Two windows, copy and paste, screen prints, etc. Sometimes the answers are damn near impossible to find in the guidelines/presentations. But honestly, CORI is not that bad.

I just heard of them this month, so it cracks me up they say they are the best in the industry. I have been doing shops on and off for the past 5 years. Everytime I start up again I go on a hunt for new companies to sign on with. This is the third time I've done this, I started up again at the end of January, and I just found them two weeks ago. If they're so great, why have I never heard of them...

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those doggone CORI tests!

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