Closed Location Guidelines:

If the shop requires only a phone call to determine the location is closed, the Shop Fee will be changed to $3.

If the shop requires a site visit to determine the location is closed, the Shop Fee will be changed to ½ the original amount (or $3, whichever is greater).

If the shop is for reimbursement only and the site is closed, the Shop Fee will be changed to $3.

~~~

"My 2 cents:": Wow, what if this shop was 25 miles away ...in one direction?

$3 bucks won't even cover the gas....

Not knocking MF because they are one of my main bread/butter suppliers...but I am knocking the $3 buck fee!

Whatever happened to the shop fee ONLY and minus the reimbursement, on a location that is CLOSED?

This is why you have to call before you go there

If the shop is 25 miles away and they can't answer the phone when I called, they ain't being shopped.

What I don't understand is why or how come the client does not know his retailer is CLOSED? And as a MSC shouldn't you make it your business, before you schedule a shopper to shop a business, you find out if the BUSINESS even exists?

If your business is CLOSED because of renovations or faulty wiring is one thing but Closed because it is no longer in business is something else.

It seems like the $3 is for keeping us paid, but to travel 25 miles, I rather shop a store that is open.

Agreed! I call ahead but a LOT of places don't answer so I look at hours online which is usually says is okay. I would be pretty disappointed to drive a ways for $3. Heck, I won't even do phone shops for that.

So much of this depends on the Market Force Associate that you negotiate with and whether you are willing to ask for and persue a Supervisor if you feel that you have been wronged or are operating in a "gray" area of their guidelines/mandates. I have found that many of the Associates are operating from manuals that do not allow for deviations.

Market Force does not monitor whether a store is still open or not, nor their hours of operation. Right or wrong, they depend on us for that via pre-call. Unlike many other companies, if the location is not open, despite your pre-call, they will short your pay or try not to pay you at all. Climb that ladder, as your time allows.

I applied and was assigned a well bonused shop about 10 miles from my home (and out of my way thru a congested area in our 8 cylinder SUV) from another company which required a picture of the store front and if closed (which never croosed my mind it would be) a picture of the closed sign. Simple enough. Come to find the location had closed about 4 months prior and another business was in its place. Took picture of location which I submitted with my receipt from the store which leased the space for the location I was to shop. To my surprise, I was only paid I think $5 for it because of this. I later did another shop which was closed and on my way for the same company & was paid at the same rate but I was already aware of the fee. And for another company I did the same for about six months. Didn't understand the theory of having it shopped for so long when it was closed month after month but glad it was on my way

One way to find out if a company is still in business - and they won't answer the phone or the phone is not answered - call the business next door and ask them. They will tell you.

Assuming THAT company answers its phone.....

Somebody will unless the building has been torn down or some other disaster. Of course contacting the Chamber will be a good way to learn if the company is still around.

Only if the company is a chamber member.

txmedia Wrote:
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> Somebody will unless the building has been torn
> down or some other disaster. Of course contacting
> the Chamber will be a good way to learn if the
> company is still around.

txmedia, you missed my point. If the target company doesn't answer their phone and you call the store next door to them, yes, you might find out if the first company is in business but it's also possible the second company won't answer their phone EITHER.

I'll bet 75% of the time I call a company I get a recording, not a human being. So how are you going to ask "is the Supercuts still open next door to you?" if your choices are "press 1 for our store hours, press 2 for our address, press 3 for accounting, press 4 for......" I can guarantee you there will not be a "press 4 to find out if the business next door is open." There can be plenty of reasons other than the building being torn down why the neighboring store might not answer the phone.

Yeah, I once got assigned a shop at a location that had been closed for 10 months. How is that possible?

I just did a shop for them that wound up being closed. Thankfully I had 2 other shops near it that were bonused, but I had really hoped it would be a $60 trip instead of a $43 dollar one. I also had some other shops in the area for other companies for another $40 or so, so the day wasn't a total loss because of this shop, but it was pretty maddening getting told I only get paid $3 for my trouble. I mean shoot, they can't hire someone from their own company to make calls and do research to find out if the place is even open?

Uh, they hired you to do that.

Which is why they are LAME. If they wanted me to check and see if a place was closed, they should have clearly stated that that was the type of assignment this was. I have actually done that for another company in the past. They gave me 10 locations of sub shops that were possibly closed and had me go take pics and say whether they were operating or not. At least they were honest about what I was doing!

Did the closed location have a bonus attached? If so, what happened with the bonus. It seems more companies will pay the full fee than a reduced one and those that pay a reduced fee will usually honor a bonus in it's entirety. The exception to that rule is GFK who also reduces the bonus. Needless to say, I was steamed when that occurred.

I don't think the one I did had a bonus but the other shops I had along with it did. The closed shop offered a $20 gift card to a store that I could have purchased something for my daughter's birthday later on. So yah, it pretty much sucked that now I get a whole whopping 3 bucks.

I had a shop that was bonused from $9 to $30. The store I was supposed to shop was located inside a Meijer store, but otherwise was not affiliated with Meijer in any way. The number listed on my CPI thing (the location number) was also for Meijer. I called the number and spoke to a Meijer employee who could not tell me whether or not this store, within their store was still open. I hung up and called back and got a second Meijer employee who said that they did not think the store was still there, but weren't positive. I was like "could you check, please?" They came back and said that they were fairly certain that the location was closed.

I drove out there anyway, thinking that if the Meijer employee (who did not present themselves confidently) was wrong, then it was my a** on the line. The location was indeed closed. I then had to call the other number on the CPI thing that was given to me in the event that I could not perform the shop for some reason and of course the contact person did not answer. I was told to wait 10 mintues for a call back. He never did call back. I was paid $3 for this endeavor. I also had located a babysitter for my two and one-year-old to be freed up to perform the shop. I was not happy.

I also do not think that I would ever want to call a nearby store to find out if the location I was shopping was in business or not. If the person you speak to is wrong, you are the one held accountable.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2013 07:42PM by Kat_B.

So they did not honor the $21 bonus? That is utter BS.

Nope, they did not honor the $21 bonus at all! Of course I also had to spend 10 minutes or so reporting online that I could not do the shop. So basically, 5 mintues on the phone to call the location ahead of time to verify hours and that store is still open (as suggested by the company). Then the 15 minute drive to the location to verify the store was closed (since I did not have a number to the actual store I was shopping and could not find one online or on the company's website). Not to mention the fact that the Meijer employees I spoke with were anything but helpful. Then making another phone call, waiting at the store location for 10 minutes, and then reporting what happened after I got home. I wasted 40 minutes of my time for $3.
Luckily I did not bother taking the kids to the sitter; I took them with me to Meijer to verify the store was closed. I would have just left and taken them to the sitter if it was open.

I really wish they would think through the amount of time it takes to verify that a location is closed and report what happened, when they come up with this set fee.

Wow, that's terrible. I would be super annoyed at that entire situation.

There is a bank shop that I do regularly here in Canada, where you need to speak to an advisor without an appointment. If you arrive at the bank and no advisor is available - you are still paid $20 instead of the original $30. That, I can handle. In the report you upload a business card and the name of the bank employee who turned you away - and then just report on the cleanliness etc. of the location. 2/3 of a fee in that case is more than fair to me.

If it's a company that does not pay the full fee for a closed shop,
I will not do it unless they will pay the bonus no matter what.
That is non-negotitable with the couple companies I deal with
that have lesser closed fee shops. I don't do shops for worstforce, so
they are not one of the ones I deal with.

FrugalCat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah, I once got assigned a shop at a location
> that had been closed for 10 months. How is that
> possible?


The same as a BIG BOX I got assigned...... that was closed two years ago

But I caught it and notified the Scheduler...

That location actually moved about 3 miles away...

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So they did not honor the $21 bonus? That is utter
> BS.


I would be PO'd if they threw the bonus away too....

I had a shop with a bad address. The address listed had not been good for years. I don't know where the msc got the info but it was old. I did find the location and provide the correct information.

This is why we have to be extremely careful, because a profitable trip can end up costing money if an issue like this arises.

There was a MSC doing a Quizno's shop only on Sundays, paying $15. I recognized one location as one that was closed on Sundays. I contacted the MSC and told them about this. They said they would still pay me $15! Suh-weet. Go there, take 2 pics, upload. Next month, the shop popped up again for $15. Next month, $10. They finally quit at #3.

That said, I had a M/F shop a couple of weeks ago. Called the location that day for their hours. Got there about an hour from closing and the place was lit inside but the door was locked, and no one would come to the door. A security guard passing by told me there was a power outage that hit the entire strip - even the Wal-Mart, which was the only store that reopened when the power came back up. So I'm getting a whopping $3 for the shop.

This is interesting for me. MF took over a company I worked for in the UK called retaileyes. The original company got no end of complaints about fees and queries so its nice ( in a slightly sadistic way ) to see that MF seem to have the same reputation in the US as they have in the UK for fees.

Now tell me, do you get the same stupid proof reading queries on jobs you submit? For example, if the question asks 'were you acknowledged within 2 minutes' and you tick 'no', do you get a query asking to confirm you weren't acknowledged within 2 minutes?

But of course

One time a store was closed. I received full fee. Another time the store was located in another town. Got a partial fee.