Silly Reasons To Dun A Score

Your evaluation of Bank of America: RSNIP for ******* has been reviewed.

Shop Grade : 9

Comments : Please do not use any contractions. Thank you.

Really? I lost a point for using contractions? You gotta be kidding me.

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Been there! I know who you shopped for.

I have heard this before about some MSC's, but never got that feedback, personally. I write how I write. If the sentence sounds fine with the contraction, I use the contraction. If my use of a contraction was the biggest thing I ever had to worry about in any given day, I would be thrilled. As it stands, it is so far down my list that isn't close to being on it. If I get a 9 instead of a 10 for that, I am willing to take the hit.

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“Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling."
~Gilbert K. Chesterton

I usually glance quickly (at least) through their narrative requirements to pick up quirks. (Of course MY writing has no quirks so any deviance must be their quirk

.) But no, I am not likely to get bent out of shape by a contraction hit--though if it was not specified in their narrative requirements it sure tells me something about THEM.

I'm not bent out of shape about it. I find it funny.

A silly reason is better than no reason. Recently, my rating comments were "9/10. This could easily have been a 10". Not bent out of shape, nor am I laughing. Just shaking my head.

Yes, "This might have been a 10 next time, had the editor bothered to give me some feedback as to why it wasn't this time!"

Too funny. I guess I didn't use any contractions when I did that shop.. I got a perfect 10.

Another bank shop I have now done about 20 of... I can tell who the editor is by my score. One editor gives me perfect 10's and just writes, "Thanks!" The other editor gives me a 9 and says, "Minor editing." Makes me wonder what the second editor is catching that the other editor is not. Sure wish I she would tell me exactly WHAT that minor edit is so that I can remember to fix it myself. The company schedules through another company and has no contact information on their website for me to try and get that information. Oh, well.

Maybe it is just somewhere alone the line the "other" editor was told that nothing was ever perfect. So they are going to find a mistake regardless if there is one there or not. At least that is what I chalk it up to.

I'm with Deech on this one. I think some editors are afraid to give out too many 10's or someone thinks they aren't doing their job.

What I find funny is a particular company that my wife and I both shop for.

Gnerally, I do 90% of our reports, because I have more patience for silly forms and report formats than she does.

She has better attention to detail and a better memory than me, so it works out well. We make a good team.

We have one company that we do the same four locations every month. It's a two month cycle, so she does two and I do the other two, the next month we switch.

I write all four reports every time.

Every month, she gets 10's on both of her reports and I get 9's. No explanation, no comment, no feedback. Just 10 for her, and 9 for me.

This has been going on since April of this year. Same 4 shops, same 4 reports, same scores.

I think the editor is hitting on her?

All I could do was shake my head at that one. At least the editor is consistant.

OMG . . . are you implying that editors are not perfect?????

Duh.

Do you write her reports the same as you write yours?

I write all of our reports the same. Same style, write them both in MS Works, same spell checker, same everything.

If having a 9 on all my reports actually cost me money, I would complain, as it is, I just think it's funny.

I feel like writing to the guy and telling him that:
A) She's married, and

She's married to me...

But it's more fun to just laugh.

That is just too weird, JayTee. Only in the world of mystery shopping. I wonder if it is the same editor. :-)

I have no doubt but that there is a 'preconceived notion' at play here, whether it is the same editor doing all the shops or just seeing what a shopper has scored before. It is human nature to forgive small bloops on the 'perfect shopper' or just read the stuff so fast they miss any bloops whereas a 'needs minor edits' shopper will get closer scrutiny. In either case, how long does it take to change a contraction to two words if that is your client's criteria? How long does it take to turn a typoed 'recieved' into 'received'?

Apparently long enough that some don't like to do it. :-)

My fav editor, Meredith at CSA, can overlook my reversed letters. She's a sweetie.

Yes, attitude makes some of them winners. Although I really don't worry much about scores, I truly get annoyed by one editor who always knicks me .2 points so I get a 9.8 whether it is "Excellent! No edits." or "Good. Minor edits." with never any explanation of either.

I did a telephone assignment recently. I was to hide my phone number. I called three times without getting through. On the fourth try, I forgot to do *67 to hide my call. I was startled when the person I had called asked if I wanted such-and-such number to to be the one they keep a record of because it was my real number I was calling from. I said, "Oh, no, I am calling from my mother's house" and gave them the fictitious number provided by the MSP. The call was recorded, and I wouldn't be able to call back and use the same scenario anyway. When I got my score, it was 9. The editor said it was a great call and a great way to explain the phone number, but I was getting a 9 because I didn't use *67. A different MSP probably would have refused to accept the report. I wonder if another shopper would then have been required to call in using the same scenario and personal information?

Definitely a good save, though, in terms of explaining the number. I do most of my phone shops from my cell so I can punch in the number, make sure everything is set up and then have it dial. Makes it easier to call back as well since I can just go back to my outgoing calls and hit it to dial again.

It is pretty important, I think, to use *67 when doing MS without vocazilla or similar, but also when calling places on your own, so as to avoid the unwanted future calls.

We all have the same Tsouris. I really do not care if I get a 9 or a 10. I am rated well enough to get plenty of jobs. There is one company who always rates my work with a 10 except for one editor whom in my humble opinion does not like men. She gives me a 7 every time that a report is one hour late and that is even after I have emailed and advised them that it would be late. This shopping world is full of unfulfilled editors but fortunately, most are normal nice people. It only takes one or two to make things taste badly.

Where do you get these bank shops? Also have you ever had a company ask for a photo ID? Looks like you would loose your anaomity that way.

Some of them do ask for a drivers' license, which helps verify you are who you say you are. Others have an optional photo. Depending on where you are in the country there are different companies that shop different banks. One bank, if not the bank with the most branches in the country is shopped by Bare International. But generally you just need to noodle around the MSPs to find who has the banks in your area. Ath probably has the cheapest bank shops in the business and is probably a good place to attempt your first teller and platform shops because if they don't go well you really won't care much if you aren't working for them further anyway. Ath then also takes a while to pay you. Here it is October and I have not yet been paid for mid August shops done for them. They normally take around 2 months to pay.

I recently did a brokerage house job using an alias. When I arrive at the building, the security guard asked for a picture ID. I told him I just left my office without my handbag. I was carrying an attache case. The Financial Agent had to come down and bring me up to his office. It was sort of embarrasing. Who walks out of their office without their ID.

People running late to an appointment

kittybratt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I recently did a brokerage house job using an
> alias. When I arrive at the building, the
> security guard asked for a picture ID. I told him
> I just left my office without my handbag. I was
> carrying an attache case. The Financial Agent had
> to come down and bring me up to his office. It
> was sort of embarrasing. Who walks out of their
> office without their ID.

I guess the solution is to use a false name for all of your regular day to day stuff. That way, the name on your ID is almost as good as an assumed alias.

Seriously, My initials are, surprisingly enough, J.T. I have gone by the "T" name since I was born, so I have no problem handing someone an ID. It shows the "J" name.

It's as good as an alias, and almost like having a fake ID. :-)

I have only had a few issues. I love when you email a scheduler an issue and do not get a reply. Then the report is reviewed and they email you to clarify the same thing you were trying to contact them for. The you get an 8/10 for having been contacted during the review of the report.

LOL

I always emailed back and would get bumped to a 9/10 after the fact the two times this happened.

Hi,

Well, well, well! I thought that I was the only one this happened to. I had the same experience, but with quotation marks. Please do not use them. So, I made a copy of their test that you took when you signed up. I sent it to their education department. The next thing I knew, she changed my grade to a ten. But you better believe that the very next assignment, I received an 8. I am very close to sending an inquiry as to what her problem might be. I had another assignment with a different person and I got a 10 on that one. She also said Good report. Night and day!

Lynnajoe

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