At the end of July I did a hotel shop. The shop went well, I woke up the next morning with only breakfast and a lobby photo to get before I left. I went to breakfast, came back to my room, and wasn't able to get in. I returned to the lobby and had a new key made. That one also did not work and I returned to the lobby yet again. This time the manager accompanied me to the room with his all acess key. Neither key would work and it was figured out that the battery in the door lock was bad. I sat outside my room for 30 minutes before they were able to get me in. By this time I was running late for a shop that I only had a 20 minute window for. I was able to make the shop (barely) but in my haste I forgot to take the lobby photo on the way out the door. The MSC requested that I go ahead and report the shop and they would see if it got accepted. I have since done several shops for the same MSC/client that have already been refunded. I emailed the scheduler on Tuesday and again today but she has so far been unable to get an update on the shop. Besides the obvious of "get the photo," what would you have done/do? Had it not been a shop I would have demanded a refund. If the shop is ultimately rejected should I still attempt to do that? Should I have done that even if it was a shop? Should I fight with the MSC to get the shop accepted if it is rejected? Or should I just chalk it up to @#$%& happens and it's just a cost of doing business? Or something entirely different?

Was it close enough to the next one that you could go back after the 20 minute shop to get the lobby pic?

I would have gone back and taken the lobby photo but if it was too late and you were too far away then there's absolutely nothing you can do. As you said, chalk it up to s**t happens.

Yes, in your distraction and haste you did not finish the shop requirements, so if it is not accepted it goes to the 's**t happens' department. We always are at risk when the money is out of our pocket.

Agree with the above posters, stuff just happens sometimes.

I don't think a 30 minute wait to get the door battery changed is cause to refund a hotel stay. Maybe cause for a well written complaint and a request for courtesy bonus points though, assuming this hotel has a points currency.

And I suppose I wouldn't schedule a time sensitive shop immediately following a hotel shop in the future. Sounds like an invitation for things to go wrong. If the schedule is that tight to begin with, I'd have done everything possible the night before including the lobby photo.

Going back was not an option. Getting the lobby pic before walking out the door was also not an option as the hotel layout made it difficult to get discreetly.

I stay in a lot of 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed type hotels that would have not thought about charging me in the first place. I understand the tricks about going back to get the photo. Perhaps I didn't explain myself too well. I'm more interested in what I should have done regarding the problem should I have complained at check out (no time for that though). Waited to see if the shop was accepted? My chalk it up to @#$%& happens was more in relation to sometimes things happen on shops and you really can't @#$%& about it bexause you're on a shop.

bgriffin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Going back was not an option. Getting the lobby
> pic before walking out the door was also not an
> option as the hotel layout made it difficult to
> get discreetly.
>
> I stay in a lot of 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
> type hotels that would have not thought about
> charging me in the first place. I understand the
> tricks about going back to get the photo. Perhaps
> I didn't explain myself too well. I'm more
> interested in what I should have done regarding
> the problem should I have complained at check out
> (no time for that though). Waited to see if the
> shop was accepted? My chalk it up to @#$%& happens
> was more in relation to sometimes things happen on
> shops and you really can't @#$%& about it bexause
> you're on a shop.


Unless it was specifically prohibited in the shop guidelines, I see nothing wrong with expressing your disappointment at checkout. I would not spend a lot of time arguing though, not wanting the situation to be too memorable.

For those midline chains with 100% guarantees, it normally requires bringing up the issue while on site to make the claim so I'd say you're out of luck on that front at this time. But why not at least try for a goodwill gesture of hotel points?

And again, I don't understand scheduling such a time-unflexible shop immediately after hotel checkout. That would be the number one thing I would have done differently in this situation.

saacman5033 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And again, I don't understand scheduling such a
> time-unflexible shop immediately after hotel
> checkout. That would be the number one thing I
> would have done differently in this situation.


What do you not understand about it? Not stay in a hotel and instead sleep in my car in the parking lot?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2014 11:52PM by bgriffin.

I think he meant not schedule the next shop so close to your planned checkout time of the hotel. Because sometimes sh!t happens.

My planned check out time was 30 minutes before my first shop. Had my first shop been scheduled at noon I would have checked out at 11:30. If my first shop had been 6:00am I would have checked out at 5:30. I'm not sure what it hard to understand about that.

As with any small business with one-on-one interactions, we plan/schedule appointments leaving a reasonable amount of time between one and the next, in case things go a few minutes behind. Time is money, and sometimes tight windows happen. 30 minutes is more than reasonable to check out, take a photo, and make it to another appointment. BGriffin had no way of possibly knowing that their door electronics would go bad. That's a highly abnormal situation.

If we were to schedule all shops with huge allotments of time in between, on the off chance that a highly abnormal situation may happen, route shopping would largely consist of twiddling our thumbs waiting to perform the next shop. Sh!t happens, but it doesnt happen often enough to miss out on money/opportunities the other 99.7% of time that sh!t doesn't happen.

I would not complain. I don't see this as a complaint worthy happening. You had a problem, they fixed it, incident is over. Even with the 100% satisfaction, I would not have said anything. Now, if they said that it's going to be 4 hours or they ignored you, ok, but 30 minutes to get someone there and have the lock fixed is pretty reasonable in my book.

As for the other shop, what shops only have a 20 minute window to get them done?? I've never seen anything with that tight of a schedule. I wouldn't take a shop like that because stuff happens....I was on the way to a shop the other day and there was a huge semi accident-one semi was on fire--backed up traffic for miles...I wasn't under any time constraints but if I has a 20 minute window, I would have missed that...

1. Call the business next door. "Hi. I need a cell phone photo of the lobby of the hotel next door. I'll send you $20 bucks via paypal, in advance."
2. Pull a photo off Google images. Skew, resize, crop, and darken.

If this is for the MSC I think it's for, it says to take the picture discreetly. However, it also says that if you have to choose between being discreet and following the instructions, it says to take the picture.

Okay, this is what OP actually asked us:

"Besides the obvious of "get the photo," what would you have done/do? Had it not been a shop I would have demanded a refund. If the shop is ultimately rejected should I still attempt to do that? Should I have done that even if it was a shop? Should I fight with the MSC to get the shop accepted if it is rejected? Or should I just chalk it up to @#$%& happens and it's just a cost of doing business? Or something entirely different?"


I think we've been focusing on the "get the photo" aspect. The only thing different time management might have accomplished would have been to give him the time to get the photo he forgot while rushing to leave.

So, my thoughts about what you actually asked: If the shop is rejected I would argue to at least get the room reimbursed, because that would have been granted to any guest who might have missed an important meeting because of being essentially held hostage by the hotel due to the lock problem. So it is reasonable to expect and demand at least reimbursement for the room.

If the MSC won't reimburse the room, then, assuming you're willing not to work for them again, I would say it's fair game to write a letter to the hotel's corporate headquarters and say something along the lines of "Due to the lock problem, I was unable to complete a job I had to do and as a result of not completing the job, my client (the MSC is your client) refused to reimburse my room expenses. I don't think I should be out the cost of the room because your lock failed, so I would appreciate a reversal of the room charge." This does not reveal you are a mystery shopper, is the truth for the most part, and is a reasonable request that most hotels should willingly grant with their apologies.

That's what I think I would do, but balance that against any future work with that MSC because contacting the client directly is generally a no-no. But in the case of a rejected shop, at that point you're not really a mystery shopper any more, you're a dissatisfied customer.

You can mention, to explain the time lag in asking, that your expense check just came with that item unpaid, and that you had hoped they would reimburse it anyway since it wasn't your fault you couldn't leave the hotel on time.

It's a fine line here, but these are extenuating circumstances that threw you off your game. Pity you didn't slip down to the lobby during the incident and get a pic with your cell phone, but I can understand not thinking about that in the stress of the moment. (Hindsight is 20-20. I once had a shop that was derailed by the employee, causing me to make a fatal error. I realized later I should have done something differently but I didn't have time to "think outside the box"; I was lucky the MSC accepted my logic and paid me, although they have blocked me from that particular shop since.)

Anyway, maybe this would be something to think about trying if they spike the shop. I still hope they pay you. One small error in a shop with unexpected turmoil should not be enough to kill the shop. I'm sure they know what their own lobby looks like.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2014 04:48PM by dspeakes.

I never schedule any shops until later afternoon when doing a hotel shop, because I want to allow check-out time, the drive home and (if unable to do part of the report, due to faulty hotel internet) I allow time to get home and do the report. They are usually lengthy and require pictures.

I would never, ever schedule a shop so close to another shop "if" it's a hotel shop.

That's my personal rule and I stick with it

If the hotel is near where you are doing the next shop, you would wait in the hotel until it is time to go on to the next job. You wouldn't check out an hour early and sit in your car. This is not a scheduling problem, and the OP has explained that. Even I feel frustrated at this point. :-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2014 05:31PM by Bayberry.

Some of the suggestions were not an option. B is on a major route so scheduling shops in the afternoon would be foolish, preventing him from completing the number required, and going back would have thrown off the day. The 20 minute window is confusing because it was not 20 minutes to complete the next shop. The shop involved an appointment with a 20 minute window to arrive, 10 minutes before the appointment up until 10 minutes after.

this is why I never do hotel shops on long route shops, ever.
Too many variables when tight schedules don't allow for them.

bg -
Besides the obvious, nothing more could have been done. I can't imagine an MSC abiding by a shopper demanding a refund during a shop, pretty much ever, if it's not part of the script.
At this point, I'd wait out the MSC to see if you get paid, with periodic follow-up as you've been doing.
Get paid, problem solved.
No pay? Argue gently with the MSC, letting them know you'd do the same for them (keep your obligation to the post-check-out shop) if theirs was the next shop.
Still no pay? Ask the MSC's permission to pursue a refund with the client. dspeakes offers a good strategy there.
No permission? Then, yeah, sh!t happens, and you've maintained a good working relationship with the MSC for the sake of future income.

So where do you sleep?

techman01 Wrote:
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> this is why I never do hotel shops on long route
> shops, ever.
> Too many variables when tight schedules don't
> allow for them.

I think I am bringing up an option that has not been mentioned yet. As professional people, I understand that we never want to "flake" out on a shop. And I have no idea how much bgriffin was being paid for the "20-minute window shop." I would think the loss of a hotel shop reimbursement (room, food, bar, valet, tips, etc.) would outweigh the cost of the other shop. If I had to choose between staying at the hotel for a few more minutes to get the required photo or cancelling out on the following shop, I would do the latter.

I would contact the scheduler for that "20-minute window shop" and explain the situation right away. Maybe, just maybe, the scheduler could have given him a new 20-minute window close to the original time frame. You never know unless you ask. And since bgriffin is on a major route, I understand that rescheduling would not be an option. Sometimes you have to make hard choices in life and I would have chosen to lose out of the less expensive job.

Some shoppers choose to pay out-of-pocket for their hotels and write it off as a business expense on their taxes. That way they get a good night's sleep without the stress of timings, performing scenarios, writing a report, etc. Their focus is on the route itself.

I believe techman has mentioned that he does not perform restaurant shops while on the road. Correct me if I am wrong.

S2L, I think the OP forgot to take the photo, due to the door lock fiasco, so I don't believe there was an either/or option on the table.

(heart)

@dspeakes - yes, thank you. Those were kind of the options I was thinking about and the course of action I was considering, except I was just going to tell them I missed an appointment which cost me income and would appreciate a reversal. Basically taking the MS aspect and the MSC out of the picture. I agree if the shop is rejected I have reverted back to a dissatisfied customer and not a mystery shopper. I don't think this goes against the "do not contact the client" rule.

@Bayberry - YES! The next shop was 1/2 a mile down the road. I allowed over 30 minutes of time to get there. This was not anything close to a time management issue.

@S2L - missing the other shop would have been more costly than the hotel shop was worth. The scheduler did not set the window I did, but once the window is set, there's no changing it unless I wanted to move it to the end of the route when I'm 1000 miles away.

I understand not doing hotel shops on routes. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. This route I ended up with 9 or 10 hotel shops. That's an extra ~$1000 in profit for the trip. Not something to sneeze at.

If it doesn't get approved, just write it off as a business expense, if you want to maintain a good relationship with the MSC, and don't want the hassle of contacting corporate.

But because of the door lock fiasco, it put him behind schedule causing stress. Stress caused him to forget a critical part of the shop. I don't believe bgriffin said how soon after leaving the hotel he remembered that he forgot to take the required photo. If I happen to forget something, I usually seem to remember it as soon as I start driving. I would have chosen to skip the next shop if it was a low-paying shop compared to the hotel shop, turn the car around and take the hotel photo.

And like I said above, I would have contacted the scheduler for the "20-minute window shop" as soon as possible. But like many others have mentioned, I would not have scheduled another shop so close to completing a hotel shop. There are way too many variables with hotel shops.

I have not had a hotel shop ever rejected but I did run into a problem one time during a high-end restaurant shop. I don't have time to get into the details now but ultimately the MSC accepted the report but the client did not. I used the loss as a learning experience but I still got a great meal out of it. And I was still able to write the cost off as a business expense on my taxes.

Looks like some of us cross-posted. bgriffin, if the second shop was the bigger monetary loss, you made the right decision.

That's the great thing about MS as a business. Everyone builds and operates their own in a way that works for them.