You know, I posted a bit about this under the politeness goes both ways thread. But getting another message today makes me mad all over again. I think I will not shop for the client anymore as the editor finds something EVERY single time to nit pick about and complain over and want reworded.

It's a local coop natural foods grocery store with a decent fee of $25 reimbursment plus $10 pay. Everything is pretty expensive though, since it is organic, so $35 doesn't go that far, but I digress.

Let's see, in June, I got called for mentioning that the girl working in dairy didn't know the answer to my question. A question was what could be improved. I sugested that since she was young (this is a shop that wants estimated ages and she was a teenager), she could have found a more experienced employee to answer the question that she could not, instead of just saying she didn't know. Oh my goodness! You must NEVER comment on the age of the employee, the client is REALLY STRICT about this, wow, ok. You have to go through "departments" that are no more than one shelf (specialty cheese, etc.) and state how you were greeted, etc. If you say no one was there, you get marked down and must say that your experience was "excellent" if the cheese was nicely arranged.

This month, I was requested to fill in the information on my bagger when I clearly stated that bagger and cashier were the same person. In bagger section, I stated that server Sue had bagged my groceries well. I had to go back and fill out the profile of her age, height, hair, etc., and repeat each thing she had said as a BAGGER which was identical to what she said as a cashier. Parting statement? Yup, "have a good one" just like the cashier stated.

Also, I waxed eloquently about the great service I experienced in dairy where the employee educated me on the popularity of almond, coconut and hemp milk (which I didn't even know existed). I joyfully described in several sentence detail about his friendliness and great eye contact. WRONG! I was told, "It appears that you didn't follow the instructions. A casual conversation does not count. You must ask a question.". Okay, let me rephrase that, "Almond milk is certainly getting popular, isn't it?"

I was told in a rude and abrupt tone that I must redo this IMMEDIATELY. My first thought was to write, "You people are sick," but I restrained myself and carefully redid it, as I didn't want to be out the money for the all organic lightly salted cashews that I probably wouldn't have purchased for myself for over $12. I inquired twice yesterday as to whether that was acceptable. After all, I did reply IMMEDIATELY, but didn't receive my response until today. It was lukewarm, and stated that there was feedback for me on the site that I would have to read before I took another of these shops.

Wow! "Shopper had to be contacted and still didn't make all corrections." (Well, yes, I did, each one that she pointed out to me). She continued as she marked me down, "The espresso bar is a separate department with a separate counter and must be evaluated as such and not part of the deli." I couldn't even see an espresso bar so after I shopped deli, asked that employee where it was. "Right here," was her response. I then noticed a tiny sign that advertised drinks without any counter or anything special, they were making drinks in a back corner of the deli. I'm so disgusted I think I won't take this again. Every time! Thanks for reading.

Yeah, I think it's time to find somewhere else to shop.

I think a lot of these shop instructions are written by people who have never done a shop, the reports are edited by people who have never done a shop, and the shops results reviewed by clients who have never shopped in their own stores.

dspeakes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah, I think it's time to find somewhere else to
> shop.
>
> I think a lot of these shop instructions are
> written by people who have never done a shop, the
> reports are edited by people who have never done a
> shop, and the shops results reviewed by clients
> who have never shopped in their own stores.


thanks for the support.

I think I have done the same client in my area. We don't do dairy or have an espresso bar, but everything else seems the same. Don't feel bad. I have never done one that has not come back with several questions either. No matter how hard I try or how long it takes me to write the report, they always find something.

And while we are on the subject, I am still steaming from an email I received yesterday morning. I did a shop for a company I had not worked with in several month/years/whoknows. I did the shop a week ago Saturday. I read the quidelines, followed them, did my report, submitted it. Yesterday I get an email with 13 numbered corrections to make to my narrative. I did a normal "tell the story, explain the no's" narrative. Obviously they wanted you to comment on every question in the survey. "1. Did the manicurist use your name. If so when and explain" and on and on for 13 questions. If they had told me to comment on all questions I could have done that at the beginning. But going back a week later, even with my notes, it was hard work. Okay rant over. Sorry to hijack your thread.

barbage, maybe you were just reminded why you didn't work for them all that time. That sounds aggravating, to say the least.

(heart)

Sometimes the people who write the instructions/guidelines are not clear. Sometimes the editors who read the guidelines misinterpret even the clear instructions and sometimes the shopper gets left to suffer from the results of the ineptitude of the ms company. Add to that-editors seem unable to glean the facts from the report. Maybe they don't really think as they read the report. Maybe they are too lazy. I don't know for sure. If you-the shopper, clearly statde in your report that cashier and bagger were the SAME person, an intelligent editor would copy and paste if it was truly required for the client to comprehend the report.

barbage

I have shopped the same type of shops many times. I have learnt over the years to just answer every question in order in your narrative, just add in the details of exactly what happened and any quotes that are asked for. I don't spend much time on trivia talk. I might say, we had a brief conversation about the weather.

Wanderwoman

I preform about 6 shops a month with the Check-out, Service Desk, and Proof of ID. These could all be the same person. I usually note this next to the name-Mary-Check-out and Service Desk. I still complete all the questions, in the narrative I state each function. In other words, Mary was standing at the Service Desk, I asked her where the rest room was.
Mary was at the Check-out which is part of the Service Desk. She handled my transaction accurately and efficiently.
Mary was standing at the Check-out, she called over another associate to check my ID.
I was greeted with, "Hi, how are you today?" at the Check Out/Service Desk. etc.
A pain in the butt, I know. The same can go for the deli, Seafood department, and bakery.

57carol Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You know, I posted a bit about this under the
> politeness goes both ways thread. But getting
> another message today makes me mad all over again.
> I think I will not shop for the client anymore as
> the editor finds something EVERY single time to
> nit pick about and complain over and want
> reworded.
>
> It's a local coop natural foods grocery store with
> a decent fee of $25 reimbursment plus $10 pay.
> Everything is pretty expensive though, since it is
> organic, so $35 doesn't go that far, but I
> digress.
>
> Let's see, in June, I got called for mentioning
> that the girl working in dairy didn't know the
> answer to my question. A question was what could
> be improved. I sugested that since she was young
> (this is a shop that wants estimated ages and she
> was a teenager), she could have found a more
> experienced employee to answer the question that
> she could not, instead of just saying she didn't
> know. Oh my goodness! You must NEVER comment on
> the age of the employee, the client is REALLY
> STRICT about this, wow, ok. You have to go through
> "departments" that are no more than one shelf
> (specialty cheese, etc.) and state how you were
> greeted, etc. If you say no one was there, you get
> marked down and must say that your experience was
> "excellent" if the cheese was nicely arranged.
>
> This month, I was requested to fill in the
> information on my bagger when I clearly stated
> that bagger and cashier were the same person. In
> bagger section, I stated that server Sue had
> bagged my groceries well. I had to go back and
> fill out the profile of her age, height, hair,
> etc., and repeat each thing she had said as a
> BAGGER which was identical to what she said as a
> cashier. Parting statement? Yup, "have a good
> one" just like the cashier stated.
>
> Also, I waxed eloquently about the great service I
> experienced in dairy where the employee educated
> me on the popularity of almond, coconut and hemp
> milk (which I didn't even know existed). I
> joyfully described in several sentence detail
> about his friendliness and great eye contact.
> WRONG! I was told, "It appears that you didn't
> follow the instructions. A casual conversation
> does not count. You must ask a question.". Okay,
> let me rephrase that, "Almond milk is certainly
> getting popular, isn't it?"
>
> I was told in a rude and abrupt tone that I must
> redo this IMMEDIATELY. My first thought was to
> write, "You people are sick," but I restrained
> myself and carefully redid it, as I didn't want to
> be out the money for the all organic lightly
> salted cashews that I probably wouldn't have
> purchased for myself for over $12. I inquired
> twice yesterday as to whether that was acceptable.
> After all, I did reply IMMEDIATELY, but didn't
> receive my response until today. It was lukewarm,
> and stated that there was feedback for me on the
> site that I would have to read before I took
> another of these shops.
>
> Wow! "Shopper had to be contacted and still didn't
> make all corrections." (Well, yes, I did, each one
> that she pointed out to me). She continued as she
> marked me down, "The espresso bar is a separate
> department with a separate counter and must be
> evaluated as such and not part of the deli." I
> couldn't even see an espresso bar so after I
> shopped deli, asked that employee where it was.
> "Right here," was her response. I then noticed a
> tiny sign that advertised drinks without any
> counter or anything special, they were making
> drinks in a back corner of the deli. I'm so
> disgusted I think I won't take this again. Every
> time! Thanks for reading.

Hilarious and well written Post! Thanks!

I wouldn't work for them for a while. It's not worth the insults.

Jeez!!!! It sounds horrible. Since the client wasn't mentioned, can you name the msc? I want to be sure NOT to shop for them. Talk about picky!

I don't know the shop so I'm guessing I am not registered with this MSC but I do wish someone could name them so that we all could avoid this MSC like the plague! This sounds even worse than the run around I endured at the hands of Ath Power whom I will no longer shop for.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2014 07:15PM by squireparty.

It's Kinesis, but it seems to be the editor assigned to this client. I have shopped banks, etc., and get 10's and if I get a comment it's something like, "This was an excellent shop." All of that has offf set my shops for this client (and editor) as I still have a 9.6 rating with them.

57carol Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's Kinesis, but it seems to be the editor
> assigned to this client. I have shopped banks,
> etc., and get 10's and if I get a comment it's
> something like, "This was an excellent shop." All
> of that has offf set my shops for this client (and
> editor) as I still have a 9.6 rating with them.


In that case I would still shop the company and just don't do any of her shops.

Some of them, I swear... they put the "anal" in "analysis."

Oh - so surprised to hear editing comments like the above about Kinesis. I love them. Hope everyone just stays away from that particular client/editor because the Kinesis editor I have worked with is great.