Someone on the forum recommended a program called CutePDFWriter which I then downloaded to give it a try. I love that thing. It is soooo easy and it's perfect for things like this.

For the OOS item, I simply go to my phone on my Lowe's app, go to Shop>Tools>Drills & Drives>Corded Drills>Sort:Low to High. If the item is in stock, it has the Aisle and Bay numbers highlight-ed(?) in dark blue in two little boxes to the right of the item.

If it is out of stock, there are no Aisle and Bay numbers in dark blue in two little boxes to the right of the item....
For months the second item has been OOS.

Now, I have to quit procrastinating and debrief the two Lowe's shops awaiting me! (I usually get these shops for 20 - 30 bucks and I don't think I have ever spent more than 35 minutes in the store. I hit the Help button after five minutes or go find an associate who either helps me or finds me an associate within another five minutes or so...)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/2015 08:40PM by mike0921.

@cubbiecat wrote:

@TAMLJ wrote:

I would like to know how to put in PDF, on an iPhone to get the security code. To avoid printing 9 pages.

When the printer pops up, all you have to do is print page 1.

You don't even have to do that. Just Control+P the page and it shows on the screen. Cut and paste it into the MS website. No printing required.

For OOS items, I always head to the toilet seats. There is always at least one model that is OOS, and boom! That is just the one I was looking for

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2016 12:09AM by TowerOrchard.

There are still a lot of these shops on the board left over from last month. Now bonused to $25. It seems that the MSC is having trouble filling these, at least in my area. I think I might try one if I find I'm going to be in the area by Wednesday.... Wonder if they'll up that fee permanently by a few dollars, as it seems nobody wants to do them at base rate?

@BirdyC wrote:

There are still a lot of these shops on the board left over from last month. Now bonused to $25. It seems that the MSC is having trouble filling these, at least in my area. I think I might try one if I find I'm going to be in the area by Wednesday.... Wonder if they'll up that fee permanently by a few dollars, as it seems nobody wants to do them at base rate?

It may be a waste of time. I signed up for a bonused Lowe's shop this weekend (with a shop date of today) and went through all the trouble of registering with a new company and jumping through all of their extra hoops like uploading selfies and proof of insurance, emailing back and forth with the scheduler of a *different* company to get my *other site's profile* set up, pushing my entire morning schedule back this morning waiting to be approved. I finally was approved, assigned the shop, and I kid you not, within 5 minutes, sent an email saying my shop had been cancelled. I emailed the scheduler and she said it had just popped up on her end that they were cancelling the remainder and she apologized.

I went on a 60mi roundtrip route for a handful of shops and Lowe's was the real cash nugget of the group. I was already mid-way through my other shops when I got the cancellation, so to say I was frustrated would be mildly accurate. I still made money on the trip, but I went through a whole lot of trouble only to be cancelled in less than 5 minutes after being assigned.

I don't understand why one MSC is selling these shops and then making me register with another MSC??

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2016 05:46PM by brittish.

@brittish wrote:

@BirdyC wrote:

I don't understand why one MSC is selling these shops and then making me register with another MSC??

Are these the shops that are posted with an independent scheduling service for a MSC? If so, the scheduling company is being paid to schedule the shops but the shops actually belong to the MSC and will be reported on the MSC's website, and any shoppers performing the shops will be paid by the MSC not by the scheduling company. The scheduling company is only a scheduling service which schedules shops for multiple MSCs.

I always schedule myself with the originating MSC since I can self-assign myself. The other company is a scheduling company and just tries to fill hard to fill shops at the same price at the originating MSC posts them. Plus the listings of the scheduling company are not up-to-date. At best, it adds a delay to getting assigned. I go directly to the source since it will be reported and paid there anyway.

I did one last month at the end of the month for a $10.50 bonus. I couldn't find anything online that was out of stock so I just went to the store and quickly found an item that had a shelf tag but an empty shelf, and an associate walking through seconds later was able to confirm it was out of stock and checked another store for me. That part went smoothly enough. However, it was kind of a PITA for my main scenario, since I could not get anyone to help me with the hot water heater. The department associate was helping a couple with an item they wanted to purchase. I stood in plain view of him and looked at the hot water heaters for five minutes but he was still busy with the other customers. I then went into the next department and asked for help, only to be told that they didn't know anything about hot water heaters and the department associate was the best person to talk to. I went back to the area and stood there looking at the HWH some more. An associate walking past asked if I needed help, and I asked if he could answer some questions about the hot water heaters. He also told me he didn't know anything about them and pointed over to the department associate stating he was the person I needed to talk to. The associate I was speaking with noted that the conversation between the department associate and the other customers did not appear to be wrapping up. He told me he would be right back. He was gone about five minutes, then returned with a blue vested employee (manager). My guidelines stated to NOT pose my questions to anyone other than an employee in a red vest, but how in the heck was I supposed to say, "Yeah, I've been standing here for 15-20 minutes waiting for help, but I will keep waiting on someone else and don't want you to help me."? I went ahead and asked him my questions and reported it, then let Maritz know all the details about the situation. They accepted my shop, but I was in the store for over 45 minutes including time it took to checkout. Good thing it had the bonus or I would have been REALLY irritated.

@cubbiecat wrote:

@TAMLJ wrote:

I would like to know how to put in PDF, on an iPhone to get the security code. To avoid printing 9 pages.

When the printer pops up, all you have to do is print page 1.

I open the questionnaire in my browser. click File.....Print Preview. The security code will show, and you don't need to print anything. If you want to put this code on your phone, either put it in notepad, take a photo, or take a screenshot of it.

The leftover shops in my area finally got bonused up to $25, but by that time I was laid up with a bad back and wasn't making my usual weekly trip to the town where one of the stores is. I don't know if it ever got done. If they'd had it up at that fee sooner, I'd have done it on my weekly run. And they'd have had it done in a timely fashion! You have to wonder if some (many) MSCs don't understand the old adage about being "penny wise and pound foolish."

I just grabbed one for this weekend 2 miles from my boyfriend's house. It had a $20 bonus (plus the shopper fee and reimbursement) for a total of $33. I was able to self assign it to myself. I guess working nights is great as no one else was up to see it.

I've done two of these shops recently. The OOS portion is a piece of cake and done within minutes. But, for the scenario I ended up with the same employee both times (a month a part). Once in toilets and once in the mosaic tile section. The employee was a total sloth. He literally just stood there and responded to my questions with one liners. Yes or no. I let him slide on the first report. The second report I fully disclosed what a lazy, crappy, associate he was. Had I been a real customer I would have sought out management and lodged a complaint - it was that bad!

They sent the report back to me for clarification once, AFTER I wrote asking why the report was sitting in limbo for two weeks. I think the MSC had sent the report to the company and they had more questions. I answered the questions and the report was then accepted. Had they asked me one more question my response would have been, "Just reject the report, I'm done with it!" That's how negative of an experience it was dealing with this guy. Neither of my shops had a bonus because I picked them early. It was like walking through hell for $12.50.

That being said. I may consider doing another, but only with a hefty bonus. And only at a different location.

@ValG wrote:

I've done two of these shops recently. The OOS portion is a piece of cake and done within minutes. But, for the scenario I ended up with the same employee both times (a month a part). Once in toilets and once in the mosaic tile section. The employee was a total sloth. He literally just stood there and responded to my questions with one liners. Yes or no.

Same here. I had the mosaic tile scenario and the employee looked and sounded bored. He answered with pretty much a grunt or a yes/no response. The report took extra time because I had to explain why he didn't recommend or suggest anything.

I usually resist "letting them slide" as being on the other end it is important to me what happened. I taught all my sales associate and managers that the customer may not seek out a manager to complain. They simply will leave and not come back. Worst kind of advertising!

@ValG wrote:

I've done two of these shops recently. The OOS portion is a piece of cake and done within minutes. But, for the scenario I ended up with the same employee both times (a month a part). Once in toilets and once in the mosaic tile section. The employee was a total sloth. He literally just stood there and responded to my questions with one liners. Yes or no. I let him slide on the first report. The second report I fully disclosed what a lazy, crappy, associate he was. Had I been a real customer I would have sought out management and lodged a complaint - it was that bad!

I had exactly the opposite experience. It took 20 minutes to find someone for the OOS portion, but the guy in mosaic tiles was funny and friendly, and knew a lot about how to do the job well and what it would take.

You are absolutely correct, Deacon. I should have said I would have walked out, because I assure you that is literally what I wanted to do (after sharing with him what a jerk I thought he was). The guy wasn't as bad the first time. Still a lousy employee. But not as bad. On that shop I literally did all I could to make him hit the points that I would be rating him on. That is what I mean by "letting him slide." I simply refused to do that on the second shop with him. I had no interest in setting him up for success. After my second encounter with this guy I really didn't care if he lost his job as a result of my report. He deserves to. Had I been in the store making personal purchases I would have walked away from the guy and insisted someone else helping me. Unfortunately, the employee I had approached to help me with this last scenario dumped me on this guy. I wanted to crawl into a hole at that point. What I found interesting was how that negative report was held up whereas the many others I have completed with this MSC have been processed immediately. That leads me to believe that someone didn't like that I had turned in a negative report.

I have turned in quite a few negative reports, although probably not quite that bad. The store manager may have been questioning it, as he/she should, before taking any action against that employee. I never have a problem with additional questions. I have had some pretty strange shops.

You're right of course, a manager should question it. A manager should "not take action" other than training, unless it is a repeated, security or egregious offense.