I am still very angry

I applied for a shop over a week ago. Never heard anything. I am an Advocate for the Court for Domestic Violence Victims. I was asked to go to court with a Woman that needed our help. I checked my E-mail as soon as I could that day, (yesterday) and I saw that I was accepted for that assignment. Yep, It was do that same day. (yesterday). Oh and it had to be done at a certain time. I would not be out of court and done with the paper work until late. So I could not do the shop. I emailed the scheduler back and told her that if I would have known days sooner I could have done the job. I pretty much told her that it was really stupid to assign a job at 10:07 am that is do that same day, and had to be shopped between 10 am and 3 pm. I am just angry. Oh and I most likely got a flake citation. Not my fault. I do have another life besides shopping. They expect us to complete jobs by their deadline, so why cant they assign jobs in a timely manner to meet our deadlines? Sorry, this case I heard the other day in court, brought back memories and the email just was icing on the cake. OK done venting.

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Sorry this happened. I totally agree that it is annoying when a company takes a long time to assign shops. It makes it difficult to plan a personal life and to set up routes for mystery shopping. You didn't mention which company you applied for a shop with, but if it was a company using the Sassie platform, it is very easy to delete an application when it isn't assigned quickly. Usually, when I apply for a shop and it is not assigned to me within a day or so, I go in and delete my application because I don't feel it will be convenient any longer for me to do the shop. No way am I holding a space open on my calendar for a company that may or may not decide to schedule me for a shop.

Sometimes it helps (or maybe not) to remember that we are the service providers and the mystery shopping company is the customer. Sometimes customers are overly demanding and sometimes they do things we don't really like, but it pays to be polite with your customer even when you believe the customer is wrong, at least if you want to continue to work with that customer. If you are angry enough to deactivate yourself, I guess it doesn't matter that you pretty much told the scheduler how stupid she (he?) was.

Many times the schedulers think we are doing nothing! We have a life and a route already planned most every day. Have had the same thing. Tell us the night before.....

I'm certainly thinking that the head of a certain company should come over to the forum and read what is read about their company because it is right on point at least with regard to one scheduler. I requested a shop for a particular day that was about a week in the future. The day after the one I had requested for performing the shop it got assigned to me. Ok, I could still fit it in. I read the instructions and could not tell which of two of the multiple possible variations was being assigned. I emailed the scheduler during working hours a few hours after I had been assigned the shop. 3 hours later I called the scheduler and left a voice mail. The next day I used the 'Contact' on SASSIE and a few hours after that tried calling the company to speak with anyone and hit the voice mail. The next day I finally got a contact telling me which version of the shop I was to do--and it wasn't my scheduler who contacted me. MY scheduler emailed me the day after I did the first part of the shop repeating the statement made in her initial email, which STILL did not answer my original question. This person should NOT be scheduling and the company needs to know just how much of a black eye they are giving the company.

I consider the MSC's as my business partner. And as a partner, I perform a service for them and they pay me for my services. Most of the time I can self assign shops to fill out my schedule or get an at once response from the MSC. No problem - it becomes a part of my schedule. Sometimes I will ask for a shop with contingencies- an extended date, or a bonus and can not get an at once answer. In this case I do not hold up my schedule waiting for a response, I will continue to plan my days and weeks and if the requested shops come through and I still have time, great. If not, I will decline them. I do not have a problem telling the scheduler that I can no longer accept the shops. In fact, with a company that I do substantial business with,I feel that it strengthens my negotiation position for future shops. No hard feelings, just business.

I deleted three pending applications last night, for shops I that are due Thursday but I could only do today. The guy had 24 hours to assign them, and he knows the deadline as well as anyone.

I needed time to study, in order to do good shops, and until assigned, I could not see the guidelines, for shops I'd never done before. I guess someone else will have them. I need time to plan.

And getting bit by two shops yesterday in which an important detail was not in the guidelines, but WAS in the final online report, didn't help.

I have seen this subject brought up here over and over. To be blunt, what we do or do not do for a living is not relevant. None of us are more important than anyone else. Our commitment to the MSCs is not based on our occupation.

When applying for a assignment, we the shoppers are fully responsible for keeping track of our applications. The MSCs do not provide a flag for us to set to indicate our due date on the type of open request this is about. As a professional, we then determine when to remove pending applications. If a MSC finds an application sitting open, they are right to assume that shopper is available at a moments notice.

Before blame shifting, look in the mirror. Run your business properly, learn each MSCs process for each client ; before, during and after.

My posts are solely based on my opinions and for my entertainment, contact a professional if you need real advice.

When you get in debt you become a slave. - Andrew Jackson

Isaiah, you are exactly right and well said. We all need to keep track of our applications and whether we can still honor them. What works for me is to post each application I make into my schedule as a pending commitment. That helps me remember the applications and keeps me up to date on whether I still actually have that opening. When I realize my plans won't allow me to honor that application, I cancel. At least that's my plan and it usually works.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.

New to this business are you? Respect goes both ways.... I apply. Tell me if it was already assigned. Most companies use an auto respond of such. You do realize the ones that stay as pending we are the back up shopper so the scheduler does not have to re post the offer. They PRESUME our schedules have not changed. You sound like a scheduler not a shopper. What company are you with?

@isaiah58 wrote:

I have seen this subject brought up here over and over. To be blunt, what we do or do not do for a living is not relevant. None of us are more important than anyone else. Our commitment to the MSCs is not based on our occupation.

When applying for a assignment, we the shoppers are fully responsible for keeping track of our applications. The MSCs do not provide a flag for us to set to indicate our due date on the type of open request this is about. As a professional, we then determine when to remove pending applications. If a MSC finds an application sitting open, they are right to assume that shopper is available at a moments notice.

Before blame shifting, look in the mirror. Run your business properly, learn each MSCs process for each client ; before, during and after.

This seems fairly simple to me. If you have pending applications and your schedule changes--regardless of the reason--just cancel the applications for those jobs that haven't been confirmed. Or, if you know about your schedule changes far enough in advance, e-mail your scheduler with a polite, "My schedule has changed, and I may no longer be available for this shop. Would you kindly advise the status of my application?" Then give them 12 or 24 hours, or whatever time frame works, and if you haven't heard back, just delete your application. Or, if you're 100% sure you can no longer do it, then, "My schedule has changed, and I can no longer perform this shop. I have to delete my application, and wanted to let you know right away."

The MSCs don't know if we have other jobs or not, or what our schedules are. While I totally agree that it's not "right" or professional for a scheduler to not confirm in a timely manner, we can choose to wait. Or not wait. We can't force somebody to do something, and why waste so much energy being so angry?

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

@kkdidit2xs wrote:

I applied for a shop over a week ago. Never heard anything. I am an Advocate for the Court for Domestic Violence Victims. I was asked to go to court with a Woman that needed our help. I checked my E-mail as soon as I could that day, (yesterday) and I saw that I was accepted for that assignment. Yep, It was do that same day. (yesterday). Oh and it had to be done at a certain time. I would not be out of court and done with the paper work until late. So I could not do the shop. I emailed the scheduler back and told her that if I would have known days sooner I could have done the job. I pretty much told her that it was really stupid to assign a job at 10:07 am that is do that same day, and had to be shopped between 10 am and 3 pm.

I agree it's frustrating. The best thing to do is what others have said, to delete the application once you realize you can't do it. Since you didn't get that chance and had already had it assigned, you did want you had to do by emailing the scheduler right away to decline. In the future, you may want to give yourself a moment before you hit send, though, if your anger has affected your message.

I agree, I am an idiot. I totally spaced off that I had requested that. I can come up with any excuse in the world, but when it comes right down to it, I should have remembered I should have deleted it. But I get so frustrated with the schedulers that most of the time I do not step back take a moment and think. I have been shopping for the past 15 years. I should have known better.

I've been lax at keeping track of my applications. Most of my shops are either self-assigned, or the scheduler assigns them within a few hours, or I just never hear anything, so it hasn't been necessary so far. But I'm just asking for trouble by not making notes when I apply for stuff, aren't I?

We are all here on earth to help others....What on earth the others are here for I don't know.

--W. H. Auden

I've also forgotten to delete an application on occasion - and that's always the one that gets assigned!

@kkdidit2xs wrote:

I agree, I am an idiot. I totally spaced off that I had requested that. I can come up with any excuse in the world, but when it comes right down to it, I should have remembered I should have deleted it. But I get so frustrated with the schedulers that most of the time I do not step back take a moment and think. I have been shopping for the past 15 years. I should have known better.

I do sympathize with you. I agree it makes no sense to electronically assign a shop to a shopper at the last second. Unfortunately several companies do things this way. If I were a scheduler, I'd call the person first. I would not expect anyone to be available on less than 24 hour notice if only electronically assigning a shop.

My posts are solely based on my opinions and for my entertainment, contact a professional if you need real advice.

When you get in debt you become a slave. - Andrew Jackson

Problem with that, Isaiah is that if you call they are likely to say "no" while if you just drop it in their lap there is a fighting chance they will do it rather than cancel. Likely kkdidit was assigned the shop at the last minute because somebody else cancelled and a phone conversation might well have resulted in a demand for a bonus.

@Flash wrote:

Problem with that, Isaiah is that if you call they are likely to say "no" while if you just drop it in their lap there is a fighting chance they will do it rather than cancel. Likely kkdidit was assigned the shop at the last minute because somebody else cancelled and a phone conversation might well have resulted in a demand for a bonus.

I was just automatically assigned a shop during Thanksgiving week. I called to let them know that I was going out of town the scheduler got mad at me. I'm probably deactivated.

****************

Motivation increases when we assume large responsibilities with a short deadline.

@pammie8223 wrote:

I was just automatically assigned a shop during Thanksgiving week. I called to let them know that I was going out of town the scheduler got mad at me. I'm probably deactivated.

Why would you get deactivated if you were "automatically assigned?"

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

@pammie8223 wrote:

I was just automatically assigned a shop during Thanksgiving week. I called to let them know that I was going out of town the scheduler got mad at me. I'm probably deactivated.

Companies do that? What is the mechanism for automatically assigning shops. Is someone is demanding where you have to be and when to do your work, they are skating on thin ice for a labor violation (assuming you are an independent contractor.)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2015 11:01PM by elynbeth.

Is this Maritz you are talking about, pammie? Maritz auto assigns. When you complete an assignment, one of the last questions is something like "Will you agree to allow us to automatically assign you to this shop in the next round?" If you say yes, you have agreed to allow them to auto assign you. I always say NO. After saying NO, a pop-up box asks me why I said no to auto assign. I always answer that I prefer to make decisions on a each case based on assignment, date, and payment and I am unwilling to be auto assigned.

But apparently there are a lot of shopper who click yes and agree to be auto assigned shops by Maritz. I don't know of any other companies that do this. I certainly can't imagine a company auto assigning a shop to a shopper without that shopper's prior agreement. If anyone knows of a company that auto assigns shops to shoppers without prior agreement, please let us know.

Maritz is great.. I just got an auto assign. I agreed to it and they call when its last minute. I love them. Not happy with Intelli shops. So I wont work for them unless its a fun shop.

You all do realize with few exceptions the ones "pending" have already been assigned.... they are waiting to flakes to go to the back up shoppers. Long ago there use to be a form for that, you are the back up shopper. That is almost gone now.

@op, that reeks. Obviously, you care a great deal about the various responsibilitues in your life.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu

@Tarantado wrote:

@pammie8223 wrote:

I was just automatically assigned a shop during Thanksgiving week. I called to let them know that I was going out of town the scheduler got mad at me. I'm probably deactivated.

Why would you get deactivated if you were "automatically assigned?"

She seemed to be really angry that I wasn't going to be available.

****************

Motivation increases when we assume large responsibilities with a short deadline.

@AustinMom wrote:

Is this Maritz you are talking about, pammie? Maritz auto assigns. When you complete an assignment, one of the last questions is something like "Will you agree to allow us to automatically assign you to this shop in the next round?" If you say yes, you have agreed to allow them to auto assign you. I always say NO. After saying NO, a pop-up box asks me why I said no to auto assign. I always answer that I prefer to make decisions on a each case based on assignment, date, and payment and I am unwilling to be auto assigned.

But apparently there are a lot of shopper who click yes and agree to be auto assigned shops by Maritz. I don't know of any other companies that do this. I certainly can't imagine a company auto assigning a shop to a shopper without that shopper's prior agreement. If anyone knows of a company that auto assigns shops to shoppers without prior agreement, please let us know.

Yes, it's Maritz, I didn't have a problem with the auto assign because I love the shop, and in every other case if I couldn't do it on the date they were glad to reschedule.

****************

Motivation increases when we assume large responsibilities with a short deadline.

I believe that MF has an auto assign option in your profile. Several companies have various forms of offering this.

My posts are solely based on my opinions and for my entertainment, contact a professional if you need real advice.

When you get in debt you become a slave. - Andrew Jackson

And I'm okay with companies having various forms of auto assign, as long as the shoppers who are auto assigned have agreed in advance to be be auto assigned.

@AustinMom wrote:

And I'm okay with companies having various forms of auto assign, as long as the shoppers who are auto assigned have agreed in advance to be be auto assigned.

I agree, I also think that they should not auto assign on the week of Thanksgiving, is it just me or is that kind of unusual planning?

****************

Motivation increases when we assume large responsibilities with a short deadline.

@pammie8223 wrote:

I agree, I also think that they should not auto assign on the week of Thanksgiving, is it just me or is that kind of unusual planning?

You are being totally unrealistic. Everyone should cancel all work for an entire week revolving around a one-day holiday that focuses on eating like pigs and watching football? Not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving. I am sure it is not a favorite holiday of the Native Americans.

Many shoppers love working around a major holiday. We get to pick up all the highly bonused shops that others flake on with the impending end-of-the month soon to follow.

As far as Maritz auto-assigning, YOU agreed to it at the end of your report from the previous rotation. If you did not want to work the entire Thanksgiving week, you should not have agreed to the auto-assign and break your contract with them. They did not randomly pick you out of thin air and assign shops to you. Time for a reality check.

@Sybil2 wrote:

@pammie8223 wrote:

I agree, I also think that they should not auto assign on the week of Thanksgiving, is it just me or is that kind of unusual planning?
You are being totally unrealistic. Everyone should cancel all work for an entire week revolving around a one-day holiday that focuses on eating like pigs and watching football? Not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving. I am sure it is not a favorite holiday of the Native Americans.

Many shoppers love working around a major holiday. We get to pick up all the highly bonused shops that others flake on with the impending end-of-the month soon to follow.

As far as Maritz auto-assigning, YOU agreed to it at the end of your report from the previous rotation. If you did not want to work the entire Thanksgiving week, you should not have agreed to the auto-assign and break your contract with them. They did not randomly pick you out of thin air and assign shops to you. Time for a reality check.

Sorry Missy didn't ask for your opinion, I'm speaking about me. Dang do you always have to have something to say.

****************

Motivation increases when we assume large responsibilities with a short deadline.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2015 02:48AM by pammie8223.

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