Hi,
I did an entertainment industry shop for a company, which has many entertainments like a museum, bowling etc.
A few years ago, I did a bowling shop with them, which was, graded badly. I did not care much because I was not very serious or I did not know the consequences and did not follow up. From my side, it was not a bad report.
This month I was requesting a shop that the scheduler kept hanging until she could not find anyone and then one fine morning she called me and discussed the last shop. I tried to explain that I did not miss anything but it was miss communication between scheduler and editor. I could not comment on grammar since it was a long time ago. She was nice, understood my points and the shop was assigned.
I completed the shop on time and submitted a good report. It was graded 82% and the editor commented about bad grammar adding “extensive” editing was required. I emailed back to the scheduler to further explain and show what kind of extensive grammar editing was required so that I will be aware next time but NO response. 3 days has been passed.
I like this company and the projects they have but I just cannot understand this attitude. Is it not my right to compare report? I can post the whole report on this forum but do not want to bore you people.
How do you people deal with such companies? Suggestions please

ps: if it is not a violation I can name the company.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2016 04:36AM by Borncutemom.

First, do NOT post your report here. It belongs to the company that paid you for it so it is not yours to repost.

It is not unusual for a shopper not to 'click' with a particular MSC for any of a number of reasons. Most of the time the best bet is to move on rather than bang your head against the wall.

It is not a violation to name the company. It would be a major violation to share the report with anyone or to post it on an internet forum.

Regardless of what company it is, you do not really have a "right" to insist that the company grade your report and tell you exactly what changes they were required to make. While it would be a good learning experience and might help you improve your performance, it would be time-consuming for the scheduler and editor and probably not extremely beneficial for them.

I do not mean to be critical, but you have asked for opinions and suggestions. Based on your fairly short post above, I see many glaring errors. If an editor were to edit your post, I think extensive editing would be required. We have forum members who are outstanding editors. Birdy and JASFLALMT come to mind. Would it help for one of them to edit your post as an example of the necessary grammar changes?

@Borncutemom wrote:

I emailed back to the scheduler to further explain and show what kind of extensive grammar editing was required so that I will be aware next time but NO response. 3 days has been passed.

I've been told by a few MSCs that their editors aren't allowed to get into any specific discussion with shoppers regarding the corrections the editor had to make. I assume it's to avoid the arguments that surely would take place and which would take up everyone's time. So, please don't take it personally or get in a huff because your request wasn't honored. It may just be a matter of policy.

As AustinMom points out, there are many errors in your post. Maybe this is just your informal posting style, and your report was written differently. But if your post here reflects the writing in your report, I understand the need for extensive editing. I'm not trying to be mean, but am trying to help you see things from another point of view. If you'd like to message me privately, I'd be happy to help if I can!

Thanks for the nice compliment AM. BCM, PM me if your like. I'll try to help the best I can. Try some online resources for grammar help as well.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Try some online resources for grammar help as well.

That's an excellent suggestion. There are some very good online resources (some are not so good, but some are great). I have one that I use all the time. It's the Purdue Online Writing Lab (the OWL): [owl.english.purdue.edu]

A person can look up just about anything to do with grammar, punctuation, and usage. The OWL pulls from many widely accepted resources, and the information is generally spot on.

That one's my favorite as well. I'm on my phone and didn't have quick access to any links. Thanks Birdy!

I appreciate your valuable input.
You guys are missing 1 thing I write forum posts free style but for reports I proof read.
I will definetely use PM option taking this offer .

Wanted to rant here. Thanks everyone.

Borncutemom, you have a great attitude. You evidence a willingness to learn.

Best of luck to you.

I do have a couple suggestions: try to work for companies whose reports are not narrative heavy.
And two, take the forum members up on their kind offers to help.

When you must write, use simple, declarative sentences.

I hope you know we weren't assuming you don't proof your work for shops. I am pretty loose in the forum as well and make typos sometimes. I don't always edit my errors in here. We all make mistakes from time to time. I still have to reference websites like Purdue occasionally. Cease gave great advice about writing simple sentences. Most MSCs prefer that.

I shop for this company and don't always get 100%. 82% is not going to keep you from getting another shop with them unless you are competing with someone whose average is in the 90s. Approaching the scheduler in a defensive manner, though, will.

Not too long ago I had a shop where the editor was, frankly, brutal. I found her criticism wholly unfair and unjust, and suspect it was retaliatory for interrupting her dinner out with a question about the shop. Sometimes there is just no viable recourse and, as Flash wrote, you have to move on. They're human and therefore imperfect. Some are more imperfect than others.

If you really want to continue to shop for them and have reread your saved report to make certain it isn't full of errors, contact the owner. He is responsive and fair. That said, I'm betting that it's more to his benefit to side with the editor unless she has made egregious errors.

Of course, we all have been in a situation, I'd guess, in which it is the editor who has made errors. Such as changing something that was right to something that is wrong! But I think I know which company is being referenced here, and their editors seem to be well spoken (written), not people who don't know what they're doing. But I haven't done enough with them to know for sure; that's just my impression based on the few shops I've done.

@Borncutemom wrote:

Hi,
I did an entertainment industry shop for a company, which has many entertainments like museum, bowling etc.
Few years ago, I did a bowling shop with them, which was, graded bad. I did not care much because I was not very serious or I did not know the consequences and did not follow up. From my side it was not a bad report.
This month I was requesting a shop that the scheduler kept hanging until she could not find anyone and then one fine morning she called me and discussed last shop. I tried to explain that I did not miss anything but it was miss communication between scheduler and editor. I could not comment on grammar since it was long time ago. She was nice, understood my points and the shop was assigned.
I completed the shop on time and submitted a good report. It was graded 82% and the editor commented about bad grammar adding “extensive” editing was required. I emailed back to the scheduler to further explain and show what kind of extensive grammar editing was required so that I will be aware next time but NO response. 3 days has been passed.
I like this company and the projects they have but I just cannot understand this attitude. Is it not my right to compare report? I can post the whole report on this forum but do not want to bore you people.
How do you people deal with such companies? Suggestions please

ps: if it is not a violation I can name the company.

Aside from using reference guides, I have the free Grammarly. It is very good at giving me a heads up.

@BirdyC wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Try some online resources for grammar help as well.

That's an excellent suggestion. There are some very good online resources (some are not so good, but some are great). I have one that I use all the time. It's the Purdue Online Writing Lab (the OWL): [owl.english.purdue.edu]

A person can look up just about anything to do with grammar, punctuation, and usage. The OWL pulls from many widely accepted resources, and the information is generally spot on.

Thank you BirdyC for posting the link. I will try to remember it's there, because I need all the help I can get!

When you click on grade catagories, it shows you where and how you could have lost points.
I have 18 shops with this MSC. I have 15 x 100% and 3 x 94%. Try to do a great job on your next shop. I think that you need to bump up your average.

I am just assuming, but I don't think that the editors get paid a lot. They probably don't want to tutor you for free. If I was getting $5 a report (just a guess), I wouldn't want to either.

@SoCalMama wrote:

If I was getting $5 a report (just a guess), I wouldn't want to either.

That explains a lot. If I was getting $5, I wouldn't want to do more than run spellcheck.

@PasswordNotFound wrote:

@SoCalMama wrote:

If I was getting $5 a report (just a guess), I wouldn't want to either.

That explains a lot. If I was getting $5, I wouldn't want to do more than run spellcheck.

Shut the front door! If I was getting $5 to edit my shops I'd be all in as an editor. I think they get whole lot less, for a ton of grief.

No, it is about $5 a shop, but the problem is that sometimes shoppers don't provide all the necessary information in the report. And, it could take several emails to get all of the necessary information because some shoppers will read one question in an email and respond to that, but will not respond to the other four questions in the email because they didn't read it. If their report writing is bad just imagine how bad their reading comprehension might be. Or, a shop report will be so badly written that it takes well over an hour to edit it. Though technically the editor might get $5 per report, it averages out to about $3 per hour or sometimes less. And the head of the editing staff and editors with seniority are likely taking all of the easy reports from the shoppers who are great writers and passing off the crap reports to newbies. I tried doing it for two different MSCs. The first one was ACL and those were okay, but I just couldn't commit to the time they wanted me to spend chained to my desk each week. The second MSC was Ardent. If you thought writing those long reports back in the day was hard, just imagine trying to edit one of them! At $5 per report when it might take 2-3 hours to edit, or longer when having to wait several days for a shopper who doesn't read their emails often to finally get back with me. I am so glad I quit.

Edited for typos, LOL!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2016 12:10AM by JASFLALMT.

JASFLAMT
Thanks so much I appreciate your input.
This forum is really helpful, Kudos!!

@SoCalMama wrote:

I am just assuming, but I don't think that the editors get paid a lot. They probably don't want to tutor you for free. If I was getting $5 a report (just a guess), I wouldn't want to either.

That might have been part of my problem. I was always willing to tutor and point out to shoppers how they could do better, which was time consuming in itself. The problem is that the majority of people are not good at accepting constructive criticism and get very defensive. Sigh.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2016 01:12AM by JASFLALMT.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

The problem is that the majority of people are not good at accepting constructive criticism and get very defensive. Sigh.

^^This^^

Decades ago, back when AOL was the industry leader, I worked in the Academic Assistance Center. It was amazing to see papers with such limited understanding of grammar from people whose first language was English. It was also distressing to have a 15-year old argue that “gonna” and “alot” were perfectly acceptable words for a formal paper.

I know! I know someone who actually has a good job and seems fairly intelligent who spells probably as prolly, Wednesday as Wensday, and specifically as pacificly. Really.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

No, it is about $5 a shop, but the problem is that sometimes shoppers don't provide all the necessary information in the report. And, it could take several emails to get all of the necessary information because some shoppers will read one question in an email and respond to that, but will not respond to the other four questions in the email because they didn't read it. If their report writing is bad just imagine how bad their reading comprehension might be. Or, a shop report will be so badly written that it takes well over an hour to edit it. Though technically the editor might get $5 per report, it averages out to about $3 per hour or sometimes less. And the head of the editing staff and editors with seniority are likely taking all of the easy reports from the shoppers who are great writers and passing off the crap reports to newbies. I tried doing it for two different MSCs. The first one was ACL and those were okay, but I just couldn't commit to the time they wanted me to spend chained to my desk each week. The second MSC was Ardent. If you thought writing those long reports back in the day was hard, just imagine trying to edit one of them! At $5 per report when it might take 2-3 hours to edit, or longer when having to wait several days for a shopper who doesn't read their emails often to finally get back with me. I am so glad I quit.

Edited for typos, LOL!

Thank you for your insider view.

I rarely get called out by an editor; how that happens is beyond me. My grasp of written grammar is abysmal.

If someone has poor writing skills, BirdyC provided a link for a free excellent resource. Another member mentioned the free version of Grammarly. Writing narratives in Word is a great way to help with narratives.

Submitting a poorly written report and blaming on it the editors is wrong.

This is a business that directly reflects on your personal sense of responsibility and ethics. If you want to slide under the radar with sub par reports, go with God. Don't cry crocodile tears when the MSC shuts you down for a poorly written report. There are people out there, who pull this beeswax and are the reason why MSing has a reputation of scamming. Do your job according to the guidelines. If you encounter problems, contact your scheduler. Scheduler not available, start working up the feed chain of the MSC. It ain't that hard to find phone numbers and email addresses. There is someone who is paying or denying pay.

Would it be fabulous to get a copy of the edits the editors make to a report, Heck Yeah! Is it ever going to happen, probably not.

I apologize if I'm coming off, harsh, I'm slightly bent. I've spent an entire week trying to fix a shop that except for one lousy picture I did correctly according to the guidelines. This was one shop I really wished there were more narratives for a few certain questions.



The only thing shoppers, editors and schedulers can do is perform their specific jobs according to their guidelines.

My advise, shake it off and then shop till you drop.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I know! I know someone who actually has a good job and seems fairly intelligent who spells probably as prolly, Wednesday as Wensday, and specifically as pacificly. Really.

Welcome to my world! My niece has a tutor for English. The reason isn't because she's fluently multilingual. It's because she texts.

I would love to help her, but I'm useless because I just don't get it. Never could grasp the idea of a dangling participle. So my reports read Jane hit the ball, Jack caught the ball.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

The problem is that the majority of people are not good at accepting constructive criticism and get very defensive. Sigh.

And that's why, I assume, many MSCs won't let editors and shoppers communicate directly. Too much potential for time-consuming conflict.

As a writer, I don't mind being edited by a competent editor. It's hard to edit one's own work, and if I do something wrong, I want to know so that I can fix it! But I do get annoyed when editors fix something that was already correct--as far as grammar goes. I understand that they have to edit if something should be worded differently for the client. I especially hate it when I get notes from an editor about errors, and the note is filled with grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors! That editor isn't credible, in my mind.

One company I shop for usually has this note for feedback on my shops: "Thanks for the detailed report Birdy." (What's a report Birdy?) Aauugghh. This month, I got: "Thanks for the great report, Birdy." I did the happy dance at the inclusion of the required comma! What does it matter, you might ask. Well, if I get corrected by editor A, I'm not going to put much stock in a comment that claims I made grammar errors. But, if editor B says I made some, I'm willing to accept that. In other words, don't be the pot calling the kettle black!

OP: I hope you take this the right way. Some people write very well and some ....not so much. I think I fall in the middle. There are members here that write beautifully! I think writing is a skill. Some people can't spell if their life depended on it (ex boyfriend comes to mind). May I suggest a writing course? Where someone is correcting your work? My English teacher used to grade my papers and make great comments, cross out incorrect words and give me positive feedback for future improvements.

In all honesty, being a mystery shopping requires you to write fairly well and some of us (including me) could benefit from a writing course.

I've read several ideas and suggestions in the replies following your original query, many of which would likely prove very beneficial to the betterment of your writing skills. As you have discovered (like so many before you), most companies are quite serious about their requirements where written reports are concerned. Most all of these companies are quite specific in the guidelines they provide and (as your experience has further taught you) often even one who has previously submitted a report that fell short of the standards to which they hold us all is given a chance, eventually, to try again.

Using software--whether online or something platform-specific to your individual machine--that proofreads your writing for both spelling and grammar isn't a bad idea, though one is best, I think, to never trust such programs with 100% certainty. The programs (and by virtue the proofreading they do) are, after all, never going to be any more skilled at these tasks than those who wrote the programs in the first place. (A fact whose significance becomes more obvious when one remembers they are programmers and neither writers nor editors!)

The simple fact of the matter is that even the very post to which we have all responded has quite a few more errors in spelling, punctuation, structure and overall grammar than most any editor would find acceptable. These are all skills you can easily master with the help of any number of English textbooks from your local library and honed to perfection only with practice, good editing, and a willingness to learn from each edit that's made to your work. You're off to a good start, you're asking questions instead of insisting some editor "has it out for you," and I'm confident your skills will improve quickly! I wish you the best of luck!

I did one shop for this company 3 years ago when I was very new to shopping. I received an 82% as well. It was a very long report and trying to come up with additional things to discuss that were not in their check list and already covered required creativity. I have not done a shop for the company since. Just not a bear I want to tackle.

Well, after seeing posts here and on facebook, I am sometimes appalled by the bad grammar, punctuation and spelling issues that seem to be OK anymore in our society. In this business, it is not OK. Maybe you can get away with it with some of the MSCs who require no detailed explanations but the others that do require long write-ups, they cannot put forward a badly written report. I get that and I fully support that. I went to school, I learned the rules and I applied them! People who write badly after about the age of ten need to repeat school courses. Some grown people - in their 70's even, don't seem to know the difference between to and too and when to use I versus me... THAT is shameful. Plus, they can't spell!

Like - what do editors do. Thought their, there, their. They're job was to edit? Or is it to complain!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2016 03:20PM by Itsybitsy1.