I am very new at this I think I made a mistake and am wondering how grave it is. I drove out of town for an appt. on a Friday and also did 4 shops mid afternoon. By the time I got home, I filled out the reports and was very sleepy so I did not submit them until the next day (Saturday) so I could review them for mistakes. It was obviously well past the 12 hour mark. I received messages that the reports were submitted to the clients but it seems that I have fewer opportunities in my email or on my job boards. I live in a small market so opportunities are not vast anyway. Would I have heard back if they were displeased with the time frame? Or will they simply remove available shops? Please advise.

I don't think that your turning them in later will have an effect on what you see on the job boards. It might influence whether or not a scheduler assigns you a shop in the future if there is another shopper who is more prompt and therefore considered more reliable who applied for the same shop.

Thank you for replying. Obviously I have learned my lesson. Will it influence my standing with the entire company or simply the scheduler in charge of that shop? Because it was four different shops, I am concerned that I impacted my standing with four companies.

I am not sure I understand, you had four shops for different companies that were all scheduled by one scheduler?

I wouldn't worry about it. It might not make any difference at all, especially if you wrote good reports. Last month I wrote some stellar reports on a batch of 10 that I did, and 2 of them I completed late because I got called into work at my regular job that afternoon and couldn't get them submitted that night (they were due at midnight). I got a 9 on those 2 shops instead of 10s. If it's a company that uses the Sassie reporting system, you might get a lower score from the editor that other schedulers will see, but it shouldn't affect it too much. Schedulers are most of the time just glad that a shopper got the shop done and didn't flake. Just make a point in the future to get your shops done in a more timely fashion.

It depends on the company. When I can't get Marketforce reports in within that insane 8 hour deadline, I e-mail the helpdesk@marketforce and tell them why.

When I have multiple reports, one of the things I check before doing the shops is the deadlines. I do the reports for the shortest deadline first; but if any of them are for companies with 24 hour deadlines, you can be sure I'll do those reports tomorrow, not today!

The shops you're not seeing -- well, another shopper might have picked them up. Or the quota may have been met, so the MSC pulled them until the next round. Many, many reasons.

Good luck.

I had a similar situation on one of my first shops. I called the MSC prior to the deadline and apologized. The MSC appreciated my call and extended the deadline. I also wrote really complete reports. Due to the strength of the reports and my apology, I have not had any problems. I have been on time since then and my schedulers don't hesitate to assign a shop to me. You might call them, explain you're a new shopper and you know that you made a timing error. Own the error and apologize.
Good Luck and much success to you.

OP: How many shops had you performed prior to the night performing the 4 shops? You say you are a new shopper. May I recommend you start out slow, maybe one shop a day and then work up to 4-5. This way, you get your reports in on time, you are less likely to make errors and the mystery shopping company loves you for turning in timely, accurate reports.

I agree with SunnyDays. Start off slow when doing the shops. When it comes down to the reports, some are easy, some are detailed oriented that requires alot of narrative and some may take 2 hours to complete. You may look at the guidelines and sample reports and think that you can complete them in about a 1/2 hours time but most times, it will take longer to complete. That's were experience comes in. Most of the experienced shoppers have performed different shops for different MSC so they can usually gauge on the amount of time to do the reports. Once you become comfortable with the reporting formats, you will breeze through the reports. For example, when I started doing some bank shops, it took me an hour to scan the documents and complete the reports because I would double-check the report several times over to make sure I had everything that was required. Now that same report takes less than 30 minutes.

Thank you all for these responses. I appreciate the input and I receive what you are saying regarding starting slower, communication with schedulers, and getting comfortable with the companies and process. Lesson learned On the up side, I received ratings for two of the four shops (the larger ones) and got very good ratings. But I will definitely move slower and also not miss deadlines in the future. Again, thank you!

I love the 24 hour reporting options.

@lphyland5 wrote:

Thank you all for these responses. I appreciate the input and I receive what you are saying regarding starting slower, communication with schedulers, and getting comfortable with the companies and process. Lesson learned On the up side, I received ratings for two of the four shops (the larger ones) and got very good ratings. But I will definitely move slower and also not miss deadlines in the future. Again, thank you!

You are welcome. It's the way I started out.... I did one every day or every other day. Then I built up to two a day and then three. I always made sure I was in the "comfort zone" being brand new because of the likelihood I might make an error and I wanted to build a good reputation with my companies.

Hi lphyland5
It is always advisable to submit the reports on time. The whole operation is timed and the report you submit is one step of many towards the end presentation to the final client. So if you are delayed for some reason, then it's like a domino effect and it will impact the end deliverable.

Having said that it is not uncommon to have the mystery shopper wait overnight to write a report. There are obvious advantages to have the report writing wait until you are well rested and in a good spirit to minimize mistakes. It makes for a better product in the long run. So, I don't see it as a huge detriment to your reputation, specially that you are just starting, and schedulers should understand that you need a longer runway to take off. If you knew the rules, and violated them that would be terrible, but you are still a newbie pardon me no disrespect intended, I'm just saying that a veteran is held to higher standards, while a beginner is given some coaching and nurturing before discarded. They need you, trust me. You may be the only one in your area. Welcome to a wonderful and wacky world of mystery shopping.

@Wassim wrote:

I'm just saying that a veteran is held to higher standards, while a beginner is given some coaching and nurturing before discarded.

While I agree with most of your post, I'm going to have to disagree with this part. It's my opinion (and we all know how those are!) that reporting deadlines are MSC's way of inserting a sense of urgency in the process. As I have developed relationships with schedulers and companies the rules have become somewhat more relaxed. I understand the processes of the companies I work with the most and they trust me to give them the reports before they need them. For instance I used to do a ton of work for a particular client. I know the MSC's contract required them to deliver the shop within 1 week of the shop date. I also knew that their editors usually edited the day after the shop was submitted and were rarely 2 days after. While 99% of my shops were reported same day it didn't stress either of us out if it was 3 days later as that still gave them plenty of time to edit and submit to the client.

I'm going to guess that in the case of the OP there was no lag between report submittal and editing of the report because he/she sent the report in the next morning instead of by midnight. Few companies edit overnight (although there are some) and few companies edit within a few hours of submittal (although there are some). As long as the OP submitted a quality report they probably couldn't care less that it was the next morning.

I think it depends on the scheduler, the MSC, quality of reports and your dependability.

Someone else mentioned that if you inform the powers at be for late reports or rescheduling, you'll probably be given some latitude.

Then again, it is January and the pickings are like finding hen's teeth. So, it could be just a matter of there are no jobs in your area.

I have written dinner reports late at night and resented the 12 hour deadlines. If you have a late dinner (like a late night shop that ends at 11 PM), you don't really feel like writing up a report when you get home. But if you wait until the morning, it might be considered late. I have not submitted a late report but once did warn a scheduler that I might be late on one report and she gladly extended the deadline. I wonder if the editors get the same 12 hour deadline? I generally get their approval within 12 hours but a few days ago, I didn't get my confirmation until 4 days later! So I wonder if that editor got special permission to submit that late!

Really it depends on the company and shop. Most contracts will have service delivery quotas that will state how long the MSC has to deliver the finished shop to the company. Some will be based on the shopping period. Some will be based on the shop date. I know one client that the MSC has to deliver the shop within 7 days after the shop is completed. I know one client that the MSC has to deliver the shop to by the second or third of the month following the shop. If you do that shop on Jan 1 or Jan 31 they still have to deliver it on the 2nd or 3rd (or somewhere around there, I'm not certain of the actual date, just that it's in the beginning of the following month). It also would depend on if the editor was an employee or an IC. If the editor is an employee that works 8-5 they probably work through the shops as they are submitted and don't have any particular deadline. That might be different if they are an IC. There are many ways that shops flow from the MSC to the scheduler to the shopper back to the editor and then to the client.

like anything ... if you are new there is often a grace period... if there is not learn and move on...

@bgriffin wrote:

Really it depends on the company and shop. Most contracts will have service delivery quotas that will state how long the MSC has to deliver the finished shop to the company. Some will be based on the shopping period. Some will be based on the shop date. I know one client that the MSC has to deliver the shop within 7 days after the shop is completed. I know one client that the MSC has to deliver the shop to by the second or third of the month following the shop. If you do that shop on Jan 1 or Jan 31 they still have to deliver it on the 2nd or 3rd (or somewhere around there, I'm not certain of the actual date, just that it's in the beginning of the following month). It also would depend on if the editor was an employee or an IC. If the editor is an employee that works 8-5 they probably work through the shops as they are submitted and don't have any particular deadline. That might be different if they are an IC. There are many ways that shops flow from the MSC to the scheduler to the shopper back to the editor and then to the client.

I agree with your last 2 posts, because like you I get some latitude. That wasn't what the OP was asking. The OP gave me the impression of being brand new and is worried reporting late will affect future assignments.

I ;love your posts, but OMG, why can't you stay on point? The OP needed encouragement, not your long winded of how I get it done now. The OP is not as experienced as you..

Actually the post you quoted was not a reply to the OP but a reply to the last line of the post before mine that asked if editors had deadlines similar to ours. I apologize if I sometimes am long winded.

'I ;love your posts, but OMG, why can't you stay on point? The OP needed encouragement, not your long winded of how I get it done now. The OP is not as experienced as you..'

Wow! I can't believe that poster, MA Smith would have the nerve to say that you are long winded and ask why you can't stay on point? I didn't think you were at all! They should have read the previous posts so they would know what context your answer is in. This is supposed to be a supportive community not a criticizing one. We're all trying to help each other!

Meh, I didn't take any offense to it. MA is a great poster and I imagine part of that was due to frustration from other off topic conversations lately.

I really appreciated the information in your post. Thank you!

bgriff is a windbag, LOL. Huh, griff? But we love him anyway.

Stephen King called it diarrhea of the word processor in the forward to one of his books. I always found that phrase to be particularly hilarious.

@bgriffin wrote:

Meh, I didn't take any offense to it. MA is a great poster and I imagine part of that was due to frustration from other off topic conversations lately.

Thank you bgriffin. You nailed it on the head. I'm frustrated. January is never a great month for financial reasons and this month was more expensive than usual. Sadly the month ain't over.

And you're also correct with my frustration of people going off point.

I did not mean to offend.

Thank you for your kind words concerning my posts.

MaryAnn

I stopped taking Dinner Shops for the reasons you stated. After coming home from a dinner, I was tired and in no mood to start filling out detailed reports.
I found it just wasn't worth my time!

MA, I am guilty of going off topic frequently. I hope I don't offend anyone too badly when I do.

I love MSCs who allow 24 hours. I do remember doing some shops for ACL where I had to have the shop in within 12 hours and the shop was detailed and lengthy. If I had a glass of wine it made it even worse. Gotta love MSCs like Coyle who want lots of good details but not rushed, and will allow a little latitude on submission time.

Thanks for your reply. I live in a smaller market so obviously my options are more limited than larger markets but I'm curious, if you don't prefer dinner shops, what types of shops do you prefer? I like dinner shops but maybe that's because my experience is limited. Finally, have you done many audits? I see opportunities for them but I'm hesitant.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2017 10:02PM by lphyland5.