I just registered with this company and have an apartment shop scheduled for tomorrow which will pay $40 so worth it since it is in town. They have offered me a video shop(which I have never done) and will send me the equipment and train me over the phone, once I send them a copy of my DL. The only thing with this shop is that it is out of town quite a distance but they offered me $150 for the shop which would make it worth it especially since I can pick up other shops from different companies along the way.

Anyone ever done this kind of shop with this company? Is is worth it? I don't want to end up going out of my way and then not getting the $150 for some reason. I am very good at MS and have been doing it for years now, but this being a brand new company for me makes me nervous.

Any info or recommendations greatly appreciated.

Right below your post is a link to read more threads about EPMS. I've heard great things about them and just registered last week.

Maybe someone else can verify this. They require a quick test before each shop and it sounded like as long as that test was completed each time they will pay something and allow the written portion of the shop. The only downside to video is there are times when an equipment failure means the shop is a loss.

If you've never done a video shop my advice would be to practice, practice, practice! Work with a friend if possible and make sure you have your camera angles and that your equipment is working. After that relax and remember it really is like other apartment shops you've done.

EPMS's video division is run by Robert A., who is great to work with. I have done dozens of their v-shops in just the last year. Be sure to read the instructions, ask questions BEFORE leaving for the shop site, and stay in communication with Robert by phone. Emails don't help much with this firm as they have thousands of jobs going at once. They pay early and often! Very reliable.

EPMS is a great company to both work with and start doing video work for. The test that you speak of is a test video to see if your equipment is working properly. Based on the rate you just mentioned, looks like $190 is excellent compensation. The company is also reliable in pay as well. Robert A. is among the best in the industry to work with. Make sure you communicate any questions or concerns via email/phone and update your shop status accordingly.

And as you mentioned, if out of town, try to pick up more video or non-video shops. Have fun!

Am I glad to see this thread. I stopped doing apartments for certain companies because the reports were horrendous!

I needed some extra money so went ahead and did one. It got denied! The reason it was denied was because I stated my income was too low and I thought this was a miscommunication on their part because the shop guidelines said "Keep income low", and the report had a question on it that asked if I was turned down for an apt., did the agent send me somewhere else? and the answer was no.

So did I misunderstand the guidelines? Or was this a miscommunication of the company? should I get paid or not?

Would appreciate any comments!

Here is a copy of the denial...hope it makes things more clear!

I am sorry, but we are unable to accept this shop, as you disqualified yourself with your income. You need to state a budget that is within the community's guidelines. Remember, you are not actually trying to qualify to live there, so your income should always fall within the guidelines of each particulary community you shop. This shop is being cancelled and you will not be paid.

Thank you, (thank you? for what?!)


I have been thinking of traveling and doing shops, but I wonder if that is a good idea? Will appreciate any feed back on this too. I was thinking of doing warm states in the winter and cold states in the summer. I have people on both east and west coast to visit during my shops.

thanks everyone!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2011 01:51AM by ArizonaShopper.

Arizona,
The shops that I have seen where there is a required stated income required tell me what that cut off is. If the directions did not tell me what the required income range was, I would email that question to the scheduler and ask for the income amount or a link to a source that would permit me to compute the amount. What steps did you take to ascertain how you would be able to adequately qualify for the apartment on the basis of income once you had read that you needed to state a "low" amount? If I did not know what the shop requirments were, specifically, I would have declined the shop.

BTW, in my experience, only a small minority of apartment shops are for low/moderate income places with a maximum income cutoff. More commonly, management companies establish a minimum monthly income that is "x" times the monthly rent. If I am asked how much I make (very rarely) I ask what is required. The target says, "x" or "x times the monthly rent" and I say, "That should not be a problem."

Your travel plan can be a good way to extend your shop routes seasonally, and make good use of the long rotation requirements for apartment and new home shops. If you train to add video shopping to your routine and buy your own video equipment, you could make good deal of travel funds. But, since most apartment and new home shops cannot be done on weekends. you need to be able to cover 7 nights of hotels with a maximum of 5 days of shopping activity each week that you are on the road.

Also, there will be some restrictions on tax write-offs of travel expenses if you are "continuously" away from your "tax home." I will defer to Flash concerning the details.

I did one and only one shop for them because I spent 3 hours doing the report!Not to mention the pages and pages you have to read preparing. My hats off to anyone who can endure a report that long.I would have to make $75 min. to endure a 3 hour report again. Those who can do it faster... well you're just under genious!
I have had some great merchandising jobs that really paid great and the reports are soooo short. I'm sooo into short reports these days.

These shops are for shoppers who care to comprehend what they need. If it is a low income shop in shlepper ville, then do not drive up in a new Merc. You have to fit into the guidelines or they have bad shop. They just want you to do the job that they are paying you for. They are not looking for shoppers that will not comply. They pay well and on time. It is a great no nonsense company and I have done over 100 shops for them with minimal hassle.

This good for EPMS becasue they don't usually offer pay for distance. I have done over 100 video shops for them and they pay on time. Robert is great and the work has been pretty steady for me.

Thanks everyone for your imput! If I am in the wrong I am always willing to take the consequences without whining! Sounds like I don't get paid for this shop, and I have learned that keep income low does not necessarily mean "low". But I felt the company should have made that clear "what low income meant! I see where I am wrong and will not whine about it!

Now I have PM'ed a couple of you great folks to ask about another situation, but a condensed version is this:

They say they are actually renting the video equipment to you. But if you are doing more than one shop over 2 days, do they rent it to you per shop, per day? Can they get the money from you if they don't owe you that much? You would think they would just be happy to get their equipment back! They don't tell you whether or not you will be docked before the shops are completed or before the equipment is returned.

This company has a very good reputation and I have had no problems with them in the past.But now I am very nervous. It seems like to do video shops it is better if you have your own equipment.

If I decide to do traveling I will plan to do camping so it is not very expensive (and sometimes totally free) to stay in a place over nite or longer. Does anyone else do this? It seems to me like it would be a wonderful adventure! (I love adventures!)

Happy Holidays every one!

Arizona,
It's time for you to search "video" both here and on the other forums for answers and ideas. For starters I will try to address some of your thoughts here.

The reason that the v-companies rent the equipment is that they got tax advice that if they just supplied the equipment it might jeopardize the IC nature of the relationship. For the same reason, they almost all now support a third party company that trains video shoppers. If you are working with a top company, one of about 9 that do most of the v-shops, you have nothing to fear. If you are working for Service Trac, PM me, please. They have NOT been reliable.

Nearly all v-shoppers who are at all serious about this buy their own equipment.

Campgrounds that cater to tent campers are just about guaranteed not to have Internet service capable of uploading a gig of video in less than 14 hours. The same is true of the level of service at other free places like Starbucks, fast food joints and most hotels. This means that you will not be able to meet the shop delivery requirements of home top v-companies. Please get a couple hundred v-shops under your belt and have TWO sets of equipment and means to charge them on the road, and figure out how to maintain an appropriately cleaned and pressed v-shopping wardrobe while tent camping, before you try such a venture. People do long routes of v-shops, but it takes a lot of experience and planning. I do video-shopping routes of 2+ weeks and 2300 miles a couple of times per year, and shorter multi-day routes an average of 1-2 times a month, and most certainly am NOT the most well traveled of my colleagues in this side of the business.

Thanks for your feed back Walesmaven! I really appreciate it. You made good points for me to consider and I will research the "video" as you suggested, though I wasn't thinking of doing only video, but all kinds of shops.

I actually feel encouraged by what you have said because I do know how to do everything you mentioned (clean and pressed wardrobe, charging computer, etc.)
Though I am thinking I could make enough to stay in motels if I use the inexpensive ones.

Thanks again!

Almost all shops will accept your AV if it is of sufficient quality. If you plan on doing MS'ing you might want to look into purchasing your own AV equipment. It is acceptable business equipment and you will gain confidence in using your own vs. theirs. In addition, you can AV any and all shops rather than remembering. Try a good Bluetooth device as these usually accept up to 16 gig cards. Sending your test via your own equipment will show the MSC your competence. 40% of my shops are AV per the MSC requests, they pay much more and the ease of reports is heavenly. One exception to this is for travel MSC. You cannot use it at take-off/landing and the MSC knows this so it is no problem. Also easier to carry a tiny device that sits on your ear!

cdmdjd,
No, you cannot audio record just any shop. 14 states require the prior consent of the second person for any audio recording to be legal. In Maryland, someone recently did jail time for violating this; think back to the recorded phone conversations concerning Pres Clinton and Ms. Lewinsky.

Arizona, check out the equipment area at the Video Shoppers Forum (VSF) for the specs on equipment that will produce acceptable quality video for the main companies. Charging a video rig is a lot different from charging a computer. Video stuff charges very slowly.

EPMS is an excellent company to work for. The video shops are the highest value shops which have very short reports. The regular phone and visit shops don't pay that much given the fact the reports are a minimum three hour adventure. But they pay on time and are always helpful.

I shop for EPMS, and I also disqualified myself per income on one of my first shops. (I had an annual income figure ready, but the agent asked what I made hourly, and I wasn't prepared for that.) As soon as she told me my income was too high, I said, "Well, I have just been hired, and I'm not really sure what my hours will be. Can I look at an apartment, just in case I don't get full time and my income does qualify?" The agent showed me an apartment, and the job was saved.

That's thinking on your feet!

I also tell agents that I'm retired and if they ask have nuch I make in pensions I tell them that I do side work as a Forex trader ( which I actually do ) that usually shuts them up....

I was just looking at EPMS' website today and was flabbergasted to receive a notice saying they don't let people accept phone shops until they've done 50 on-site shops with them. I am just floored by this. I was told by a scheduler I couldn't do video work with them until I'd performed something like 25 written shops. What?

The properties they have in my area are few and far between. There's been nothing closer than about a 45 minute - 1 hour drive, so nothing I could do without setting up a route to make it worth the drive.

The hoops they make you jump through with targeted shops include having to try for three days to reach the target, without specifically asking for the target by name, of course; then when you do reach the target, you must visit the same day. That makes it really difficult to schedule a shop in conjunction with a route. I'd like to work with them, but I just don't see them being worth it for me.

I have only completed two shops for them and both were video. If I had to complete 25 written shops I'd never get to the video since there aren't enough in this area. I also was not able to visit the same day after not being able to reach the targets until late afternoon.

If I had to do a ton of written shops to be able to do audio and video shops, I would not be eager to do their shops. This is an interesting development, as I do not think that EPMS has so many well established video shoppers with their own equipment that they can afford to require would-be video shoppers to do 24 or 50 written shops first. I have done a ton of their audio and video shops but would not go back to traditional shops willingly.

Being an unabashed child of the 60s, I took direct action and called Robery A, who handles all audio and video assignments for EPMS. He stated that the requirement is ONLY for shoppers who are doing the PHONE ONLY NO ONSITE VISIT shops. Onsite audio and video shoppers are not affected. So, if a scheduler told you that they were, call Robert A and ask for the shop!

I would still like to know why they would require 50 written shops before allowing a phone shop. Are they trying to say a telephone shop takes more skill and experience?

That's what got me, Lisa. I mean, good grief! I did 66 audio phone shops over a two week period for another company back in March, using my own recording equipment at that. I think EPMS is shooting themselves in the foot with prerequisites like that on phone shops.

Cilla, thanks.

Who knows what goes thru the heads of the folks on the traditional shop side of EPMs?! That's the reason I only do on-site audio and video for them!

On the subject of wi-fi access in remote areas:

I just came back from a 2600 mile trip through TX, CO and WY. Very little Internet access in about 80% of the areas I traveled.

I invested in a 4G wireless hotspot through Verizon. When I turn it on, as long as there is cell phone coverage, I have my own password-protected wi-fi hotspot. It's like having a Starbucks in the middle of the Wyoming prairie.

The 4G personal hotspot cost me $50 to purchase, another $110 to cover it with "Geek Squad" protection, and the 2 year data plan costs me another $40 a month.

Today I wrote 3 EPMS reports on my laptop while drinking iced tea on a blanket under a shady tree in my local park. I love my little wi-fi hotspot, it's the light of my mystery shopping life this summer.

(I figured this all out by taking some of those BigBox electronics stores and picking the brains of the sales associates there. Well worth the crappy $10 fee I earned,)

I find it extremely frustrating to try to reach a "target" on the phone. I have actually kept entire days open, trying to reach two targets.(didn't happen) I'm not so sure these types of "target" shops are worth it.

I absolutely HATE the target shops and will not take them. I've been told that after several tries you can usually get permission to ask for the target. Well, why not just allow that in the first place?

I have worked for Ellis in Texas and in Florida. They are the most professional mystery shop company I have worked for - and I am enrolled with more than 100 companies. I do NOT however, enjoy video shops. I get very concerned that I am not focusing on the person, that the recording will stop, and that something will happen to make the entire exercise not be valid. I had to pay $50 back to Ellis for the shipping of the video recorder, and I have stayed away from video shopping ever since. Believe me, it is great not to have to write pages of reports when you just have to send in the equipment. But it just didn't work for me. Just sharing my experience. Good luck with it!