Assuredd Wrote:
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> How nice to know: Maritz did not intentionally
> lower my rating. It was automated and could have
> been avoided, because of the distances involved.
> I am glad I went beyond the MSCs to complain about
> this.

Humans are smart. Computers are stupid. I really think now that Maritz needs to get a better handle on how mystery shopping is done in 2013, they are trusting their computers to do too much without human oversight and intervention. Not even MF or CoRI always take what the computer says as gospel.

Assuredd, this is indeed great news! It makes me very happy for you and I don't even know you, but I do know how important it was to you.

Nice!

Due to how this was resolved, Maritz remains on my favorites list-but will need to earn extra points to get back on my warm and fuzzy favorite list.

(heart)

Wow OP Wow! This is one of the 60-90 day day monetary return companies. I do very, very, very little work for them. Did I already say very little. In my personal opinion, Mystery shopper companies tell me alot about their sub-cultural beliefs for mystery shopper based on their monetary return-especially when we get paid. They like going to the gas station and so too do I. I feel bad for you. You actually traveled out of state for them? Wow! I would have NEVER done it. You are a rare breed and any company would be a fool to let you go. It is their loss.

Assuredd, congrats on a satisfactory resolution! You've obviously gone out of your way for this company and they would have lost a valuable shopper.

It's pretty obvious they need less automation and more human intervention! But I still question why the "humans" you did speak to right up until now didn't try to help you or escalate this on their own. You'd think SOMEBODY there would have enough common sense to see that your situation had all sorts of red flags all over it (your shop locations, drive times, previously good history with them, etc.)

I really have doubts about a company whose representatives apparently can't, don't want to, or are told they're not supposed to, think for themselves!

But I'm glad you're back in with them, since you obviously like working with them!

I've found Maritz to be completely dependable on payment issues. They have never underpaid me and never been late. I love being able to call during business hours and actually get a real person native born who can understand my Texas drawl. Of course they have a huge number of shoppers. They have lots of work and pay right on the button, so why wouldn't they?

I know lots of shoppers wish they were available via email but the way they communicate is their decision to make. There are lots of companies and we can pick and choose at will; there are lots of shoppers so they can pick and choose, also.

I was really disappointed when they threw me out of the bank program. I thought I had not asked for those banks, but they assured me I had clicked the button to shop the next cycle. Nevertheless, I was too dumb to know that cancelling under those circumstances would get me thrown out. That was all a mistake on my part, and I hope that posting about it here will prevent the same thing from happening to someone else.

Like Mary, I was removed from the bank program and also regretted the MSC's decision. I elected not to query the company as to why, due to me not being a person for whom an explanation is necessary. The only exception I took to the action was that not only wasn't I informed, but when, on 2 occasions, I called to inquire as to my page not indicating future jobs, the replies were that there wasn't anything available. It would have saved me a considerable amount of time from numerous checks of the job board had the worker(s) extended me the courtesy of candor. It was only after phoning and specifically asking if I'd been removed that I was given the bad news. This is the only occasion, in my 1/2 century of self-employment, when I've been partially fired, but, this IS business and the matter in no way affects my opinion of Maritz.

One of their gas stations has been moved to route shopping. I spoke to them today about the routes, and was told that they have 121 shoppers nationwide that now do all of this particular gas station and that they have gained consistency and reliability out of the change.

I am one of those shoppers, and I can tell you that I do remember what was wrong the last time I was at one of my 85 shops...and check accordingly to make sure it was corrected. It works for me, but this may be why folks are 'on hold till all other shopper refuse' for this particular brand.

I have never had an issue with them, and was told that I was one of their top shopper today. Considering that I have entered more than one shop after midnight due to drive times.....I am surprised that I don't have dings.

They are in Overland Park, Kansas, according to one of the gals that I asked.

There was recently a very small number of stations offered as a route in my area. I believe it was a route of eight and I didn't see it as worthwhile to make a commitment for such a small amount of work that was not all local. If it had been 75 to 100 stations, I could have made that work and I'd have jumped right on it.

They have offices in Overland Park, KS and St. Louis, MO. I too have a small route. I was offered a larger one, but cannot do it with my full time work. It was a strange one, too, spanning 2 states and skipping over some locations which would make sense to include.

Maritz is absolutely horrible. They are only out for themselves. Most of the women that work for Maritz are rude, tell lies, and really don't genuinely care about their shoppers. Sarah, who has been working at Maritz for awhile is one of the only females they has really cared about me as a shopper and has listened to me. Maritz is constantly calling you asking you to do shops that are low paying shops and don't give you a high enough bonus to even be worth doing. All I can say is don't give in. They expect you to drive 200+ miles to do 1 shop and will only pay you $30 at max. It would cost more in gas to get there. Then say later you request to do some shops and they won't even go out of their way for you to schedule shops for you. They don't communicate with their shoppers by email...only by phone. And if you ever needed to send an email you have to send it as a general message under "contact us," but guess what.....they don't even contact you back. This is so unprofessional. And Kern Scheduling, who schedules many shops for Maritz, are slow to responding to emails yet many of times will not even respond and don't read through emails before assigning shops. I've emailed Kern Scheduling before clearly stating that I only wanted to do the list of shops I requested if I could get all 20 shops assigned. Then Kern Scheduling scheduler went ahead and scheduled only 10 shops. I then told the scheduler that I had to cancel all the shops since they only had scheduled me 10 shops instead of the 20 I asked to do. If they would have read their email in the first place none of this would have happened and I wouldn't have been penalized for their mistake. I basically was just going to break even with having to pay for gas since I was willing to drive 2 hours away with doing all 20 shops I wanted to do. I contacted Maritz and explained my situation. They basically just brushed me off and did nothing for me. It frustrates me because I have went out of my way so many times for them. They just said that this wasn't how their business was ran and that it was wrong of me to make a statement like I did with saying that I only wanted to do all 20 shops if I could do all 20 of them assigned. Any logical person would know that it wouldn't be worth doing 10 shops that were 2 hours away given how much it would cost in gas alone. This business is going to fail. They need to hire new management and hire some better quality people that actually care about the general well being of their shoppers and that can and will relate to shoppers.

You seem to be blaming Maritz for something KSS did. Why?

If you don't like their offers, politely turn them down. Let some other shopper have them who can do them for the amount offered. Why would you even want to do a route of 20 shops if all you were going to do was "break even"? 2 hours one way -- 240 mile round trip? 12 gallons of gas? $50 in gas? what were those shops paying? $2.50 each? I do routes longer than that all the time. Why would you want to waste a day just to break even anyway? How did you think you were going to do 20 shops in a day in the first place? And get 20 reports in by midnight? They did you a favor not to assign all 20 because there was probably no way you could get them all done anyway.

Why didn't you just find some other shops to add to the route? Is Maritz the only company you shop for?

The poster said only 10 shops would be break even at best and the additional 10 would be the profit. If he/she did what most route shoppers do, they would also negotiate for the reports to be turned in the following day.

LisaSTL Wrote:
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> they
> would also negotiate for the reports to be turned
> in the following day.


This is Maritz we're talking about....

And.............

They won't negotiate late reports. Trust me. I've tried and tried and turned down shops because of it and they still won't budge.

How asinine. The carrier pigeon can only get there so fast anyway.

I wanted to do a short 1/2 day trip when I ran into the issue with Kern Scheduling/Maritz. I blame both Kern Scheduling and Maritz due to the lack of communication and they both act very unprofessional. The only good thing about Maritz was that they paid quickly. I have worked for a ton of mystery shop companies. I have experience doing 200 + shops in a given month all over California and have made very good money doing it. Expenses that were coming out of my pocket were gas, car rentals, tolls, and food expenses. I have completed 40 shops in 1 day alone before working 8AM-9PM. I would profit over $2,500 a month just doing mystery shops for a 1 week straight. And yes I would be up late scanning receipts, uploading pics and submitting reports. Most of the companies I have worked for have given me 24 hours, but Maritz only gives you 6 hours to complete a shop, which is ridiculous. Although there were times that Maritz did extend the hours for me. They were always the first reports I had to enter of course.

How odd that this company would have an "automated" system for removing supposedly unreliable shoppers. Yet, they do most of their work via telephone, not E-mail.

I have learned to not answer their telephone calls but rather listen to their voice messages they leave. If I can assist them, I return the call- if not, I do not.

So far the most bothersome thing I have found with them is their editing timing. I find it interesting that they may leave shops that were performed on the list until after the next pay period is finished and then suddenly approve all of them. at first i thought there was some kind of problem with how I've reported them. Then, I began to notice a pattern of letting those reported shops sit for days then suddenly poof! gone! When I noted the timing, it seemed consitent with pay period timing.

I wonder if the editors have a quota for each shopper or a personal quota that they must meet.

Nevertheless, they have been good for me and I, in return, have been as reliable as possible, always performing the shops I've selected.


Yet, just as I've seen the other MSC lose much of its shops to them, leaving many of us adrift, I am not naive enough to think it shall not happen again.

That is a reason to not depend on any one MSC for income.