I agree with others, I don't know if I have ever had to talk with someone once I got past the first handful of shops. Now I often have somewhere between 75 and 100 shops on my list.
I have mixed feelings about Maritz. There's the issues with their website, not to mention the crankiness of some of their staff. But then they do have a lot of projects and others on their staff are very nice people.
Re the reports, I scan my docs (bank docs, receipts, biz cards) and then manipulate them in photoshop since I already own that. It is a little slow to do the resize, but I have it down to a science. The bank reports themselves are a breeze, the only time consuming thing is the scans.
But resizing the photos for the gas station audits is painful. Plus I can never get a 12-dispenser report photographed in less than 45 minutes. I think I take too many photos because the people there always say that the other guy comes, takes four or five photos and leaves. But then they say they all get wonderful scores from him whereas they don't get those kinds of scores from me.
In the mean time, I am having to write up descriptions of the problems I find at the gas station. And yes, I know it is not a white glove audit, but when you have customers come up to you and complain about something that you have just decided to report, there is some vindication in the extra time spent.
But they don't pay enough to spend that much time. So this go-around, I am skipping the gas station audits. They don't seem to have a problem finding people to do them. so it is a win-win as far as I am concerned since I then have extra time to diversify with other companies.