I have heard MF uses shoppers then throw them out like a piece of trash. I have also heard of shoppers being restricted from certain type shops. I don't understand why shoppers who have completed thousands of successful shops would be discarded in this way. Is this typical among the MS companies?

Why MF gets rid of shoppers? Because they can.

Jimmyd,

I can only summarize what I see on the forum. There are numerous reports of MF deactivating long-time shoppers with no stated reason. We can only speculate as to why.

No, this is not a typical way of doing business in the mystery shopping world.

MF is the only one I have heard of who does this. My theory is that MF being one of if not the biggest MSPs out there has a constant influx of new shoppers applying. They can thus pay the new ones less per assignment as many don't know they can wait for price to go higher or ask for bonuses on the shops. The experienced shoppers who know or learn this will only preform shops at higher rates of pay. MF prefers to pay peanuts and can as they constantly get new shoppers. They do need to maintain some long term experienced shoppers for those hard to fill last minute assignments that can't be flaked on. Therefore they keep some experienced shoppers but deactivate the rest as soon as they can find a reason to. Market force has been the most talked about and complained about on this forum. As a seasoned shopper who does this as their full time job I no longer work for them. They were my first company I worked for mystery shopping. They were also the first one I got deactivated from and no longer work for.

There has been discussion about them applying statistics to the reports and when it seems a shopper has lost their objectivity (too many all-positive reports) or is overly harsh (too many negative reports) or too many incidents of not following instructions or a single incident of getting "busted" by making a report that is not supported by the video (claiming to have been on premises longer than they were, not asking all the questions they should, etc.) then they are kicked to the curb.

Since the only thing we are selling is our objectivity and integrity, I can't argue with their business model if that's what they're doing. They aren't the biggest because they let sloppy work stand. They have high standards and I'm guessing they have determined that the average newbie is more objective than the average long in the tooth old pro. So they seek to create turnover to ensure their shoppers aren't jaded and just going through the motions.

Anyway, that's what I've taken away from the various complaints about capricious firings -- usually the shopper will admit to some irregularity ("But it only happened once!" in a shop they did.

And maybe ... they have someone reading this board and weed people out in some cases based on admissions of guilt that get posted here by people trying to find a way to salvage a shop they clearly blew.

Or maybe they have a lottery every month -- dump all the shoppers' names into a big drum and pull out 1000 to "fire" every month. We'll really never know because they're not going to give us information that would enable us to game their system.

I was deactivated and when I asked why they simply stated that I had not completed any of their assignments over a certain period of time.

No harm, no foul - they reactivated my account right away after that.

Same here Chix. I was deactivated because I hadn't done any shops for them in a while. When I emailed them, they reactivated me and cautioned that I needed to pick up a shop soon or I'd be deactivated again. I didn't and they haven't yet.

I think it is random lottery actually. They seem to be really weird sometimes, and not good about communicating issues until way after the fact.

I was deactivated by them because my wife and I both were registered with them and used the same computer to do our reports. I guess they thought we were the same person trying to get around their rotations. Yet, ironically, neither of us had performed any shops in the same location.

Market Force is the main company we all recommend to new shoppers. They have onmassive influx of new shoppers constantly. Their reports have little narrative and are designed to be so easy that a new, inexperienced shopper can perform the shop in many cases as well as an experienced shopper. New, inexperienced shoppers bring new objectivity and work for less. Market Force is in business to make money. In with the new, out with the old.

We are all ICs, and we choose who we wish to work for. I will work for them as long as I make money and the jobs I want to perform are available. If that changes, I will drop them. If for some reason I no longer meet their needs, they will drop me.

Never, ever had a problem with them and thank goodness for their sensible self rescheduling option.

And most of their reports are strait forward and not overkill. Even their [easy restaurant] report may be slightly longer, but it's not absurd overkill like the marathon Chiptole report with that other msc...MF is a great place for new shoppers..


Mod note: Be careful about naming clients when the MSC is already named. Thanks!

There are so many good things to say about Market Force.

Easy reporting, paycheck every month in your bank account, fair editors (who always give you a chance to clarify in a sensible manner, before sending the report to the client.)

As for being dumped like trash...I think a good majority of the shoppers who were "thrown under the bus".... warranted a particular dismissal. (Think about it. You are a business. You have excellent shoppers working for you. They turn in the reports quickly, submit receipts, are highly observant and accurate. You have no problem with that type of shopper. You want to KEEP that kind of contractor)....

Not saying ALL shoppers warranted a dismissal or deactivation.....Maybe MF likes new meat, new blood, and want to "trim the fat" from time to time...

Sometimes, I think the shoppers think they are fantastic shoppers, but you see a particular "pattern" with some, who wait until the last two hours to report the shops. lose receipts, forget names,etc...You'll see them posting here with 17% cancellation rates wondering why they got the axe, upset the soggy receipt could not be accepted, wondering why they are being unfairly deactivated. Question: Which shopper would YOU want working for your company? Just common sense here folks...

Did you know the faster you submit an accurate report, the FASTER it gets to the client? I honestly think MF loves shoppers who turn in their reports quick. Then, they can put more shops on the board, more shops mean more work for you and more business generated for them.

I won't bash MF because they are one of my favorites If they deactivate me tomorrow, (which I hope they don't) I would have to accept that. It's purely business folks. You are a contractor. They don't like your work, they don't have to keep you. Visa versa: You don't like them, you don't have to work for them.

I love what you posted. Well said.

I am VERY grateful to MF and will never bite the hand that feeds me generously and frequently. They were my first MSC and I hope they keep me as long as I keep mystery shopping.

Robinv

Sunnydays2,

Good posting, with you 100%....

I have been with MarketForce for over 5 years with at least 2500 shops under my belt with them so I consider myself lucky. A lot of it probably has to do with the remote region I am in. There are not exactly 500 other mystery shoppers clamoring to drive around in winter weather in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park ready to do their shops.

Frankly, I am glad mf is around. They have the capacity to have a national marketing force that can really take care of multiple clients. At least I know I am not wasting my time when I log onto their portal looking for shops.

Does anyone else have a group of mystery shop companies they registered with years ago who never have a single client within 200 miles of them? Enough of these one account wonders who pay Sassie or Phrophet to run their marketing company mystery shop out of someone's basement and manage to keep the same 8 shops listed nationwide for the past six months.

Looking forward to the time when MarketForce leads the drive to consolidate in our industry so we are down to a few dozen MSC companies. Independent contractors like myself won't have to spend half the night logging onto 90 different sites looking for more shops.

Rather than saying they throw shoppers out like trash, I'd say they are constantly changing their work force and always ready to accept new shoppers. The steady influx of new shoppers provides the opportunity to weed out old ones for whatever reason or for no reason.

The company is not accountable to the shopper for how they run their business. Both the company and the shopper are free to move on. I see nothing to be gained by discussing how they could run their business differently and better. I see everything to be gained by concentrating on learning how to run my own business differently and better.

I see everything to be gained by concentrating on learning how to run my own business differently and better.

I love your statement, Mary.

I don't think Marketforce wants shoppers to make large paychecks on a consistent basis. It may have something to do with taxes or part-time employees, I am not really sure. I have noticed an increase in high volume workers being deactivated after making large paychecks for a period of months.

That may or may not be true. We hear that high volume shoppers are deactivated but we don't know that the deactivation rate is higher for high volume shoppers than for low volume shoppers. We simply do not have enough factual information. What we have for the most part is opinion. For example, it is my opinion that I am an extremely low volume Market Force shopper. It is my opinion that I am an extremely high volume Maritz shopper when I shop. The months I take off, well, not so much. Both companies might not agree with my impression of my status and neither company is going to provide facts and figures.

If we're going to say that high volume shoppers are being deactivated at a disproportionate rate by Market Force, we must have a definition of a high volume shopper. What is the definition of a high volume Market Force shopper? If we have a shopper who is not especially active but does almost all their work with Market Force, they might claim to be a "high volume" Market Force shopper because they don't have a clue how many shops a high volume shopper does. They would be basing their self classification of high volume on a personal situation rather than on fact.

Naturally, the shoppers most fascinated with Market Force's deactivation policy are the ones who have been deactivated. That seems backward. They should be moving on and replacing that hole in their program with other companies. The only ones who ought to have any concern are still shopping with Market Force, and since we don't know the plan it's best to just shop on until we hit the wall. Well, I guess that's some more of that opinion I've been discussing.

I did not pass the fast food test. Oh well, I am sick of that food anyways. They sent me a notice about reporting late. The website was down so I emailed them and said, "The website was down remember?" They removed the notice of reporting late for me.

I haven't posted in quite a while as I had to take a reprieve from shopping due to my husband's illness.
I've completed hundreds of jobs for MF and never had one returned or questioned. I didn't over book myself, as I have seen others do, so that my reports were accurate, on time, concise and honest.

Emails from them are still arriving, so I know that I haven't been booted.

It'll be nice to get back into my routine.

And welcome back to the forum, CotePony, I missed you.

I've noticed that occasionally one of the screening questions will say something like "I understand if I do a specific thing (or don't do a specific thing) I will be deactivated." I'm betting at least some of the shoppers that are deactivated agreed to this (you have to or you can't assign the shop) and then did or did not do the specific thing as required and were deactivated.

The deactivation warning is if you submit a photo that was submitted on a previous report. (by mistake or done deliberately). I actually asked the help desk about that and this is what I was told. I had to ask to make sure before accepting the shop.

I was deactivated by Market Force the day I earned $5000 in shops in one year. There were many inconsistencies in their logic. First, they told me that I was deactivated for making 3 mistakes out of over 500 reports, none of which were recent. One was inaccurately reporting the associate's name, which could happen for any number of reasons, many of which are beyond my control. Second, they allowed me to keep the 20+ shops I had signed up for. Why would they allow me to complete these if I am too incompetent to sign up for more? Although I had initially had a high cancellation rate because I was unaware of how this affected me when I signed up, I made extra effort not to cancel any shops or take more than I could handle at any given time. I sent fie seperate emails asking why I had been deactivated when schedulers who called me told me my rating was excellent. I was told that my shop complettion rate was excellent which had nothing to do with my reporting rate. However, my reporting rate was 99.2% and my completion rate was 89%. I sent multiple emails asking a very simple question - please tell me why 89% is excellent and 99.2% is unacceptable. Every response I received ignored the question and went on about something else, thus ignoring the question. Third, they told me I could reapply in six months. Why? Would I suddenly not make three mistakes out of 500? I am still human. Humans make mistakes. What would be different in six months? Why allow me to reapply and complete 20 shops if my recording is unacceptable?

I have since seen several threads about MF deleting shoppers, but I do not see any about any other company doing this. Don't get me wrong, one shopper on this board PMd me and gave me a list of better companies to work for and I have made more in January with another company than I made in three months working for MF. I am sgnificantly happier with these companies which pay higher fees for shops than I was for the $8 to listen to Hollister's loud music in its dark stores with rude supermodels who could never find me a plaid shirt even when they were standing next to one.

I am simply summarizing what I experienced and what several others have as well. I do not see threads about other companies doing this. It is great that many have not been deactivated, but too many have. Yes, there may be reasons, but would not those reasons be the same for other companies? If a shopper is careless enough to submit a wet receipt or the same photo twice for one company, the shopper is careless enough to do it for all. Careless is careless.

There clearly is a reason for what they are doing. We will probably never know, but we can continue to speculate. I hope that those of you who are praising them and glad you can still work for them do not receive the same treatment many of us did. I do not believe I will reapply. I am making more money doing less shops with many other companies. But I just wanted to point some things out that I am seeing here over and over.

First, the facts: I am new-ish in this business and have no issues with any of my companies. This does not mean that none of my companies has any issues with me. In fact, I have no idea what most of my companies think of me. I no longer perform a certain type of work, so I no longer work with one company who specializes in that. This may or may not be a deactivation. No one told me that I was deactivated. No matter. It is of no consequence because all new-to-me companies that I apply to accept me into their programs and offer me assignments.

This is gratifying, considering how I began in this business...

I had a rocky start, having over-booked on my first day and having incurred an issue [to this day I think I was only 93.874% of the problem] with the required images for the two (one of which was the size of three) jobs on my first day in this business. I am still allowed and invited to work with that company, even though my schedule rarely matches their opportunities.


Now, the opinions: My opinion is that if one door has closed-- rightly or wrongly-- another door will open somewhere else. I hope that all the people who have been deactivated at MF will find something else that is so good they will be glad for the nudge into the better job, or even the better life.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2015 10:28PM by Shop-et-al.

When a door closes in this business there are 200-300 more doors to walk through.

Been away from this forum for awhile but the same questions are still being beat to death.
MF has its fans and adversaries. Always have, always will.
Hoping to win powerbal tonight so none of this matters

@mgoodreau wrote:

I was deactivated by Market Force the day I earned $5000 in shops in one year.

mgoodreau, your experience matches mine. I earned $12,000 +/- during 5 months in 2014. The day after I received my 500 completed shop congrats from MF, they removed a client from my shop log. They said it was because I had made three reporting errors in one month. The three errors were made in one day, and involved their petroleum client. I was tired and I entered two overlapping times for my in-and-out. When I heard from the underpaid QC employee by email demanding to know WTF?, I replied with the correct times, but it was no-go. That client was removed from my shop-list.

Tonight I did a clowned-out shop for this clown of an MSC, and their site was so slow it took 35 minutes, thanks to their "downgrade" of their website. I had to login twice and am now glad to be done with them. Let the poor folks have this MSC, and their $5 for a meal con-job.