I just saw that another long-time devoted client of Market Force is beginning to run a few test shops with Bare. This lends further credence to my hypothesis that MF is (or will be) running into problems arising from its organizational behavior. (Lisa -- thanks in advance for refuting me and clearing this matter up for everyone...)

Nothing new from Bare in my area, or less from MF. Must be a client we don't have around here, or else test pilots are regional.

Sometimes a given client will have the franchises shopped on behalf of the parent company, and the franchisees on their own. You could be seeing something like that if it is a huge client.

One test shop each in MD, DC, VA, SC, FL, TX, CA, WA. That doesn't seem like a regional franchise thing...

I just got assigned one of these. The jobs must be done on 5/11 only and pay over twice what MF offered, plus a small bonus for the rush. The guidelines are not available yet, so I don't yet know how these compare to the MF jobs.

If you have such a bone to pick with MF why do you shop with them?
There are so many other MSC out there...


as Ive said before
I can easily name a dozen MSC that use to have exclusive clients that are now shopped by multiple MSC, while the original MSC in STILL has the client.
Your purely conjecturing with no proof of your hypothesis.
BTW. MF has picked up 3 new clients in the last month

Why do you make haste with such a reactionary post without having any idea at all what you are talking about? If you saw any of may posts about Market Force from earlier in the year, you would be aware that I was advocating MF as the single most important potential source of (non-video) revenue for mystery shoppers. It is lovely (but completely irrelevant) that you can name so many MSC using multiple clients. I can too, and I'm sure most people reading this can as well. If you were better informed, you would be aware that the two companies recently testing the waters with other MSC were long-time clients of MF only. I previously pointed out that the relationship between MF and the other big client now testing the waters elsewhere had previously been about as tight as the relationship between Ardent and their sole long-term client. Please don't respond to my posts until you are better informed and/or are able to provide more relevant information. Thanks!

a bunch of bossy pants in this thread.

(Deleted for excessive personal attack. -- Admin)

can you say what category this shop is in (fast casual, fast food, grocery, etc).....I wouldn't mind if some shops went to another company so I can be more diversified in case I ever get the boot from MF.

(Deleted for Excessive Personal Attacks -- Admin.)

Why do people come on here and try to suggest that the BIGGEST, BEST and most POPULAR Mystery Shopping Company: Market Force, is suffering or having clients walk away?? Your wish to insult this company is yours....

If clients change MSC's and they sometimes do, then, it's a business decision, NOT an indicator that MF is failing...

jack why are you always yelling? that can be bossy.

MSNinja
Too Funny??
Aren't you the one who stuck your foot in your mouth criticizing other posters for the way they submitted articles??
Talk about bossy!


Stop! worrying about what you think is bossy because that is YOUR opinion and not fact!

And start worrying about people that are providing FALSE and MISLEASDING information to further an agenda.

The BOSSY one in THIS thread is migrants that is stating an opinion (or a hope) as a FACT and then by continuing to state that anyone that disagrees is clueless.
Migrant has posted NO INFORMATION to back up his so called proven hypothesis!!

So WHAT PROOF does Migrant have MF is in fact losing that client and is gong to go out of business that Migrant is REPEATEDLY posting!!!!

Many companies use multiple MSC and it means NOTHING!

i called BOTH of you bossy. at least the Admin did not have to delete my post like they did yours. thanks for warm welcome to forum. you are quite rude.

@jmitw wrote:

can you say what category this shop is in (fast casual, fast food, grocery, etc).....I wouldn't mind if some shops went to another company so I can be more diversified in case I ever get the boot from MF.

Interesting post ... maybe MF has booted so many people they can't fill some jobs in some areas any more, causing the client to want another MSC to help. It would be in a client's best interest to diversify their shopper pool if that has happened.

Maybe that's why blue bank has two MSCs now. A lot of people really hate Maritz. A lot of people have been bounced from MF. Maybe multiple MSC's is a way of keeping access to the entire shopper pool.

Not at all saying this is what is going on, only that it could be a plausible reason for it.

@dspeakes wrote:

It would be in a client's best interest to diversify their shopper pool if that has happened.

Maybe that's why blue bank has two MSCs now. A lot of people really hate Maritz. A lot of people have been bounced from MF. Maybe multiple MSC's is a way of keeping access to the entire shopper pool.

Not at all saying this is what is going on, only that it could be a plausible reason for it.

Actually, the blue bank has a history of dealing with multiple MSCs. I don't do the current blue bank shops, but the previous blue bank platform shops (2009-early 2012) were listed with four different MSCs. The shop requirements and reports were identical.

Before my time. I didn't know they had a history of that. Thanks.


Hmm.... the blue bank gobbled up a lot of other banks. I wonder if they were under contract with other MSCs they had to honor as part of the acquisitions.

Anyway, I think it's good business for a really huge, nationwide company to not have all their MS eggs in one basket. It also makes it possible for a shopper to keep doing shops they were good at even if they have a falling out with one MSC who does those shops.

@dspeakes wrote:

Interesting post ... maybe MF has booted so many people they can't fill some jobs in some areas any more, causing the client to want another MSC to help. It would be in a client's best interest to diversify their shopper pool if that has happened.

Maybe that's why blue bank has two MSCs now. A lot of people really hate Maritz. A lot of people have been bounced from MF. Maybe multiple MSC's is a way of keeping access to the entire shopper pool.

Not at all saying this is what is going on, only that it could be a plausible reason for it.

I can attest that this is happening in my area (i.e., MF not being able to fill jobs because they booted too many people), though I don't know whether it is the reason why these clients are running test shops with other MS companies. Specifically, MF is now resorting to posting on external job boards for several jobs that I used to do regularly. These are assignments way out in the boonies from my metropolitan area, and I did them routinely for huge bonuses. The jobs never seem to be taken now and get reposted throughout the month, never with a bonus advertised.

Not at all. Just not going to sit idly by while someone who has spent over a year registering under dozens of different screen names bashes companies and members because they have some moronic agenda. Try disagreeing or offering a different opinion and see what happens to you.

What social media posts about mf are you talking about?
Something outside this forum?

Arches has decided what to measure. They focus on speed, and seem to think that that is what real customers value. Other items are reported, but I was never questioned by MF about anything except timing (and then only when the time was long) when I was shopping for them. Several years ago, I got a commendation from MF for having completed 750 shops. The next week, I was dropped by them, and when I inquired, I was told to finish my shops and that I was dropped for "being to hard or too easy and we can not tell you which." As I have said before, I am quite happy in my post-MF world. I bear them no ill will, and recommend them to new shoppers as a place to get started.

How about this one, to start: [www.glassdoor.com]

@jackaroe wrote:

What social media posts about mf are you talking about?
Something outside this forum?

@LisaSTL wrote:

Not at all. Just not going to sit idly by while someone who has spent over a year registering under dozens of different screen names bashes companies and members because they have some moronic agenda. Try disagreeing or offering a different opinion and see what happens to you.

Some of the folks here just seem plain old crazy. I've posted POSITIVELY about MF, arguing that they are crucial for maximizing one's (non-video) income. Suggesting that I have an agenda is nuts. I find MF interesting because it is by far the biggest company in the industry, and therefore it influences the space in many ways. It is baffling to me that someone cannot understand why I might be interested in discussing big-picture trends in the industry that I (and many others here) now depend on. I think that most folks on the long bus can agree that talking about trends that may reflect changing dynamics in the industry is certainly topical for this board.

I harbor no ill will toward MF for deactivating me for making too much money with them. I am a capitalist and a libertarian, and I likely would have done the same thing if I were them. I never had any big problems with them. On the contrary, despite submitting *many* reports that reflected very negatively on the client, I can only remember having one report rejected (out of thousands), and that was my fault for not calling a regional manager when an employee refused an audit.

As for suggesting that I have been posting under multiple aliases, I've noticed that this is a very common strategy among BPD folks who have found satisfaction from dominating internet message boards. I also follow some Yahoo stock message boards, and one of them is completely dominated by a person who has posted thousands of times and will attempt to refute anyone who posts anything substantive. She claims that the many other people who attempt to discuss the stock on that board are just one person with many aliases. The really crazy thing is that she does all of this using multiple aliases of her own, and she will even post conversations among her different identities about the one "basher" on the board.

I am sorry that Lisa and a few others feel so intimidated by someone else attempting to initiate substantive conversations. I am starting to think that I would be better off just banging my head against the wall than posting anything here.

Migrants
What time frame are you using to determine if your hypothesis is correct?
1 year?
5 years?
10 Years?
at what point will you say you were wrong>?

Posted in wrong MF thread. Oops.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2015 08:26PM by scanman1.