GFK has finally hit bottom ???

Just received this from GFK...I guess they expect us to do stuff @ N/C = No Charge = No Fee ???

edited to correct my spelling error above....sorry

Due Date 08-07-15 (m-d-y)
Do NOT shop before 08-03-15
Hours 9-8 Mon-Sat 10-5 Sun
Days of week Any Day
Shopper's Pay $ 0.00
Shop Expenses $ 0.00
Special Expenses $ 0.00
Shop Comments
This is a national census of beverages which you will be assigned an area, or "segment", that you will be required to travel the entire area you are assigned. All data must be entered on a tablet through our mobile application, Sassie Rover. This assignment may take 1-2 days up to 2 weeks depending on the size of the area assigned. You're shop sticky note will contain a map that will show you what area you will be required to cover.

We will pay you for each completed visit but the entire segment must be visited to receive compensation for any of your visits.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2015 08:52PM by parkcitybrian.

Create an Account or Log In

Membership is free. Simply choose your username, type in your email address, and choose a password. You immediately get full access to the forum.

Already a member? Log In.

So we don't know the route until after the shop is assigned? How many shoppers can say they have the next two weeks completely open?

I read earlier emails and realize there is apparently a range of pay depending on what can be accomplished at each store. The problem is they would not even provide the range. I didn't understand why they couldn't simply say it will be anywhere from $5 to $10. Although with them it is more likely to be $1 to $5smiling smiley

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
@parkcitybrian wrote:

...

We will pay you for each completed visit but the entire segment must be visited to receive compensation for any of your visits.

Looks like they will eventually pay after you've done all the work for the whole region you're assigned, but it doesn't mention how much. Maybe you find out the fee after you apply? Doesn't sound like my cup of tea, but maybe someone on the forum will try it out and let us know how it went.

Shopper in California's Bay Area
@LisaSTL wrote:

So we don't know the route until after the shop is assigned? How many shoppers can say they have the next two weeks completely open?

I read earlier emails and realize there is apparently a range of pay depending on what can be accomplished at each store. The problem is they would not even provide the range. I didn't understand why they couldn't simply say it will be anywhere from $5 to $10. Although with them it is more likely to be $1 to $5smiling smiley

Lisa...it's completely and utterly nuts. And GFK seemingly is oblivious and tone-deaf to what is going on with their schedulers. Seriously, it's like the clown car at the circus. I'm thinking that GFK is ripe for being consolidated because they seem to have given up.
@CaliGirl925 wrote:

@parkcitybrian wrote:

...

We will pay you for each completed visit but the entire segment must be visited to receive compensation for any of your visits.

Looks like they will eventually pay after you've done all the work for the whole region you're assigned, but it doesn't mention how much. Maybe you find out the fee after you apply? Doesn't sound like my cup of tea, but maybe someone on the forum will try it out and let us know how it went.

Oh wait, now I understand. GFK wants shoppers to commit and agree to fulfill an assignment without knowing the fee or any other pertinent details such as perhaps keeping a 2 week time frame open. Got it.
First I fell out laughing when logging in. My email provider has been kicking them back and naturally it is the providers fault, not the fact too many of the schedulers send dozens of emails back to back.

I finally found one of the jobs. No way to tell if this was the only one in the area. The description is St Clair County, IL. They don't bother to say it is East St Louis and my guess includes some lovely strip clubs and dive bars. The pay starts at $2 for a closed location, is a paltry $3 for partial reports and $10 for a completed survey.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
I have been thinking maybe I should just put GFK on "no emails" because they consistently pay so poorly that I never even want to read the emails anymore. I just delete them. It's not worth it. They are in New York City also, so the drastically low pay surprises me. They know what the cost of living is in this town. I know some people will take any shop, but I'm never going to work for $10 or less unless I'm getting something I really want out of the deal.
@LisaSTL wrote:

So we don't know the route until after the shop is assigned? How many shoppers can say they have the next two weeks completely open?

The shoppers that rely on MF for most of their $ then do shop wrong, get deactivated & come here to whine about it. They have plenty of time on their hands.
The last email I received about this project had a link to the guidelines. VERY confusing. You are given an area, on a map. You have to identify locations that have "beverages" in each block. But there are exceptions. Then you audit the beverages available in each location,I think! The areas in my state are divided up by County. Someone took my County already. WHAT?

Shopping Central Jersey Shoreline. WHAT? I'm an adult?! When did this happen?! How do I make it stop?!
I got the email also and in Winnebago County there are areas I would NOT work in for ANY amount of money. I do not sign up for what I do not know ahead of time. So, I tossed it into the round basket... file 13. I could not believe the fees listed, NOT, etc. Oh well. It is gone. I am sure some new person will do this one and wonder why they did..

Incognito

silver certified
With any luck they will find this forum and share their horror, I mean wonderful experiences.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
This feels a little bit like slavery to me. tongue sticking out smiley If I am to understand this right, you must complete ALL of what they assign you to be paid at all, with no idea of the fee and the closed locations pay $2. Unless I am missing something here...this smells a little fishy to me tongue sticking out smiley
@SunnyDays2 wrote:

This feels a little bit like slavery to me. tongue sticking out smiley If I am to understand this right, you must complete ALL of what they assign you to be paid at all, with no idea of the fee and the closed locations pay $2. Unless I am missing something here...this smells a little fishy to me tongue sticking out smiley

Sunny...I don't really think there is anything "fishy" here. My initial posting was just to call attention to the continuing issues that GFK is posing to us (boots-on-the-ground) and to maybe, just maybe they will get their @#$%& together so that we can not only assist them in their endeavors but reward the loyalists that have done work for them in the past. They keep shooting themselves in the foot with assignments/comments/guidelines that are confusing, ambiguous and nonsensical and worse...they don't address these issues and seemingly stonewall their continuing problems. I get the feeling that they are "going down" and are ripe for being consolidated which would not be a good thing...for us. It would mean fewer MSCs which would extrapolate to a continuing problem...lower fees. MF is continuing to lower fees as is most of the MSCs.
It is too far over the top to refer to anything we do as ever approaching the amoral horror that was and is slavery. OTOH, third world wages, being taken advantage of and/or played for fools are all appropriate descriptions.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
@parkcitybrian wrote:

just maybe they will get their @#$%& together so that we can not only assist them in their endeavors

It would mean fewer MSCs which would extrapolate to a continuing problem...lower fees. MF is continuing to lower fees as is most of the MSCs.

I'm not seeing this trend that you're seeing that makes them worth helping, though. All I needed was a "1" on a wing take-out shop that they tripped over themselves explaining to me (no wonder they don't explain scores--allegedly) to see that they weren't worth it. Some may fall over for saying this, but that is typical scuzzy NYC business "culture" that we all hear about on display right there.

As for the fees being lowered, all you can do is hold out and get some bonuses to offset that.
@AlfredB1979 wrote:

@parkcitybrian wrote:

just maybe they will get their @#$%& together so that we can not only assist them in their endeavors

It would mean fewer MSCs which would extrapolate to a continuing problem...lower fees. MF is continuing to lower fees as is most of the MSCs.

I'm not seeing this trend that you're seeing that makes them worth helping, though. All I needed was a "1" on a wing take-out shop that they tripped over themselves explaining to me (no wonder they don't explain scores--allegedly) to see that they weren't worth it. Some may fall over for saying this, but that is typical scuzzy NYC business "culture" that we all hear about on display right there.

As for the fees being lowered, all you can do is hold out and get some bonuses to offset that.

Alfred...i wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments and well-thought-out comments . I, for one, absolutely refuse to succumb to the siren song of the dreaded "low and insulting fees" that seem to be the norm, these days. There are definitely wayyyy toooo many shoppers who are willing to accept fees that demean our profession and I'm amused by those who deride those of us that do refuse these low fees by sanctimoniously saying such self-serving statements such as, "keep refusing these fees cuz it just means more shops for me" and other such blathering. For those MSC's out there reading these comments, I have one thing to say (which is unusual for me to have only 1 thing to ever say)....YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR,.
So I self assigned one of these just to see all the info. ......... I got the accepted email then 10 minutes later they cancelled the shop on me. (My score is an 8 with them)
My husband then self assigned it as it was back on the job board and by the this morning, less than 10hrs later, he had a cancellation email. (His score is a 10)

So why are they turning down people who actually agree to this crazy work?
@luckygirl0100 wrote:

So I self assigned one of these just to see all the info. ......... I got the accepted email then 10 minutes later they cancelled the shop on me. (My score is an 8 with them)
My husband then self assigned it as it was back on the job board and by the this morning, less than 10hrs later, he had a cancellation email. (His score is a 10)

So why are they turning down people who actually agree to this crazy work?

Luckygirl0100...the answer is simple...Cuz they're GFK and if their latest antics (and there have been several) is any indication of their degree of professionalism (or lack thereof) then this shouldn't come as any surprise, sadly said. I'm thinking that all the MSC folks who monitor this site are drooling over GFK's continued cluster#%@&s because it means that they will be scurrying around to reel in GFK's clients soon as it appears that GFK doesn't care about their clients and they certainly don't care about us. Truly a sad state of affairs.

edited to correct my somewhat crappy spelling.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2015 10:59PM by parkcitybrian.
These shops sounds like the gas-spotters shops-----where you must agree to do all regional shops----in order to get paid. Well at least the gas spotter" shops tells you where you have to go and the shoppers fee involved.

You asked about Donna but what about Dante, he hasn't voiced an opinion. And he is usually very vocal about GFKconfused smileyconfused smiley
@sojo917 wrote:

These shops sounds like the gas-spotters shops-----where you must agree to do all regional shops----in order to get paid. Well at least the gas spotter" shops tells you where you have to go and the shoppers fee involved.

You asked about Donna but what about Dante, he hasn't voiced an opinion. And he is usually very vocal about GFKconfused smileyconfused smiley

Yep, Dante is usually very vocal (and an apologist for GFK as he works for them as a scheduler) and I'm thinking that either GFK has muzzled any comment from employees speaking for them and/or there can be no rebuttal that make sense about their recent and continuing cock-ups.

I'm not any kind of crisis manager but people in that line of business say that the best way to handle issues that are obvious problems is to face them head on and confront those issues with positive statements such as "we know there are/have been issues with x, y & z and we want to assure you that we are working diligently to make things better, etc., etc, etc." Something to re-assure those who are their "bread and butter" (meaning us) that they are aware of the problems and to bear with them instead of stonewalling and being tone-deaf.

I, for one, am refusing to do any more GFK assignments until I do get some kind of reassurance that things will get better and I'm going to get paid for assignments that I've completed.

I hope this isn't going to be another Grass Roots with them going out of biz owing us $$$$.
GfK is the poster child for how quickly you can destroy your business by being greedy and dismissive.

#whyideactivated

______________________________________________________________________
Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2015 12:50AM by Hoju.
I am no longer associated with GfK Mystery Shopping.

Furthermore, I cannot endorse this company as they currently owe me a decent sum of money for the work I completed in June and July. Additionally, I cannot continue to endorse a company that treats people as if they are subhuman. I thought things were getting better, but in reality, they have gotten worse with this company.

Case in point, I had an appendectomy in March, the company expected me to work while hospitalized. Nobody said get well soon or even asked how I was.

Another example, in July, my wife was rushed to surgery and in intensive care for 3 days; I informed GfK of this and they still expected me to continue working.

Sometime in the near future, I will post more about some of my experiences with GfK.

@sojo917 wrote:

These shops sounds like the gas-spotters shops-----where you must agree to do all regional shops----in order to get paid. Well at least the gas spotter" shops tells you where you have to go and the shoppers fee involved.

You asked about Donna but what about Dante, he hasn't voiced an opinion. And he is usually very vocal about GFKconfused smileyconfused smiley

Arguing with fools is like playing chess with a pigeon...
...No matter how good you are, the pigeon will s@^t on the board and strut around like it won anyway.

Not scheduling for ANY company.
Now we know why there is a revolving door on the schedulers office and how they manage to get so many incompetent schedulers. That's not directed to you Dante since I never worked on any of your projects.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
Schedulers are less than human to them. Up until recently, they took 60 days to pay schedulers and bonuses came out of a schedulers invoice. Additionally, those retail audits (the big ones), only pay the schedulers $5 each. The phone audits only pay schedulers $2 each. The phone shops only pay schedulers $2.50 each. The only way to make decent money with them was to schedule a bunch of assignments.

They owe me over $5300.

@LisaSTL wrote:

Now we know why there is a revolving door on the schedulers office and how they manage to get so many incompetent schedulers. That's not directed to you Dante since I never worked on any of your projects.

Arguing with fools is like playing chess with a pigeon...
...No matter how good you are, the pigeon will s@^t on the board and strut around like it won anyway.

Not scheduling for ANY company.
Never mind -sent PM

Kim


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2015 06:15PM by kimmiemae.
@DanteScheduler wrote:

Schedulers are less than human to them. Up until recently, they took 60 days to pay schedulers and bonuses came out of a schedulers invoice. Additionally, those retail audits (the big ones), only pay the schedulers $5 each. The phone audits only pay schedulers $2 each. The phone shops only pay schedulers $2.50 each. The only way to make decent money with them was to schedule a bunch of assignments.

They owe me over $5300.

@LisaSTL wrote:

Now we know why there is a revolving door on the schedulers office and how they manage to get so many incompetent schedulers. That's not directed to you Dante since I never worked on any of your projects.

Dante...although we have had differences in the past i've never had the opportunity to work/deal with you directly in connection with any opportunities with GFK. That being said, if I had a company I would want an associate like yourself representing my interests as you always presented yourself and the company that you represented (in this case, GFK) in a positive light. I'm sorry that this experience has left such a bad taste in your mouth and it certainly seems that this is GFK's loss. Hope you get your $$$ and also i get mine (about $500-ish) and all fellow shoppers get theirs.
I am so glad you buried that hatchet somewhere other than Dante's headwinking smiley

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
@LisaSTL wrote:

I am so glad you buried that hatchet somewhere other than Dante's headwinking smiley

Lisa...don't know if you're are referring that snark to me but, if so, i'm hardly offended and also please refer to another topic on this site that refers to "why do some here feel the need to attack" or something like that. i feel that you have attacked, defiled, impugned, and also violated me. and, while i'm at it...this site is for serious mystery shopping experiences ONLY so going off-topic will get you a citation. forewarned is forearmed (or something like that).
Word on the street is you like to be defiledsmiling smiley

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login