I did a freelance edit for them. It was not a shop report, but a document they sent out to a small group of shoppers for feedback before publishing it openly to all shoppers. The reason I responded publicly (under duress) is that I was asked to publicly post my "financial interests in Sentry Marketing", non-existent though they are.

Edited to add: I really did not realize at the time I had completed my shops that Sentry scored their reports in a way I could view, as I had not seen any email feedback about my reports, other than, "Thank you," and something that noted it had been accepted. I went into their site this evening, after reading the post about why I had seen the document I ended up editing ahead of some others. I had received a 6 score, but hadn't known it. Gee, I got a bonus for perservering through the Prophet tribulations I faced on that one (my other is too old to have been scored, I guess, as it doesn't show up at all.) I wish I could have gotten another bonus for getting a 6! If only I had a crystal ball that could have told the future. LOL. But seriously, I guess that is why I got asked to review the document, since you asked why I saw it ahead of time. I don't know that, though.


Dave, where is my retro-active bonus? Just kidding. I know that it was far before that was implemented that I last shopped for you.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2010 07:33AM by dee shops.

Sentry Marketing Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MM and Flash - Thank you very much for the
> feedback.
>
> MM - I appreciate you giving our company a tryout.
> If you have any questions or concerns, don't
> hesitate to contact me directly for assistance.
>
> We are taking steps to increase the consistency of
> scoring mystery shopping reports in our company.
> The first step was for us to assemble a guide that
> details our content requirements in a clear and
> easy to understand format. That document is being
> reviewed by a number of our key shoppers and we
> expect to publish it next week.
>
> Next, we are going to publish a scoring guide that
> will be used by our editors and available to our
> shoppers. The scoring guide will help shoppers
> understand how each shop is looked at, the
> difference between major and minor
> omissions/errors and why a shop was assigned a
> particular score.
>
> The rationale behind the bonus program is that we
> were looking for a way to reward those shoppers
> who prepared properly, followed the guidelines and
> submitted top quality work. At this time, all of
> our projects require some narrative. In my view,
> it's not right to pay a shopper who submits an "A"
> report the same fee as a shopper who submits a
> report that required heavy editing before it could
> be released.
>
> In the future, if we launch a project with little
> to no narrative, it is likely that that project
> would not include variable bonus.
>
> Thanks again for all your input!
>
> Dave Agius
> The Sentry Marketing Group
> www.sentrymarketing.com


For what it's worth:

This is an accurate account of the interaction between DeeShops and our company.

I sent Dee and several other shoppers a copy of the guide we produced in order so that we could assess the quality of the document from the audience's point of view. Dee was one of six shoppers that we sent the first version of the guide. jbeatke was in a group of six shoppers that we sent the second version.

Dee was compensated for her time based on the extensive and relevant revisions she made to the document. I don't care to work for free and don't expect anybody else to do so. While we received feedback from nearly everyone, it was clear that Dee went above and beyond.

I sent the guide to twelve shoppers that I have interacted with and respect in order to gain their feedback for the purpose of producing a high quality and effective document. I'm baffled why anyone would have a problem with that. For the record, none of the shoppers who assisted us has a financial stake in our company.

If there are any questions or problems, I'm open to discussing the issue via PM. Don't hesitate to shoot me a note.

And here is my final answer for the person who made me post my story here:
The Seagull and the Kite


A SEAGULL having bolted down too large a fish, burst its deep
gullet-bag and lay down on the shore to die. A Kite saw him and
exclaimed: "You richly deserve your fate; for a bird of the air
has no business to seek its food from the sea."


Every man should be content to mind his own business.

dee shops Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And here is my final answer for the person who
> made me post my story here:
> The Seagull and the Kite
>
>
> A SEAGULL having bolted down too large a fish,
> burst its deep
> gullet-bag and lay down on the shore to die. A
> Kite saw him and
> exclaimed: "You richly deserve your fate; for a
> bird of the air
> has no business to seek its food from the sea."
>
>
> Every man should be content to mind his own
> business.

Thanks, Dee! Thanks, David!

I thought maybe Dee was a moderator here......or there!

Gee, Irene, what would a moderator at Sentry do?

Spy on shoppers....and report back.....lol.

Yup, that's me. Madame spy. Hahahaha. LOL.

Oh! Sign me up for that shop. Mystery shopping mystery shoppers? I'd love that.

My kids are amused by the whole shopping thing. When I'm logged in to the forum, they call it "e-mailing with her spy network."

I'm hearing that Sentry scores extremely low....so, even though your report seemed good to you, they can give you a 4 and you'll not get bonsed, sounds like a crock of BS to me, being 4 is unacceptable for most companies. This is very manipulative to my sensabilities.

We score our shops on a scale of 1 to 6 where 6 is a "perfect" shop that requires no editing, 5 is very good and 4 is a good shop that me our expectations. We've recently published a guide that fully explains our content requirements and includes the scoring criteria used by our editors.

For the record, over 80% of shops are scored a 4, 5 or 6.

Currently, we bonus shops that score a 5 or 6 in one project and a bonus shops that score a 4, 5 or 6 in another. We did not cut shopper fees to accommodate the bonus program.

Overall, the reaction from shoppers has been overwhelmingly positive and we're looking at expanding the program to other projects over the next few months. I certainly respect every person's right to express their opinion although I fail to see how rewarding shoppers for outstanding work can be considered "manipulative". One thing I've learned about this business is that we will never be able to please everyone, but hopefully we are doing the right thing for the majority of our shoppers.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2010 01:32AM by Sentry Marketing.

I stand corrected, however, all of my companies score with 10 being perfect, and 8/10 very acceptable.

Irene_L.A. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I stand corrected, however, all of my companies
> score with 10 being perfect, and 8/10 very
> acceptable.


I fail to see the point here. Each company gets to choose its own rating scale, and what score is deemed acceptable or excellent.

karen

I had a conflict with Sentry Marketing that was never resolved. There was some poor communication and misunderstanding between me and the scheduler in which I was scheduled for a job I could not do. They were in a bind and I said I could do it if I could order something vegetarian. I never got an answer and I assumed that meant I couldn't order a vegetarian item, which I expected because it was a Burger Shop. The next time I tried to log in and couldn't, I contacted customer service and was told that I was deactivated for not doing the Burger Shop. I responded with copies of email exchanges to explain my side and never got a response about my complaint. It's unfortunate that it had to work out that way, it seems others have had better experiences than I had. I don't feel I was treated particularly fairly, but I'm sure the scheduler had her own story. For those that are considering Sentry Marketing, follow up on emails and don't assume that a lack of an email response means you're not doing the job.

That is also true for other companies. I was allowed to sign up for 2 breakfast shops at different locations (by their self-assigning system). I was first told, don't do it again, but this time we will let it slide and evaluate each breakfast on its own merit. Then I get a second email from another person saying I went to the wrong location for one of them. I did go to the correct place, but they got my receipts mixed up. The third email from a third person said they would not pay me for the second breakfast shop since I was not allowed to do 2 in one day. Sad when they can't get their story straight.

To be fair, this was not Sentry. Just be careful and read all directions.

To start with I know there are those that will point out this is my first post and question my legitimacy. And if you desire to work for Sentry you are free to do so. I have been mystery shopping for 5 years, I have been on this website previously under other names and always seem to buck head with certain users hence having my account deleted. ... that being said. I actually have a little respect for Dave at Senty because he do does not always play the game the way a lot of you think it should be played. However, little respect is all I can come up with. If you have ever dealt with Sentry and also seen in his answers, nothing is ever his (Dave's) fault.It is always the shopper misunderstood. According to him , his instructions are perfect to a t.
I will simply give you one example. I did a drive tru shop for them, at this point I was already in the hole for 60.00 for another bar/dine in shop for them. They sent me report back to me for not being specific on how the "drink was presented".
I was in a sarcastic mood so I responded. "It was in a clear bottle, it had a red, white and blue emblem that said Pepsi" I expect a sarcastic answer back,instead I got, "Great job, thanks"
And I finally did get paid for everything from Dave, except the tip on the 60.00 shop, again, it was entirely my fault that his auditors didn't see it on my receipt.I was them happy to be deleted from Sentrys database.

Homeskillet Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have been on this website
> previously under other names and always seem to
> buck head with certain users hence having my
> account deleted. ...

No kidding. I could tell from your other posts exactly whom you are.

I don't know who Homeskillet is nor I am familiar with the situation that they reference in their post. I'm not sure how not responding to a sarcastic comment without sarcasm is a problem. Weird.

I don't believe that I have ever stated that our company is perfect and our shopper instructions are without flaws. Like any other company, we make our share of mistakes and we've word hard to rectify those situations quickly. Our team has great respect for our shoppers and we work hard every day to build strong relationships with our shopper community.

The content requirement for our shops is not a secret, however. This subject is covered in our orientation, in the project's on-line preparation module and in the written guidelines that accompany the assignment. We also include a sample completed evaluation for shoppers to review as a basis of comparison for their own shop. Like any other company in this industry, we expect shoppers to review the assignment details before conducting the visit so that any areas that are vague can be cleared up ahead of time. It is in our best interest to put our shoppers in the best possible position to succeed. Ask any scheduler in the industry and I am confident that they will tell you that scheduling last minute re-shops is one of the most stressful parts of their job.

As I said, our team has great respect for our shoppers and we understand that being a mystery shopper is not always an easy task. The one area where we have little tolerance is shoppers who communicate in an angry, threatening or unprofessional tone. I respect candid feedback and welcome constructive criticism from the people who complete assignments for our company. There is,however, a level of civility and mutual respect that each party needs to show the other.

If anyone has any questions or open issues, feel free to PM me here or email me at dave@sentrymarketing.com

Thanks

Dave Agius, Owner
The Sentry Marketing Group

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2010 02:18PM by Sentry Marketing.

I'm trying to put in a survey and not sure where to do it. Too hard!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you sign in on the website?

rl743064 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm trying to put in a survey and not sure where
> to do it. Too hard!!!!!!!!!!!!


There are two portals. If you are in the one with the guidelines (where you also track your current and historical reports) (http://www....) then click the 'Job Board' or 'Assigned Visits' menu item to go into the one where you selected the assignment (http://shopper....) and where you submit your survey.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2014 04:57PM by isaiah58.

It takes a long time filling in reports/and narratives for a specific eatery. 7 page report for $4 dollars and a meal. I have not found a way to spend less than almost an hour on the report, $4 dollars sure is low, actually the lowest fee for eating out that I have found. Yes, the meal is being paid for, but the meal is what is suppose to be evaluated. Similar shops at other MSC pay at least $6 with half the report size and narrative. Shoppers can pick up other shops that pay triple, and spend a third of the time on the report. Editors should take that into consideration before writing a shopper over punctuation. If shoppers are valued, perhaps the pay would represent that fact in a better manner.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2014 06:52AM by dmp777.

I hope Marketforce takes the account.