I do make the income requirement and took the certification test; however, there is no way I would take any audit stating 2 hours of work for $20. I've sent a couple emails to the scheduler inquiring if a larger pay was an option...but was told 'no'. I would have done one to check out for $50, but with the nightmare posts listed here....I'll pass! Thanks shoppers for sharing your knowledge.

I joined this forum, just to come tell you guys to avoid these audits.
I took 5 of them for a route I was on for another MSC.

1 of 5 was in the middle of a one floor renovation, all the rest had no idea what I was there for. Originally they had no letter of introduction or check list for photos.

There is no real issue with taking 200 pictures, do it as fast as your phone will take them. The issue is the MSC's server is so slow you can't upload a photo a minute. 200 minutes for one $20 report? So that should answer all of your needs on taking one of these shops.

Alas it is far worse.The report is one of the poorest designs I have ever seen. There are two sections that ask a simple question, if you answer no to them both, it still requires a photo upload. So, "Does this item exist?" No, "Is there an item with (the non-existing item)" No. Ok, now upload a picture, of the non-existing item that goes with the non-existing item.

They didn't review my reports for two weeks and then scored me a 2 because my reports were 2 weeks late. I finally uploaded a picture of a forest and and told them it was my proof of Bigfoot. And the fine editor did the old unanswered email reply trick too, so there was no possibility of discussion. Scheduler was equally obtuse about the entire project.

I hope nobody else falls victim to this company and their historically poor pay scale. $5 for a quick coffee shop at a truck stop is one thing; these are abusive. I see dozens of them being offered as I travel a 10 state area, I hope that continues.

Who in their right mind would take a min of 1-2 hour shop with lots of pics and spend another hour reporting and downloading it for$20.00, and since I make $60,000 a year with a college degree, I am that stupid to take it? Wow, college really pays off.

I don't think any MSC should require anyone of us to how much you make a year! I made lots of money in my past business. I figure I have made over the $70,000 requirement in the pass. I am retired now.

@cbunchrbg wrote:

Look into Audits with Reality Based Group. We have retail audits as high at $50 per sheet with bonuses right now www.realitybasedgroup.com.

U should add a tag line to your posts stating that U work for a MSC.

I dont know whether to laugh or cry. I see these emails all the time. They have now dropped income to $50,000.00, but they have no "bonus" yet. Keep digging around if you like audits. I love audits. There are some great companies out there paying very nice fees. Keep digging you will find them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2015 11:24PM by SouthernCharm.

I guess do you think 2 hours onsite and some time for upload is worth 20.00? For me it would be a 50.00 shop with what they said they wanted, I would almost if it was close enough go to the hotel before taking the shop.

The one I did said they had just renovated and nothing was in compliance. I did many many pictures and even went back the second time. I will never do another for less tha $50

The ones I was seeing were requiring a college degree as well. When I first saw them, I mentioned interest to the MSC, and was advised not to accept any until it was addressed. After a few days, I started seeing these postings, and felt like I was lucky to have missed out!

I have also emailed the scheduler and told him to check out the forum for comments on the tedious nature of these shops. Hopefully, the client will pay better for a full day's work (with no benefits!)

The income requirements are now at $50,000. This shop is on my ten foot pole list, along with Ikea LOL

SO maybe the MSC could clarify why the income requirements? On a car shop I get it. A motel/hotel you read a list and take pics accordingly. If I make $10000 or $100000 my reading skills would could be the same.

Holy cow, that's like $3 an hour. God bless all of you who endured that madness, and thanks very much for the heads up.

I just saw two of these near me, but at $20/shop, fugeddaboutit. They want someone with a college degree, a $50,000/yr minimum income, and a high-quality camera, and this is what they pay? That's ludicrous.

When you factor in the self-employment tax as just one "benefit" you have to cover yourself as opposed to being a W-2 earner, the cost of gas to get to the location, and all of the other expenses you incur as an IC, and you're down to about $10 or $12/shop. And since they already tell you it's about a minimum of two hours on site, plus the time to upload the photos, and as pinchers81 says, you're "making" around $3/hour!

Where on earth do these MSCs come up with their fees? And why would anyone do this shop for $20? Anyone with a college degree can figure out these aren't worth it. Anyone with a high-school degree, too!

I'd love to do these if the fee goes up and/or they get bonused. But, otherwise, no thanks!

I did the revealed audit last month at a Comfort Inn that had just been renovated. Still, only one type of chair, nothing else, matched the photos in the guidelines.

The scheduler asked me to call the hotel as I left to perform the audit; the hotel manager was surprised and concerned when I called but took down the info I read to him from the authorization letter. By the time I got to the hotel, the manager had checked with his boss and was ready for the audit.

The audit took me 4 hours including uploading the photos to a very slow website. $20 is way too low for this much work. I won't do another at that rate.

They might be able to sweeten the pot on these jobs if they threw in a voucher for a free Comfort Inn hotel stay. Just an idea.

I think the disconnect here is that most shoppers won't recognize the moving parts. Each client has different ideas and how they want shops performed and then MSP's have to figure out the logistics the best they can. Also, as MS gets more in depth the challenge becomes figuring out how to make it lucrative for both the shopper and the MSP, while still being able to compete with all the other low ball mom and pop MSP's. The funny thing is that at the end of the day it just means more ability to MS with items like Audits. They are in their infancy and will become easier as useful feedback is given to MSP's. Remember complaints without solutions is referred to as whining.

Interesting you refer to the small MSCs as lowball. It is the large companies tending to pay the least while the smaller shops often pay commensurate with the work. I've never noticed the larger MSCs have a whit of concern about an assignment offering anything close to fair compensation for the contractor and certainly nothing considered lucrative.

@LisaSTL wrote:

Interesting you refer to the small MSCs as low ball. It is the large companies tending to pay the least while the smaller shops often pay commensurate with the work. I've never noticed the larger MSCs have a whit of concern about an assignment offering anything close to fair compensation for the contractor and certainly nothing considered lucrative.

Let me clarify. I meant smaller MSP's can low ball jobs in a hyper-local area and hurt the overall value perception to the end line customer, who is the retailer/seller. MSP's have to meet the clients expectations and budget while maintaining enough profit to stay in business, and HOPEFULLY put money back into R&D at the end of the day.

Some companies, like ours, make sure protections are in place for our shoppers. We lose deals because another company, who doesn't care about the well being of the shopper or performing an actual service, low balls the estimate or cuts corners to get the bid.

Again, my point is that it's no so cut and dry. There are a lot of moving pieces and it's not always how it appears. Finding innovative solutions to this through technology, apps, or just getting out there and doing it. Give that feedback to your company or better yet, start one and change the industry.

cbunchrbg "Give that feedback to your company or better yet, start one and change the industry."

The scheduler in this case did not once have a solution to anything I asked nor acknowledge my complaints. We are talking about over a months time and multiple locations for the audit.

When I started, they didn't even have a letter introducing the Auditor. Imagine walking into a hotel and asking a clerk to give you keys to 5 rooms so you could take pictures of a redress compliance they haven't done and didn't know they could be audited for. It was hysterical.

I took these with the knowledge that reveal audits are a process and that after several you can distill a process, speeding up the audit.

This audit is trash, very poorly formatted with multiple areas that can not be addressed in the field. I just spent 60 hours driving/traveling through 13 states. I saw hundreds of these audits available. (The MSC) is getting killed on these. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.

(Mod note: Your post was edited as it is a violation of Forum rules and probably also a breach of your ICA to link an MSC with its clientele.)

@Offthecouch

Any guesses or predictions on what will happen with these audits? I just took the test on the MSC web site, and there are a number of hotels available in my area. If the time/pay ratio were better I'd be interested in doing them.

Offthecouch that is nuts. Thanks for sharing the madness.

If you can do five a day good luck to you, I thought I could too until I printed out 45 pages of guidelines (you must print them in color, according to the shop guidelines) and I estimated one hotel would be a minimum of 2 to 3 hours, not including the uploads and the report. I posted this in another thread early on when this shop was first offered. If you really want to do it and have been denied, just change your profile to reflect you make $70,000 a year. Better you than me.

You printed 45 pages? That should be 10 cents per page plus hourly wage of time spent printing = $10 (at least) just for printing time and cost.

I have no idea how they would know how much you earn. Hopefully these msc cannot see our IRS forms. Even though someone might earn above the figure it does not really mean anything about them. I could be married to a rich person and be a grade school drop out and/or a young blond bombshell or any other hair color married to an elderly sugar daddy or mommy. I could also be in a family with 4 working people...2 adults and 2 older kids still at home. We would each only need to be in a $17,500 a year job for the ms to qualify. Or on the other hand I could have a PHD in philosophy and still be looking for that job. The minimum wage in my state is now $10.00 so that would qualify for a family of 4.
I did one audit in my mystery shop career and never again. That one took me about 5 hours and was supposed to take 1. Even at 1 hour the fee would not have been much.

@cbunchrbg wrote:

I think the disconnect here is that most shoppers won't recognize the moving parts. Each client has different ideas and how they want shops performed and then MSP's have to figure out the logistics the best they can. Also, as MS gets more in depth the challenge becomes figuring out how to make it lucrative for both the shopper and the MSP, while still being able to compete with all the other low ball mom and pop MSP's. The funny thing is that at the end of the day it just means more ability to MS with items like Audits. They are in their infancy and will become easier as useful feedback is given to MSP's. Remember complaints without solutions is referred to as whining.

I find your first sentence condescending. I suspect that most shoppers, especially those who have been doing this a long time, are fully aware of the "moving parts."

When people use "trendspeak" (such as "...finding innovative solutions through technology...." Blech.), it's often in an attempt to obfuscate the real issues. Despite the back and forth in this thread, it's simple: The type of shops being discussed here don't pay enough for the amount of time involved. (I'm not talking only or specifically about RBG shops, since the main topic here was an audit offered by a different MSC.)

You can spin and justify it all you want, and throw highfalutin jargon around in order to make the issue sound more complex than it is. But until MSCs and their clients find a way to offer a rate that enables shoppers to make a profit, these jobs will sit. Or, they'll get taken by rookies who will realize they're losing money and who won't take another one. In the long run, it makes more sense for MSCs to pay more and have a cadre of experienced, competent shoppers performing these than having constant shopper turnover.

But, then again, looking at the long term and not just the short one isn't a strong point of most companies these days.

@BirdyC wrote:

@cbunchrbg wrote:

I think the disconnect here is that most shoppers won't recognize the moving parts. Each client has different ideas and how they want shops performed and then MSP's have to figure out the logistics the best they can. Also, as MS gets more in depth the challenge becomes figuring out how to make it lucrative for both the shopper and the MSP, while still being able to compete with all the other low ball mom and pop MSP's. The funny thing is that at the end of the day it just means more ability to MS with items like Audits. They are in their infancy and will become easier as useful feedback is given to MSP's. Remember complaints without solutions is referred to as whining.

I find your first sentence condescending. I suspect that most shoppers, especially those who have been doing this a long time, are fully aware of the "moving parts."

When people use "trendspeak" (such as "...finding innovative solutions through technology...." Blech.), it's often in an attempt to obfuscate the real issues. Despite the back and forth in this thread, it's simple: The type of shops being discussed here don't pay enough for the amount of time involved. (I'm not talking only or specifically about RBG shops, since the main topic here was an audit offered by a different MSC.)

You can spin and justify it all you want, and throw highfalutin jargon around in order to make the issue sound more complex than it is. But until MSCs and their clients find a way to offer a rate that enables shoppers to make a profit, these jobs will sit. Or, they'll get taken by rookies who will realize they're losing money and who won't take another one. In the long run, it makes more sense for MSCs to pay more and have a cadre of experienced, competent shoppers performing these than having constant shopper turnover.

But, then again, looking at the long term and not just the short one isn't a strong point of most companies these days.

I know that you know, but I hope everyone else realizes that cbunchrbg is Christopher Bunch of Reality Based Group. I have no idea of his role there, but he is a self proclaimed "newbie."

Shame, because I really like RBG for some jobs.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2016 07:41AM by SoCalMama.

@SoCalMama wrote:

I know that you know, but I hope everyone else realizes that cbunchrbg is Christopher Bunch of Reality Based Group. I have no idea of his role there, but he is a self proclaimed "newbie."

Shame, because I really like RBG for some jobs.

Unfortunately, he doesn't appear to be representing himself and RBG in the best light.... Although I think he thinks he is!

Did you resize your images smaller before uploading them to their site?

@mrsdeb wrote:

I performed a Comfort Inn audit earlier this week. I was on site for about two hours, but it took me *eight additional hours* to download all of the pictures they requested - the hotel had never been renovated and nothing was like the examples in the booklet. The .pdf of the audit is 139 pages long. Never again.

@SunnyBrook wrote:

They might be able to sweeten the pot on these jobs if they threw in a voucher for a free Comfort Inn hotel stay. Just an idea.

They would have to pay even more if they required a stay at one of their hotels.