@cooldude581 wrote:

...
and no the saying "a mistake done twice is a decision" is towards conscious decisions and not unconscious.... unless you make plans to fall down for the laughs...

Dear Diary:
Today i plan to sprain my ankle. Next week a compound fracture. I am considering having a bone break from my skin in one or two months but will write more later.
Sincerely Yours
....

I was saying (in my snarky way) that sometimes a mistake is just a mistake, even if it's a mistake you've made before. We all aspire to learn lessons and be careful and deliberate in everything we do, all the time. But that's a pretty high bar. Everyone learns differently and sometimes I have to do something wrong a couple of times before the lesson sinks in. Even conscious decisions can require repetition to reinforce the lesson. Just my two cents.

Regarding anonymity; It's my understanding that the point of anonymity on the secret shopper forums is due to the nature of our jobs, and so the clients of the MSCs cannot track us. I do not believe that it was designed so that users could hide behind screen names and hurl anonymous insults at one another, or at MSCs. The insults that seem to come with it are side effects of the required anonymity based on the needs of it for us to do our jobs properly, and are shameful. Anyone who abuses that falls into the asshat category as far as I am concerned.

Regarding mistakes; We all make them...repeatedly. Expecting that any MSC is capable of monitoring their editorial staff to the point where they don't make mistakes is foolish. It would be great if the time and resources were available to make instructions and edits perfectly, but the financial constraints of this industry affect all sides it's operation. My point from earlier in this thread was that there is probably not a single MSC who has not returned a shop to me at some point that resulted in my being upset because the requested information was already present in my initial submission.

Actually, when I look at my history I realize that Sentry is actually one of the few companies that has NEVER returned a narrative of mine. The reason you don't hear me complaining about the other companies is because I addressed the issue in a constructive manner, internally, which is the professional way to do it, IMHO. I have never been deactivated or had any negative action taken against me for offering truthful, constructive feedback to a MSC!

If you are making a public post about a MSC and fear retribution for what you are posting, you might just want to consider that your public 'venting', name calling, or your significant other's potentially inaccurate synopsis of returned shop percentages or why that happens, might actually affect another person negatively.

It seems to me that a few shoppers have had some reports mistakenly returned, and a few have not. That seems to be on par for most MSC's...does it not?

My sayings were to point out the ops comments and provide insite to them. There are three solutions as i see it

1. OP could have a sit down with dave and his recent editor online through this forum and discuss what is wrong specifically in his reports.
2. Dave could look into the case himself and determine the specific reports in mind with ops help and provide coaching to the editors if there is a mistake.

Both these would require op to contact dave. And more time spent which i assume neither would be paid for by op or dave. It would require lots of time.

3. Terminate relationship by op or dave or both.

Either one of the three options the two sayings i shared bear interesting weight in both dave and op. And i like to think of myself as a jedi master.

@cooldude581 wrote:

also just reading this you can see that you lose your anonymity in the forum if you have a screen name that is identical or close to your email account

Amazingly, this is not the first time it has happened.

I may have exaggerated a few numbers as it's been some time since my wife has done any mystery shopping, and been even longer since we discussed specifics having to do with Sentry. I stand by my main point, however. These are my opinions and not anyone else's.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2016 09:39PM by thegov2k2.

Sentry never returned any of my reports, ever.
?????

with all companies there is a multitude of experiences ... we judge solely by the editor and pay the company gives us if it is good... this can differ as most companies have more than one editor and with bonuses may pay different shoppers different amounts for the same shop...

that makes this forum all the more valuable to both schedulers to recruit, retain, and talk to shoppers... and to shoppers as you can find out the multitude of experiences from different shoppers

all posts need to be taken with a grain of salt as the internet provides posters with anonymity, there are people who just troll, and psychology (the reason we are in business, schedulers, and msc's) tells one that many people complain 3 to 11 times more than they compliment

I have never completed a shop with a bonus, where the report had to be "client ready" or there was no bonus. Is that a common requirement? I am just asking, because I have never encountered it. I have had plenty of bonuses where the shop had to be completed by a specific time and/or date, but never based on something that could be subjective. This was something new I learned from this thread and will make sure I pay attention to in the future.

Although I have done it with one company successfully, it is not the way I like to do business because it is way too subjective. .

Not related to Sentry; I have have agreed to shops at a much higher pay rate than normal, with the caveat that that the reports would need no editorial whatsoever.

It can be lucrative if you have a good relationship with the MSC and know their editorial needs well.

I perform high-end hotel and restaurant shops that provide a small bonus for submitting your report on time with little-to-no editing required. I have always received the bonus except for one time where I got extremely ill and could not make the deadline in time.

I have also received a small bonus for shopping a targeted employee. If I am able to interact with that employee, I get the bonus. If not, I get the regular shop fee which is a good fee for the little amount of work required for the shop and the report.

Dude! Why are you bringing someone else's wife into the conversation? C'mon Dave, I used to think that you were better than this. Now it seems that you've sunk to the level of the current presidential candidates with your responses.

C'mon, guy. Get it together!

I gotta give this round to LisaSTL yet again.

Eric

If you read the thread, I think you'll find that I was responding to a claim made by a forum member on behalf of his wife. I'm not sure how that would count as me bringing in someone else's spouse into the conversation.

I think comparing me to the currents presidential candidates​ is a wee bit off base.

@Eric in Tampa wrote:

Dude! Why are you bringing someone else's wife into the conversation? C'mon Dave, I used to think that you were better than this. Now it seems that you've sunk to the level of the current presidential candidates with your responses.

C'mon, guy. Get it together!

I have also had a less than stellar experience with Sentry and they are on my no amount of money is enough to work for pole.

I think I signed up with them, but I have never taken a shop yet. For one thing, the requirements seem too detailed for the amount offered. More importantly, the owner's behavior on here frankly makes me keep my distance.

Dave, just out of curiosity, but are you going to the 2016 MSPA Shopperfest this month or the November IMSC conference in Las Vegas? You may see another perspective from other shoppers when it comes to issues (such as the aforementioned posts on this thread), in addition to marketing your company face-to-face. Thoughts?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2016 03:46AM by Eric in Tampa.

That's one of the reasons that I do not do anything with Sentry anymore. Life is to short, ​so I do not worry about it.

This is the zombie thread... every time I think it's finally done and dead, it rises up again.

I was just thinking the same thing, Cali. And my "morbid" curiosity made me open it to see how ghastly it might have become...but I think it's just a dead horse.

Sentry threads are fun to read. It's like a bad car wreck. You shouldn't look but you just can't help yourself. Awesome entertainment.