The (unofficial) Coyle Q&A thread

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@gojiberry wrote:

Q: Can anyone offer insight about ordering something other than alcohol for a bar evaluation portion of a restaurant shop?

A: It's much easier than you might think. As a drinker who spends a lot of time at bars, I've seen everything. Just order whatever you want to drink. That bartender won't care.

Note that coffee might now always be fresh brewed at the bar so it may take some time. Anything that comes out of the soda gun is the best option, since it's a good test for cash integrity, as the bartender could easily pour it for you and not ring it up.

I get it that if you are not someone who spends a lot of time at bars that it may be intimidating, but just jump into the water and swim. I never went to a bar by myself before I worked for Coyle, and now that I do it all of the time, it's very natural for me. In fact, I have a close friend who I would consider sort of a barfly. I knew him for months before I found out that he doesn't drink. He hangs out in bars all the time and seems to always have a cocktail in his hand...but it's always something non-alchoholic.

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@laur371 wrote:

Q: I want to edit / add to the list of dates on my application, since my schedule has changed since applying a month ago. How do I do this?

A: Sadly, you have to delete the request and re-apply. I keep a word doc with all my requests (and dates) since the new system doesn't show the dates you've requested.

Do the editors who work for Coyle give you feedback on your reports or a numeric score? Thank you.

@roxanne9153 wrote:

Q: Do the editors who work for Coyle give you feedback on your reports or a numeric score?

A: You will get a numerical percentage score for any evaluation. It will include your score for that particular assignment, plus an overall for all assignments completed in Shopmetrics. There's a text box where the editor may put in notes about problems or ways to improve. I find that they don't use it very much, but that may vary with newer evaluators.

It you don't get an email with your score when the shop has been completed, you may need to email support to send you the score.

Thanks SteveSoCal. You are awesome.

Another thread made me think of this, but I thought I'd include it in this post to keep the Coyle information consolidated.

How many solid hotel shops would you say Coyle normally expects to see before they would think about paying for your travel to a more remote location? Obviously the risk is high for both the shopper and the MSC, so I imagine the consideration has to be substantial.

Shopping central Arizona.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@roxanne9153 wrote:

Q: Do the editors who work for Coyle give you feedback on your reports or a numeric score?

A: You will get a numerical percentage score for any evaluation. It will include your score for that particular assignment, plus an overall for all assignments completed in Shopmetrics. There's a text box where the editor may put in notes about problems or ways to improve. I find that they don't use it very much, but that may vary with newer evaluators.

It you don't get an email with your score when the shop has been completed, you may need to email support to send you the score.

6 assignments in and no email with score (1bar, 1restaurant with bar visit, 4 hotel audits)
I think I will email them, thanks for the advice.

I always have to email for my score, but they are responsive and send it through after.

Am I correct to assume that if an assignment I have applied for disappears from my application list, it has been assigned to someone else?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2016 01:42PM by roxanne9153.

Most likely, yes.

You're not Steve! You're not supposed to answer!!

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

@LindaM wrote:

yes.

I was thinking of signing up and trying them out. On these hotel shops do they pay for the hotel, the meal, the drinks, the fees, etc. AND a shop pay? That sounds pretty intense if that's what's up. I usually pick up a few shops a month, but the last few months, I've found myself picking up 50, 60, 80 shops a month on top of my regular 40 hour a weeker. I would be interested in just grabbing a few hotel shops now and again to get out of the house more, visit a few cities, and have some fun trying out a different type of mystery shopping. I've done car shops, dealer shops, repair shops, food, restaurants, bars, sex shops, groceries, phone shops, towing and repo shops, etc but never a hotel shop.

MegglesKat

Clinen -
They pay for the hotel stay, parking, any associated tips, and a shop pay ($85-$100 typically). If the evaluation requires meals, they pay for meals. Some hotels pay an additional travel stipend. Others do not.

Please be aware of the following: The hotel charges are charged to your credit card and will be reversed OR reimbursed, depending on the client. I have had it take more than 3 weeks, so be sure you can keep a large balance on your credit card that long. The tips and shop pay are reimbursed in approximately 6 weeks.

Do note, if you haven't worked for Coyle, that there reports are demanding. For a one night hotel stay, without any meals to evaluate, you should budget at least 4-5 hours of writing, and at least an hour prior to the shop reviewing their requirements. I have gotten 100% on 10+ of their hotel reports, but on my hotel last week, one small detail was performed incorrectly, putting me in risk of losing reimbursement (hundreds of dollars). My point is that since so much money is on the line, be sure that you are prepared for a "Coyle report". They have samples online.

Also, you will not be assigned a hotel with Coyle unless you complete a few restaurants first with good scores.

In June, Coyle had hotel audits for a large chain. Do those types of assignments come up occasionally, or was it a one time thing? Thank you for your information and time to reply.

Q. What is the division of labor like for Coyle schedulers - are they assigned specific shops as their sole responsibility (by region?/client?/type?) or do they have the authority to assign anyone anything?

@roxanne9153 wrote:

Q: Do those types of assignments come up occasionally, or was it a one time thing?

A: Coyle still has major hotel chains on the board...but I certainly couldn't say for sure if they will be returning or not. Many of the clients evaluate hotels quarterly, though.

@Yoga.Wine.Sunshine wrote:

Q. What is the division of labor like for Coyle schedulers?

A: It varies at times, depending on the number of clients, but is not broken up by geographic boundaries as far as I know. My understanding is that one scheduler handles the majority of the assignments (easy hotels, restaurant, retail, phone calls) and a senior scheduler handles all of the major bigger hotel clients. Other staff members step in to help with scheduling the smaller shops at times.

Wow, so you are implying their scheduling staff may be as small as 2-3 people? For 3000+ shops, I would have assumed much more!

Thise 3000+ shops are not going to be scheduled in a 30 day period. Many have due dates for end of October, and about 800 of the 'available' assignments in Shopmetrics are backup shops, meaning if schedulers are on a 5-day week, working 20-22 days per month, they may only have to schedule about 60 shops total per day. Some phone shops are as simple as seeing a name and clicking to assign it, and even complex hotel assignments may only consist of 5-10 emails with a scheduler, so they could most likely schedule 5 complex hotel shops with one hour of labor. It's the flakes, declined shops or closed locations that take up a scheduler's time.

That may help also to explain why the schedulers don't have that much interest in replying to the 100's of emails each day from shoppers wondering why it takes so long for their shops to be scheduled. If everything was scheduled in 1 week, the shoppers would be super-happy but Coyle would then have 5-6 schedulers with nothing to do the last 3 weeks of each month....

A question to all of you: I'm newbie in MS, from Israel. I found Coyle offers some hotels & restaurants here, but after reading this thread I'm a bit afraid working with them: I have all intention of doing the best job I can, but I'm not a native english speaker, and may not write in a perfect style. Should I fear non-imbrusment because of that?How often does that happen?

I've never gotten a single response from Coyle over many attempts at shopping for them. Are they looking for something specific? I was perfect for the last one, having performed the exact shop for another company before.

I'd love some feedback from experienced Coyle shoppers. I did my first shop with Coyle In mid July, I still have not received hotel reimbursement. I scored 84, and the shop pay and tip reimbursement are showing in pay history as due to be paid this period. I have emailed to follow up 4 or 5 times, and have been told by accounting that client is following up. Is this common practice with them or do I have extremely bad luck?.

HI Sandcastle,
I will reply for a few scenarios, as I don't know which applies to your particular shop.

1) General Coyle reimbursements (for restaurant reimbursement and/or report fees for restaurants and hotels): You get paid at the end of the month following your evaluation. If your evaluation was in July, you will get paid around August 31st.

2) Hotel room charge: Sometime this occurs as a reversal on your charge card within 1-2 weeks following your stay. Other times, it is paid with reimbursement of your report fee, at the end of the next month (end of August for you). You would only know based on the client objectives for that shop. For their large hotel client offering one night stays, they are reversing on your credit card within 1-2 weeks of stay. I have completed a handful of these so far. Most of the time, it is reimbursed on my credit card within 1-2 weeks. The other times, I have had to follow up with Coyle 4-5 times, it took 3-4 weeks, but ultimately it was fully reversed. Coyle explained that the delay can sometimes be on the client end.

@laur371 wrote:

2) Hotel room charge: Sometime this occurs as a reversal on your charge card within 1-2 weeks following your stay. Other times, it is paid with reimbursement of your report fee, at the end of the next month (end of August for you). You would only know based on the client objectives for that shop. For their large hotel client offering one night stays, they are reversing on your credit card within 1-2 weeks of stay. I have completed a handful of these so far. Most of the time, it is reimbursed on my credit card within 1-2 weeks. The other times, I have had to follow up with Coyle 4-5 times, it took 3-4 weeks, but ultimately it was fully reversed. Coyle explained that the delay can sometimes be on the client end.

To follow up on this, re: their new large client with one-night stays, some of the hotels are franchises, and are not part of a central billing/A/P department, hence the delay, and, sometimes, numerous follow-up emails.

Thanks @laur371, I think that may be it. I don't know if the hotel was the new client, but it was a one night stay. It was supposed to be reversed right away, not part of shopper payment, but it's been about 45 days now. The accounting department at Coyle is very nice, but after every email I hear the client is looking in to it. They have been looking in to it for 3 weeks now.

Hey Steve,

How many staff members do thet have managing the support e-mail?

To me, lately, I have noticed a delay with responses as opposed to several years ago.

@LindaM wrote:

How many staff members do thet have managing the support e-mail?

It's not clear, but they do appear to be overwhelmed with the new big clients and all that. It takes a while to get a response even on some of the high-profile stuff I do that needs an immediate answer. I sent a request days ago for something that absolutely has to be answered by tonight and just now received a response....and am still waiting a follow up on a shop I did yesterday.

I think there are some growing pains with all the new shops.

Steve - I'm a new Coyle Mystery Shopper (4 shops, all 97%+). I cannot thank you enough for this series of posts. It's been extremely helpful. Please keep up the great work! :-)

Has anyone here done the "checklist only" hotel shops? Several places in the instructions speak to the client's ability to reject the shop, and I am wondering if this has happened. If the audit is inconsistent with previous audits, the client has the right to forfeit the reimbursement. I've not seen a Coyle set of instructions like that before, and am a little concerned. The shop otherwise seems like a good one. Feedback please.

Now scheduling travel shops for the day after Christmas through mid-January.

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The (unofficial) Coyle Q&A thread

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