Mildly Frustrated With EPMS

I scheduled a targeted apartment shop with them. Neither the phone call nor the visit were recorded. The only oddball was that the target didn't have a last name.

After many random calls, I was unable to reach the target. I reported this, as well as the attempts, to EPMS. They told me to call and ask for the target directly, as she was in the office. I called, and was told that HE, the target, did not work in the leasing office but on the grounds. Again, I reported this to EPMS. They told me to keep trying.

When I finally reached him, he told me he was a maintenance worker. One week down the drain.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

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It's been a really long day and night. When I first read the subject of this thread, I could have sworn it said: Mildly Frustrated With PMS!

OP:
You should get a $5 fee for the phone attempts for epms. I know its not worth all the time you put in but at least its something.

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.

This is why I don't do targeted apartment shops.

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.

I agree. I remember one company wanted you to call the targeted agent 12 times. They said if the agent does not answer, just hang up 12 times. Sure, there's this thing called caller I.D. Sorry I don't want the police showing up at my door about calling the agent 12 times.

It wasn't the phone calls that annoyed me, Buff. it was the fact that the target was a maintenance worker.

Since the call wasn't recorded, I just hit/said redial, so that was simple enough.

I do appreciate the $5 for the attempts, but this one was overkill. And I definitely prefer EPMS over Remington.

@BuffaloNY101 wrote:

OP:
You should get a $5 fee for the phone attempts for epms. I know its not worth all the time you put in but at least its something.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

LOL! Stalker.

I have a Galaxy S5. It doesn't give me the option to block my calls.

@johnb974 wrote:

I agree. I remember one company wanted you to call the targeted agent 12 times. They said if the agent does not answer, just hang up 12 times. Sure, there's this thing called caller I.D. Sorry I don't want the police showing up at my door about calling the agent 12 times.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

You can get a google voice number that forwards to your real phone. The GV number shoes up in their caller ID. You can change the numbers too.

And every minute of your wasted time was not covered by them letting you do the leg work to clean up their incorrect list. TOTAL absolute waste of time.

I've looked into GV in the past, but I still have no idea how it works!

@apercu wrote:

You can get a google voice number that forwards to your real phone. The GV number shoes up in their caller ID. You can change the numbers too.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

When I finally reached the guy, he said, "Who is this?!: I gave him my shopping alias, and was ready to tell him how I heard about him on Yelp.

He said, "I don't know you! Who are you?!"

I said,"You're a leasing agent, right?"

He said, "NO! I'm maintenance!"

That blindsided me. He couldn't do his work because he's sitting in an office waiting for a phone call. It was a total waste of time all the way around.

@CANADAMOMMY wrote:

And every minute of your wasted time was not covered by them letting you do the leg work to clean up their incorrect list. TOTAL absolute waste of time.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

Why? What's wrong with Remington?

Jamie
Editor and shopper

Jamiesan, here is my rant in another post: [www.mysteryshopforum.com]

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

I had a shop scheduled for today. There was no target; I could shop anyone. I make the call, and the person told me that there was a 3-4 year waiting list, and since they were at 100% occupancy, there were no apartments to show.

I wonder why they are being shopped.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

Hey Honny B. A 3-4 year waiting list? Is this one of those high end apartments? I've never heard of a waiting list that long. 3-4 months maybe, but 3-4 years? Wow.

Also, do you prefer Cirrus over EPMS over Remington when it comes to either targeted or non-targeted assignments?

I believe to make sure they are still giving tours of the property, following fair housing laws, offering to add people to the waiting list, and using correct income limits.

My regular, day job, is in affordable housing. We have a three year waiting list but still do tours and stuff. One company I worked for, also affordable housing, used EPMS for mystery shopping (though I was only there a short time and never got shopped).

@HonnyBrown wrote:

I had a shop scheduled for today. There was no target; I could shop anyone. I make the call, and the person told me that there was a 3-4 year waiting list, and since they were at 100% occupancy, there were no apartments to show.

I wonder why they are being shopped.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/2016 07:37PM by MegMeg.

Yes, 3-4 YEARS! My mouth fell. Not only was it not a high end apartment, it was low income.

I haven't seen any apartment shops from Cirrus. I doubt I would do them. They take too long to pay.

Market Stat and Shoppers' Critique both have very easy narratives and the low pay to go with them.

Remington asked me to do a bonused shop near my favorite wine store. I couldn't turn them down. I did the absolute, bare minimum for all the narratives (thinking that they would be rewritten). I received a 10 and no editorial comments. Go figure.

@Eric in Tampa wrote:

Hey Honny B. A 3-4 year waiting list? Is this one of those high end apartments? I've never heard of a waiting list that long. 3-4 months maybe, but 3-4 years? Wow.

Also, do you prefer Cirrus over EPMS over Remington when it comes to either targeted or non-targeted assignments?

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

That's a bummer. Poor maintenance guy was thinking something was wrong. Wondering what was up. Probably wondering if a relative died or if someone needed to get hold of him for a family emergency... or maybe he thought it was a creditor or bill collector. Hahah. Poor guy tho. I just see someone like Scruffy, The Janitor from Futurama waiting around trying to figure out who died, who has been hurt, who needs to speak to him, and then getting the call and someone is like Hi, are you a leasing agent? He was probably trying to figure out all day why you thought that too.

MegglesKat

Meg, thank you for the insight. That puts things in perspective. EPMS did ask me to go ahead and do the tour, get brochures, etc.

@MegMeg wrote:

I believe to make sure they are still giving tours of the property, following fair housing laws, offering to add people to the waiting list, and using correct income limits.

My regular, day job, is in affordable housing. We have a three year waiting list but still do tours and stuff. One company I worked for, also affordable housing, used EPMS for mystery shopping (though I was only there a short time and never got shopped).

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

That's exactly how he sounded when I finally reached him. "Who ARE you? I don't know you!"

@clinen11 wrote:

That's a bummer. Poor maintenance guy was thinking something was wrong. Wondering what was up. Probably wondering if a relative died or if someone needed to get hold of him for a family emergency... or maybe he thought it was a creditor or bill collector. Hahah. Poor guy tho. I just see someone like Scruffy, The Janitor from Futurama waiting around trying to figure out who died, who has been hurt, who needs to speak to him, and then getting the call and someone is like Hi, are you a leasing agent? He was probably trying to figure out all day why you thought that too.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

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Mildly Frustrated With EPMS

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