Ha! As far as the 'scores' go, I do not feel it is a fair system. I submitted two shops a couple of weeks ago. They were the same type shops, just different locations. I did the work in Microsoft word with grammar and spell check, then copied and pasted the information into my report. I received a '6' on one report and a '9' on the other. So, just how could my work be so different from one report to the other? It definitely depends on the 'judge'.
And some of the crap they send for me to try to make sense of. Just makes me wonder where they got their doctorate. I just figured I would go with the flow and not ripple the water.
Please remember, if you raise mush stink, YOUR red flag will be lifted.

Has anyone notice or is it just me, when the shop goes well, all the staffs did what they were supposed to do, smile, greet, eye contact, check back within 2 minutes of serving the dish, etc, etc....all the food was perfect.....I also get a perfect score. However, when there are things that are not quite right, and I get critical in my report, then my score goes down, sometimes way down. Please note when I said "critical", that is just that, critical. It was not personal, just facts of observations, such as "she did this, or did not do that.....dish was lukewarm....overcooked....etc" just facts, but I still get dinged for being critical.

Are we not paid for being observant and critical? The client wants to know how their restaurant fared. They did not employ shoppers just to get a pat on the back saying everything was just peachy, and to get some praises. But why do editors from the MSC's ding the reports and give poor marks when it is critical ??? Would appreciate your input.

I have noticed no difference in my grades or feedback between shops where everything goes great and those shops where I report a less than positive visit. I will say that I spend about ten times as much time on a negative report than a positive one, so it annoys me when these clients don't do things right. I have written some pretty negative reports and seldom, if ever, get any questions. I have never NOT been paid for a negative report and have never had a company ask me to change my report or tell me it could not be submitted to the client.

When I write a negative report, I keep in mind that nobody wants to hear they did bad. Few clients will argue with great, many will argue with bad. (As shoppers, none of us complain when the editor grades us a 10.) I make sure I tell *exactly* what happened and that any timings are exact. The client may pull the video - actually, they can do that whether the report is good OR bad. I report actions and stay away from interpreting the actions. I describe rather than give my perceptions. No matter how bad a client visit may be, if I see anything good at all - and it's hard to imagine that they did not do ANYthing right, I point it out and give credit. I think it validates my objectivity. I try to make my report (negative) so descriptive and so complete that there is nothing left unsaid and nothing for the client to question or argue with.

You may be already doing the same thing I do, and it could be we are just shopping for different MSCs.

We are paid to be objective and to critique which is to provide a detailed assessment. Being critical is to express adverse or disapproving comments. The operative word is disapproving.

When I write a report that has significantly critical observations, I make it a point to add some complimentary observations as much as possible. The result is a more balanced report. As for scoring, I find the MSPs that I work with frequently give me grades regardless of how critical the observations may be. Sometimes I find increased scrutiny and lower grades (but just 8s or 9s) for MSPs that don't know my work that well. But that is ok because I need to learn how each MSP wants their reports.

Hi,
I want to apply for a job that requires a rating of 7. Please, can someone tell me how to find out my rating. I hope so!
Thanks,
Joan Topp
Florida

Only if we know which MSC.

So it's not an overall average from reports made by msc's? Therefore each msc's has their own ratings?

Each MSC is a different company. Each company operates in its own way, completely separate from all the other companies. Some MSCs use the same reporting platform (many that use the Sassie platform also use grades), but they are separate companies.

I do not think it's a coincidence. For restaurants, I got a "10" for a raving review for food and service. Every thing went right at that restaurant. For a less than perfect place, on the other hand, I pointed out things that were not done. My report was critical, but objective, just saying what was done and not done, what was observed, etc. Those type of reports gets points taken off, sometimes by as much as 4 points. If MSC's editors just wanted good reviews, does it not defeat the purpose of being a shopper? The restaurant management certainly do not want just lip service and praise. They want to know what exactly happened at the bar and at the dining table.

That has not been my experience. In fact a couple of weeks ago I submitted a report for Customer Impact that was probably the most negative report I've submitted for them. I got a 10 on it as I have most reports I've done for them, but this one had the nicest remarks from the editor of any of them.

I do not think it's a coincidence. For restaurants, I got a "10" for a raving review for food and service. Every thing went right at that restaurant. For a less than perfect place, on the other hand, I pointed out things that were not done. My report was critical, but objective, just saying what was done and not done, what was observed, etc. Those type of reports gets points taken off, sometimes by as much as 4 points. If MSC's editors just wanted good reviews, does it not defeat the purpose of being a shopper? The restaurant management certainly do not want just lip service and praise. They want to know what exactly happened at the bar and at the dining table.

Perhaps you're better at writing good reports than you are bad ones and don't realize it? Not trying to be critical, it's just often it's hard to judge yourself on that type of thing. Sometimes I've done reports that I thought were very good and got lower ratings on them than I expected. Have you tried reaching out to the MSC? If not I would recommending asking them what you could do to correct what they didn't like for your next report (as opposed to asking what was wrong with this one).