I've been with Market Force on/off for over a decade. Like a load of ICs I've had a beef rates have not gone up one cent over the years.

Recently I tried to log in, only to find out I had been deactivated. As far as I can recall I did not deactivate myself from their site.

As far as I can recall them an I hadn't had any negative words in a few months (hey we all argue with clients sometimes). I last did assignments for them a few months ago, received offers after those words.

This happen to anyone else?

Have you e-mailed them? Sometimes it's as simple as an e-mail bouncing back. I know from experience that they will deactivate your account if they are unable to reach you via e-mail. Once you contact them, they will reinstate you.

Wrote them this morning, nothing yet...

What kind of words did you have?

It was a while back, but I was pissed they wanted an assignment done urgently, and no one was free to talk about real rates when they sent an e-mail out to that affect. I've declined a load of patron counts, and audience feedback jobs because of the low pay.

Let's be honest here, Market Force hasn't raised rates in close to 20 years.

This was at least a month before I estimate they deactivated my account. I use the automated e-mails to get this figure.

I have heard there is often a slight delay between someone having an issue with them, and being deactivated. I’m guessing they cut you over that, and it’s just now taking effect.

Well heard back from MF, yup the fact I told one of them over the phone they were too cheap is what did me in.

I politely told them that me telling them they were too cheap was not a code phrase to deactivate my account, but I would be selective over which assignments I took from them, as is my right as an IC.

Last week I filled out a report on the Market Force ap and it did not show up in their system. They sent me an email that scolded me and threatened to cut back my shop offers. I emailed them and told them that I had done the shop with the ap. Then, I went to look for more shops and found that I could not sign up for any shops.. The shops were on my board, but I was blocked from signing up. I emailed them again, asked if I had been blocked from doing any more shops and said that if I had been blocked somebody should officially tell me so that I am not wasting my time trying to sign up. Then I get an email back saying to send in the report again asap so I can get my pay! So, I sent the report again. 2 days later, I was able to sign up for shops again. No one ever emailed me to say whether or not I had been deactivated or reactivated. Is that how it usually is? Just wake up one day and you can't sign up for shops anymore?

Yup. They're infamous for being total d-bags and not giving an eff about the shoppers. We're just meat to them.

Yes to me as well.onnthe movie/theatre side.

This is a great lesson for everyone, to know what works with them and what does not, especially with their overseas schedulers (if you can call them that). You can't argue their pricing with them AT ALL. Not directly, anyway. Instead of saying I can't do it for that price or your prices haven't changed in 20 years you have to say "I'm sooooooo sorrrrrrry, I cannnnnooooott afffffffooooorrrrrrdddd to do it for THAT" and then you have to laugh a little giggle and then shut up. They need to believe that they are in control of the haggling. Let THEM beef up the price. Don't specifically ask for more unless they ask you what it will take. To them, that is disrespectful. The fact that you are silent and have not hung up the phone says that you are willing to haggle to them. When they raise the price and it's still not enough for you, you have to say something like "Oh, wow (or whatever your semi-surprised to see the price go up that much response is) that is more money" and then shut up. They will escalate the price until it either meets what you need or they will ask you. If they ask you, tell them "$20" (or whatever your price is) is a very serious, louder and stern voice. Then shut up. It's a dance of humbleness that needs to be learned and practiced. It's not just this msc. Most msc won't deactivate you unless you've done something very egregious, but this one will, and can, for simply not negotiating with humility.

As far as the pricing not going up, that is true for most, if not all msc. As anyone can see from the video link I posted from the mspa's rep providing information, training and a list of variables for msc to learn how to keep their pricing down and how to get US mystery shoppers to do their assignments for peanuts, we need to learn to do the same thing! But we need to learn the dance that keeps the illusion that they are in control and that they expect.

Wow. I wish someone had given me this advice a year ago! I can see that this type of negotiation would have worked with my oversees scheduler. I was always confused when talking to him, mostly because I couldn't understand some of what he said, but also he would react in surprising ways so my normal Texas way of talking. If I had know the above tips, I would have done much better and would probably not be on their black list right now. Do they simply leave you at the level where they offer you about 20 crumby low paying shops with no phone calls? Or, am I just sitting in the corner thinking about what I did wrong until they feel like my punishment was long enough?

When I first joined I got a phone call from a scheduler and he offered almost 3x the posted pay for a few shops in my area. I accepted these. It's now been 4 months and I have never received another call. Strange.

I made an offer on a wireless audit shop for that day, but they didn't accept my offer until 1 hour before the store closed. Obviously I had to cancel the assignment and I hope they don't hold that against me.

I wonder if the companies that hire MSCs know how little they pay shoppers. Based on many of the posts that I have seen, many of the shoppers appear to write at a grade school level, and I can understand why they are willing to work for so little compensation. However, it is difficult to understand how they succeed. The absolute minimum for any shop should be $25. And that is still low pay for the expertise and skill that is required of shoppers.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2018 05:51PM by jameschicago.

Yes. I was with them for 15 years and one day I tried to sign in and I was deactivated. I read on other discussions this is very common. After a year I signed up again and I was accepted back.

Update: I see that my last post on this thread said I could once again see shops. Well.... Like Meg said, a few weeks later I could not see any of the hamburger shops anymore. No more fast food or fast casual. Poof. Gone. Instead of seeing about 65-85 shops on any given day, I see about 30. It's funny how the scheduler would call me every week and talk me into 2 or three burgers and then, poof, nothing. It's all good, though. It forced me to look outside of my comfort zone and check out lots of new companies and new opportunities. And, with fewer french fries in my diet, I think my clothes are fitting better, too.

Update: Ended up calling them twice (one in the evening, one during the day), but we got the job done. Not doing assignments for $10, but hey that is there problem. I'll only make myself free when they have real pay for real work.