I want to thank everyone for the suggestions of caller block or Google voice, BUT- do these work on cell phones? I was told they did not. I make these calls from my cell on my lunch breaks.

Sorry Elton, after reading what the editor wrote you, I have to agree that your report must have posed some difficulties. You may have unwittingly repeated some phrases from the sample survey, but if so, it's still a problem for them. And common sense should have told you to stay in a single verb tense. Either stuff is happening now, or it already happened.

However, I do chortle as I read this person describing themself as a "Quality Editor." Has BestMark "Quantity Editors" as well? If not, perhaps they need to hire some Redundancy Editors.

The $4.50 amount does sound picayune at first glance. But I can imagine the editor toting up 50 cents per sentence or such, according to guidelines given them from which they are not permitted to deviate. Could be.

I've only done one of these. I received no deductions. The $17 fee was not much, given the report, but it's what I agreed to and what I got. So I thought it was fair.

eltonj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Okay. I received an e-mail outling what alleged
> wrongs I did. Here is the exact text. See what
> eveybody thinks.
>
> I am a Quality Editor at BestMark, and I have just
> completed editing your recent report. Thank you
> for taking the time to perform this shop and
> complete the survey form. Unfortunately, I have
> to inform you that a deduction will be made from
> your payment for this shop.
>
>
>
> The reason for the $4.50 deduction is that your
> narrative was not thorough or detailed enough and
> required substantial additions/enhancements via
> email, plus much of the narrative that you
> original had included a lot of wording from the
> survey questions and had to be rewritten before
> sending to the client.
>
>
>
> Your survey was not thorough. On these surveys,
> please be sure to include enough information to
> justify the scores that your gave. There are
> often two or more questions/scores that need to be
> justified in the narrative block. Your commentary
> can include facts and feelings about the POSITIVE
> and the NEGATIVE aspects of your shop. The
> narrative should include both the facts of what
> happened, in story format, and what was said by
> the associate (and sometimes you, depending on the
> survey question). Include the greeting and
> closing statements of any employee you evaluate.
> EVERY score that is not top block must be
> addressed in the narrative. Please look at the
> sample survey before performing the shop to see
> how much narrative we expect and for the tone of
> each type of survey.
>
>
>
> Interactions between you and the associate are
> best provided in your own words and must reflect
> the unique interaction during that shop. Please
> do not just use examples or wording from the
> survey itself for your narrative. Do not copy the
> wording from the sample survey. Do not use
> verbiage from internet sites.
>
>
>
> Please stay in one verb tense throughout the
> narrative. Past tense usually works best and is
> mandatory in some surveys (Best Buy electronics,
> for example). You sometimes switched between past
> and present tense.
>
>
>
> If you have any questions regarding the
> information in this email or about other shop
> requirements, please contact your dispatcher at
> the BestMark offices.
>
>
>
> Thank you.
>
>
>
>
> Quality Editor
>
> BestMark, Inc.
>
>
> Never mind that I did a few other autoshops for
> Bestmark and received NO deductions. Again, I
> think the evaluator is the problem, although I
> could be wrong. Render your opinions.

It depends on your cell phone. On my old one I had to manually disable the Caller ID prior to each call. My new one is much easier since once it's off it stays that way until I turn it back on. It should be somewhere in your tools or settings.

Jaosmom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I want to thank everyone for the suggestions of
> caller block or Google voice, BUT- do these work
> on cell phones? I was told they did not. I make
> these calls from my cell on my lunch breaks.

I'm coming to the perspective that is to take 1 or 2 shops for an MSC and see how you are treated by them. After that you can decide if uou want to continue working for them (or not). After all. there are plenty of MSC"s out there looking for your business. If you have any questions about that take a look at the Forum's Job Board. Please let me know how you feel about this.

Actually that's always a good policy. Most companies have their share of bad reviews and perspectives vary. Several times early on I took multiple jobs from one company because the pay was good, only to discover the reports were a nightmare and I had already committed to as many as a dozen shops.

Lisa

Always good to hear from you. Perhaps a third or fourth shop just to see if you are getting stuck with a bad "quality editor" or something else is going on. The bottom line though, is to "love 'em or leave 'em". I hope this observation helps others, especially if they are a new kid on the block to mystery shopping. Perhaps I could consider starting another thread specifically devoted to this issue? Thoughts, comments. wisecracks (LOL)?

I have never had Bestmark make any deductions from my shops. I have been shopping with them 10+ years. I hope you are not offended but the editor's comments made sense to me. If you indicate that something didn't occur that should have occurred (i.e. You were supposed to have been greeted within 30 seconds of walking in...) you need to state exactly what happened in the commentary and what the employee was doing (i.e. He was chatting on the phone and ignored me for 3 minutes while I waited in front of him. He did not acknowledge me during this time.) It sounds like you didn't substantiate your commentary in full. They will ding you for that like any other MSC.

After I write my reports, I really try to go back and double check that I substantiated any "no" answers and covered all my bases. I check spelling too because most editors get cranky with any spelling or grammar errors.

I find it deplorable when a company deducts money from the already low pay they give the shoppers. Wake up and smell the coffee! Pay the shopper decent money and you will suddenly see excellent reports. Do a shop for Coyle and you will understand. They pay handsomely but they also expect quality reports. You don't mind doing that.

Just my 2 cents.

I think BestMark is just waste of time! They pay less than anyone else and provide zero support.
I will never do any shops for them again. I don't advise you to do it either.

Before I stopped shopping BM completely (and it was sad for me, too-- they were my first MSC), I had this same problem. I had a shop that was absolutely appalling-- the sales agent kept calling me "babe" and "sweetheart", he was the greasiest slimeball, I'm not kidding, and I knew-- I just _knew_-- that I had to tone it down big time for them to even take the shop. I did my best, I was as diplomatic and still as honest as I could be about how sleazy the whole shop was and it was refused. An editor called me, I explained the situation (obviously, I didn't feel I should have to, but here I was, having to defend my report) and the editor told me that they either had to make changes to reflect the shop in a better light or -- and get this -- I wouldn't be paid for the shop.

At that point, instead of (as Flash so aptly put it) "arguing with the wall" (though the stupidity of the whole thing pained me), I just told them not to pay me and that was the last time I visited them.

I feel like there's something morally wrong, certainly uncomfortable, about doing what we do and then being forced to lie to clean up someone else's image at the sake of my own.

CANADAMOMMY Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Editors might be different now but in the past
> with one client no negatives were ever allowed. No
> sense in giving honesty in the report if they only
> want 100% positive. That store is now out of
> business... wonder why!

I love that you used the word 'remuneration' =DDD

sbrahma Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My question is why would anyone in their right
> mind do a car shop for such a low remuneration?
> You are dealing with a car dealership. It is a
> complete waste of time and money. I won't touch
> these shops unless I see at least $50. I have
> never seen that amount so I am assuming that they
> do find people doing it for such a low amount.

Unless I just haven't seen the bad side yet... I would have submitted the report as is and let the cards fall. Sure, it would have been a little more work but then you had the oppertunity to possibly be paid.

I had an automotive service go completely pear shaped. Way over the quoted time, other services done, and not much interaction after the fact. No questions, no kickbacks, just a paycheck in the mail a few weeks later.

bestmarkt refused to pay me a 1 dollar reimbursement so i fired them bunch of cheaps @#$%&

What reason did they give for refusing to pay a reimbursement if they paid for the shop?

I have almost stopped doing any kind of shops for any companies. The pay is lousy and most of the time the paperwork is a lot to fill out. One company had 30 pages to be filled out and then you had to input it all. Not worth the time on most shops. My complaint with Bestmark is that you see a shop that you might want to do, but it doesn't say where it is until you accept it. I had that happen this week. I wanted to do the shop, but I didn't know what company or what town. After I had accepted the shop, it then told me what shop it was, and the deadline was in 2 days. Had to cancel, couldn't do the mileage or due time.

eltonj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Please stay in one verb tense throughout the
> narrative. Past tense usually works best and is
> mandatory in some surveys (company name,
> for example).

Just a suggestion, you might want to take out the company name from your post.

Anywho...I've had one issue with BestMark on an online assignment. The shop's web site had issues which prevented me from doing the entire shop. BestMark asked me to do it a second time or they wouldn't pay me. They told me if I agreed to do it a second time, I would be paid the full amount for both attempts. I did it again and the customer's site still had issues. BestMark deducted 1/4 of the pay because I still couldn't complete the shop in full. It wasn't what we agreed upon, but it wasn't enough money to lose sleep over.

I agree that Bestmark can be ricidulous in the length of some of their reports, but I always recommend them as a company to start out with for anyone new to the business. The #1 reason I do this is because they are one of the quickest companies out there to pay you. For someone just starting out, they may forget the whole business if their first experience is to do a $14 shop, spend an hour or more on the report, and then wait 45+ days to get paid. When I first started out, it took me forever to do reports that I cannot almost breeze through. The #2 reason is that I think some people want to to this because they think it is just shopping the same way they do for leisure. Once they see the typed of questions and detail that most companies expect, they may decide it is not for them. At least if this happens, they will get their check in a couple of weeks and can forget about it much faster. I don't do much for them because many of their shops don't pay so great, but if I have an empty day, I like that I can easily self assign a few Internet shops or phone call shops.

You recommend them as a company to start out with for anyone new to the business? Of course!
Bestmaek will take advantage of all these people! It is very easy to do. And it is even legal!
Bestmark has a broken website! You can't enter a report even if you want to enter.

I think Bestmark needs to learn a lot about Customer Service before they start evaluating Customer Service of the other companies!

Not only retail stores are their clients - mystery shoppers are their clients too!

Very dissatisfied clients!

Jessica45, I clearly have not had the same experience you have. I always get immediate help, never had a problem with their website, and enjoy getting reimbursed and paid $40 to get my tires rotated and oil changed. It is not like I refer dozens of people to them. So far, only 3 people have shown interest in mystery shopping and all of them started with Bestmark without a problem.

Bestmark is one of those companies like Market Force. They are a good training ground for mystery shopping. I don't agree with their nickel and dime policies, but they are what they are.

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can understand that you would want to pose as a
> serious buyer and all that, but there also is that
> point at which you match the fee to the work. At
> one time I gave Bestmark visits and reports my all
> and personally felt robbed. If I do them now,
> they get a good and honest and accurate report but
> no bells and whistles they are not paying for.

Flash,
Bells and whistles? I think you've done a few too many car shops. You're starting to talk like a car salesman!

I enjoy the car shops, even though the fee is low. I never take more than an hour, even with a test drive. I enjoy talking to the salespersons and like driving the cars. The Bestmark reports are really easy (even though long) if you just remember that any negative scoring needs to be explained in the narrative. My problem is finding new dealers I haven't visited.