I personally feel that $1.75 shops are an insult. Even if it takes 10 minutes from start to finish, to tell me that my skills and experience are only worth $1.75?

If they can bonus their lousy $4 and $5 shops up to $20, what do you think they are receiving for these $1.75 shops? They are making a fortune on us and we are making $1.75? I'd rather get in my car, drive to a bank, and make $18 to speak to a banker. Even if you break it down to the literal fee per minute and the $1.75 shop is more, I do NOT work for a fee that wouldn't even buy me a coffee!

Susan MB: Go to it girl. That is CRI that you are talking about. Everybody should boycott those people. They are as bad as it gets but some fools still take the bs that they hand out. I, to use a mild crudity, like to get kissed first.

Has anyone noticed CFA? I have checked their jobs, and they are about 8$, but the amount of work they want you to do is a slap in the face. They actually want you to work for the store-stocking displays, tracking orders, disposing of defective items. It sounds like the job of a stock boy or manager, yet they don't want to pay minimum wage for the first hour. I didn't realize MS were asked to work for the client.

Is it just me ? I have noticed a drastic drop in fees since the holidays and what you have to do to earn that fee is just outragous.
dee

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2009 04:36AM by msplantladi.

Yes, fees are falling, and many clients have moved to lower-paying MSP's. So much for the boycotting of low-pay jobs.

Again it just goes to show that everything rolls downhill. I don't see things getting better any time soon.

There are still some very good ones out there: ie: Bare International, Goodwin, About face, Mintel to name a few.

ATH pays a nice fee for a CC OFFER shop at major toy store........just did one and have another on Saturday..........

Ath is a good company. They do not like me as I post negative things under my real name. But I say it like it is. A good company is good and crap is crap.Someday, I will learn to keep my mouth shut....but do not hold your breath for that day. I will continue to lambaste bad mystery shopping companies as they should be run out of town on a rail with tar and feathers.

As a new shopper, I appreciate your candid comments. It's helping me tremendously.

Anyone who really wants an experience should try Corporate Resource International. They are as bad as it gets in the business. They pay low, cancel shops on you,have no idea what one hand is doing while the left beats up shoppers. Save yourself aggrivation. Stay far away from this one. The only positive thing here is that they do pay on time. If they do decide that your shop is worth paying.

Corporate Research has never been a problem for me. I don't bother with their low paying jobs until the bonuses get decent and I won't sign up as a 'backup shopper'. Means I don't work with them much, but what I do works out well.

Flash: You are among the lucky ones and I am sure there are some out there but the experience that Ihad with them has been pitiful. I, stupidly, had an issue and after a threat of lawsuit, got paid and went back to get more of the same kind of stupidity. I did not learn. Now Iknow better.

Quite a while back, maybe 2 years ago, I did two or three jobs for Cori and decided it wasn't worth the low pay and hassle on testing to just see the (low) fee. I got paid and never had any questions from them...I did get a couple of editors sending me thank you emails, though, which was sort of surreal...

Yes, I have gotten 'thank you' emails and yes, they would like to see a lot more work from me. But you get what you pay for and I don't plan on providing junk reports and observations just because they aren't paying decently. I have never had a shop rejected or questioned by them. If/when they get the pay to a decent level I will take the job and they can expect a full and correctly done report.

And when you get to take a job even a bonus job. a problem will develop and you will get stiffed. Experience tells. Schedulers are good, status *the people who accept the shops are horrible." In time everyone will agree with my synopsis of this bunch of ( Oh Boy, I cannot use these words in a forum, Think of the nastiest word in your vocabulary and place it here.)

Not my experience at all and I have shopped the occasional shop for them for a number of years. I guess I just make sure I have no problems

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Corporate Research has never been a problem for
> me. I don't bother with their low paying jobs
> until the bonuses get decent and I won't sign up
> as a 'backup shopper'. Means I don't work with
> them much, but what I do works out well.


I have never had a problem w/them either. I only do their pizza shops and at a bonus. They even messed up last year and didn't get one of mine edited in time to go to client. They paid me in full and allowed me to redo it if I wanted and again at the bonus rate. They ended up paying me $30 for each shop.......and that was just the fee. I have found them to be easy to talk with on the phone and easy to work with. But again, all I have ever done is the pizza shops.

I've done a wider variety than that. In fact only done one pizza shop when it was nicely bonused. Their instructions are redundant but not contradictory. If you read them you DO know what you are expected to observe and do to complete the contract accurately and in a timely fashion.

I've had a few "discussions" with them where they question something that is obvious, but in the end I've always convinced them to see it my way. But I only do shops on a large bonus. I've done the pizza shops - they are easy and I didn't always wait for a bonus if it fit in for lunch on a shopping route.

dr.lloyd@sbcglobal.net Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And when you get to take a job even a bonus job. a
> problem will develop and you will get stiffed.
> Experience tells. Schedulers are good, status *the
> people who accept the shops are horrible." In time
> everyone will agree with my synopsis of this bunch
> of ( Oh Boy, I cannot use these words in a forum,
> Think of the nastiest word in your vocabulary and
> place it here.)


I very much doubt that. If "in time, everyone agreed" on ANYTHING, the world would be in much better shape.

So, that's *your* experience. Some, like me, decided just not to take the shops before ever having a problem. Others, like Flash, hang around for the bonus system. I love companies others hate. Others hate companies I love. And what about the obvious insult you are throwing out there at those that do their shops, have no issues, and like the company?

You only see the world one way - your way. Why do you always have to harp on the negatives of these companies? Tell your story once, then move on; amend it when it changes. I for one, don't care to nor need to hear some of you
repeat the *same* negativity over and over. So you despise the company? So?

Agreed and appreciated, dee shops.

Moving on - the U.S. economy is in the tanks, not good, or could be better. Jobs have been lost, pay has been cut. If we agree on this, what if clients simply cannot afford to continue mystery shopping? Do we adjust our expectations, and shop for lower rates? Or boycott and hold out for more money? I'm not talking about MSPs who have historically low rates of pay.

To my thinking, customer service is utmost in success; however, paying to get evaluations, could be a luxury that can't be afforded. So what should our reaction be?

Mert: I concur that the economy is bad and many clients are cutting back. The other turn of the coin is that shoppers usually do not get superb pay and the companies take it out on the shopper while they do not take a hit at all in most cases. Where is the inequity in that scenario? Ane I do not presume to know all the answers.

I think the companies are taking the hit, these days, too. Otherwise they would not be losing clients due to the economy, and cutting shopper pay.

Point taken. Doc

dee shops Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think the companies are taking the hit, these
> days, too. Otherwise they would not be losing
> clients due to the economy, and cutting shopper
> pay.


yes and I imagine it is getting harder and harder for MS companies to convince companies to continue much less start a mystery shopping program. Some companies may see it as an invaluable service to keep and increase customers while others that are trying to cut down expenses see it as a way to save money.
All in all, it all depends on how the client views the information they are receiving from mystery shop reports. Hopefully, MS companies have good PR/sales people that can convince clients and potential clients that having a mystery shop program will indeed help increase the clients' revenue.

Mert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Agreed and appreciated, dee shops.
>
> Moving on - the U.S. economy is in the tanks,
> not good, or could be better. Jobs have been
> lost, pay has been cut. If we agree on this, what
> if clients simply cannot afford to continue
> mystery shopping? Do we adjust our expectations,
> and shop for lower rates? Or boycott and hold out
> for more money? I'm not talking about MSPs who
> have historically low rates of pay.
>
> To my thinking, customer service is utmost in
> success; however, paying to get evaluations, could
> be a luxury that can't be afforded. So what
> should our reaction be?

I think we each have to evaluate the "opportunities" in regards to their value to each of us individually. If it is more work, less pay, and you have to go out of your way to do it, why bother is my attitude. If it is for something I need (gas, groceries, sundries, etc.,) and in my direct path of travel, I view the fee as a discount to what I would already spend. Does that mean I will do something long and complex for five bucks-no, then the pain outweighs the value for me, personally. But if I were unemployed, I might have a different answer than I do today...And since I am adjunct faculty, I can always be cut right up to the day classes start, or if a class doesn't fill enough. This semester I have 4 classes-good economically, but a TON of work (regular faculty at the U level teach 5 classes a year, not 4 a semester...) and I STILL need to shop to pay bills and afford some little luxuries....We haven't been on vacation since before I got out of grad school in May 2006, and have no hopes of doing so for the next few years, either. I think it's all relative to what is happening in the life of the individual shopper.

dr.lloyd@sbcglobal.net Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You want some valid information on what to stay
> away from.
> Customer service experts. They want to pay you 5
> bucks for a shop 2 bucks for a candy bar and
> theyexpect a detailed report on how some attendant
> from Africa who has a halting knowledge of English
> is going to give you a sales pitch on a souvenier.
> Can you picture a salesperson in a busy roadside
> kiosk taking time to tell you all the details of
> this souvenier. And do not forget to ask an open
> ended question such as "does this souvenier get
> sick when it travels?" If they do not like your
> question they do not pay you. When it got to the
> point that they owed me over 200 dollars and
> refused to pay, I wrote to MSPA (no response) and
> then told them that I was bringing a suit against
> them and would supoena all their customers to
> testify. Somehow, I got a check back by FED EX the
> next day. I told them that I just did not care if
> I won or lost but they could count on losing all
> their customers. They did not like that,nor do
> they like me and I just do not give a damm. It was
> not the money it was the principle. "I am mad as
> hell and just won't take it any more." Stop
> letting these people walk over you. When You are
> right, you are right and do not let an editor with
> an IQ of 88 push you around and refuse to pay. By
> then way, they do not give their names, They are
> faceless gnomes.


I'm pretty new to this forum, so if I am jumping to conclusions somebody please tell me.

But would it be fair to say that when someone writes that "does this souvenier (sic) get sick when it travels?" is an open ended question, it may be an indication of the underlying cause of why that person has had difficulty dealing with Mystery Shopping Companies.

If they have trouble with spelling, grammar, or basic language skills, if they don't understand the definition of an open ended question, or if they struggle with punctuation, maybe their report isn't worth any more than five dollars.

And, on a separate note, no matter how low the pay, once a person has accepted a job, they have an obligation to do that job for that pay.

I don't do a lot of five dollar shops. I will do one from time to time, if I am going to be in that area anyway, or if it is a store where I plan on shopping.

But there was a time last year, when I took every five dollar shop I could find and felt lucky to have them. Five bucks may not seem like a lot, but it will put dinner on our table for one night, ten of them in one month pays my phone bill. another ten pays for my internet connection.

Would I be happier if they paid ten dollars? Twenty dollars?

Of course.

But when you are tight on cash, $5 paid this week trumps $20 paid on the 10th of the month that begins 60 days from the day the project is completed.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2009 07:21PM by JayTee.

Funny the differences of opinions here. My viewpoint is that my TIME is worth something. That's how I select jobs. Scheduling takes time,driving to the job is time, performing the shop is time,driving back from the job is time,inputing the job is time,clarifying reports is time,Then there is the printing out of paperwork,buying supplies,keeping invoices up to date, quizzes and test. I'm sure there is a lot of time consuming things related to this business I've left out. But there you go get the drift.Five or even ten bucks just doesn't cut it anymore. I'd rather not start my vehicle, and the save the five bucks in gas, then go do a five dollar job.

I hear both sides. But, at times, I ask myself what am I getting paid for not taking a low paying job? I'm not too proud, as long as I don't lose money, it's another day, another dollar.