Has anyone done one of these? They are the ones where you "baby sit" a house for an auction.
Need infomation.
thanks
purrff

It's PINKERTON. I did one, but couldn't get the lockbox open to get the key. I stood on the patio the whole time, but hey tell me the problem has since been solved. It's easy money, just opening the house, giving out flyers to the public, and locking up in 4 hours. I have another one coming up. They pay $60 for 4 hours, much better than anything MSing offers.

I love the Pinkerton house sitting jobs. I agree with sneakers, easy job, easy money. In my area I'm lucky if two people show up and the auctions are held off site. So my only advice is bring a book if you are in a rural area, it can be a long 4 hours.
I had trouble with the key on one job too, but I called in and they told me where another key was hidden. They apparently always have a hidden key on the properties.

They claimed there was a hidden key my first time, but there wasn't. I had 22 families coming to view, and had to keep apologizing. I don't think they really care if you get in or not.

I have done several jobs for them. The pay is great and the work is very easy. The lock box code is different at each location. It depends on the type of box that is being used. Call the number in your paperwork and they will give you the combination for your lock.

I don't know if I ever posted this here, but on my first one, a call to both the auction co and Pinkerton was useless. They gave me two dozen codes that didn't work. They told me there might be a hidden key on top of the electrical box, but that box was in the basement, as it ALWAYS is. That's not to say this happens every time, so I don't want to discourage purrff. But I turned down their next phone offer, and now they're passing me up for current shops that I apply for.

thanks for the in put and information.
I did my first one yesterday, and then another one today.
I am schudled to do the auctions one on friday, the other on Sunday.
You are so right about bringing a book. I forgot one yesterday, but it was nice an sunny (and I could not get the lock box to open) so I sat outside and enjoyed the weather.
Today's was not so warm, but I did have a book to keep me company. (yes 4 hours can be a long time when you are just sitting waiting for some one to show up)
As far as easy money.... it has to be the easiest I have made in a long time. (any input as to how long before they cut checks? I know that some companies pay twice a month and others takes 90 days)
thanks
purrff

Can anyone tell me what their website is? This sounds pretty interesting.

Oops, I just found it. [www.pinkertoncompliance.com]

A nightmare site.

I was assigned a second job on Saturday but by Sunday the assignment had "fallen off" and the job was just open with my request.

I input a job on Sunday that showed in the Performance Report Sunday night but was MIA today.

I called about this stuff but the scheduler who had assigned was out today.

I left a message for another scheduler who has not called me back.

I got another guy to whom I explained my concerns and his reaction was, "Well they've been doing upgrades to the system. I'm sure your information is still in there somewhere but hang onto your paperwork in case it doesn't come back."

Duh

B-S. Their site has been a nightmare for a while, and they often don't answer emails. You have to log in twice, the pages take forever to load after you hit the "Search" button 3 times. My applications are also sitting on the board and then dropping off.

I notice that when they send out an email announcement that new jobs have been posted the site turns to sludge with page turns taking up to 30 minutes if they don't just throw up a DNS error. Obviously short on bandwidth on their end. What a way to run a business!

I have to do mine in IE. The SEARCH button doesn't show up in Firefox. But the site is awful.

Miraculously everything reappeared today--the report I entered, the second job I was assigned, etc. I quickly made pdfs of the pages so if they disappear again . . . Of course I have received no email confirming the second job, which also gives me pause. Think I had better confirm that it is for real before I go perform it since obviously one cannot trust the website.

I lost another one today. My checkmark sat on the board all week, then someone else got it today. I wonder if they give out only one job to each shopper, thinking no one will know about the keys. Do you know of anyone who's had TWO?

Yup. This is the first month I have gotten any and I have 2 opens and an auction at one location and the auction at another location.

And you had email confirmations for all? But they all came in one month. I have the feeling that if you were locked out of any of them, they wouldn't hire you again. I think that's their way of trying to conceal the key problems. Once is an "accident." Twice, and you might make a stink to their president

Then again, you probably also have a diff client where you are. Does the auction house client start with W?

Yes, the auction house is W&W. I have received the confirming email on the three jobs at the same site. I am calling tomorrow to confirm the 4th job as I have not received the email. I did look at the auctioneer's website and they have, in one area community,at least 12 open houses 11/9 leading to one mega-auction 11/16. If all those jobs hit Pinkerton there will be a serious shortage of house sitters in the area.

My theory about the keyless sitters has happily gone out the window. My scheduler called me for two more shops today. He also apologized about the crappy website and the key problem, which may or may not reflect improvements.

Flash--if there's a serious shortage of sitters, maybe they'll raise the pay.

Gee, 12 in one location? where are you, I might need a vacation.
anymore information on this? And how long did it take to get a check cut from them?
You are right about the lock boxes, and the numbers to call. That is a night mare for sure

I have not yet gotten a check. My first job for them was 10/19. Unfortunately Pinkerton did not get the bulk of the houses being auctioned in my area. I house sat one next door to another with the same auction company that was being housesat by an actual Security Guard from a local agency. And the real ticker is that what houses are listed in my area all have the same open house and auction dates so I only get one round . . .

I've submitted all my information to them and received several calls wanting me to accept assignments. I've agreed to do at least a half a dozen only to receive a phone call the day before cancelling the assignment. So, I've yet to do one. I've found the website to be a nightmare, too. Fortunately it's not too difficult to reach them on the phone.

There was one near me this month, and I decided not to. The houses are unheated, with no working toilet. Yuch!

How do you find out that information? Guess you know the area?

Everytime I receive an email advising me about an assignment I attempt to go the site to view the available jobs and there isn't any. Does anyone else have the same problem. I only get specific information over the phone. Sometimes when I click on the assignments nothing happens and it just tells me "No tasks in your area" or something like that.

I live in the northern NJ area and recently signed up with them. They required me to send in the actual agreement/paperwork through regular mail. I just sent it out to them on Friday, so we'll see if they actually contact me for any assignments. I've never did anything like this before, but it seems like it's easy work for some extra cash. Can anyone offer any suggestions for first-timers with this company? Do they contact us to complete assignments normally or do we have to just keep checking their website for updates?

The auction house they are working with makes a lot of changes and I'm not sure that the left hand at the auction house knows what the right hand is doing. I received a phone call last Thursday morning rescheduling both the open house and the auction at a particular location. The open house was a week earlier at the same hours and the auction open house changed from a 9:30-1:30 on a weekday to a 5:30AM-9:30AM on a weekend (auction is 8AM and the house is to be open 2 hours before). A previous schedule change by the auction house had put all properties in my area with simultaneous open houses and they were all going to be auctioned at the same time in a hotel ballroom, so the 2nd location I had been assigned for an open house and auction was removed from my schedule. With this change I have been able to add back in a second location. Unfortunately the auction house website showed the change of the open house date but has not changed the auction date, so who knows?

As usual on arrival, the lock box was none of the ones pictured in the instructions. Frustratingly enough it was not the one I have found so far on site that I know how to get into either. I found a group of people waiting to see the house when I arrived a half hour before the open house. One of them pointed out that the back garage door had been breeched already, so we went in that way. Once the group thinned out I make my phone calls to report that the property was unsecured on arrival and could barely be secured on departure. They gave me a viable code for the lock box so I am good for my early AM jaunt.

I have yet to find a location that has power and water turned on. The electric meters in my area are 'red tagged' by the electric company when they are turned off and all my properties have been 'red tagged'.

At 5:30AM next week I can expect the temps in the upper 50s, so I will take a sweater and a windbreaker. My 'kit' includes a folding chair, several flashlights, a book, the required paperwork and several pens, my cell phone, a bucket in case 'nature calls', a couple of water bottles and a camera in case I need to do CYA photos or if there are design ideas I would like to incorporate into future home remodeling of my own.

I find the best way to locate jobs on their site is to select "City" and then scroll through the list of choices because between odd spellings and decisions that a community name is a "city" I can recognize likely names in my area. The other reasonable option is zip codes because I know the first 3 digits remain the same throughout my area so can check all properties that start with those 3 digits. Some are too far away, some are in areas I would not want to be alone in a house in broad daylight, etc. I usually have maps.google.com open in a separate window when I am going through the list so I can pinpoint the location, take a look at the property with "street view" and decide whether it looks decent enough to be safe.

njrebel! I recently signed up, too and my complete experience since signing up and knowing my paperwork was in order is exactly what I posted previously. I've received several phone calls from one of their schedulers, but then a day or two before the actual sit, I've been informed of cancellation. I'm not able to view anything on their site and have passed this information on to them. Maybe they don't have that much work in my area--NE Florida.

Glad to read it's working for some of you. I'm comforted to know you all are there to help work out the kinks!! THANKS!!!

Their website is flaky, but it has improved over the past month or so. It still requires Internet Explorer to view (Firefox does not return all the 'buttons' to search for jobs). I can see 3 locations with 2 jobs each (one open house regular, one open house during the auction) for November in Jacksonville, all of which have been assigned. These are the only 3 jobs in zip codes beginning with 322 and I see no jobs anywhere for December yet.

I don't understand why I'm not able to view any of what you are writing. I have Internet Explorer and went to view this late last night after reading everyone's posts. It showed nothing.

Guess it's time to call them back. I was even willing to pick up one in Palm Coast. Thanks!

When you go onto the site you first need to select the service: House Sitting Services for the auctions

If you have assignments they will pop up next. If not, you will have a blank screen and need to click "Claim Project" at the top.

You should get to a screen that shows a month in a drop down (currently only Nov 2008 shops exist), a 'Search' that you can put in your city, state or zip, and a 'Keyvalue' where you can select the zip code or city or state (depending on your search) and then hit the 'search' button below the 'Keyvalue' block.

Pages turn very slowly and there are a whole heck of a lot of states, so you do need to limit your search. There are 4 pages of jobs for Florida alone. If you isolate down to a city or a zip you will get only a page or so of postings.

All you will see for a given property is the address, city, state and zip and then a line or two of the open house 'OH' or auction open house 'AU' and the dates and times. Red flag means it is assigned already, open block means you can request it, green flag means it has been assigned to you. When you check the box there is a 'claim project' button at the bottom of the page that will return notification to you that your claim has been sent along to the scheduler.

Information about the jobs is very limited on the website. What exists shows up as a pop-up window when you hit "View" under 'Project Description' on the project list. If you are assigned a job you will get an email with forms to print and instructions. That is why commenting on the jobs is important out here.