"Easy" phone shop audits - will I be sorry?

Have signed up for quite a few phone shop audits with piks. These jobs are not exactly flying off the board. Am I going to regret this? Already amazed at the amount of paperwork for a $10 shop. Why do I have that sinking feeling in my stomach?? Any help would be appreciated.

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More About Phone Shops

What is "piks"?

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"Between stimulus and response, there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
~Viktor Frankl

It entirely depends on many variables.

I just received an email from an editor who said that I was not going to be paid $5 for a phone shop I did to a funeral home. The questionnaire was very simple, just yes or no answers, but it was a recorded call. I've had to fight with this company to be paid (a lousy $5) before and I have now decided that is is NOT worth it.

Yet, I've done other phone shops that might have even required more and they were worth it, even if they didn't pay that much more.

So give it a try. What I say doesn't matter, only you can decide if it is a good shop for you.

MrsFrank Wrote:
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> I just received an email from an editor who said
> that I was not going to be paid $5 for a phone
> shop I did to a funeral home.

What was their reason for denying payment?

I thinks she is trying to abbreviate pictures. Some abbreviations should not be allowed.

Ding, ding, ding, I think we have a winner. At first glance they appeared to be telephone shops and pics certainly didn't make sense. These must be cell store audits and the fee tells me who is offering them. IMHO, no they are not worth it at all.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

I also did the funeral shops for $5 and the reports were brief and easy. I think it was worth it. I also did vehicle insurance phone shops for a different company at $7 but the report was lengthy and detailed. It was not worth it.

LisaSTL Wrote:
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> These must
> be cell store audits and the fee tells me who is
> offering them. IMHO, no they are not worth it at
> all.

Thanks for clearing that up, Lisa. I couldn't figure out what kind of assignment this could be. Anyways, from what has been said about them, doesn't sound like something I want to get involved with. They usually sit on the job boards forever in my area. The local Chicken Little scooped them up quickly this month, though. Hope they have fun with them.

How's this for a bite in the butt. In June the regular rate was $12 and I picked up one for $20. Even at $20 it was a pain, but tolerable.

I always wondered how horrid those assignments will be. Well, thanks to you, I now know what my minimum rate wll be for these if I ever consider taking one. If it was a PITA for $20, no way am I going near them for less than that.

I thought these were going for less with them. I have never done one, but the $10 seemed low, I kept thinking they were low this year. Thanks LisaSTL for helping realize I did not lose my mind...this time.

Oh honey, if it wasn't for people around here doing the same for me I'd be taking my mail at the local loony bin.

FYI, those little gems went flying off the board here starting at $7. They were gone before they went over $9.

Boy my original post was not clear. It is a cell phone shop audit with pictures. Not a phone shop. I have a pretty good idea that they are a PITA. Wish I had checked before signing up for them. Luckily only signed up for about 4 or 5 but I feel in my heart I am going to regret this, another lesson learned.

The good news is they will get quicker as you go along. The first of any audit is always the worst because you are figuring out what to look for, etc.

I did my first two for I think $10 each. I did two more later on for $20. I'd do them again for $20 but not $10. I think they're easy shops, if you take the pics in the order of the survey it's easy to match them up. Report is a bit time consuming but not hard.

The worst issue I had was that the first one I did the manager was there alone with a trainee. He kept having to leave me to go take care of customers the trainee didn't know what to do with. I was there an hour and a half. The second one was a smaller store with four employees and I banged that one out in about 15 minutes. I think the third one took about a half hour and the fourth was at a kiosk and took about 15 minutes.

The ARE easy -- but could be time-consuming. Try to go at a time when they are less likely to be busy.

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I pray it does not occur that the last thing I did before I died was vacuum the house or eat broccoli.

They sure don't sound worth doing for $7 to $9. Hope CL is out there having a fabulous time with them while I hang out unwinding with the guys and gals on the forum.

The cell phone audits with pics, are my favorite type of audit. I love photography and taking pics, getting the right angles. I hope you will enjoy them

I don't know about the ones for $7 to $9. These start at $10.

Are these the ones you have to call and make an appointment with the manager? I hate them!

Not my circus - Not my monkeys @(*.*)@

~Polish Proverb~

I had one location that, when I called, would not let me come. They claimed never to have been audited before and saw no point in an audit. The way the manager sounded, I think she thought I was the competition coming to scope out her store. Too bad, because the shop was nicely bonused.

I didn't think they were allowed to refuse an audit. If they want to carry the company name on their store, they have to comply with the rules and allowing an audit is part of it.

the competition could walk in and scope out her store any time they wanted anyway.

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I pray it does not occur that the last thing I did before I died was vacuum the house or eat broccoli.

If it's the $14 ones, I did one and will not do another. Took way too much time. The associate was busy and interrupted constantly. It was a mall kiosk. You have an inventory of lots of phones to check. It was absolutely ridiculous for the fee. Never, ever again. This was a dog shop. Photos were required, but they were not the problem. The problem was the phone inventory with accessory questions for each phone. Maybe it was just the location that I did, but it was so not worth it. I hit DELETE whenever I see those "EASY" phone shop audit emails. There have been a lot lately. FYI, these are NOT the simple cell store audits from the big and famously cheapo company.

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The more I learn about people...the more I like my dog..

Mark Twain

MsJudi Wrote:
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> If it's the $14 ones, I did one and will not do
> another. Took way too much time. The associate was
> busy and interrupted constantly. It was a mall
> kiosk. You have an inventory of lots of phones to
> check. It was absolutely ridiculous for the fee.
> Never, ever again. This was a dog shop. Photos
> were required, but they were not the problem. The
> problem was the phone inventory with accessory
> questions for each phone. Maybe it was just the
> location that I did, but it was so not worth it. I
> hit DELETE whenever I see those "EASY" phone shop
> audit emails. There have been a lot lately. FYI,
> these are NOT the simple cell store audits from
> the big and famously cheapo company.

No. This one you take pics of the banners, window clings, cashwrap signage, i-phone stand, 3 full lobby shots, customer service desk, pay stations, stanchion signs, exterior sandwich signs, building signage...I love it

That's how mine were. No inventory questions other than "were there at least X number of Y phone on display?"

And I had to have them pull up some screens on the computer that I had to photograph. Mostly I photographed nearly everything in the store and documented certain user-friendly aspects (brochures, a usuable computer or ipad) were present.

I'd do those all day if I could.

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I pray it does not occur that the last thing I did before I died was vacuum the house or eat broccoli.

Thanks everyone! I am feeling a little better about the shops but will not be taking them again. I feel that I am now obligated as I did sign up for them but there are lots more left if anyone wants them.

I found these shops to be extremely easy, no stress, you really just take pictures and ask some questions, however, they had 2 kinds of those, Audit One: you just take tons of pics, Audit Two: You ask a million questions and take pics, I HATE that one! lol..

Itook one of the $14 ones before I read all the directions. Among other things, you have to take pics of employees who are not in uniform. Seems degrading. I emailed back and said, sorry no can do.

My most recent shop was a phone audit for $10 and took about 15 minutes total, including the report. I had no problem with it and the scheduler actually advised that she assigned it to me and it was in my shop log for acceptance. She said, if I did not decline it, I had 48 hours to complete it. I received a reminder in my inbox and had to do it right away.

1) I have FINALLY learned that, when a shop is new to me and I don't know what it entails (ditto, or more so, for merchandising jobs), that I need to take ONE and try it out before taking a slew of them.

(mortgage phone calls, anybody? They wave that "$70 for ten easy/fun shops that you can do while you go about your day!" in front of you, and because I'm easily distracted by shiny things, I think "Oooooh, $70!". Then come to find out that there's so much back work I need to do to be convincing that my profits are eaten away just with that...and then there's the joy of phone tag on top of it.

2) It's a pet peeve of mine (and yes, I find this more with merchandising jobs) when you have to wait 20 minutes to get a manager to sign/help/whatever. I absolutely understand that their first priority needs to be the customers, but I pay close attention to what my net hourly wage is, and waiting around for ten, fifteen, or even twenty minutes is to me just watching money fly out the window.

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"Easy" phone shop audits - will I be sorry?

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