Hello all!
I mostly do video shops these days and have really enjoyed it until 2013 rolled around. I started video shopping last April so I have not yet experienced the first quarter of the year when it seems home builders are the busiest. At any rate, the last 6 shops have resulted in hours of wasted time, a total of 14 trips back and forth to actually catch the agent at the office or not with another prospect, and it has wreaked havoc on my schedule when I have to throw in another trip on an already full day.

Prior to this, I may have had this happen once or twice, but nothing even close to the issues I have had lately. I am starting to think that every shop is going to take at least 2 visits to actually get completed. I do not blame the MSC, the builder, or even the agent, but it is about to make me crazy. I am starting to wonder if I am going to get the ax for being the notorious “trip charge girl”. Trust me, I would not go through all the trouble and time just for a trip charge which may not even cover the gas expense. I have recently turned down a couple of shops because they were more than an hour away and without an appointment with the agent, I could not risk the money and time loss that would potentially happen based on my recent luck and certainly could not go back on another day crossing my fingers that it would work out then either.

Is this happening to anyone else? If so, is there anything you recommend I can do to help this not happen at the frequency I have had? With no appointment, a website that gives only phone numbers that go to a main call center, and the busy spring season, I could really use some of your tips/advice/experience.
Thank you!

Problems like this are the reason why I don't normally do target shops. Some offices around here are hard enough to get someone on the phone in less than three tries, let alone to have to get a target. Plus a lot of the shops like that are in and around Downtown Los Angeles. i.e. little to no parking and lots of traffic. If there are accidents during peak rush hour, you can easily double commute time.

Worst experience, I've had a target turn me away because I was 10 minutes late (I had to park in a garage two blocks away, there was literally no street parking). I not only lost time and gas but had to pay a few bucks for 15-20 minutes of parking. It's understandable that they may have other appointments and can't offer a tour if someone is late. But the target didn't even allow me to come in and get information and was really rude about the tardiness. She even put me on hold and had me standing at the gate like a fool for maybe 5 minutes before hanging up on me. I didn't complete the shop but I reported the incident and said why I refused to try and reschedule with the target. If I was a real prospect, I would not have considered that place after that experience and I made sure the scheduler knew about it. I hope they passed it on to the client. I hate target shops for reasons like this.

110mama,
All the more reason to be doing video shops.

My video of a locked door at an apartment complex and the time waiting while the agent was a no show for our appointment wasn't exactly priceless, but it was worth $80

When you show up at a new home community and the door is locked or the agent is busy, how long do you wait before abandoning the ship, I mean, shop. These can often take more than an hour if you are able to get in with the agent right away so time is even more precious if you have to kick dirt until someone shows up.

aimie,
That depends on my schedule for the rest of the day. If I am on a route where the next shop is an hour down the road, you can bet that I am not sticking around for very long. The time that I waited 90 minutes (about the length of the actual shop, btw) I was compensated as if I had performed the shop, plus enhanced travel bonus. Went back the next week, with a new alias, and did the shop for full pay and travel allowance. My video of the locked door and the audio of me trying to call the agent, was woth north of $100.

If I arrive and find the door locked, I call my scheduler, immediately to discuss options. They all know that route shoppers may not be able to hang around for very long to see if the agent has just been out on site showing a lot. I'd say my limit is about 30 minutes, but the issue usually gets resolved in much less time. MSCs are starting to press builders to let us make appointments with new home targets and to pay full fee and travel if the agent stands us up.

A few months ago, I analyzed targeted apt. shopping over a period of 9 1/2 yrs. My conclusions were:

1-None of the MSCs for whom I had completed work had increased fees since I began in 2003, although, inflation.com states the 10 yr. rate of inflation at a cumulative figure of 24.7%.
2-The reports SEEM longer and more repetitious
3-The targets are definitely more difficult to contact, in my area, than they were in 2003.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2013 04:20AM by shopperbob.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My video of a locked door at an apartment complex
> and the time waiting while the agent was a no show
> for our appointment wasn't exactly priceless, but
> it was worth $80

I had a locked office and nobody there....55 miles one way but $75 fee because they needed it done, so I was paid and never saw the target