ExxonMobil Refused Audit

Never mind. I figured it out. It's my first refused gas station audit. That's a milestone. Everyone's going to have one. (I had a refused pizza parlor audit. Now, that's something that everyone's not going to have!)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2014 11:00AM by Ishmael.

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Ishmael Wrote:
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> Never mind. I figured it out. It's my first
> refused gas station audit. That's a milestone.
> Everyone's going to have one. (I had a refused
> pizza parlor audit. Now, that's something that
> everyone's not going to have!)

Why did you erase what happened? Your situation might have helped others who work on this same or similar project.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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I was thinking the same thing. Maybe tell us what happened/what mistake was made and others can learn from it

Okay. Sheer embarrassment. Here's the question, and what I decided to do.

My question was, how do I report a refused shop, when there's no place on the report form that says 'refused.' So, reading between the lines of the instructions--they don't quite spell it out--I decided that I should just call it 'closed', mark the reason as 'other', describe what happened, and upload the pictures I took across the street.

So the gas station employee/owner refused to let you perform the audit? OH! I thought you meant that the MSC refused your report but you were not telling us why. This sounds like a much better situation and you should still receive some form of payment.

Exactly what I would've (and have) done. They should have that as an option, but oh well.

I assumed you meant that the MSC refused your shop, as in, rejected it and aren't paying. My mistake!

Shop2LiveinFL
>This sounds like a much better
> situation and you should still receive some form
> of payment.

Luckily she will! This MSC pays in full, including incentive, for closed locatons or refused shops. At least, that's been my experience.

I'm sorry about my lack of clarity. I posted in the middle of the night, and wasn't thinking too clearly. I didn't even realize that I'd edited it to be ambiguous.

Getting frivolous here, for a moment. I know the routine. If it had been a refused report, I'd have posted in the Companies thread, with a title like: DON'T SHOP FOR NAMEOFMSC!!!!!!!

Just kiddiing!

I always find it amusing when they refuse an audit.
If it were a new project and the first time it was being
done, then maybe I could understand them not believing it.
But these have been going on for many years.

= + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = +
There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==
When you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody

Oh, I did a gas station shop that was refused. For the same company that locally does Exxon/Mobil.

The clerk denied me permission to take photos. She said if she saw me taking any photos, she'd call the cops & have me arrested for trespassing. Even if I wasn't on their property, but across the street!

I didn't get paid for the shop.

But when I talked with my scheduler, I told her I'd rather not get paid, than to go down and take photos and risk being arrested for trespass.

The clerk was VIOLENTLY nasty; if I live the rest of my life without ever visiting that location again, it's fine by me!

cease

I would of still taken the photos from across the street.
Nothing they can do about it. Let them call. Then they
can be charged with making a false report.

techman01 Wrote:
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> I would of still taken the photos from across the
> street.
> Nothing they can do about it. Let them call. Then
> they
> can be charged with making a false report.

It was my choice. The scheduler understood. It's a tiny town; I happen to know the clerk is an
"on call" deputy; her mother's the dispatcher. She would have had a GREAT amount of pull
compared to me. Didn't want my name in the local paper as arrested for trespass. Believe
me, I KNOW this woman, and she could have and would have carried out her threat. And if you
don't think local cops do "favors", you're living in a different world than I do. The lesson I learned
is don't shop locally!!!

cease

Don't the stations get fined if they refuse the audits? That was my understanding.

barbage Wrote:
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> Don't the stations get fined if they refuse the
> audits? That was my understanding.

The letter of authorization did say something about a refusal would result in
something, like their wholesaler being notified; something like that.

They refused the letter of authorization.

Heck, the clerk refused her customer service award!

cease

@ Ishmael: I would not have referred to the shop as a "closed location". I wasn't was it? It was a "refused shop". That is a huge difference. I have filled out reports where the shop was refused. You just have to be creative. I've simply filled out the spots where questions and narratives were asked by typing in "shop refused".

For a shop where the it was refused and pictures were not allowed, I would have uploaded my receipts in each of those areas. Once, I even wrote on white paper "shop and pictures refused". Below, the "shop refused" I wrote in all of the pertinent information (address, MSC ID data, etc).

Lastly, I've always found that there is a shopper comment section where I could state my case quite clearly.

I feel that if I've been to the site and done what I could do, then I should be reimbursed.

I understand how small town towns can be
and I generally avoid those areas at all costs
since everyone there is generally in bed with
each other.

Sometimes I do wonder why exxon even runs
their audit program since more often then not
the same issues are seen at some stations
month after month.

I had a similar situation. I went about a quarter mile down the street, put on the 200-400mm zoom and got an exterior shot.

I've also had interior shots refused. One location was a mess inside. I did the outside photos, then I put a polarizing filter on the lens and got rid of enough of the glass glare that I was able to get a good picture of the mess inside.

.
Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
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Ha! How awesome you have that equipment, James!

Practitioner of the Nerdly Arts.

Hi,
I did get one of those emails, and yes I did answer it and yes I signed up for it?

techman01 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I understand how small town towns can be
> and I generally avoid those areas at all costs
> since everyone there is generally in bed with
> each other.

And people in the big cities never get in bed with each other? That is so sad!

I had one where the clerk / owner /manager of a tiny station flat out refused. He said (and I quote)

"They can't tell me what I have to sign or not sign. Not signing it."

Alllrighty then ... don't sign it. Less work for me, jerkoff.

It only hurts them.

I had one employee refuse to sign the letter of authorization but I was still allowed to take all the required photos. For the next round of shops, the MSC or client dropped the required signature part of the audit. I guess the employees won. No biggie to me.

I've had that happen several times where they
told me to do what I want but they weren't
signing anything. Maybe they think signing is
them agreeing that stuff is wrong. Didn't
matter to me.

My all time favorite for exxon's when I did
them was a station that was listed as open
24 hours but I knew he did not open til late
on certain days so I would go there when
he was closed and still get paid. Msc never
cared, I guess client wants to know if a 24
hour store is not open.

When I did my last route of dirty, nasty gas stations, it was the highlight of my day when they refused or the location was closed... by then I have already gotten my gas and coffee (refused locations) and the report is super easy that way!!!

O.o o.O

Happily shopping New England and beyond!!!!!

I was refused once. I told her fine that I would just notify the company that the audit had been refused - yes less work for me! She then called the manager who "authorized" the audit. I was sad because then I had to take the piks for that crappy gas station. One time a cell phone shop refused me. Did the same thing - smiled and told her OK - I would let the company know that the audit was refused. She got on the phone to the manager and I was granted access - darn it.

Tatjana Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @ Ishmael: I would not have referred to the shop
> as a "closed location". I wasn't was it? It was a
> "refused shop". That is a huge difference. I have
> filled out reports where the shop was refused. You
> just have to be creative. I've simply filled out
> the spots where questions and narratives were
> asked by typing in "shop refused".

That was my first impulse, but it would have entangled me in a morass of questions I could answer, questions I couldn't answer, and questions that I could half-answer. I could point out flaws that I'd seen, but I wouldn't have pictures of them. There were places where I could give favorable answers, based on what I had seen, but I hadn't given the station the same scrutiny that I would have, if I had done the audit. So, all of those answers would have had an asterisk beside them. (Canopy looked fine from where I was standing, but I didn't see what it looked like on the far side of the station.)

So, they'd have a bunch of information, but it would be, as I see it, unusable. And I'd have spent more time than usual on a report that I couldn't even submit without special help. (I'd have had to leave some of the answers blank.)

Honestly, isn't the point the online reports should reflect that eventuality and allow you to fill it out easily and quickly without having to jump through imaginary hoops?

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"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 think so. The instructions said to leave the premises and take photographs as though it was a closed shop, so I decided that the appropriate thing to do was to report it as a closed shop, with all the appropriate explanations in the comment boxes. The report form accomodated that, and that way, I could submit the report without having to ask for special help.

One would think that there would be a space or a check-off for a refused shop. I cannot remember the old MSC online report other than it would not allow me to continue unless certain questions were answered.
So, I simply put in for the attendant's name, shop refused. For height, I put in some ridiculous height (1'3" or 10').

Even now, with some of the shops if there isn't a name tag being worn, the report does not accept an empty space for "name". So, I put in "no name tag" or something similar. Yet, on some reports further down, it specifically asks if a name tag was being worn.

Sometimes, I think that the designer of the online questionairre has never done a mystery shop or considered the default questions.

Mod note: ICA violation by naming MSC since the client is named in the subject heading.

The report at the old company did have a question about whether we were allowed to conduct the audit. A no answer would then block out the irrelevant questions. The report took less than five minutes including any photo upload.

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