I'm afraid I'm screwed

I KNOW this is my own fault and I'm not blaming anyone but me, but I really hate it when MSC wants you to wait 72 hours to see if there's any follow up from the shop. I try to put a reminder on my calendar, but if I'm doing 5-7 shops a day, once in awhile it slips through the crack. I wish they would send some sort of reminder email. They ALWAYS send a reminder before the shop date, so I don't understand why they can't send one saying, "Hey, don't forget, you still have one shop that needs to be submitted." Or if you want more "professional" language, "We have adjusted your shop date to reflect the 72 hour hold awaiting contact from the company. Please remember to sign in and complete your shop by XXX."

I JUST TODAY remembered that I was supposed to finalize a shop on Thursday. I signed on and did it just now, but I'm really scared they're going to reject it. And this was one that required a $50 non-refundable purchase, so I'm hoping that doesn't happen.

Gotta figure out a better way to handle those!

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Usually I don't have a problem unless the shop is falling on a route or something. In cases like that, I'll put a note on my spreadsheet to check for the follow-up. Or, if it's a mail follow-up and I know I won't be home, I'll check with the MSC about extending the deadline.

My guess is you won't have a problem, but send a note to your scheduler so they have the heads-up.

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Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)

"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei

I also put a note on my spreadsheet but I agree that you will probably be fine.

I add a note in my daily calendar. I have also let a couple slip through the cracks and as soon as I figured it out, I sent an email to the scheduler and finalized the shop. Everything was fine and the scheduler appreciated the email. I don't think you will have a problem either.

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What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. -Henry David Thoreau
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Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out. -Frank Clark
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You can send yourself an e-mail dated 3 days ahead. You will see it the first day and ignore it or forward it to keep it on top, the second day forward it again to the next day. when it comes up on the third day you reminded yourself to get it done!

I use my outlook calendar and it'll 'ding', 'ding', until I do something with the pop up windows. I put all my shops in my calendar and put all information, emails etc in the calendar. It works for me without fail.

Yeah, I'm having a tough time with putting things on the calendar. Because I'm keeping everything in an Excel spreadsheet so I can be sure to track the payments, I've begun just looking at my spreadsheet every day and that has pretty much replaced my calendar completely! Sure wish there was a way to link to two together so I don't have to type things in twice!

tracyvp, that would be wonderful! It is repetitious, but I use both Excel and Google calendar. There are services, software, and programs, which cost $$, that purport to sync the spreadsheet entries to the calendar. Haven't been so inclined to part with my dollars.

I only use the spreadsheet. I have all upcoming shops in date order, with a blank line between dates. When I finish the shops, I remove the blank line, so it's easy for me to see what hasn't been done. If I have a followup, I add it as if it were a shop. When I get to that day, it will get done with the other shops.

I don't need a calendar because I leave the Excel program open on my computer all the time and check it frequently every day (I have a tab in my shopping spreadsheet where I put my work schedule each week, so I don't book shops on a day I work).

Time to build a bigger bridge.

I would set an alarm on my cell.

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I'm "Sandi" in the Middle!

SandiAigo Wrote:
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> I would set an alarm on my cell.

Yeppers! That is what I do, but if it is too far ahead, I wonder what the alarm is for. Sometimes I can't decrypt my notes.

You could set an alarm in many places or just finalize the report as soon as you know it needs to be done and get yourself in the habit of doing so. It is like keeping track of shops you need to do.. Sure I just got assigned 10 shops and could schedule them all down in my calendar later OR I can do it now in some way shape or form and not worry later. Communication is key so just talk with the scheduler or MSC involved. Prevention also works wonders

Silver Certified ~ Shopping all of Toronto and beyond

Just a quick update: The shop was NOT rejected and no one commented at all that it was late. (Whew!) I had emailed the scheduler but got no reply.

But in my panic to get it done NOW as soon as I realized, I made a couple of comments that didn't make any sense (put them in the wrong place) so I had an interaction with the editor. I felt SO STUPID and I apologized profusely. Ended up with a grade of 8, but I'm just thankful that it wasn't rejected!

And I do the same thing with my spreadsheet as dspeakes, except that instead of the blank line, I add a fill color as I'm finished. -Then at the end of the month, I re-sort them by MSC so I can start keeping track of payments.

I think I will follow dspeaks' suggestion and just cut & paste the shop onto the update day as thought it were a new shop. That makes the most sense to me with the way my brain works.

Congrats! Doesn't it feel good when you've dodged a bullet, particularly when it was from your own gun?

(heart)

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.

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I'm afraid I'm screwed

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