THE EXACT STATEMENT IN DISPUTE HERE IS:

" Both msc's pay the full ferry
fee to get to their shop"


this means they are reimbursing for an expense...not giving a general bonus or fee for a job.

it says the MSCs are both paying the FERRY FEE itself..

it does not say the MSC pay a bonus which covers the fee...it says they pay the actual fee....the shopper is only paying 1 $50 fare, but he is being reimbursed 2 $50 fares......


if it was mis stated...and it is not actual reimbursement,but rather a bonus or general fee...that is not my fault.......

@jmitw wrote:

THE EXACT STATEMENT IN DISPUTE HERE IS:

I thought the ACTUAL dispute or reason for this thread was the OP's original statement about triple-dipping. And yelling at us in ALL CAPS is not helping matters.

@ShoppingDad wrote:

One location, 3 different MSCs, 3 different client and services. Anyone else pull this or better.

Good job Shopping Dad! I hope someday to do the same!

Jmwit, Techman didn't specify how they paid the fee, bonus versus actual expense. And no I'm not comparing apples to oranges, the service charge is a fee designed to cover time and travel expenses. If you believe it doesn't cost the plumber $75 to come to your home you don't get costing for your business. Mystery shoppers have to be the only people in this hemisphere willing to settle for gas money and consider their travel expenses covered. The plumbing company charges the fee to cover not only the hourly wage they are paying the employee and gas, but also to cover vehicle maintenance, depreciation, etc., and some profit. Some companies call it a service call while others do refer to it as a trip charge. So it doesn't really matter what they choose to call it, a rose is a rose.

I hope you noticed that nobody responding to you has felt the need to YELL about it and we would appreciate the same.

x



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2015 11:14PM by MDavisnowell.

@jmitw wrote:

THE EXACT STATEMENT IN DISPUTE HERE IS:

" Both msc's pay the full ferry
fee to get to their shop"


.

except that you're the only person that seems to have a dispute.



MSC: Please do our shop..it pays $25 bucks
ME; It costs me 50 to take a ferry to get there
MSC: Ok, we'll add 50 bucks
Me: Deal


MSC (cool smiley: Please do our shop... it pays 12 bucks
Me: It costs me 50 bucks to get a ferry to get there
MSC(cool smiley: We can add 50 bucks to the fee. Could you do it then?
Me: Sure

What's the problem?

Woah. My brain is scrambled. Double dipping for a transportation reimbursement sounds awesome. Many of us do this all the time by receiving bonuses on long distance shops. The only difference is that we usually aren't submitting gas receipts for the distance and the bonus is also based on our time to travel.

This all seems very murky to me.

Your an independent contractor. Get the idea that you are working for a company out of your head. Read the mice print on every shopping company and they them self state that you are in no way connected with any other shop or company. You negotiate a rate for a job. If you can negotiate a higher pay for an out of the location ferry ride, then so be it.

If your business can line up two jobs and get them to pay extra for a hard to reach location, it is nobody's business but your own.

If you can convince 4 companies to bonus the job fee due to the location, more power to you. They will all have to pay someone to shop the job and will pay the least they can get away with. Your company should maximize its potential. You don't work for them, and your not twisting their arm to agree to pay a bonus to get to a hard to reach location.

I call this good business negotiations.

I agree completely with scanman. For an out of the way location, I negotiate a bonus to cover mileage at the IRS rate. Then I try very hard to find other jobs for a route, and do my best to negotiate a bonus for each based upon distance., As scanman said, they each have to pay someone to go there. It might as well be me.

@pony123lucy wrote:

@ShoppingDad wrote:

One location, 3 different MSCs, 3 different client and services. Anyone else pull this or better.

Good job Shopping Dad! I hope someday to do the same!

Thanks pony123lucy, I been able to pull two several times, but this is the first 3 for 1.

I often take work downtown Chicago, where parking can be as much or more as the shop fee. So I take Shop A on the Magnificent Mile, and then I take a Standard Parking assignment Shop B to pay for my parking while at Shop A. Although I know that the MSC for Shop A will reimburse me for that parking, I don't submit it twice. I've already been reimbursed by the second MSC for the parking fee. I'm not saying it's unethical to be paid twice, it just isn't right for me. To each his own I guess.

Hello all you beautiful Shoppers,
This is an interesting topic. I personally see nothing wrong here. Good for you getting paid to do the job you are doing. Sometimes it is the only way to make a shop profitable.
Some company out there says You get 25.00, no shop fee, for a pie shop. But, (isn't there always one) in actuality they only pay you 12.00 or some such thing as that. As it is the cost of the pie. They said 25 but only pay 12.00. I have done the same shop at the same time at the same location to make it worth the trip. The Company is happy because both shops are done on time and correctly. Now I get 24.00 for the job but only drove there one time. I did not drive home turn around and drive back to do the two shops. I just don't see how one could think this is illegal to do ones job as best to fit your needs and the company need. I would never copy and paste a shop for any reason. Every shop is unique to the report I submit. The client is looking for unique and I give that. If I do two shops for two companies not anything about one shop is the same as the other shop.
Let's say I took a job to a remote area. I charged a trip fee for gas. Then picked up another job along the way and charged a trip fee for that as well. I double dipped and got paid. I did not pay any extra expense for the gas to get to the double shop and was paid for the trip expense by both shops. If I submit a receipt for a Job I should be paid what is agreed. If I told the other job I did not need the expense money to go to the shop I would be discharged for being stupid.
No I just don't think it is any worse being paid the fee to cross the ferry once than it is twice. Unethical nope, if they say they pay 25.00 to get you to agree to the shop and only pay you the 12.00 is that unethical or illegal nope just business.
If I buy 20.00 worth of gas at a shop, submit a receipt for that amount, I will still only be paid for 5.00, yet I spent 20.00. According to the logic, if He spent 50.00 to cross a ferry and was paid the 100.00 the assumption is this is wrong or illegal, why would he not be entitled to it. If he paid 100.00 to cross and was only given 50.00 are you thinking it is OK for him to pay the extra 50.00 but not receive the extra fifty.
Great going Shoppingdad I bow to you and your genius. I would love to find three in one that would be awesome the most I have had is two. That is not to say I have not had the shops say in a strip mall or such. I have had five at the same strip mall. Eating, Auditing, Phoning 2 x, bank and supplement shop. Anyway Just had a rare moment to respond. We have a ferry here but it is free. We are getting more and more Toll Roads I try to avoid like the plague. Have a great day Shop, Shop, Shop till you drop.

Chigirl777, in reference to having your parking paid for a shop downtown I am curious about your success in getting that. I live in Los Angeles and rarely see a job that says they will pay for parking. I only know if there will be a parking fee if I am familiar with the blocks surrounding the shop. I usually will not take a job in an area I know has difficult parking. But I also see lots of jobs sit around on the board in neighborhoods where I myself do not take the job because I know the expensive parking situation there. I am assuming people are not taking those jobs for the same reason....having to pay $5 to park for a job paying a $5 fee is crazy.
So I am curious if you actually have to ask for parking and whether most of the companies you work for agree to pay it.
Thanks in advance.
Sandy

I love hockey, but don't have a clue about the terms. Those guys can skate!

What's a hat trick?

Oh, I love hockey for the fights. I will not apologize for the previous sentence. Sorry, but the only thing better than a hockey fight is a rugby fight.

sandyf: I agree, an MSC will rarely advertise that they reimburse for parking - I have to ask. I have on several occasions reached out to the scheduler and explained the parking situation, and most times they agree to reimburse it for me. If I can pick up a parking shop nearby and make a little more money and save MSC A some money at the same time, even better, but if not I always make sure that parking will be paid.

To bus377: I think the main distinction for me is that reimbursements are generally not reported as income. So to pay $50 out of pocket for parking for which I am reimbursed, and to submit it twice, means I am making an additional $50 that's not reported as income. Again, I am not making a judgment - people who live in glass houses and all. Just saying that it's not for me.

A hat trick is when one player scores three goals in a single game. Back when men wore hats regularly the story is they would throw them on the ice.

Back to the original post - what can't everyone understand about this ? 3 DIFFERENT MSCs and 3 DIFFERENT clients - not double or triple dipping in the least. No crossover and no conflicts. Virtually the same as doing a bunch of different jobs in a mall, where they are within yards of each other and you saved on gas and travel time.

>>>One location, 3 different MSCs, 3 different client and services<<<

Yes, as far as 3 different clients and 3 different MSCs, I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. I'm referring to double-dipping on the reimbursement, not the shop fee.

@chigirl777 wrote:

Yes, as far as 3 different clients and 3 different MSCs, I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. I'm referring to double-dipping on the reimbursement, not the shop fee.

There was no reimbursement, since no purchase was required.

I have not tried anything like this but I think I understand: you planned well and identified one location that had three distinct and available shops with three separate msc's. You performed the jobs in one day, traveling by ferry part of the way to/from the location. It was part of each agreement that the ferry fee was reimbursed. You legitimately ended up with three paid ferry fees for one ferry trip. You were triple paid for a ferry trip and the ferry trip money from two companies is available for you to spend at your discretion. You were well-paid for your efforts that day. Yes?


Is is difficult to make shops dove-tail this way? What about rotations?

@ShoppingDad wrote:

@chigirl777 wrote:

Yes, as far as 3 different clients and 3 different MSCs, I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. I'm referring to double-dipping on the reimbursement, not the shop fee.

There was no reimbursement, since no purchase was required.

I was referring to double-dipping on reimbursements in general, as have been mentioned in subsequent posts in this thread.

I, too, have asked for parking fees and generally DO get them. Occasionally they will say no to that, then I say no to them. Unless I really want the shop.