[Vent] 12 Hour deadline for report, but 6 days later to review????

Hey all,

I try to drop in everyday to read and learn from all you seasoned vets, but haven't had much to add to most postings yet. I just wanted to vent a little here on a pet peeve. Had a dinner shop recently, finished up around 8 pm, went to son's baseball game, then back home to do my dinner report. It took longer than expected and I didn't finish it til after 1 am. For some reason, the report deadline was same day or 12 hours after shop completion, so I missed my deadline by a bit over an hour. I emailed my scheduler and also sent an apology in the MSC comments field at the end of the the report, hoping for the best.

My report sat there without any activity for 6 days before it was finally reviewed. I received a decent score, but not the 10 I am always shooting for in my reports. Plus, the client always has the option of refusing my report based on this technicality.

What I don't get is how can I be dinged for getting my report done within 6 hours of shop completion, but the MSC can sit on my report for 6 days in QC, editing, or reviewing (whatever phase you want to call it). I am the one at risk of not getting paid. If the report was THAT time sensitive, why wasn't it processed by the MSC sooner? I've done other shops for this client and MSC and they have all had the next day as the shop report deadline, but for some reason, this one had 12 hours AND same day deadline...

This doesn't seem especially fair or reasonable and now I'm just hoping I get paid for my efforts...

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."

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A 24-hour deadline is usually ideal but a 12-hour deadline is reasonable. I perform several shops that have a 6-hour deadline and I have one client that requires a 1-hour deadline. I don't question when the editors edit my report just as long as it is finalized and I get paid on time.

As for you not receiving a 10 on your report, did the editor say that you got dinged for being late? Maybe your report required some editing or another reason resulting in a deduction.

When I accept a bar and dinner shop, I always ask the scheduler for a morning deadline when possible. I have never been denied even on the last day of the month. The editors would prefer a well-written report in the morning as opposed to a report written in a martini-induced haze.

Hi Sybil,

Thanks for your insights and I should keep it all in perspective I guess. It still irks me that I can do a lunch shop for this client and have a due date of the following day, but this particular shop had a same day deadline which is what it is. However, that short of a deadline implies some urgency in getting the report in to the client expeditiously...not after a 6 day delay in review. Maybe I shouldn't care how long it takes on the backend of a shop to get finalized and in to the client (and normally I don't), but when I am asked to jump through hoops, there ought to be a good reason why. To top it off, I am now wondering if I'll ultimately get paid...

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."

Those 12-hour deadlines that are really "before midnight of the same day" annoy me. If it's 12 hours, then they should give you 12 hours! Unless one is on the East Coast and one's editor is on the West Coast, nobody is going to be editing a shop at 12:30 a.m. EST. At least, probably not!

I did a late-night dinner shop 30 miles away from my home once. I could not enter the restaurant before 9 p.m., and had to order an alcoholic beverage. So I knew that by the time I got home it would be after 11 p.m., and I'd be tired and slightly under the influence (I had my husband with me to drive, so I wasn't DUI). The deadline was one of those 12 hours/same day deals, so I e-mailed the scheduler ahead of time, and she said it was OK to turn in the report the next day as long as it was within the 12 hours.

I think the MSC's need to either be flexible on these 12-hour-deadline shops, and give us the full 12 hours, or be clearer on the "real" deadlines.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

OP -
I get what you're saying and I used to feel the same.
Part of the solution is to ask in advance so as to extend the deadline past midnight. It's usually, but not always, granted.
However, your report may have sat for six days not because it wasn't edited, but because the MSC was waiting to see if the client would accept it, either because it was late or because of some other concern re. quality or disputable content.

@elcarev68 wrote:

OP -
I get what you're saying and I used to feel the same.
Part of the solution is to ask in advance so as to extend the deadline past midnight. It's usually, but not always, granted.
However, your report may have sat for six days not because it wasn't edited, but because the MSC was waiting to see if the client would accept it, either because it was late or because of some other concern re. quality or disputable content.

I don't think this was the case in my scenario since I received a nice grade on the report, but there was still a caveat that the client can still reject the report in which case I won't get paid, even though I received a fairly high score. I would think if the client already said it would be accepted, there would be no need for the caveat (unless it is boilerplate). Just to be clear, I'm not irked about the short deadline per se. I am irked that this particular shop had a shorter deadline than other shops of the same client, same MSC, and same cycle AND that my report wasn't completed for 6 days on their end. I seriously doubt that anyone took a look at my report until 7am the following morning at the earliest. If that was the case, why ding me for submitting after 1am? Remember, I'm just venting here, not looking for sympathy or explanations...

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."

As you gain a good rep with any MSC, feel free to write to the scheduler stating that, for instance, you write much better reports in the morning and would like the deadline to be extended to noon the next day. Most often, the scheduler will okay that if you have become a shopper known for reliable, quality, reports. Just also be aware that the scheduler may be too busy to tell the editor about the new due date, or the editor too busy to get to that particular email. So, always arrange this by email and retain the scheduler's reply so that you can politely inform the (possibly not so polite) editor that the scheduler had authorized the delayed submission and you do not expect any demerits due to that (with a cc of your reply sent to the scheduler, of course.)

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

Some MSC's, like A Closer Look, justify the 12 hour deadline by stating that as time ticks past 12 hours, details become less vivid in the reports. Honestly, I strongly disagree and really think it depends on the shopper, but that's just me.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

@msimon-2000 wrote:

Just to be clear, I'm not irked about the short deadline per se. I am irked that this particular shop had a shorter deadline than other shops of the same client, same MSC, and same cycle AND that my report wasn't completed for 6 days on their end. I seriously doubt that anyone took a look at my report until 7am the following morning at the earliest. If that was the case, why ding me for submitting after 1am? Remember, I'm just venting here, not looking for sympathy or explanations...

You get my sympathy. That sucks. You busted your rump to get it done, stayed up late and submitted it technically "late" but only by about an hour (and in the middle of the night when it's unlikely anyone was tapping their toe waiting on it). Then it took 6 days to review your work and they make a snarky comment about how you might not get paid because is was so urgent. So urgent that they spent 6 days editing it. Totally vent-able.

Yes, the requirements state that you effectively have a 4 hour window, and you can certainly have done things differently (by asking for an extension before the date of the shop, or some of the other things that have been suggested). But I think you realize that. I think you're frustrated that you feel like you expended a lot of effort to get the report done only a bit late when it probably wouldn't have mattered. Then they spent 6 days (almost a week! Not exactly lightening speed if this was urgent) reviewing your slightly late report and had the nerve to scold you for your slowness. I get it.

Shopper in California's Bay Area

@Tarantado wrote:

Some MSC's, like A Closer Look, justify the 12 hour deadline by stating that as time ticks past 12 hours, details become less vivid in the reports. Honestly, I strongly disagree and really think it depends on the shopper, but that's just me.

If it was just a check list report, I might agree with them: do it fast while the details are fresh in your mind. But since ACL requires pretty detailed narratives that often take over an hour and need to be clear, concise and not late-night or adult-beverage addled, I would prefer a bit more flexibility in the timelines.

Shopper in California's Bay Area

@Tarantado wrote:

Some MSC's, like A Closer Look, justify the 12 hour deadline by stating that as time ticks past 12 hours, details become less vivid in the reports. Honestly, I strongly disagree and really think it depends on the shopper, but that's just me.

I find I am able to write much more vivid narratives and submit better reports in the morning after a night's sleep, even though more time has passed. When I stay up late writing reports, the quality suffers.

@mystery2me wrote:

I find I am able to write much more vivid narratives and submit better reports in the morning after a night's sleep, even though more time has passed. When I stay up late writing reports, the quality suffers.

@CaliGirl925 wrote:

If it was just a check list report, I might agree with them: do it fast while the details are fresh in your mind. But since ACL requires pretty detailed narratives that often take over an hour and need to be clear, concise and not late-night or adult-beverage addled, I would prefer a bit more flexibility in the timelines.

I agree with both of you! Though I still do a lot work for this MSC every time new assignments shows up, the MSC requires the submittal of their reports by midnight PST. FYI, these are for 'bar evaluation' assignments. Even if I'm under MST, the fact that the time these assignments are performed between 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM with a minimum 1 hour stay at the bar just makes it ridiculous to meet their demands, until I learned to stop treating it as intense as a 'bar integrity' shop for say BARE or Mercantile. Even if the reports are light after going into it with this mindset, the midnight deadline they require is ridiculous.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

In my experience, ACL won't sit on a report for 6 days.
Service Check will.

OP for whom did you do the shop?

I highly doubt that you won't get paid. I work for 100's of companies and have done somewhere north of 15,000 - 20,000 jobs. I have only one MSP that has a REAL deadline, counted to the minute.

Would a scheduler chime in here?

Shopping Central Jersey Shoreline. WHAT? I'm an adult?! When did this happen?! How do I make it stop?!

My very first msc was on the east coast with a midnight deadline east coast time. There was no way I was able to get my report in on time unless I ate dinner at 5 PM and went straight home. As a newbie I worried about it and called them and they said it was okay to be later. I have not seen any deadlines like that since unless it is the last day of the rotation. I find the msc's I work for to be flexible on this subject.
I often look at email in the middle of the night (both east and west coast) and see a report I did the evening before is already accepted or has a note from the editor. I gather a lot of editors have the same sleeping pattern I do. But whether the report is edited immediately or later is not something I get upset about. Most jobs seem to have bosses who cannot wait for a report but then do not look at it for a while so I am used to that.

@SoCalMama wrote:

In my experience, ACL won't sit on a report for 6 days.
Service Check will.

OP for whom did you do the shop?

I highly doubt that you won't get paid. I work for 100's of companies and have done somewhere north of 15,000 - 20,000 jobs. I have only one MSP that has a REAL deadline, counted to the minute.

I really would prefer not to name names as my original post was more of me venting a little and not really pointing fingers at anyone in particular (especially until I get paid...lol). I will say that it is none of the MSCs that have been named by other posters in this thread.

This particular shop may have been a last minute flake job that I just happened to be on the board at the right time to catch it. I never would have driven all the way to this location normally, but I knew I was going to be in that neighborhood for my son's baseball game already so I accepted the job and headed out the door...

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2015 04:16AM by msimon-2000.

Op I got some I did on July 2nd with the same deadline. I got em in and they still have not been approved. So don't feel bad.

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.

I'll add that I am more often than I'd like overdue with my reports. I'm a firefighter full time and also volunteered until recently. Overtime, late calls, and nights without sleep happen all the time. Most of my schedulers know this ahead of time, and I send an email if something happens as soon as I can. Most all companies are lenient, as long as I turn in a quality report in the end, and I still get most every shop I apply for, as well as phone calls and emails with bonuses, last minute shops, distance shops, etc.

Be honest, and you will probably be okay.

@msimon-2000 wrote:

@elcarev68 wrote:

OP -
I get what you're saying and I used to feel the same.
Part of the solution is to ask in advance so as to extend the deadline past midnight. It's usually, but not always, granted.
However, your report may have sat for six days not because it wasn't edited, but because the MSC was waiting to see if the client would accept it, either because it was late or because of some other concern re. quality or disputable content.

I don't think this was the case in my scenario since I received a nice grade on the report, but there was still a caveat that the client can still reject the report in which case I won't get paid, even though I received a fairly high score. I would think if the client already said it would be accepted, there would be no need for the caveat (unless it is boilerplate). Just to be clear, I'm not irked about the short deadline per se. I am irked that this particular shop had a shorter deadline than other shops of the same client, same MSC, and same cycle AND that my report wasn't completed for 6 days on their end. I seriously doubt that anyone took a look at my report until 7am the following morning at the earliest. If that was the case, why ding me for submitting after 1am? Remember, I'm just venting here, not looking for sympathy or explanations...

I have gotten that statement from companies when the report was on time and I got a ten. They stick that line in there automatically. I wouldn't worry.

Today I Will Choose Joy!

"Finally, whatever things are good, true, noble, lovely, of good report...if there be any virtue, if there be any praise...think on these things." ....It's a command, not a suggestion!

@msimon-2000 wrote:

@elcarev68 wrote:

OP -
I get what you're saying and I used to feel the same.
Part of the solution is to ask in advance so as to extend the deadline past midnight. It's usually, but not always, granted.
However, your report may have sat for six days not because it wasn't edited, but because the MSC was waiting to see if the client would accept it, either because it was late or because of some other concern re. quality or disputable content.

If I find myself in a situation where I will miss the deadline I contact the scheduler and ask if they will accept the report late. I will not bother to take my time to do the report and I would go to sleep early rather than doing the report that they do not want. I never had a scheduler tell me they did not want the report as they would have to give it to another shopper and the client would get the report several days rather than several hours later. I wonder if editors stay up editing reports all day and all night and never get to sleep? That is what the MSC's would like you to believe. And of course the client will get that report seconds after the editor reviews it. It is that urgent. If you believe that, Would you like to buy the Brooklyn Bridge cheap? You would buy anything.

I don't think this was the case in my scenario since I received a nice grade on the report, but there was still a caveat that the client can still reject the report in which case I won't get paid, even though I received a fairly high score. I would think if the client already said it would be accepted, there would be no need for the caveat (unless it is boilerplate). Just to be clear, I'm not irked about the short deadline per se. I am irked that this particular shop had a shorter deadline than other shops of the same client, same MSC, and same cycle AND that my report wasn't completed for 6 days on their end. I seriously doubt that anyone took a look at my report until 7am the following morning at the earliest. If that was the case, why ding me for submitting after 1am? Remember, I'm just venting here, not looking for sympathy or explanations...

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[Vent] 12 Hour deadline for report, but 6 days later to review????

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