Shell MS/Reveal Shops

I have never performed this particular shop before. I am just starting to review the guidelines so I can create my cheat sheet. One of the issues I am already running into is that they want you to call each location and confirm their hours of operation. But no one answers at the phone numbers listed on my paperwork or I get a recording asking for my access code. So I decide to go to the client's website and use their store locator like I do for other brands of gas stations. Their store locator is not working properly sending me 2-3 time zones away from the location.

I call the MSC and they tell me to just drive to the locations then and see if they are open. I ask if I will get the full shop fee minus the reimbursement. (I can't purchase gas or c-store item if the location is closed.) They tell me to take photos of the closed location, submit the report and then they will send me back when the station is open but they will not confirm if I will get paid for both trips.

For those of you who do these types of Shell shops, how do you handle this open/closed vague policy? I am contemplating canceling all of these shops. Too many "what ifs."

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I do them all the time. For remote or rural locations I pull it up on street view google maps. That will give me a good idea if it is open or not. It's not foolproof of course. I have never found one closed or had to go back so I don't know what happens in that case.

I really only shop at "normal" times of day but having to ask hours of operation I have found that most stations are open by 6:30 am and most don't close until after 11:00 pm.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2016 08:55PM by CoffeeQueen.

@CoffeeQueen wrote:

I do them all the time. For remote or rural locations I pull it up on street view google maps. That will give me a good idea if it is open or not. It's not foolproof of course. I have never found one closed or had to go back so I don't know what happens in that case.

How does Google maps tell you what the gas station and c-store hours are? I've always known it to be a mapping program. I found one station today that closes at 7 PM which is pretty early in gas station land.

I am going to illustrate how to use Google to learn when a location is open. This is not foolproof, but Google does an amazing good job. Type the following into the Google Search Box on your browser (I have not tested to see if other search engines do the same thing or how good they are) or go to Google, and search for it there (same search).
Shell, Marsh Road, Wilmington, DE
This happens to be a Shell location where the service bays close at 5 PM. While not shown, the gas pumps remain open until 7 PM.
Try the following:
Exxon, Foulk Road, Wilmington, DE
This Exxon location is open 7 AM to 11 PM

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

Let me first say, all of the Shell shops I have done are within 30 miles and I do them in mini routes. But I have never called ahead to see if they are open. I normally do them between 10 am and 3 pm - normal hours. I have never found one that is closed.

@Sybil2 wrote:

@CoffeeQueen wrote:

I do them all the time. For remote or rural locations I pull it up on street view google maps. That will give me a good idea if it is open or not. It's not foolproof of course. I have never found one closed or had to go back so I don't know what happens in that case.
How does Google maps tell you what the gas station and c-store hours are? I've always known it to be a mapping program. I found one station today that closes at 7 PM which is pretty early in gas station land.

what myst4au said. most times it actually shows the hours and any other pertinent information. also street view shows if its a dump or not.

@LIJake wrote:

But I have never called ahead to see if they are open. I normally do them between 10 am and 3 pm - normal hours. I have never found one that is closed.

I am guessing that you do not work a FT job during the day. I can only perform gas station shops real early in the morning while it is still dark out or after work when it is getting dark or already dark. So finding out when gas stations are open is vital to my schedule.

You are right Sybil, I do not work a full time job during the day. When I did I ran my own business, much as I now do, and would have had no time for a part time job. I can understand why you are concerned over the hours of that a gas station is open. You have my respect for having a FT job and mystery shopping in addition.

You need to weigh the benefit to the risk when deciding to call or not. If I am completing 80 shops in a month and make a five minute call for hours it cost me time which is money. I do not call in advance other than if I were to shop on a Sunday or holiday and know that if I shop on a Sat or Sunday when they are not open and their signage states they are not open I will have to forfeit the pay. However if you show up during their normal business hours and take a photo of the posted hours you will be paid. We don't get reimbursement if there is no convenience purchase or fuel purchase only the shop fee.

With some rural shops (less often Shell than other brands) an unanswered phone means it is a cardlock/unmanned location. If it is unmanned, I have always been paid the fuel reimbursement if fuel was a required purchase. If it was closed, as in i got there after business hours, I have not been paid. Making that phone call is crucial. If you demonstrate that you tried to get the hours you are more likely to be paid than if you just show up without preparation.

@ddeblois wrote:

You need to weigh the benefit to the risk when deciding to call or not. If I am completing 80 shops in a month and make a five minute call for hours it cost me time which is money.

The guidelines for my shop say to call and check for their hours of operation. They said if I show up and they are closed and I did not call ahead of time, I would not get paid for that trip. I do plenty of gas stations but some are MS only with no audit or required gas purchase. All of them are open 24 hours every day even on national holidays. Those are easy breezy. These MS/Reveal shops seem like a PITA.

I have done hundreds of these Shell mystery/audits, probably more than a thousand, and I don't do shops over and over unless I like them and they are profitable. Those where I live are all open 24 hours. When planning a route, I always check the location on Google maps. Street views can be helpful. Google the address, and there is usually at least one link that will give you the hours and phone number and price of gas. Gas Buddy is one; Yelp is another. If the location is remote and I have never shopped it, I will call the location a couple days in advance and ask for hours. Shells with service bays almost always close early. Shells in small mountain or desert towns often have different hours in different seasons. One thing I always do is take a photo of the hours and address number as my very first photo for each location. This serves as a marker to separate location photos when I go to file them on my computer. I can also refer to the photos if the shop comes up again 6 months or more later, and I can look at the photo and see the hours.

In my area, none of the phone numbers supplied reached the location. Many times it is to the company that owns the station. Other times it is out of service or belongs to someone who is clueless. So I understand why the MSC wants the shopper to ask the staff what the number to the station is. At one place where the owner was present, he told me to ask the staff as he did not know.

Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there.
Richard Feynman-- letter to Ashok Arora, 4 January 1967, published in Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005) p. 230

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