I find it interesting and slightly troubling that some MSC will automatically reject a shop if a simple clerical or data entry mistake is made with the report. Data entry mistakes range from a simple date/time error, to uploading the wrong receipt, or perhaps clicking the wrong pushbutton option. I would think it would be in the best interests of both the MSC and shopper to have the obvious data entry error corrected rather than automatically reject the shop and place it back on the job board?! What am I missing here?

Just to be clear, I'm not referring to a major mistake or a shop that was incorrectly performed. I am referring to the simple data entry mistakes that occasionally occur even to the most detail-oriented shopper. Here are a couple of theoretical examples (there are many more):

#1 Shopper enters time arrived of 05:28 PM and time departed of 5:59 AM. They simply forgot to click the PM pushbutton and it should be obvious to any editor that this is a simple data entry mistake. Instead of confirming with the shopper to correct this oversight, the otherwise excellent report is rejected?

#2 A receipt from a similar shop performed the same day is inadvertently uploaded to the shop report. Wouldn't it be easier to simply confer with the shopper to upload the correct receipt instead of having the whole shop redone.

#3 A report requiring a complete narrative of the entire shop performed is missing one element of the shop (say the phone call portion). The narrative is otherwise excellent and valuable to the client, but the shopper simply forgot to add the phone call portion to the narrative. Wouldn't it be better in the long run to return the shop to the shopper to have the missing element added in rather than have the entire shop redone?

I know that many MSC will work with the shopper to have simple data entry issues corrected rather than penalize the shopper unnecessarily, but there are some MSC who will simply reject the entire shop for something this minor. I would think that these simple data entry issues are obviously just mistakes and not an attempt to falsify data or shop details. As good as we are 99 percent of the time, we are simply human after all and bound to make an occasional data entry error....

Both #2 and #3 of the above examples have occurred to me personally and I was fortunate enough to be working with reasonable MSC at the time and each oversight on my part was quickly fixed and the shop approved. Had I been working for certain MSC that automatically reject shops for these type of data entry errors, I would have been SOL...

editted for one spelling error...we are human after all!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2016 05:46PM by msimon-2000.

Time to find new MSCs. Those examples call to mind the old saying "throwing the baby out with the bath water."

I believe that examples #1 and #2 are minor clerical errors that are easily corrected and should be forgiven. Example #3 is a serious exclusion of a commentary or not following all of the required guidelines. More discussion with the scheduler and/or editor might be needed to fix that issue.

I agree with you Sybil. #3 is a more serious infraction in my opinion as well. Just to be clear, in my example, the phone call was done in accordance with the shop guidelines, was done correctly, but simply not reported in the narrative. It is not an attempt to get over or disguise an error, but simply a data entry oversight that was correctly caught by the editor who asked for clarification.

So, my point is this: MSC A decides to kick the otherwise excellent report back to the shopper to have them add the missing paragraph into the narrative (all of the phone call data was already included in the main report). While MSC B rejects the entire report and places the job back on the job board.

It seems to me that a bit of cooperation between the shopper and editor to correct honest data entry mistakes makes much more sense than the alternative of penalizing the shopper and reposting the job? It does make the editor's job a bit harder, but not as hard as editing a brand-new shop performed by the second shopper.

This is how the MSC and the client view the report: "If one error occurs, from timing, to name of associate, etc. then it "calls into question" about what else in the report might be inaccurate?"

To give the wrong name of the associate, to uploading the wrong receipt, these things make the client "doubt" your report findings.

If "Joe" was really Fred .....they don't see much past this. I think they are looking for a "clean report"--.one void of errors. Not that I am siding with them but in most of the guidelines, it states the shop can be invalidated for many reasons, mostly names/pictures/timings or receipt errors.

Can the error be corrected before being sent to the client? One MSC says NO. Your receipt is wrong. We don't want to ask you for the correct one. Shop is voided.

Others are kinder and let you correct the wrong receipt. There is one BIG mystery shopping company that says if you upload the wrong picture (old picture from another shop) or the wrong receipt, you report is "toast"...

SunntDays2, you bring up some very good points and I definitely see this point-of-view.

If a report contained multiple data entry mistakes, then I can see the whole report being questioned as the shopper probably isn't that detail oriented to begin with. But to invalidate a report for one simple clerical error seems like overkill to me.

Put the shoe on the other foot and the same MSC that invalidates a report for a simple clerical error, will be the first one to cancel a job because someone misplaced a decimal point turning a $10 job into a $1000 job. This certainly is a simple mistake that most people understand as a simple human error. Should they be held accountable for their data entry error just as we are held accountable for ours??? Common sense says no, mistakes do happen and a bit of understanding and compassion should go both ways.

I always try to do my best work for all the MSC I work for, regardless of the job fee. I give a $5 shop the same effort that I give to a $50 shop, etc. I have made a couple of data entry mistakes in the hundreds of jobs I have performed which works out to less than 1 percent. I doubt even surgeons can boast that kind of error free percentage and they are dealing with life and death on a daily basis. I was fortunate that the MSC were understanding enough to recognize the simple data entry mistakes that they were and allowed me to quickly fix them, but not all MSC are as understanding and I guess my point is that I find the expectation of perfection to be unrealistic 100 percent of the time. Not all mistakes are created equal and probably should not be painted with the same broad stroke of automatic rejection.

I also have had one shop rejected out of several hundred successful shops and the one rejected shop was completely my fault for not following the guidelines completely. I owned up to my mistake and learned from it going forward.

100% reporting or the contract is not met. If you got one thing wrong on the report, then how can they trust that you did not make more errors? It calls the entire report into question.

This MSC also has very quick reporting requirements and if the data is stale by more than 8 hours, they don't want the data even if you correct it.

Live and learn. Don't put wrong receipt or time down as they are very picky about timing. If the register is off and you put that you arrived at 12:00 PM and the register says you ordered at 11:59 AM, you better explain this in the report, or adjust your reported start time by 60 seconds to stop the reporting system from kicking up an automatic rejection flag.

There are rejection reasons that don't even take human intervention. You need to be very careful to get this right.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2016 10:53PM by scanman1.

@scanman1 wrote:

100% reporting or the contract is not met. If you got one thing wrong on the report, then how can they trust that you did not make more errors? It calls the entire report into question.

This MSC also has very quick reporting requirements and if the data is stale by more than 8 hours, they don't want the data even if you correct it.

Live and learn. Don't put wrong receipt or time down as they are very picky about timing. If the register is off and you put that you arrived at 12:00 PM and the register says you ordered at 11:59 AM, you better explain this in the report, or adjust your reported start time by 60 seconds to stop the reporting system from kicking up an automatic rejection flag.

There are rejection reasons that don't even take human intervention. You need to be very careful to get this right.

When I first read your reply, I simply felt as though I was being lectured while back in high school. As much as I enjoyed the brief trip down memory lane, a second thought occurred to me:

Falsifying a report time, even if only by 60 seconds, is morally and ethically more acceptable than making an honest mistake with data entry? I have to vehemently disagree with you on that one point. The rest of your lecture is spot on as usual. I do not dispute that striving for perfection should be everyone's goal while also realizing that this is simply an impossible goal to achieve as mistakes, both simple and severe, are going to occur. The real core of my thread is the "what happens next" part of the mistake equation, not the "being perfect" part.

I am so thankful that I work with outstanding MSC that have the common-sense to realize that not every mistake is a deal-breaker and are willing to differentiate data entry errors from more egregious mistakes. This creates a win-win-win scenario for all parties involved.

I will continue to strive for perfection, in my mystery shopping as well as in my life all the while knowing that mistakes will occasionally happen. After all, there was only one perfect person who ever walked this Earth, and I can assure you that I am not Him!

This is an on-going problem for me. I travel -- sometimes over 500 miles in one day -- and when I get home, I'm too tired to file reports. Most of the problem is the areas I travel are those white areas on the maps of
national coverage -- no cell phone towers, no internet on my phone. So I MUST file the reports after I get
home. Many MSCs understand, and give me additional time to file reports. But some do not. I'm sorry; if I'm so tired I'm cross-eyed, wouldn't it be better to get a perfect report 10 AM tomorrow than one with errors in it tonight?

I had an editor reject a shop because she thought I made an error on the salesperson's height. The salesperson was 6'7". She thought that was too tall for a person to be or something. He really was 6'7" Why not ask me first? He actually mentioned he was 6'7" during the presentation so no guessing.
The shop was done fine other than the editor being ridiculously ignorant.

jlk3995 -- were you able to get the rejection overturned? I certainly hope so!

In your case, there was not even an error of any sort on your part. The error happened on the MSC end of things. Just goes to show that people are human and both sides can make mistakes...

(editted for spelling error)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2016 06:03AM by msimon-2000.