A lot longer than the promised "6-8" hours. Price tags were often not there, scatched or not legible. A price scanner would have been necessary to get some prices because of this. They were out of stock but still had a price tag (hard to do if you have to look for a price tag because the item is not there- it takes longer because you can not see the actual item.) Items are listed in a helter-skelter fashion and not numbered.
Many items are not in a logical order and you have to go back and forth from aisle to aisle -- not straight down the aisle. (I did as many on a page of items in that isle- but it still slows you down.) Many regualar prices are not availalbe - only sales prices.
Sizes are often wrong- requiring you to correct that too. (ie. Manufacures often decrease the size of an item so that a 1lb can of coffee is now 13 oz. A pot pie that used to be 7oz is now 6.75 oz) All these wieght decreases require you to correct the item. Items can be all over the store such as coffee, beverages and international items. You can be in the baking aisle and they will list a can of soup. .

Items take a longer to locate since they are very particular by flavor, weight, size, brand etc. The print out list is in tiny print and - not numbered. The page print out is not numbered and either is the online report.

On the online report- they require you to scroll over about 30 store brands to answer "no" for "no store brand" for each and every item-- even for commissaries which have no store brands. Neither the online report nor the print out is numbered.

They jump around often do not list like brands together.

It is hard to understand what some item are - such as " Spt Stil Parm 1 Tbsp 7 gram Tub shred C 5 oz".

Maybe you had an easier time-- but with all the missing/misplaced and scratched price tags and out of stock items - it was a nightmare coupled with the Mystery Shopping companies poor design and planning -- " NEVER AGAIN "

Thanks for the heads up. I was thinking that it was probably a nightmare.

We have to correct the item if it's listed wrong? I thought the instructions read that if the item wasn't there, enter it n/a. If they're asking for an 8 oz item and it's 10 oz, the 8 oz item isn't there.

This needs to be twice the compensation and even then it would be one of those that you only take when you really need the money. I'm home from a very long first day, and headed back tomorrow, not happily. I don't know who supposedly did these in 9 hours, but I'm betting they didn't do them right. That, or it's wishful thinking on the scheduler's part.

The biggest time waster is looking for items that aren't there. That, and whoever made up the list doesn't realize that clam juice shouldn't be grouped with apple juice and cranberry juice

My commissary manager offered to have one of his employees do the job with a hand-held scanner. He said he has someone who can do 600 prices in an hour, and would be glad for the extra pay. I sorely wish I could have handed it over. It doesn't make sense not to be scanning these. The commissaries are willing.

After gas, lunch, printing costs, taxes, I'll be pocketing less than $5/hour. Never, ever again. I can't imagine trying to do these covertly in a regular store!

ETA: Just looked up the instructions. "If the exact product and size is not in the store, do not collect its price. " You had me very worried for a moment. I already wasted 10 hours this week fixing one mistake.

It's taking FOREVER to enter. After each entry, the website spins. It's not my computer (I cleaned everything and shut it down before beginning). Only 1780 more to go!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2016 05:00AM by PasswordNotFound.

Is this the one that says take a buddy with you -- to help it go faster?

LOL!!!

I know what you are saying about the sizes being different -- but what I am referring to is not a large size difference, for instance manufactures often change (make smaller) by tiny increments (a 1lb box of cereal is now say 15.85 oz) --should that count? Is that a 16oz box of cereal? Well, almost. The downsizing in small quantaties makes me think that a 15.85 oz box of cereal SHOULD be the same as a 16 oz box of cereal - but technically isn't the same size - just as you say- so technically would not need to be recorded. BUT it makes me wonder that the people who thought up this HOT MESS of an audit did not account for the "right sizing" that manufactures do by making the items just a tiny bit smaller. I think they will not be getting the results they hoped for because they are trying to get this job done quickly and cheaply - but not correctly. Obviiously if you are looking for a 2 lb box of cereal and can not find one in that size you would not need to record it. But what if you find a 1.95 lb box of cereal? Clearly it seems they MEANT for that item to be counted - but the "right sizing" that manufactures' do has put a wrench in that. Ugggh - too much to think about. YUCK.

Yeah right! Take a buddy so you BOTH can earn a pittance! Now instead of ONE shopper getting $4 hour-- bring a buddy so he can earn $2 hr and you can earn $2 hour!!!! What a hoot!!

If I were homeless I would do the Covert ones at my local Albertson's because they would call the Police and I would get 3 square and a cot.

Your buddy would not be your buddy too much longer. I did see an email today that they have fixed the forms to make it easier - and they still want you to take a buddy.

So how does one do the competitor version of this as a non reveal? Can you imagine checking 800+ prices for one or two days with no one noticing. Spicy1 you are correct.

I did it once, too. Nope nope nope!

They sent out an email this week saying they have altered the report based on shopper input

I tried an audit for the big box retailers for this MSC and after I arrived home with all the pictures of the merchandise and price tags I realized it would take me 5-6 hours to complete. It just wasn't worth it for what I had agreed to for payment to do this audit shop. I emailed the scheduler and apologized that I could not complete the shop. Needless to say the scheduler was not happy as I caused her to miss her deadline. I just know now that I will not consider any other audits for this MSC as they are definitely dishonest in their estimate of how long their audits take.

I never post but I just had to comment on this one. I recently did my first audit for this MSC. I have watched them asking for auditors for a large electronics store for a long time and always passed. I finally bit on a smaller department audit of a Large store. My husband was in the hospital but I had already committed so I drove 30 min each way to the store. The audit said it would take 2 to 4 hours. I was at the store over 4 hours and scanned in ups codes and typed descriptions until I was exhausted and finally finished. I took pictures as back ups in case there were any questions. I drove home in a rainstorm. I logged in yesterday to find I received a 1 with the comment "Your shop has been rejected because the item count is lower than the usual for this location".
First and last audit for me.

@schylarsok wrote:

I did it once, too. Nope nope nope!

I'm guessing that's what happens. They get people who haven't done them before. I figured if it took most people 9 hours, I could do it in 6. Big mistake. I think what she must have meant to type was that the RECORD for completion was 9 hours.

Kathy, you have me worried. I'm up to over 12 hours in store and a whopping 5 hours for entry (and not finished yet). Their site is not meant to handle such a long report. It should have been split by department, and been separate reports. This is agonizing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2016 04:33AM by PasswordNotFound.

Thanks for the heads up!

I did not do the grocery one. I went for one that paid $40 at the red circle store. They said it would take 2 to 4 hours. Lesson learned for me, never again.

These sound like the shops from hell. I thought the purple store shops were awful, but these rank right up there!

The one I did earlier this year was not nearly as much of a disaster as what I am reading in this thread. Mine was an Excel spreadsheet in which I entered the data, saved, and sent the attachment back to the project manager--and that was bad enough. I am glad that mine wasn't one of these commissary ones. The only way this would work better with the buddy help is if the buddy isn't actually with you, but sitting at a desk with the website open on the phone with you so you can read the prices and they can enter them while you are doing it. But, if the website is poorly designed and can't handle the data, that really wouldn't matter, would it? And I am not sure why you wouldn't be allowed to accept the kind and generous manager's offer to have someone help you with it with a scanner. That would have been awesome. Good luck to all who are doing these.

How much are you getting paid for all that work?

Mine was $125 and took about 9 hours total time. Still not worth it.

Mine was less than that, JAS, and took about twice the time once the entry was added in. There's another two within driving distance, but they'll need to go over $200 to be worth consideration.

I am feeling your pain, password. They'll find someone to do them but I guarantee it won't be for $200. And I am sure I can guarantee it won't be you!!!

JASFLALMT, was yours covert? If so, how did you manage 9 hours without getting tossed out? I'd love to do them if they were not covert. I don't have base access though.

I did it over 2 days span. It was covert. Mine was not on a base and the store is 12 miles from my house. Pretty big store...lots of young oblivious stock boys not really noticing me. I put my paperwork away and fiddled with my phone when employees came near. No one bothered me.

That was about 6 hours in store and 3 data entry...Spicy, after reading what everyone else went through we are going to certify you as insane if you do one of these!

@Kathy1296 wrote:

I never post but I just had to comment on this one. I recently did my first audit for this MSC. I have watched them asking for auditors for a large electronics store for a long time and always passed. I finally bit on a smaller department audit of a Large store. My husband was in the hospital but I had already committed so I drove 30 min each way to the store. The audit said it would take 2 to 4 hours. I was at the store over 4 hours and scanned in ups codes and typed descriptions until I was exhausted and finally finished. I took pictures as back ups in case there were any questions. I drove home in a rainstorm. I logged in yesterday to find I received a 1 with the comment "Your shop has been rejected because the item count is lower than the usual for this location".
First and last audit for me.

I'm so sorry this happened to you. What a terrible experience! Hope hubby recovered 100%.

I started one and timed myself. It took close to one hour for me to do one page. There were 22 pages total. I did the math and considered the additional time for data entry... I concluded that this was crazy.

The store was 45 miles away and I had invested an hour of my time already. I chose to stop and cancel the shop. So glad I did.

This was a nightmare of a shop for me. I did the "covert" regular grocery stores. Two of them. Alone. Hours and hours plus inputting the reports for more hours upon hours. I lost track. Not really, but you know what I mean. Today I get an editor telling me that "Most of the prices on your audit are outside the expected range. Can you verify the following are accurate? In the comment box, list a reason why the prices at this store might be different than the national average."

I'm in Calfornia, we have high grocery prices. I didn't make up prices. I compared the specific items they wanted me to comment on between the 2 different grocery stores I did. They were the same or less than a dollar difference. How do I know what the national averages are and how am I supposed to explain why? It's California is my best reason.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2016 06:11AM by nimbusrogue.

I did the $110 shop for this MSC, and it was dropped after 2 days and being told I could not do these price checks by store officials, not once, not twice, but I pushed my luck and they caught me a THIRD time, I decided I had to leave. Got an email from the scheduler because I was taking too long... ok I "FLAKED" on this assignment. Well, they canceled me on the assignment. I drove 40 miles, twice, total=160 miles, spent over 10 hours and was harassed by store employees all for NO PAY. I learned my lesson.
I still do the red dot stores at $40, that has become a breeze.

I thought about doing these for half a second because of the attractive pay. Then I saw 880 items needed to be checked. No thanks. Ive done price checks for about 150 items before and that took long enough. I can't imagine trying to do this one!