I got an email today about a question in my report. This was completed in Early January. Is this normal? They always contact within the first week or so. I thought with dead line, these are sent in right away to the companies. The editor states that I need this information so this can be sent to the company.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2017 03:05AM by MScat.

Depends on the company. It sounds like the report may have been submitted to the client and the questions are coming from the client. The editor may need the info to respond to client questions.

@roflwofl wrote:

Depends on the company. It sounds like the report may have been submitted to the client and the questions are coming from the client. The editor may need the info to respond to client questions.

Never thought about that. I guess it bothers me cuz its a company I am a bit bitter with right now. You know how we have favorite MSC and the ones we avoid???

Well apparently you haven't gotten paid yet? Or were you looking for payment.

Op:
If you have notes on the shop and can answer their question fine. If not let them no exactly why too much time has elapsed from when the shop was preformed. If you have already been paid for the shop I would not worry about it too much. If your still waiting payment on the shop I would try to answer the best I could. Occasionally you will get a question a few months after shop has been done. Thankfully this is very occasionally.

I had this happen recently. it was for a shop performed mid Jan, I got a call from the scheduler last week. The store was arguing that the employees were in proper uniform when I stated two weren't. I told the scheduler that I took thorough notes and notated everything accurately on my report. She sent me a follow up email after our phone conversation and my reply was, "Since so much time has passed I can not recall every detail but I did provide commentary in my evaluation to every 'no answer'. I also noticed video surveillance while conducting the shop. If there is any questions surrounding discrepancies between what I reported and the store employees please have the manager retrieve the video footage for that day."

I was paid yesterday

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2017 11:36AM by eyelove2shop.

@eyelove2shop wrote:

I also noticed video surveillance while conducting the shop. If there is any questions surrounding discrepancies between what I reported and the store employees please have the manager retrieve the video footage for that day."

Video footage can totally work to our advantage. I have asked MSCs and/or their clients to check the video and I have never heard a peep since.

Last year while I was out of the country for 5 weeks, with no access to Internet for 14 days and scant access the rest of the time, I got a similar request from Informa. They handed it very well, I thought. I explained that I had no access to my notes until I returned but made a similar statement about having taken detailed notes immediately upon departing the shop site. They reported that to the client and then came back to say that, when I had returned home, they wanted me to revisit my notes and reconfirm that I had the many emails from my scheduler about changing how the shop would be accomplished. I got the impression that the client was getting a hard time from the target. However, the Informa folks were very professional and made me feel as though we were working together to solve a puzzle. They NEVER tried to say that they were under pressure, and I did not ever feel like I was being thrown under the bus. All was resolved when I was able to quote, verbatim, from my shop notes and forward the scheduler's emails when I got home. Was it inconvenient? Yes. Stressful? Yes. But, I value that relationship and have done many more, and complex, assignments for them since then.

I keep a folder on my desktop labeled "Narratives: Month/year". I only delete the folder once all of the shops have been paid. I have another desktop folder with pictures/videos for the month. Same policy for that. Had I been at home the whole thing would have been resolved within a day.

GREAT answer!

@eyelove2shop wrote:

If there is any questions surrounding discrepancies between what I reported and the store employees please have the manager retrieve the video footage for that day."

I was paid yesterday

I would have a difficult time answering a question after a couple of months. My notes are quite rough really. I have been asked some questions after a length of time and luckily what they were asking WAS in my notes. So, time to make a point of making my notes easier to read, a few months down the road.

I once had a msc come back to me 8 months (!!!!!) after I submitted my report. It was a Bed, Bath & Beyond shop. They wanted me to describe the person that offered me the shopping cart. Funny thing is that in the report I gave the description. Eight months later the only thing I could remember was that she wore a security guard jacket (which is what I had put in the report). Ridiculous that they would ask me 8 months after I submitted the report.

I had some January shop questions come back to me on phone calls. I was already paid for the shop but the client wanted to know why the recording was a voicemail service and how I had retrieved names of two company employees. I just tried three times, per the instructions, to reach someone who was not on the "do not record" list. I guess it happens to all of us now and again that a client will have questions later. We just gotta make sure we keep detailed notes.