For the most part, we either love them or hate them.
For me it’s a mixed bag.
I enjoy actually performing the shops. For the 3.5 years that I recently lived in an apartment it was a great way to gauge the value of my own place. After numerous shops over that time period, I was glad to find that my apartment was one of the best values out there. I’ve maybe seen a couple of places that were a better deal, but they were in income-restricted communities that I could not have qualified for in the real world.
As we all know, there are two players in the game: the C company and the E company.
FWIS, they both have their pluses and minuses.
Everyone complains about the lengthy pay period for the C company, but it’s not like they don’t make you aware of it. Don’t want to wait that long to be paid? Don’t work for them! For me, mystery shopping is all about generating additional income that appears each and every month. As such, the longest payout period in the industry is not that big a deal for me.
What was a big deal was that, for the longest time, I had to chase them for my money, often having to send 2 or 3 requests for payment. Thankfully, that seems to have been cleaned up as payments are now received within a few days of the quoted payout period.
Another minus is that awhile back they added their Executive Summary section, requiring even more work for the same old pay. As a result, I no longer do shops for the C company unless there are bonuses involved. This year has been particularly good, as I have racked up $2200+ with them so far, thanks to some hefty bonuses, one of which was $55, making for an $85 shop. Not bad for a little over an hour’s work, including the invoice preparation (probably my biggest peeve as they are the only SASSIE site I'm aware of that does not automatically invoice).
That the C company uses SASSIE is a plus in my book. While their online forms are not perfect, they are a damned sight better than the E company’s online forms which are a freaking hot mess. As the holder of an M. Ed., specializing in distance learning, I’ve been trained in best practices when it comes to online communication and presentation/collection of information. The E company fails miserably in this area.
All kinds of response boxes indicate that they need to be used if the answer is “No”, yet they still require input if the answer to the related question is a yes. Lame!
One thing that really peeves me is that they ask the same question in two different places in the report, and require that the information be input in two different ways (time in normal format for one question, in military format for the other is the most egregious).
In a recent report I completed, the form indicated that my response needed to match the response in a particular question in another part of the report. No problem, until I realized the question referred to did not exist in the other part of the report! REALLY lame!
Another problem area is that their forms NEVER print out with all the information required to complete the online report. Whole sections regarding descriptions of the leasing agent, the leasing office and the apartment viewed do not show up in the print reports. Having done enough work for them, I know that the information is required, and there’s plenty of blank space on the printouts to log the information, especially the all-important location of the bathroom <massive eyeroll>.
Their online communication processes are almost as problematic as their online forms. Despite receiving updates and/or requests via email, if you don’t also respond via their online form they tend not to get the response. And often, their auto email reminders/inquiries are not effectively synced with actual shop parameters. Every time I get an opportunity to answer a survey about a shop I point out all the incongruities (citing my cred so hopefully I don’t come across as whiner), but so far any comments submitted would appear to have fallen on deaf ears, or blind eyes as it were.
On the E company’s plus side, their pre-bonus pay is a little bit better, and the reports, despite the issues mentioned above, generally can be completed much more quickly than the C company’s reports. And, obviously, they pay much faster.
To sum up, there are indeed a bunch of hassles involved with doing apartment shops, but seeing as they represent almost 60% of my mystery shopping income so far this year, for me, the hassles are worth it.
As with all things mystery shopping, YMMV!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2017 04:46AM by CoolMusic.
For me it’s a mixed bag.
I enjoy actually performing the shops. For the 3.5 years that I recently lived in an apartment it was a great way to gauge the value of my own place. After numerous shops over that time period, I was glad to find that my apartment was one of the best values out there. I’ve maybe seen a couple of places that were a better deal, but they were in income-restricted communities that I could not have qualified for in the real world.
As we all know, there are two players in the game: the C company and the E company.
FWIS, they both have their pluses and minuses.
Everyone complains about the lengthy pay period for the C company, but it’s not like they don’t make you aware of it. Don’t want to wait that long to be paid? Don’t work for them! For me, mystery shopping is all about generating additional income that appears each and every month. As such, the longest payout period in the industry is not that big a deal for me.
What was a big deal was that, for the longest time, I had to chase them for my money, often having to send 2 or 3 requests for payment. Thankfully, that seems to have been cleaned up as payments are now received within a few days of the quoted payout period.
Another minus is that awhile back they added their Executive Summary section, requiring even more work for the same old pay. As a result, I no longer do shops for the C company unless there are bonuses involved. This year has been particularly good, as I have racked up $2200+ with them so far, thanks to some hefty bonuses, one of which was $55, making for an $85 shop. Not bad for a little over an hour’s work, including the invoice preparation (probably my biggest peeve as they are the only SASSIE site I'm aware of that does not automatically invoice).
That the C company uses SASSIE is a plus in my book. While their online forms are not perfect, they are a damned sight better than the E company’s online forms which are a freaking hot mess. As the holder of an M. Ed., specializing in distance learning, I’ve been trained in best practices when it comes to online communication and presentation/collection of information. The E company fails miserably in this area.
All kinds of response boxes indicate that they need to be used if the answer is “No”, yet they still require input if the answer to the related question is a yes. Lame!
One thing that really peeves me is that they ask the same question in two different places in the report, and require that the information be input in two different ways (time in normal format for one question, in military format for the other is the most egregious).
In a recent report I completed, the form indicated that my response needed to match the response in a particular question in another part of the report. No problem, until I realized the question referred to did not exist in the other part of the report! REALLY lame!
Another problem area is that their forms NEVER print out with all the information required to complete the online report. Whole sections regarding descriptions of the leasing agent, the leasing office and the apartment viewed do not show up in the print reports. Having done enough work for them, I know that the information is required, and there’s plenty of blank space on the printouts to log the information, especially the all-important location of the bathroom <massive eyeroll>.
Their online communication processes are almost as problematic as their online forms. Despite receiving updates and/or requests via email, if you don’t also respond via their online form they tend not to get the response. And often, their auto email reminders/inquiries are not effectively synced with actual shop parameters. Every time I get an opportunity to answer a survey about a shop I point out all the incongruities (citing my cred so hopefully I don’t come across as whiner), but so far any comments submitted would appear to have fallen on deaf ears, or blind eyes as it were.
On the E company’s plus side, their pre-bonus pay is a little bit better, and the reports, despite the issues mentioned above, generally can be completed much more quickly than the C company’s reports. And, obviously, they pay much faster.
To sum up, there are indeed a bunch of hassles involved with doing apartment shops, but seeing as they represent almost 60% of my mystery shopping income so far this year, for me, the hassles are worth it.
As with all things mystery shopping, YMMV!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2017 04:46AM by CoolMusic.