I've been a shopper for 22 years, and have done about 5,000 shops for the client who shops BP. This round I have had the toughest time with the editors placing holds on my shops, and was wondering if others have experienced the same. The nitpickyness (yeah, I made that word up) has gotten out of hand. The guidelines say this isn't a white glove audit, so as a rule of thumb I try not to count off if there is only minor dirt on a canopy, for example. Lately, it seems like multiple editors are looking at the shops. I had one returned to me today where an infraction I did not list was added, and then the editor said I needed a unique photo of the infraction. The thing is, the average customer would not have even noticed any dirt as it was so minor. Evidently one editor re-used one of my photos to show the infraction, and then a second editor said I couldn't use duplicate photos. This is but one example: nearly every BP I have shopped (this route is 138 stores) has been returned for clarification. In nearly a quarter of the holds, it is an obvious mistake by an editor and I have to email the company to point out the error because the comments field has been disabled.

Am I taking this personally? The shop only pays $10, and I feel I am giving more than 3x that in effort. By the way, I've been doing these specific shops for 10 years, so it isn't a new client. It's the editor's making requests that are often outside the scope of the requirements that are annoying me. Most likely I won't be taking another round next year. They've taken the joy out of it for me.

THANK YOU for reminding me why I dumped BP after the last quarter. Those are the WORST.
No. It's not just you. They suck.

That would drive me completely bonkers.

@Hoju wrote:

THANK YOU for reminding me why I dumped BP after the last quarter. Those are the WORST.
No. It's not just you. They suck.

Tell us how you really feel

This was my experience exactly. I have chosen not to do shops for them because of that reason. There are many though that post here that have no issues with them.

Interesting topic! They have been calling non-stop wanting me to get certified to do these and I haven’t responded because I was thinking someone of maybe many were saying these took too much time considering the pay. I only like doing the quicker gas station shops like another company has so I’ve so far stayed away from these. That stinks for those that are used to them though, I’m sorry they are giving you a rough time! I haven’t done any shops for this MSC and I’ve been signed up for about a year... they only have these and Bank shops in my area nothing enticing enough for me to jump on as I just do MS as a part time thing so I’m pretty picky.

@bgriffin wrote:

@Hoju wrote:

THANK YOU for reminding me why I dumped BP after the last quarter. Those are the WORST.
No. It's not just you. They suck.

Tell us how you really feel

I’m a little bitter about it, if you can’t tell

I usually don't mind BP, but always have a problem with the yellow stations, so I rarely do those. I just did a route of 47 of another kind of station, and had some editorial questions. One was my own fault for selecting the wrong answer on the form. A few were asking for diesel shots, even though you only need a diesel shot if it is a stand alone pump, and a few because the receipt time was wrong. The editor asked why the receipt time was wrong. I don't know, I don't program their registers, lol. So, I started looking at the time and then taking a photo of the receipt in the car so that I had some kind of proof of when I made the purchase.

One of the questions was amusing, because the editor must have confused one set of guidelines for another and asked me for a photo that is not required, but I know is required on one of the other company guidelines. Everybody makes mistakes sometimes.

Thanks for the heads up, does not sound like it is worth the hassle.

I have started having problems with the auditors nitpicking the yellow stations so I have stopped doing them. I use to love doing them but not anymore.