An MSC for which I did lots of work last year had not sent me any notices since December. Being curious, I contacted the owner to find out what the problem was. It took some time but I finally got an answer. The answer was so ridiculous that I fired them lol ~ yes, I know it looks like they fired me first but was I actually fired if I didn't know about it?

Turns out, I've got some nerve because I asked for more money. At the time, a very difficult project was ongoing. I contacted the scheduler and the accountant asking for better compensation for the project (think rush hour traffic in a major downtown metropolis where 60 stops are expected to be done per evening, each and every one requiring a parking meter be fed). Negotiations went on for 2 days and finally, we agreed to an amount. Then, I got sick and had to have surgery so I could not complete the project. The materials were passed to another agent and I thought everything was ok.

In response to my query, the owner told me this: "No other visitor has asked for more money three times. So that is why they decided it would be better to part ways at that time."

Never mind that all my evaluations prior to this project were excellent, that I would often take last-minute shops for this MSC. Looks like they flush you down the toilet if you dare ask for fair compensation.

Oh well! I won't miss the 5000-word essays and hate dealing with cheapskates like that. Au revoir et adieu!

/vent over - thanks for "listening"

And certainly when it is a company whose jobs are not worthwhile at the posted fees, there is no great loss when asking for fair pay is noxious and a reason to terminate you. I have to laugh because a company that has cheap cell phone shops I turned down a scheduler who could only get the pay up to $12 and thought that was largess. I told her, politely, that I don't do them for less than $15. A few months later I got a phone call offering me $15 for one very far away and the scheduler protested to my refusal to go about 45 miles each way for $15 that my record said I would accept them at $15. I asked that she correct her record to indicate I would do LOCAL ones for $15. Since we were both laughing by the time I ended the call I assumed that all was well. I have never gotten a call since for ANY cell phone shops, but sure don't miss them. The company does, however, call on occasion for boonie shops on a 'name your own price' basis.

And then there was the cell phone shop I once did with specific instructions to NOT call before going. I went to the location which was out of business and I was paid $5.00.

I was apparantly fired from Maritz...

I just found out.

I hadn't done anything for them since last November, but i was skimming the boards looking for something to do, and I couldn't log in to Maritz, so I called them and they told me my account had been deleted. No explanation, nobody I can call to talk to.

Just a "sorry, your account has been deleted".

They did say I could leave a message for "Her" whoever that is.

I'm still scratching my head.

They used to call me every month begghing me to do the shops down in the ghetto.. and I would always take a day and go ghetto shopping.

I wonder who is doing them now?

How strange. But welcome back, JayTee, I've been missing you, you have such a way with words....

MtlShopper said, "...60 stops are expected to be done per evening, each and every one requiring a parking meter be fed..."

Please forgive my curiosity, but to what type of "stops" are you referring that number in 60 and can be done in an evening. I would have thought you were evaluating a city bus had you not mentioned feeding parking meters. You have me intrigued.

It was for a tobacco audit. I had to visit corner stores and grocery stores to make sure they were stocking certain kinds of cigarettes. If they were, they won gift certificates. The audits each took about 5-10 minutes, depending if the store was busy or not. My route was downtown Montreal and the shops needed to be done between 3-9pm - crazy rush hour in Montreal. It was absolutely awful!

MtlShopper said "...the shops needed to be done between 3-9pm - crazy rush hour in Montreal..."

Very odd that they required such a specific time frame. I presume that's when they expect the stores to do their peak business and have sufficient stock to satisfy demand.

Does Montreal have a lot of rush hour traffic? Is it similar to Boston?

The downtown core of Montreal, which was my route, has quite a lot of rush hour traffic. I've never been to Boston so don't know if it's similar to that. Montreal is the second largest city in Canada. Between schools getting out around 3-4 pm and office buildings emptying at at 4-5 pm, it was an absolute nightmare to try to travel 5-6 city blocks between each stop, find parking, pay the meter then perform the audit.

If the traffic is anything like NYC or Boston, sometimes it's faster to park and walk the downtown core, avoiding the gridlock. ;-) I hope the compensation they offered was commensurate with the time, effort and expense. However, given your experience, it appears it was not.

maybe you could have taken the underground and then you would have been away from all the traffic.

Parking and walking were not an option. I had 183 stops to make in 4 days. Most were downtown but some were on the outskirts of downtown and some were on the other side of the mountain. Taking the metro (subway to some of you) was out of the question. It costs $2.75/ride and would not bring me to the door of the establishments, not to mention that I was not about to take the metro at rush hour with over $3000 of gift cards in my possession. All my materials were in a large box and I can't imagine someone carrying the box from stop to stop. Also, I was to be dressed in business attire as the audits were all revealed. It would have been gross to show up all sweaty from being in the metro, which is overheated, then having to walk with a weighted box ~ remember that this was December in Canada! We're all bundled up because it's freakin' cold up here!!!

Anyhow, the point of this thread is not to see what I could have done differently. I did a great job. I was not the problem here. The cheap-assed MSP who canned me because I asked for higher pay to do this near-impossible task was the problem.

If the shops pay is too cheap, i just dont take it so when ever they get tired of begging then they slap a bonous on it then i would take it bonous can be gas money

MtlShopper: For all the stipulations the job required, and the fact that you did a great job, I believe the MSC was short-sighted in finding your request for decent compensation so distasteful. Do they not allow for parking expenses? I know that some MSC's will have a provision especially for this expense. Would you feel comfortable revealing the identity of this "cheap-assed MSP " so that shoppers can avoid the experience you have encountered ? Perhaps you can help shame them into reality.

I won't name the company in an effort to shame them into reality. That wasn't the point of my post. This MSP is based in Montreal and I would like to see them do well, despite how I was treated. Until I was told that I was no longer working for them and why, even though I thought them to be cheap, I held them in good standing and thought they perceived me the same way.

After all, they did pay me and although negotiations for better pay were intense, I ended up getting what I wanted. I just did not expect to get fired for asking for better pay for a very difficult job. The clincher was when one of the accounting people told me that "we never pay more than $10/hour". LOL! That's practically minimum wage in Quebec!

It's ok though. Because of this situation I've learned things. I've learned to never accept a contract value until I see the actual route. They were basing pay on how many drops had to be done and how many kms the route was. They never took into consideration the location of these drops and the fact that parking meters needed to be fed. Their loss because I know I'm an excellent shopper

MtlShopper said: "..."we never pay more than $10/hour"..."

That is very illuminating. Such a low value put on high expectations for quality work. You can see now why so many MDSC's want to retain the status quo and not be forced to hire employees rather than use IC's to mystery shop. Imagine having to pay the usual employment benefits and provide car allowances when they can legally get IC's to do it for a pittance.