Recently I have received challenges by the client for a few of several shops done for the same chain. It's peculiar that the only ones that have been challenged have negative comments concerning cleanliness or service problems. The ones which gave a glowing report have sailed right thru. Of course there are threats about invalidating shops if I don't respond to the inquiry. The only problem with that threat is payment has already been made and according to ICA agreement I don't even have to keep written records after the shop has been paid. I guess the only thing they could do is withhold payment for current shops that have not been challenged but I don't see how this is possible under their current ICA. Anyway I'm holding off on more shops for this particular chain and fully expect I will be deactivated shortly. I still have other shops for this MSC and am now leery of doing them. Any advice?
Thanks

Unfortunately that garbage happens. We never go into a situation knowing whether bonuses are involved or penalties extracted for good or bad reports. We only know that we need to be there as average customer looking for the good, the bad and the ugly. I would always answer the MSC about my findings if questioned, even though it annoys the heck out of me. A recent bad report had them questioning the equipment I used for timing and what my time points were and was I sure when it came to the 10 second rule and whether I was assisted within 4 minutes. The store put on a bad performance and they weren't going to go down without a fight. I suspect that it is the MSC having different folks handling the contact with the client that landed a series of frankly absurd questions in my email. And the most unfortunate part of this is that the some MSCs do not stand by their shoppers. I have no way of knowing how many of my shops may have been questioned in the past that were just handled by the MSC without contacting me at all.

I would tend to hold off on doing any further work for the MSC until I see how they resolve this. If you have done nothing wrong and they decide to penalize you, that would be a real indicator (to me at least) that I needed to move on. If you hear nothing more about the matter you can assume that they got it sorted out with the client and continue working with them, though you may want to avoid working the client locations that decided to fight the report. Let other shoppers visit and turn in reports that show similar cleanliness and service problems and that will make the point for you.

I would tolerate perhaps a 'give back' equivalent to that shop's fees, though I should not even be asked or forced to do that. You reported what you saw and had no reason not to be objective about it. But it would be difficult to be objective returning to that location or perhaps even working for that client in the future.

As for termination, if the company is so terrorized by the client that they terminate you over a challenged report, you need to be somewhere else anyway.

Are you willing or able to share which MSC this is?

ces1948, you indicate they have challenged some of your reports. Can you elaborate? "Of course there are threats about invalidating shops if I don't respond to the inquiry." I assume this means you did not respond? Even if I had already received payment for a shop, I would respond to their inquiry. It would be in my best interest to do so. It would also, hopefully, put the matter to bed.

Yes I responded to each inquiry immediately. The threat to invalidate the shop is in the initial inquiry.
Without getting too specific they challenged my contention that there was food on the floor during one shop. They challenged my reporting of cold food by asking how long it took me to sit down and taste the food. They challenged my report of a dirty restroom by questioning how long I was in the place of business. These were three separate reports. I get the impression that the client is more interested in discrediting the reports then correcting the problem. As I stated previously I have done several shops of this client which were very positive and nothing was ever challenged. The only three that have been challenged are the only ones that contained negative comments about the clients operation.
Here's another point. According to the MSC agreement I only have to keep hard copies of the reports until I am paid. Since these shops were last month and I've already been paid I don't know that I'm obligated to furnish them any further info.

As a general rule of thumb I keep my paperwork and notes for several years. I am not about to waste my time to sort through the folder of paperwork for the month and throw out that which can be disposed of when I am paid and that which must be kept for 3 mo, 6 mo, 1 yr, 2 yr or 3 yr. Life is just too bloody short for that. I keep at least the most recent 6 months of monthly folders in an active file and folders beyond that get bundled and thrown into the Tyvek envelopes available in UPS or FedEx boxes that I pick up one when I am doing a shop that requires I check the box for supplies. The Tyvek envelopes are sealed, dates marked on the front in magic marker and they are pitched in a box that when it gets full gets hauled to the attic. 4 years after the tax return is filed I can happily pitch the envelopes for that year without even bothering to reopen them.

You may be able to short circuit some of the questions by being more specific in your comments on the initial report. If a restroom is unacceptable, why? "There was excessive trash on the floor including long strips of toilet paper in the stalls and paper scraps beneath the towel dispenser." "The wastebasket was overflowing and there were used paper towels on the floor, some of which looked dry." "There were water spots on the mirror." "The faucet was leaking onto the counter and water was dripping off the countertop onto the floor." "The grout around the sink bowl was black with what appeared to be mildew." In other words, be proactive about WHY you are marking them down.

Does it not seem that some franchisees allocate an inordinate amount of resources to challenge a negative evaluation? Were those efforts channeled into addressing issues, rather than refuting them, there would be fewer issues to refute.

Yes, it would make sense to redirect that energy to improvement, but that is not always going to happen. Think about the kid with cookie crumbs on his face when you ask him if he got into the cookies without permission. Knee jerk denial.

It is the role of the client and the company to present shops to their employees and locations as an opportunity for improvement in an overall scheme of training, retraining and increasing business. When that fails to happen or becomes sidetracked in getting certificates, performance bonuses etc. shopping becomes an 'us versus them' situation where shops showing deficiencies will be contested. We know from the thoughtful way that some companies treat us that they are likely to be equally thoughtful in presenting shops to clients and the shopping programs to employees. We also know that some companies dig and dig and dig with a negative report for detail before presenting it to clients and we know that some change our reports to reflect a more positive situation because they fear their clients. My job is to report what I see and to document deficiencies as well as possible. Thus I carry a DVR and have taken photos of inadequate restrooms for my records even when such is not required. They are my corroboration in case there is an issue.

In the type of report I'm speaking of they require you list specifics about how the bathroom is dirty, such as many of the things Flash lists above. When you have done that on the original report and after the fact they dispute that the bathroom was dirty they are saying in essence you lied about the bathroom being dirty.
When you get food at a counter, get a drink at drink station then go sit down to take a bite and discover cold food and subsequently report that fact you get questioned about how long you "dawdled" before you actually sat down and tasted the food, then they are basically saying you lied about the food being cold. Now of course in the original report they said nothing about timing from counter to first bite so why do they get to ask that now?
When you report there was food and condiments on the floors and tables they question how long you were in the restaurant when you've already reported how long you were there. Any normal customer would have probably asked for the manager immediately and pointed out the mess. I know customers in my former line of work certainly weren't shy about complaining when something didn't suit them.
I think there's a good bit of "kill the messenger" going on with this client.

I received questioning about the shop from the client and started a thread on it.The manager of the shop insists she introduced herself to me, but I remember at the point of sale, thinking how am I ever going to get her name, and so asked for a business card. She also challenged other things in order to look better and get a higher score.

ces1948 Wrote:
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> I think there's a good bit of "kill the messenger"
> going on with this client.

That may well be. That is why I was indicating that if the MSP is compliant with that attitude then you need to just quietly go your way. I wouldn't terminate, I just wouldn't work for them for a while. Even then it would be with caution to see if the atmosphere at the MSP has changed.

These are instances when the oft-spoken of videotape surveillance could validate the report. Negative reports are no fun, and I probably put way too much time in them.

And which company was this for?

The most agressive challenge I have ever received was when a drive-through employee (who later turned out to be the manager on duty) dropped my change on the ground and declined to give me the money a second time, or to come out and pick it up for me. FYI it is very difficult to reach down from a high-profile vehicle with a door close to a wall to pick up change.