Contacting Client

Contacting Client

I understand it’s against what we signed. But has anyone contacted the client directly for reimbursement when the company says the client will deny the report.. I honestly don’t believe them and plan to cancel my shopping relationship with this company.

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Not worth the possibility of an industry-wide blacklisting of you as a shopper.

It's OK for you not to believe them, but no reputable MSC would say that, then use your report.

And what you signed is a CONTRACT. A contract that you agreed to abide by the terms of.

Schedulers do talk to each other, and companies talk to each other.

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For $200 it’s worth it for me to end shopping.

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What went wrong with the shop that the report can’t be used? What type of shop?

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If you do, and it seems like you can’t be talked out of it, we would really appreciate it if you’d let us know how it all worked out.

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Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2018 06:42PM by Hoju.

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@L1nz46 wrote:

For $200 it’s worth it for me to end shopping.

You have no agreement with the client. They would have no reason to reimburse you even if the information you provided was acceptable...and the odds of them responding favorably are very slim. You would do a disservice to every shopper and MSC partaking on this forum if you sully the professionalism of shoppers by contacting the client.

The $200 lesson in following instructions and examples is usually the most valuable thing that comes from such situations.

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Thank you, this is why I asked as I would not want to jeopardize any other shoppers. I am upset with the client, which after searching previous threads have negative feedback that I wished I had seen prior.

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Why would the MSC’s client even consider reimbursing you if your report was denied by the MSC. The client is the MSC’s client, not yours....

Let me add on, you may not even know who the MSC’s end-client is to begin with!

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2018 06:47PM by Tarantado.

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My situation was different, in that the MSC denied me payment due to an error, they conceded, was on the part of their scheduler. As it required I open an account with their client, a bank, and after all attempts to reason failed,I simply stated that unless my money was forthcoming I was seek the assistance of my new branch; I was immediately paid.

I am not advocating any shopper follow the above; as ceasesmith noted, it certainly could backfire. I decided early in my career, though, I would not back down, when money was involved, and that works for me. It may well be my position has been the cause of me losing money, but, my self-respect is worth more than that possibility..

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@L1nz46 wrote:

Thank you, this is why I asked as I would not want to jeopardize any other shoppers. I am upset with the client, which after searching previous threads have negative feedback that I wished I had seen prior.

To add on to this, do you even have enough information to conclude that the client themselves are the ones who rejected it or where along that chain it was decided to be rejected?

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

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All guidelines were followed, which is my issue. Additional information was requested from editor as usual, email confirmation of submission to client and now they refuse to pay.

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@shopperbob obviously there are exceptions to every rule, and I'm not saying that L1nz46 is at fault.

I'm saying that most of the time the shopper is at fault when a report is declined, however. I have learned this lesson and it cost me WAY more than $200. I was at fault. It was just hard to accept that they would decline the report over something trivial. It took some work to mend the relationship, but the MSC actually split the loss with me after I apologized and admitted fault.

@L1nz46, perhaps there is a way to turn this into a positive still. Realizing my mistake and apologizing instead of contacting the client helped to defer my losses.....and I have made much more than I lost working for said MSC over the past 10 years.

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@L1nz46 wrote:

All guidelines were followed, which is my issue. Additional information was requested from editor as usual, email confirmation of submission to client and now they refuse to pay.

.... What was the cause of the rejection? Have you attempted to professionally and formally respond with patience to refute it for further investigation? What was the outcome?

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

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That’s where I’m at a loss and confused as to how to proceed. I’ve been in constant contact with the MSC with them simply saying they are looking into it and will be in contact. I almost feel as though I have lost trust in them.

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I would say definitely wait and see how things shake out, then.

It really depends on the MSC. There are plenty of cases I have seen where the client may decline acceptance of a report and the MSC pays the shopper anyway, since their part of the contract was upheld. It may take some time for the MSC to realize a mistake as well...

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Ok thanks! What would be an acceptable wait time?

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@L1nz46 wrote:

That’s where I’m at a loss and confused as to how to proceed. I’ve been in constant contact with the MSC with them simply saying they are looking into it and will be in contact. I almost feel as though I have lost trust in them.

If you've contacted them about it already and stated they would be in touch, wait a week, then follow up kindly asking them on the progress of the investigation, if you haven't heard from them since.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

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Ok it’s been going on about two weeks.

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@L1nz46 wrote:

Ok it’s been going on about two weeks.

Two weeks since you last heard from them? If so, kindly follow up in a calm manner asking if they have any updates on the situation.... If you had and they haven't responded, how long has it been since the last response?

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

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As a side note, someone should post a list of soft skills to build such as communicating with MSC's, what to do in situations where the outcome of a project didn't turn out the way you'd hope (whether it was your fault or not), etc. and post it in the "New Mystery Shoppers."

I feel like we see many repeating threads about shops that are rejected, but not enough detail is shown to see if the shopper's exhausted their options to rectify the situation.

I'm definitely not saying the skills above are common sense, because they're not. A thread detailing some unwritten soft skills could be very useful if the shopper's never been in it before or has never worked in the industry before that requires professional communications, contracts, etc.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2018 07:26PM by Tarantado.

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The last response was yesterday saying I wouldn’t be reimbursed but a supervisor was looking into it. This was the second response like that. Responses are usually a week apart. With this last one taking two weeks after asking for an update.

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@L1nz46 wrote:

The last response was yesterday saying I wouldn’t be reimbursed but a supervisor was looking into it. This was the second response like that. Responses are usually a week apart. With this last one taking two weeks after asking for an update.

OK, the MSC's having a supervisor looking into it, as of yesterday. Wait another 6 days before following up again.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

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Second email stating that.

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@L1nz46 wrote:

Second email stating that.

Then add in for your next correspondence, "Would you be able to state when the rejection decision for this shop is firm?"

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

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@Tarantado wrote:

As a side note, someone should post a list of soft skills to build.....

Great idea and have at it. Once it's done you then just request it be pinned along with the other educational threads.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

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@Tarantado wrote:

As a side note, someone should post a list of soft skills to build such as communicating with MSC's.

Agreed!

My first recommendation for L1nz46 would be to respond in 6 days by politely asking the reason why reimbursement was being denied (if it still is). I don't think any of the ICA's specifically list payment by the client as grounds for reimbursement to shoppers.

The next would be understanding the agreement you have with the MSC and knowing if you have truly fulfilled your end of the deal. I follow the path of admitting fault when I share part of the responsibility, which minimizes the time spent by the MSC in responding to my requests.

Don't get litigious until you have exhausted all other avenues, and keep emotion out of it.

You are much better off to bring a case against the MSC in small claims court, state a well-worded grievance on the forum or lodge a complaint with the MSPA than to contact the client. You immediately take a combative stance that against policy when contacting the client, and then both parties could be in the wrong.

Be persistent, but polite, and know that can't win 100% of the battles. The idea is that you should not be spending another $200 of your time collecting what is due to you, and the MSC should know that it may cost them more than $200 in resources & business value not to pay you.

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The exact information I was looking for. Thanks @SteveSoCal

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I agree that knowing specifically WHY the report was unusable is a must. Since you haven't mentioned the business you shopped, you certainly are free to mention the MSC by name.

If they come back and state that you missed such and such information, did the shop on the wrong date, or how you specifically failed to follow the guidelines, then you can take a deep breath and think about it. Perhaps you have additional photos to submit, or more info in your notes that you didn't include in your report. In any case, you'll then know if it was something you did or failed to do.

When I screw up (and KNOW I did, because they told me what was wrong), I apologize and offer to reshop, on my own dime. Unless the shop is by then past deadline, I'm usually allowed to re shop it.

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I would never contact the client directly. How would you even know who to contact?

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It is odd that a shop be rejected without even a hint as to why. Especially after several back and forth emails. Seems like there could be more to the story.

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