Ok. New rules. If you discover there are rules to shops that aren’t actually in the guidelines or on the survey/questionnaire, then you have to share them with the rest of the class.

Like... the edges of the receipt must be in the photo...

Ok, here's a possible condition of pmt, that was not spelled out int he guidleines... For the $100-120 wm's hair re-growth products at the "red" drugstore: not only do you have to take pix of every product adjacent to the target product, but you will at some point have to enlarge the pic and type in the item price. Pain in the buttocks.

Glad you told me!! I have that one tomorrow.

The teacher (msc) should be the one sharing. But since you are, which job/msc needs to see all four corners of a receipt?

Sometimes you don't know until the editor tells you. I did a vehicle inspection shop (several) that are new shops to this particular MSC. The guidelines state not to reiterate any of the questions in the shopper comments narrative box (how refreshing). I wrote two sentences that clarified a few things about the report, but there was nothing else to cover about it that wasn't already answered in the questionnaire, so that was it. Editor came back about it yesterday (putting it back as incomplete) asking for some comments about my overall experience. I copied and pasted that part of the guidelines in an email back to her, though I went ahead and added a few lines about my overall experience anyway and resubmitted. She emailed back thanking me for letting her know about the guidelines...so sometimes editors are not so heavy handed and stubborn. Again, refreshing.

@sandyf wrote:

The teacher (msc) should be the one sharing. But since you are, which job/msc needs to see all four corners of a receipt?

SeeLevelHX has weird receipt requirements.

Thanks to all of the shoppers who commit fraud, cut corners, bend guidelines....

@Rhondabryant - Yes, the report kicked back TWICE. Once the editor asked what was to one side. I said _______ cosmetics and named a couple items/prices. On the other side was _______ products. My pic did not have ALL the "other brand" products. You want to take pix that include the entire line of adjacent products touching the target. Or maybe I got a persnickety editor, idk.

Here’s the thing... I’ve looked at that report 3 times and can not locate where to put the photos of the product. May be my phone?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2018 03:16PM by Rhondabryant.

@Rhondabryant wrote:

Like... the edges of the receipt must be in the photo...

That one is pretty much common logic. Why would you chop off the receipt edges? That's just courting shop rejection.

The receipt was very long and had all of the required information at the top but coupons printed at the bottom. I had to put it on the floor to get the whole thing in one photo.

And I’m fairly new at this, trying to get things figured out. Luckily, I’ve found some very awesome and supportive MSCs that understand and help me along.

All of these great people here who share their knowledge, give support, and help each other out is amazing!!!

I would never crop off receipt edges unless the client first said it was ok. In my effort to try and help, here are a couple things you could do AFTER you take your photo.

1. Save the receipt as a .pdf. There are fast and free apps to do this if you don't have a scanner (www.freepdfsolutions.com).
2. Tear the receipt in half and lay them side-by-side and photograph or scan them. USPS shops require this. Trendsource suggests doing this for long receipts.

I've taken photos of thousands of receipts. I use my phone to take them as JPGs immediately after the shop and always focus on just getting all the necessary information. Other than this MSC, I have never worried about making sure all the edges show. I do it the easiest, fastest way and have never had a shop rejected over a receipt.

@AZwolfman wrote:

@Rhondabryant wrote:

Like... the edges of the receipt must be in the photo...

That one is pretty much common logic. Why would you chop off the receipt edges? That's just courting shop rejection.

I’m probably close to hitting 20,000 shops by now. I crop receipts all the time. I’ve never had any issues with receipts.

Hmmm... I just always make sure the edges of the receipt or document show. Not sure if that was in a shop’s instructions at some point or if I just do it because.

@Monk-N-Nut wrote:

Ok, here's a possible condition of pmt, that was not spelled out int he guidleines... For the $100-120 wm's hair re-growth products at the "red" drugstore: not only do you have to take pix of every product adjacent to the target product, but you will at some point have to enlarge the pic and type in the item price. Pain in the buttocks.

Before you or anyone else uses that product, please look it up. I researched it and women were losing their hair from it.

Good to know. Glad I’ll be reimbursed for that hair product!

This is how you do a long receipt: Fold into equal portions measuring 6-8 inches. Tear the receipt. Put the receipt portions side by side and photo.

I think this has been discussed but its worth mentioning - I had 2 shops for Marketforce right next to each other....I got the message below...they may invalidate my shops due to the end time of the first one and start time of the second not being 6 minutes apart....

MESSAGE FROM MF HELP DESK:

Your shops should not be completed less than six (6) minutes apart from each other. If there is less time between shops, they will be subject to receiving an Overlapping Times infraction, which could result in one or both of those shops being invalidated. We consider shops that are completed closer together than six (6) minutes may not have the quality that we expect.

Before you start each next shop, you should review your Questionnaire hard copy for the next shop so that you can be reminded of what data you will need to collect. After you complete a shop, you should spend some time in private completing your Questionnaire hard copy with the data obtained during that shop. If you do this, you are recording that very important information while it is fresh in your mind, thereby helping to ensure reporting accuracy.

Only when you have recorded the information from one shop, and cleared your mind so that you can undertake your next shop with an objective and refreshed mindset, and you have reviewed the material for the next shop, should you proceed to your next shop.

You're right. I had two shops, right next to one another, and stalled as long as I could, and it still took only 4 minutes! I e-mailed the help desk before I did the reports, explaining that they were next door one to the other. Even leaving the parking lot and driving around the block didn't waste enough time!

@Monk-N-Nut wrote:

Ok, here's a possible condition of pmt, that was not spelled out int he guidleines... For the $100-120 wm's hair re-growth products at the "red" drugstore: not only do you have to take pix of every product adjacent to the target product, but you will at some point have to enlarge the pic and type in the item price. Pain in the buttocks.

Uh oh.. I’m Pending Validation. I have the adjacent product on each side, as per the guidelines, but not more than that.

I received an email the other day from MF Quality Control which said:
The Overall Station photo you uploaded does not show the canopy LOGO.

I have shopped this location multiple times and taken the overall station photo from the same parking lot across the street each time, and the reports were always accepted. The side of the canopy facing that parking lot does not have a logo. If this is a new requirement, I missed it.

@melaw5 wrote:

I received an email the other day from MF Quality Control which said:
The Overall Station photo you uploaded does not show the canopy LOGO.

I have shopped this location multiple times and taken the overall station photo from the same parking lot across the street each time, and the reports were always accepted. The side of the canopy facing that parking lot does not have a logo. If this is a new requirement, I missed it.

Because of mystery shopping, I look at gas stations in new ways...Every time I look at gas stations, I think there should be a general rule for all clients, regardless of MSC. From now on, they must set up their properties such that the mystery shoppers can actually and safely capture images of the canopy logos. Until all stations have been standardized, we might have a 'No logos? No problem' ruling. Why does the image show no logo or logos? The drop-down options could include: There were no logos on the canopy. The vantage point for photographing logs was on a rooftop of a nearby building and the shopper could not obtain permission to access the rooftop. The shopper obtained permission to access a nearby rooftop for photography purposes but fell through the rotted roof before obtaining the desired image. The logos were so close to the building that the shopper could obtain the image only when flat on their back on the sidewalk near the busy ice machine and air dispenser but due to steady customer traffic, there was no opportunity for the shopper to cop that pose. The shopper copped the post but was knocked unconscious by a dropped bag of ice.

That made my day!

Stupid question because I've never done a gas station shop but what is a canopy logo?

You know the roof over the pumps? That's a canopy. The brand name letters on the canopy is the canopy logo.

Jm ridgeway requires a business card..it is not listed in the guidelines..

@Rhondabryant wrote:

The receipt was very long and had all of the required information at the top but coupons printed at the bottom. I had to put it on the floor to get the whole thing in one photo.

Sounds like the red drugstore with the loyalty card.