Ugh. I hate writing up shops where the employee failed miserably...
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Yeah, it starts to feel repetitive listing all the things they didn't do. It's hard to keep a good flow.
@MFJohnston wrote:
I just finished writing up one of the worst apartment shops I've done - and I have done hundreds. Let's jsut say that the leasing consultant didn't even ask my name and her tour was less informative than the one given to me by a drunken manager a couple of years ago. It was like she had never given a tour before or had any training. A nine minute shop had a 60 minute write up, most of which was spent explaining all the "no" answers on report.
I'm just glad it was an audio recorded shop.
At least it was bonused to $90...
Negative reports are always SOOO much more work than positive reports but I guess if everyone was doing their job all the time, we wouldn't be necessary.
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Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.
Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.
Yes... and that included the time when I was walking between the office and my car.
@HonnyBrown wrote:
Nine minutes?
Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.
I have had a couple of bank platform shops that were so bad that I had to sleep on it before crafting a report that was purely objective.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Negative shops are so much harder to write.
MFJ, the nice bonus helps, but it's still frustrating. My thinking is they are hiring without training lately. I've done a couple small shops where the help really didn't know anything: I took something to the cleaners and was quoted $13.65, then I picked it up (without receipt) and charged 8.00 (even) by another worker, when my receipt said 13.65. I went with it, their loss.
Live consciously....
The leasing consultant for this shop clearly had not been trained properly. It is what it is, I suppose. I just hate it when I have to write up really bad reports.
Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.
Did you ever wonder about this? What if from time to time, you are provided with bad experiences so that you may demonstrate your ability to express in objective terms, and measure the factors of the shop accurately despite the reported negative conditions? This used to be called a stress test, or something. Employers wanted to know how their employees were handling rough situations. Do MSCs ever test us on our ability to handle the difficult shops and write-ups?
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu
I would much rather shop a good employee than a bad one. Luckily, most of my shops are recorded via phone. That way if clients want to listen to how bad the employee sounded they can.
It's highly unlikely for one of our shops to be a stress test. How would the employees know when the shopper is performing the shop and who the shopper is? Can you imagine stress testing a "shopper" who turns out to be a real life customer?
I not only don't mind doing them I like it. I like it because this shows I am paying attention and doing my job. If all of my reports are good ones the MSC might wonder how well I am doing my job. If I "hammer" someone every so often it makes them realize I am doing my job and when someone "messes up" I will catch them and nail them for it. I usually take as long as I can before I shred someone so this way I don't let emotion play a part in the report. But if they "messed up" I love to help expedite their search for a new job.
I wouldn't complain if I could (ever) get a $90.00 bonus....here all apt's. are 45.00 with never a bonus, well maybe 5.00....you probably got the bonus because they knew it would present many problems, but at least you got paid for your time.
Live consciously....
@SoCalDude wrote:
I not only don't mind doing them I like it. I like it because this shows I am paying attention and doing my job. If all of my reports are good ones the MSC might wonder how well I am doing my job. If I "hammer" someone every so often it makes them realize I am doing my job and when someone "messes up" I will catch them and nail them for it. I usually take as long as I can before I shred someone so this way I don't let emotion play a part in the report. But if they "messed up" I love to help expedite their search for a new job.
Hammer someone? Catch them and nail them? Shred someone? Help expedite their search for a new job?
That's not our job and that's not the purpose of most mystery shops.
It's usually more expensive to fire someone and then hire and train new people rather than retrain someone who "messes up."
@SueGraftonFan wrote:
Hammer someone? Catch them and nail them? Shred someone? Help expedite their search for a new job?
That's not our job and that's not the purpose of most mystery shops.
It's usually more expensive to fire someone and then hire and train new people rather than retrain someone who "messes up."
My job is to be a video camera for the owners of the place and report back on what I saw. I tell people: Those doing their job have nothing to worry about. Those who are not might wanna start updating their resume because they are gonna need to do so.
I have never gotten anyone fired. My reports have led to at least 2 people I know losing their job and my guess is the actual number is at least 5. I didn't get them fired. Their ACTIONS got them fired because those there that day doing their job are still employed there.
I once took on a route of apartment shops, all targeted. I never reached a single target by phone, and had to e-mail the scheduler and get the OK to go without reaching them by phone.
First apartment complex, I (stupidly?) asked the guy if he had received my messages. He said he didn't know: "I don't have time to answer the phone, and I don't listen to voice mail." Well, that at least explained why my efforts over 3 whole days were unproductive.
Second complex: Employee no longer works there (client error).
Third complex: No employee of that name works there, or ever HAD worked there. However, target from complex #2 was there!
I have never done another apartment shop; I was so totally stressed, I just couldn't handle it. I did get paid for all three, and the company has asked me again to do apartment shops, but the entire experience was -- well, I just didn't want to repeat it.
I think you guys who successfully complete apartment shops are road warriors! Too stressful for this shopper.
First apartment complex, I (stupidly?) asked the guy if he had received my messages. He said he didn't know: "I don't have time to answer the phone, and I don't listen to voice mail." Well, that at least explained why my efforts over 3 whole days were unproductive.
Second complex: Employee no longer works there (client error).
Third complex: No employee of that name works there, or ever HAD worked there. However, target from complex #2 was there!
I have never done another apartment shop; I was so totally stressed, I just couldn't handle it. I did get paid for all three, and the company has asked me again to do apartment shops, but the entire experience was -- well, I just didn't want to repeat it.
I think you guys who successfully complete apartment shops are road warriors! Too stressful for this shopper.
I recognize that my job is to report the truth of what I see and experience. I don't mind doing that - good or bad, for the most part. I just find it painful when the employee misses nearly every single expectation. When this happens, there has clearly been a breakdown somewhere (hiring, training, morale?) and the client needs to be aware. I would just rather that the employee miss a few marks instead of all of them.....
Getting targets can be tricky and I prefer not to have targeted shops on road trips when I have limited timing....
Getting targets can be tricky and I prefer not to have targeted shops on road trips when I have limited timing....
Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.
I did an apartment shop and the agent just pointed to everything, "laundry room over there" "Mail box over there": "Playground over there" Recreation room over there" and never showed me any of the amenities (as other agents walked me through each of these areas) When I wrote the report, she called my home! Of course, I did not call her back. 
Those are my thoughts, exactly, cease!! Kudos to all you shoppers who do these shops!!!@ceasesmith wrote:
I think you guys who successfully complete apartment shops are road warriors! Too stressful for this shopper.
I don't mind negative shops all that much although they do take longer to write up and I really do not like the ones where there are ten things wrong and you are allowed 50 characters for your comment. I did only one apartment shop and never did one again. I live near Irene and have never even seen a $5 bonus.
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