A couple of years ago a scheduler started calling me almost every day to get me to do shops. At first, it was great. But, he became a bully, pushing me to take shops and not taking no for an answer. I was new to this at the time and he could push me into a shop with veiled threats. Finally, he pushed me really hard into a shop that I knew was going to be almost impossible to fit into my day. He would not take no for an answer and I was afraid to hang up on him, so I said yes. Sure enough, at the end of the day I had not been able to go to that shop and had to cancel. Bam! I was blocked from that shop and several others that seem to be linked somehow to that shop. In the long run, it was the best thing to ever happen because it forced me to sign up with other companies. This year, the blocked shops returned and I started doing them if they were close and convenient. I ignored phone calls and only used the board. This month, hoping that it would be a different scheduler after all this time, I answered a call out of curiosity. It sounded like it could be the same guy, but I wasn't sure. I accepted a really good offer on a shop. Now, the phone calls are coming in again. At first he was very nice and I really thought it was someone else. Then, yesterday, the bully emerged and I knew it was the same person as before.
So, here is my question, if I have already used the Make an Offer button and am waiting for an answer and then he calls for the same shop, does he see my offer and is calling to make sure I take the shop for a lower price? Or, am I being paranoid? And, if I tell him no, will the shop completely disappear from my list, keeping me from accepting the shop even if my offer was declined? I have had my offers rejected and then a message shows above the listing that says my offer was rejected but I can take the shop as is. Before I decide to stop answering the phone again, I really want to be more informed about how phone schedulers work.

Different MSCs have different standards for how schedulers are SUPPOSED to work. Sounds like a little DIRECT ACTION may be required.

If I were in your situation, I would call the MSC and ask for Shopper Support, or for the head of scheduling and share your concerns. Bullying is NOT acceptable. If the MSC's more senior person just shrugs their shoulders at your request, I would take that as a very bad sign of the MSC's attitude toward shoppers is. You have discovered that you can do well without Mr. Bully. Maybe the MSC will decide that they can also do without the bully.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2019 08:41PM by walesmaven.

That is ridiculous. This person should have already lost their job. Write a concise report and try to find a high up contact at the company. You shouldn’t send it to a general email contact.

And definitely diversify your options. This is one reason why I don’t rely too much on one company. If you can’t say no, you can’t negotiate.

That sounds horrible. I would try to contact the MSC if you can find out who the owners are. There are plenty of other companies out there that are not like that.

If you're talking about the MSC I think with the Make an Offer capability, when I haven't accepted a shop over the phone, it has remained on my list of available shops online and sometimes my Make an Offer is accepted despite the phone scheduler not being able to pay that amount. My understanding is that Make an Offer and the schedulers are separate.

If he's calling you that frequently, you must be pretty valuable to them. The only way I would ever take shops away is if the shopper consistently flaked and cancelled. Once or twice isn't a big deal for a tough location, unless it is a deadline shop that you just don't communicate on. Sounds like maybe you should go a little higher up if those shops do disappear from you.

I would just hang up on him if it too troubling to deal with him. If it is Marketforce then you should be able to still take the offer from the board if your make an offer not accepted.

Okay. Yes, I thought the caller and the Make an Offer were probably two different intities. Thank you.

@1cent wrote:

That is ridiculous. This person should have already lost their job. Write a concise report and try to find a high up contact at the company. You shouldn’t send it to a general email contact.

And definitely diversify your options. This is one reason why I don’t rely too much on one company. If you can’t say no, you can’t negotiate.

Yeah, very unacceptable.

Still, I can relate to OP's feeling of reluctance at first to either confront such a person or say no, etc.

For me, I've learned that such people can come across very controlling and intimidating in how they present themselves and I wouldn't be surprised if they target people who they think are not likely to "fight back."

I had an NSS (no longer existing company) scheduler who was kind of manipulative in a way. He applied a lot of pressure when he wanted something. His tone of voice would get aggressive and stern and he would talk to me as if he were a military commander or something ordering me to do something. Yet (this might not make sense on the surface, but it was like this), he'd also do it in a way that seemed just relaxed enough as to not seem psychotic either. It was definitely not normal, but not so crazy that I immediately could figure out what was going on. I had suspicions and weird feelings about it, but I think a skilled manipulator can make you doubt yourself.

Some coincidences that made me feel he was definitely knwoingly being shady and pressuring me was that after I'd schedule jobs with this person, he'd subtract $1 from our agreed upon rates/bonuses. It's one of those things where I'm not going to call or email him just to ask for $1, b/c it makes me look cheap. But, if it's done intentionally (and not an accident like a slip of the hand when typing or misreading something), then it's a skillful way to cheat someone. A lot of people may not fight for that $1.

I can't prove it, but I believe he was banking on that. If a person has numerous coincidentally shady things going on, I feel you're probably right to think you're dealing with a bad actor.

Hard thing is to know it for sure with a skilled person. They know how to word things or push things juuuuuust to the right limit.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2019 10:31AM by shoptastic.

Would it be legal for OP to document these incidents and record the calls?