I did 18 last night. It took me almost 12 hours, with the driving time. My estimated driving time for the route was almost 4 hours, by itself. The ones grouped close together took a pretty short amount of time. The first few took a little longer. I had a few issues with the app locating me. It kept saying that I was like 30 miles away from the site. And then it wouldn't submit, or it would say that I'd already started it and it was in another application. All in all, though, eventually Presto cleared it out, and accepted them, I hope.

The first several took a while. I learned..
Pull up wherever you can get the best "overall canopy" picture. This was difficult for me, because some of these were rural with nothing across the street and I actually had to park and then walk around looking conspicuous (or at the very least, feeling conspicuous... no one actually said anything or even seemed to notice). I had to look up the new vs the old logo to remember which was which, and I thought that was in the guidelines, but the ones that downloaded on my phone did NOT have the new v old in there. So, I'm not sure where I saw it at, but be aware that you might need to take a different picture of them.

The new still sticks out but the surface is flat. It's like a button slapped onto a flat surface. So it extends, but it's not convex. The old is actually rounded out like a mound (yes, I know, convex, but when I first started looking at them, I thought completely flat against the background, not extended). I had a little trouble determining if it was a green strip or a LED bar, as well, if they were not lit. For anyone who might run into that problem, the LED strip is actually noticeable if you look at it from the side. It looks like one of those LED light cords that they put on stages, so you can actually see it and it looks like an actual bar that also sticks out from the smooth surface of the fascia.

The first few, it takes a bit of rhythm to get them down. It may not take anyone else as long, but all of my starters were rural and small and hard to get pictures of from a distance. Once I got that rhythm, they probably took about 10 minutes. I mean, I was taking the pictures first, and then once I got in the app, it took me between 2 and 5 minutes to enter the info, depending on how slow the app was and how long it took to load the picture from my phone. It did load those quicker than if you took the picture.

Note that some of the questions, you can pick multiple answers. I didn't notice that you could do that until more than halfway through my shops. It's the question about the MID, and you can pick whether some lights are lit or not, but you can pick multiple answers and in some cases, multiples apply. Be aware of that. I'm hoping none of mine get kicked back for that. I think it only applies to a few, though.

Also note that when you have a "it's perfect" answer, your answer is normally "none of the above". All the answers except about the LED bar, which is the only one they clarify in "none of the above" are negatives.

I'm also not sure why we have CX evaluation questions in these. We are not supposed to make contact or go into the store, so, i wound up just giving them 10s for all three of those questions. There's no n/a answer for those.

Be careful. One of the first answers, and I don't recall which it was, will flip you down like four questions. If you miss them, it's supposed to pop up with "you must answer these questions". You have to scroll back up to get to them. I thought, "Oh, I'll just click submit to get back to the time out question," and mostly that worked, but on one it submitted anyway.

Oh, well, the dogs loved riding around in the truck with me all night. Overall, I can't complain about $180 for a day's worth of work which is what I made a day at 60k or so a year. That's what I made when I was a legal secretary, and with the commute, I was out about that much time from start to finish, it did include a lunch, though, and two 15 minute breaks, but.. I ate while driving around so.. I count that as a lunch.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2020 11:43AM by naivasna.

Yeah, the finding a spot to do it across the street was the most difficult part.

Another thing I forgot to mention in my novel above, was that I came across two situations where there were two BPs right across from each other, literally. I had to pop in and ask what the address was on one of them, and the other I used Google satellite to get a picture of the location.

I'm still confused about the new and old button. I wish I could pull the info back up, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. One goes further out to the edges than the other, but can't remember which one. Help..anyone?

So you see a smidge of white around the old logo. You see A LOT more white around the new one.

New one at 6:13 in the video. I'd suggest a screen shot and then paste into Word or something for the comparison. Old button (actually, view of them side by side) at 6:18 in the video. Any old buttons, if you look at them from the side, look a bit like the letter D or a half moon (the curve isn't as deep as the D is). Anything curved like that is old, whether it's old, or older-old, it's not new. The new ones are flat. think flat screen TV, it's not actually flat against the wall, but the screen is flat when you look at it from the side.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2020 08:40PM by naivasna.

Have several scheduled tonight in areas where I have poor cell phone reception. Any suggestions on making Presto work better in these situations?

Thanks for the info. Now if I could only find the video. It won't open on the site on my computer and I don't see it on Presto.

So no one else ran into any Amocos? Three of my nine were Amoco. I was at a loss as to what to do since Amoco and BP are the same company.

As for cell reception, I had some trouble with mine. Once it gets the "you're close to here" through, you can submit from somewhere else, I think. I would have done that except I had so many in there, I was trying to whittle them down as I went.

I thought that I saw Amoco posted on Presto. I had planned to go out and do some of those, as I assumed that they were the ones that hadn't hit quota yet. But, the app wasn't different for Amoco?

I had 2 I could not check in from because of poor reception. Really sucks

I mean, if you have your location information on for your camera/pictures, I'd just start the survey anyway. It gives you a warning, but the they've got to know the app isn't infallible. This "can't find your location" thing happens frequently, so, as long as the photos have your location turned on, that should be good enough, I'd think. I mean, nothing you can do about the app not picking up a location.

Has anyone come up with an answer on the Amoco? I mean, the only thing I can think of is to put "no" for is this a BP branded location.. (or however they phrased it). Or "no, cannot shop." Or... I don't know, but if I drive out there and they've got it on the site, I definitely should be getting paid for it. Not my fault that they have Amoco shops instead of BP.

To be fair, when I've done other shops, when a location is closed, most of them pay you for your time or if a location is not what they have it listed as, previously my shops have been approved and the money paid regardless.

I mean, I wonder if we should just do all the pictures like it's a BP, and answer "none of the above" or "can't tell" for the helios.

@naivasna wrote:

I thought that I saw Amoco posted on Presto. I had planned to go out and do some of those, as I assumed that they were the ones that hadn't hit quota yet. But, the app wasn't different for Amoco?

No, no difference in the app. All of the questions are specific to BP. One of the three I did was listed as an Amoco on the job board.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2020 10:13PM by callinectes.

When I've done the Amoco audits, (the regular audits..not these night ones) the stuff is pretty much the same. The Helios is replaced by their sign with a torch thing. I would just do it based on that. I'm not sure the stripe is supposed to be lit, but I'd just answer whether it was or not. Check the lights, ID sign, store front etc. I've never completed an Amoco dark audit though, so not sure.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2020 10:18PM by MsJudi.

@naivasna wrote:

Has anyone come up with an answer on the Amoco? I mean, the only thing I can think of is to put "no" for is this a BP branded location.. (or however they phrased it). Or "no, cannot shop." Or... I don't know, but if I drive out there and they've got it on the site, I definitely should be getting paid for it. Not my fault that they have Amoco shops instead of BP.

To be fair, when I've done other shops, when a location is closed, most of them pay you for your time or if a location is not what they have it listed as, previously my shops have been approved and the money paid regardless.

I mean, I wonder if we should just do all the pictures like it's a BP, and answer "none of the above" or "can't tell" for the helios.

No one has responded to my email yet. I went ahead and did them as a hybrid so to speak and uploaded all of the pics so we will see what happens.

Don't feel bad. I have yet to get a response to my email either.

I did some when it was misting rain and they were rejected because it made the MID sign pic burry.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2020 08:38PM by jlcarter1975.

I recall when taking the test, somewhere it said to do Amoco just as if it were a BP. I mean they want to judge the lighting so take the correct photos and answer the questions the best you can. They really should fix that and give questions based on the brand but apparently they don't want to.

One of mine last night was listed as an Amoco, but was actually a BP.

Here's a screen capture of the part of the guidelines that defines the old Helios versus new.
Hope this helps.
[i.imgur.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2020 04:08PM by JSM2019.

Thank you.. I did finally locate the video. It was in an email. I have found only one old button so far. FWIW, wouldn't it have been easier to describe it as the old one has a dark background and the new one has a white background? Less confusing to me.
Anyway, thanks for posting the link.

Just for a head's up, even knowing the difference, until I had seen them both a number of times, I had trouble telling them apart. Honestly, sometimes I literally had to look and see if the front of it was flat or not. When they're not lit, they look very similar. The older one does have white around the edges. It's just not as much and it's not lit. And when you're across the street from it, that makes it even harder to discern the depth level.

@MsJudi wrote:

Thank you.. I did finally locate the video. It was in an email. I have found only one old button so far. FWIW, wouldn't it have been easier to describe it as the old one has a dark background and the new one has a white background? Less confusing to me.
Anyway, thanks for posting the link.

Just an update. I did 14 in the rain Thursday. They were all approved by this morning and I just got paid!!

It was too cold last night. My phone was not having it.

Well, I vastly prefer these ones to the $14 meter read ones. I've had nothing but trouble with the meter reading.

Has anyone had any issues with getting these jobs approved? I had one rejected because they said I used a duplicate photo. I have written back asking how I can use a duplicate photo if I was taking pictures through the app? It's been 72 hours now without a response. I assume they are referring to the MID sign. There was an infraction so I took a picture and then they want one at the end of the report. I may have been standing in the same place, but it was two different pictures.

I have done 3 dark audits and had to prove that I did not use a duplicate photo of another MID from a different shop. I had to take a picture to show where the MID's were placed in proportion to the C store for both locations. If anyone has tips, I'd appreciate them. I do not drive and need to use a bus and it has been bitter cold

The app has definitely messed up some of my uploads. A few have been sent back and I was able to resubmit. One was rejected with no opportunity to fix. No response to emails. It’s kind of the risk I already expect from that company.

I had two that were sent back because the pics that I took from across the street were "too far away". I resubmitted clear and close pics. Shops were approved. A third shop was denied without the opportunity to correct. There was a link for an "appeal" but the link didn't work and still doesn't. Also an automated comment about the pin being placed back on the map, yada yada...

So, its seems 3rd strike and you're out. They won't ask for an alternate photo of a brightly lit helios because the edit can't decide if it's the new or old one, or whatever, they just throw the pin back on the Presto app.
I've reclaimed that shop and have noticed the updated guidelines as well as an email address:

Scheduler: christy.ensley@ipsos.com

Hi @MrEd - Can you elaborate on where you saw the appeal link that didn't work? We've had a few complaints about this but haven't been able to track it down. Info on whether you're using the website or app and what type of device also welcome. Thanks!

Colleen (from Presto)

Colleen, the non-functional appeal link is in on the app. I'm using an Android.

Looking back at these shops from last year I noticed that they started at $12 last year and went up to $75 and higher for the more rural areas as time went by. I have actually driven past one of these a few times after dark in the past week and just don't have the heart to do it until the rate goes up to at least what I did it for last year. If they all get scooped up for $10 this year we can count of them being posted for $8.00 next year.