Laying out cash for a company I haven't worked for before
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Just pass on this one unless the fee is huge ...
Yeah, I am thinking of doing that. I've already placed 2 of the orders but it's way more work than they originally made it out to be and requires visits to the store for the returns. There is no store conveniently located for me. Fee is $75 CAD.
I would feel quite bad canceling on the scheduler last minute though. I generally pride myself on being a reliable shopper
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2020 05:18PM by IsleOfView85.
I would feel quite bad canceling on the scheduler last minute though. I generally pride myself on being a reliable shopper
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2020 05:18PM by IsleOfView85.
If you mention the MSC name, you might get feedback on their reliability, which could help with peace of mind.
Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.
ISC is a major multinational company and mystery shopping is a small part of the division. I have shopped for them for more than 15 years. As long as you do the shop correctly you will get paid in full. I have paid more than $1000 in travel and for shop expenses with them and never had problems getting reimbursed. To the contrary, when they said they will pay immediately since the amounts were large, they processed it as extra payment within a week,
(compared to other well known popular companies here that not only they have not processed it earlier than regular payroll as promised, but edited and finalized payment paperwork a week later to ensure that the payment will be clocked for the following month, plus the 90+ days minimum they take to pay. At least the amount we have been waiting is in fees, not reimbursement! But someone is floating more than $20K in shoppers fees nationwide just for this project.)
(compared to other well known popular companies here that not only they have not processed it earlier than regular payroll as promised, but edited and finalized payment paperwork a week later to ensure that the payment will be clocked for the following month, plus the 90+ days minimum they take to pay. At least the amount we have been waiting is in fees, not reimbursement! But someone is floating more than $20K in shoppers fees nationwide just for this project.)
I'd be far more inclined to lay out money for something that gets me something I want in return (i.e., travel). This is just shipping costs for items I don't want, and a largely nonresponsive scheduler, for more work than expected and a low fee...
The fees for that company are generally ridiculously low, poverty wages. On rare occasion, they’ll have a really good shop that’s the only reason I don’t tell them to go to hell. For example if you live in Vancouver they might ask you to go to Montreal for a $10 observation on the shop and then get into a snit fit with you about how much you would be for travel. I believe that most of their schedulers work from home and make about 3 to 5 dollars an hour anyway.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2020 06:00PM by SoCalMama.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2020 06:00PM by SoCalMama.
If I were in your position I would grit my teeth and get it done. If you feel your scheduler is not responsive, why would you think he/she would go to bat for you to get the shipping costs prepaid? Yes, it is an ugly shop, but at this point it is yours and so either leave the scheduler high and dry or finish it and hope it leads to better things with the company.
We tend to get into trouble with shops where we feel abused and so give them less than 100%. We then feel hurt and outrage when they get rejected or questioned--just adding insult to injury. If you think you can rise above the sense of abuse, finish the job. If you can't get beyond it, cancel it.
We tend to get into trouble with shops where we feel abused and so give them less than 100%. We then feel hurt and outrage when they get rejected or questioned--just adding insult to injury. If you think you can rise above the sense of abuse, finish the job. If you can't get beyond it, cancel it.
Overall, I have found this MSC to be honest, so I would not hesitate to spend a little money for a shop as I would trust the reimbursement to come in accordance with the shop guidelines. However, their pay is generally below my standard, so I rarely pick up their shops.
Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.
When a shop is offered by an MSC with whom I do not have any history, I only accept a single assignment. If it then becomes far more than I anticipated, I know that completion is a finite situation and "suck it up." I do not recall any company that, as an example, stated either an estimated distance or time for completion that was accurate. In addition, it is known in this business that some schedulers speak with a forked tongue
The problem with their schedulers is that they work form home, and the editors are in Europe so they think that a $10 fee for a retail store in an area where $7 is the meter parking is a great fee. Only when the shops stay and more senior schedulers are in charge the fees reach reasonable and better range. Another point you need to think about, if you are in a major metropolitan area with luxury shops, you might want to do a few of them to prove with ISC that you are a reliable shopper so you can negotiate higher fees and get good reimbursement shops. I have done clothes and accessories with reimbursement from $70 to $250 for clients that only have 5-10 retail stores in the entire USA so they do not show often. They also have mid-level shops that in Europe they consider them luxury brand.
They have clearly developed a long term relationship with the majority of the European headquartered luxury branches and have taken over most of the clients that I can not remember now the name but they were done by an MS, still is in existence, that is located in NY, proprietary website and did the high high end clothing, watches like the ones that they fry the pins, the Sex in the City favorite dept store, etc and one of their main schedulers (male) was in Miami.
They have clearly developed a long term relationship with the majority of the European headquartered luxury branches and have taken over most of the clients that I can not remember now the name but they were done by an MS, still is in existence, that is located in NY, proprietary website and did the high high end clothing, watches like the ones that they fry the pins, the Sex in the City favorite dept store, etc and one of their main schedulers (male) was in Miami.
It sounds to me as though you have already completed several days of this shop and my advice is based on this assumption. Normally I personally would not accept this type of job for a company new to me. I do not work for this company but the above posts sound as though if you do the job correctly you will get paid/reimbursed. Right now if you have already done a few days you are out some money if you bail on the job so you need to balance your losses if you quit with what you have to lay out for the rest of the job.. I doubt they would pay you anything for work already done if you cancel. You also risk being deactivated if you bail mid job. You may not mind any of these consequences.
I would suggest just finishing the job based on the feedback from shoppers regarding them being good payers unless you do not have the money to lay out but make sure you do not do a poor job because you are upset as that may result in non payment.
In future make sure to look over any job carefully before going forward. Was this a case where you could not see the guidelines or report for each day until you got to it? Had you cancelled before the job started you would have been in a much better position.
I would suggest just finishing the job based on the feedback from shoppers regarding them being good payers unless you do not have the money to lay out but make sure you do not do a poor job because you are upset as that may result in non payment.
In future make sure to look over any job carefully before going forward. Was this a case where you could not see the guidelines or report for each day until you got to it? Had you cancelled before the job started you would have been in a much better position.
Everything so far has been returnable, I'm not out any money but I've spent about 40 minutes in total on the website looking around and completing the 2 days of orders. If I continue doing the shop then I will be out money. It's also unclear how many visits to the store I will need to make to do returns but I'm going to e-mail the scheduler now to find out. If it's more than 2 then no chance I'm going to complete it. Scheduler didn't mention any store visits at all when she was explaining the shop to me and it's a ~40 minute drive each way. And yes, it was a case where I couldn't see anything before accepting and her explanation of the shop was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of its requirements. I also would not normally accept a shop like this!
Let me add, that you are already into this, so I think that you should finish. If you don't fulfill it all, they will have reason not to pay you. They WILL pay you. Just don't go calculating your hourly rate now.
I did a shop for them years ago at LAX. The editor came back with a million questions. I got an "average" grade. That's when I knew that they were BSC. I used to schedule and edit. I know what reports look like. I get copies of reports to this day from certain MSCs, depending on the project. I know what makes a good report.
I did a shop for them years ago at LAX. The editor came back with a million questions. I got an "average" grade. That's when I knew that they were BSC. I used to schedule and edit. I know what reports look like. I get copies of reports to this day from certain MSCs, depending on the project. I know what makes a good report.
I used to get bonuses from this company, but bonuses have seen less common lately. The cell phone shops are at $12, with no bonuses.
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