A few months ago i started a thread for Best Buy Audits and now i cant find it. Anyone know how to find old threads? I did use search but didn't find it. Thanks.

Try searching for electronics audit...

There is a reason why you can't find it. Those shops are a evil curse and just mentioning the name seems to bring bad spirits and low pay

what's wrong with the audits? I just started the process of getting certified for them.

@johnb974 wrote:

what's wrong with the audits? I just started the process of getting certified for them.

There is nothing wrong with them specifically, but they involve longer hours then quoted with the same low pay. When I first did the audits, it was the first time that the MS company picked up BB as a client. There was some pretty heavy training involved, plus you had to pass a drug test too. The audits I did lasted me around 14-16 hours per store (Split between 2 days) but each audit paid $250. I was able to pick up a few of them on my days off and paid for one week cruise for me and my wife just by doing three audits. The following year, BB thought they were paying too much and reduced the pay dramatically. While they did remove some things on the full site audit, it still takes quite a bit of time to complete. I now avoid BB audits as well as the Ikea ones because of the same issues.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2021 05:10PM by drdisney.

This company says about 4 hours for the audit and no mention of a drug test. They pay $75

@johnb974 Count on it taking you longer for the first couple. It took me 7 hours to do my first and last audit.

The instructions I worked with in the summer of 2021 were a hodgepodge of updates with no cohesiveness. You could tell it was written by multiple people over period of time.

I provided very critical feedback and was impressed I received a call from a Vice President at the MSC to discuss my feedback. We had a long discussion on how long the audit took and my level of frustration with the directions. I learned there is a high turnover rate in the auditors, now they understand why. Between lousy instructions and a convoluted qualification process people just give up. It shouldn't be that hard.

I was told the instructions were in the process of being re-written from scratch to make it easier to follow without having to call the "help desk" multiple times because things just don't make sense. If my memory is right, the qualification/training process is/was being revamped to make it more transparent and easy to follow. I suspect drug test and background check are still requirements.

I am a traveling Best Buy auditor and love it. I complete anywhere from 15-25 stores a month and make anywhere from $700-$1000 a week depending on how far I go and what compensation is negotiated. I will say the audits are definitely not for everyone, but I have my own system and can get in and out of even the biggest of stores within 2 hours (3 at the very most if there are a lot of problems or dirty). In small stores without a SWAS, I am sometimes looking for things to do because I can finish in an hour to hour and half, but that is a red flag for the client, as they say a throurough audit should take a minimum of 2 hours. I am very thorough when I audit and very meticulous, but I bartended in high volume venues for 26 years, so saying I move very quick is an understatement. I think my first one took me close to 4 hours but after doing 3 or 4 and learning the process and how the app worked, I was able to form my own system and way of navigating the store and audit sections to trim my time in store way down.

With all that being said, the audits are now moving to Presto in February which I am not a big fan of but it's beyond my pay grade. It is going to be more of a process to get approved for traveling routes from what I gathered out of the webinar, plus my bring home pay may decrease with the added documentation requirements for expenses. The way it works now is I (or they sometimes) make an offer on each individual store and if accepted that amount is added as a bonus to the regular pay. I bring home more by cutting my expenses while on the road, therefore keeping most of the "bonus pay" in my pocket rather than spending it when not necessary. Now it appears we will get base pay for each store and will be required to turn in receipts for expense reimbursement. I don't like this because sometimes I negotiate a good bonus for several stores within a certain area and I am able to save on things like gas or hotel rooms because I get a cheaper rate when staying more than one night. Now it will be bringing home $75 per store no matter what, with expenses reimbursed. I travel to make extra money on each store, not to make the same amount as working local and have expenses paid. Some people like the reimbursement route, I don't because like I said I am good at cutting expenses in order to make more money on the back end of things. I would just rather negotiate a pay rate plus bonus and let me handle my own expenses out of that amount and then use my receipts as a tax write off. Hope that all makes sense.

I don't know, will just have to submit my February requests and see how it all works out. I hate to say though, if it goes the way I am thinking it will, they may have one less auditor on the books. I can stay home and make $500-700 week doing gas stations with no expenses other than gas...will just be working from daylight to dark to do so. We shall see how it goes.

How did you ever get them to pay mileage? After doing 2 stores in the next state where on the job board they said it was 110 miles, turned out it was 150 miles each way. I had been to both cities as part of a route and I believed them, didn't check the actual mileage. I did the 2 stores once, realized by the time i included 5 hours of driving, gas and the gas for the extra 80 miles plus the onsite time, i was making very little. When i was eligible to do the 2 stores again, i emailed and asked for mileage and turned down.
Prior to asking for mileage, I received an email asking me to do 3 other stores at the end of a month which would have been 5 hours of driving to the 1st store and because we could only do 2 stores in a day, they would pay the cost of a hotel room for 1 night but nothing for meals or and only a possibility of gas expense. I didn't end up doing those stores.

In my experience, whenever an MSC quotes a distance, they quote it as if you are a bird, not driving a car. IMHO, you should NEVER believe the distance an MSC quotes unless you are indeed a bird.

@tstewart3 wrote:

After doing 2 stores in the next state where on the job board they said it was 110 miles, turned out it was 150 miles each way. I had been to both cities as part of a route and I believed them, didn't check the actual mileage.

I am quite impressed you made this somewhat of a full time job. Bravo! Can I ask with driving and everything included how many hours a week you were working on this?

@AngStahl wrote:

I am a traveling Best Buy auditor and love it. I complete anywhere from 15-25 stores a month and make anywhere from $700-$1000 a week depending on how far I go and what compensation is negotiated. I will say the audits are definitely not for everyone, but I have my own system and can get in and out of even the biggest of stores within 2 hours (3 at the very most if there are a lot of problems or dirty). In small stores without a SWAS, I am sometimes looking for things to do because I can finish in an hour to hour and half, but that is a red flag for the client, as they say a throurough audit should take a minimum of 2 hours. I am very thorough when I audit and very meticulous, but I bartended in high volume venues for 26 years, so saying I move very quick is an understatement. I think my first one took me close to 4 hours but after doing 3 or 4 and learning the process and how the app worked, I was able to form my own system and way of navigating the store and audit sections to trim my time in store way down.

With all that being said, the audits are now moving to Presto in February which I am not a big fan of but it's beyond my pay grade. It is going to be more of a process to get approved for traveling routes from what I gathered out of the webinar, plus my bring home pay may decrease with the added documentation requirements for expenses. The way it works now is I (or they sometimes) make an offer on each individual store and if accepted that amount is added as a bonus to the regular pay. I bring home more by cutting my expenses while on the road, therefore keeping most of the "bonus pay" in my pocket rather than spending it when not necessary. Now it appears we will get base pay for each store and will be required to turn in receipts for expense reimbursement. I don't like this because sometimes I negotiate a good bonus for several stores within a certain area and I am able to save on things like gas or hotel rooms because I get a cheaper rate when staying more than one night. Now it will be bringing home $75 per store no matter what, with expenses reimbursed. I travel to make extra money on each store, not to make the same amount as working local and have expenses paid. Some people like the reimbursement route, I don't because like I said I am good at cutting expenses in order to make more money on the back end of things. I would just rather negotiate a pay rate plus bonus and let me handle my own expenses out of that amount and then use my receipts as a tax write off. Hope that all makes sense.

I don't know, will just have to submit my February requests and see how it all works out. I hate to say though, if it goes the way I am thinking it will, they may have one less auditor on the books. I can stay home and make $500-700 week doing gas stations with no expenses other than gas...will just be working from daylight to dark to do so. We shall see how it goes.

In thinking back, I do not recall any MSC that did not employ the CFM system to compute distance. Trendsource, as an example, was a major proponent of that method.

Realistically, computing miles as the crow flies is the only realistic way for MSCs to do it. It essentially draws concentric circles outward from your home (or maybe your zip code). That is why I check road mileage and driving time before deciding on accepting a shop or submitting PAD.

@shopperbob wrote:

In thinking back, I do not recall any MSC that did not employ the CFM system to compute distance. Trendsource, as an example, was a major proponent of that method.

Absolutely right on, check Google maps. I have had requests to do shops listed as 4 miles away, but there's a little detail missing in the calculation, called crossing the Mississippi River. What looks like a 5 minute drive is really a 30+ minute ordeal.

If MSCs wanted to they could interface with google maps and post the most efficient road miles.

First, it would probably require significant programming to get each address into Google Maps, and Google Maps often offers me alternative maps. Second, Google might want a fee for this commercial use. Third, why other since Shoppers already fall for being a bird or know to check anyway.

@tstewart3 wrote:

If MSCs wanted to they could interface with google maps and post the most efficient road miles.

Every address is already in Google maps. How do you think instacart, doordash or any other delivery service is able to provide directions?

Made a few $1000 weeks pre pandemic when these audits normally started at $85 with bonuses. Haven't done any at the reduced pay and probably wouldn't do any with move to Presto. Ahhhh, the good old days!!