Sorry, but I need to vent a bit. I've been shopping for over 16 years and have been MSPA silver for just as long. I complete at least 175 shops/year, even during the height of COVID, in addition to a full-time job. Honestly, I took numerous of shops that I wasn't entirely comfortable completing because I'm high-risk, but I felt bad for desperate schedulers and wanted to "do my part" with COVID compliance shops. Now I don't know if it's the "great resignation" or layoffs or what, but the editor turnover has been far higher than usual the past several years. And the new editors & schedulers mostly seem to be on power trips trying to find ANY reason to deny paying and/or reimbursing you.

I am extremely articulate and well-educated. I have a master’s degree, excellent grammar and vocabulary, and I have won numerous awards for my writing, including a full undergraduate scholarship. I don't say that to brag, but to prove that my reports are good. I put far more time and effort into them than many shoppers, judging by other reports that I have read. And yet these new editors seem hell-bent on finding some lame reason to return a report to me or deny it entirely.

In a recent grocery delivery shop, the scheduler asked me to change the due date so he would not have an onslaught of reports to review on the same day. When I requested a new date, he approved it but didn't update the due date for the report, so I could not submit it by the midnight same-day deadline. I spent over a week and dozens of emails before he finally admitted his mistake and agreed to pay me. Another editor has returned a report to me three times now for a shop I've been doing regularly for over 6 years, stating that I didn't add the required number of sentences explaining my answers, even though the report clearly states that comments are only required for a low/negative score, and the location was very compliant and scored highly on everything.

I am so sick of this ridiculous busywork. Has anyone else had this issue? I don't want to call out offenders, but an intelli-gent person could take a closer look and get my drift. What are some MSCs to avoid and ones who still have reasonable editors?

I have not and I know sometimes my grammar is not the best since I have only a high school education and that has been 54 years ago. I hate to get a grade below a ten .I really don't do a lot of shops that require a lot of comments though.Maybe you have just been working with the wrong company's lately,instead of throwing in the towel why don't you just take some simple shops for awhile.

I've noticed more editors are asking for more detailed information on interactions. I feel I'm pretty detailed in providing that information. I can't put more information in the report just because the interaction was briefer than it should have been.

I got one grocery store report back stating:

"Per (the client), it is very rare that a location scores 100% on these visits. Are you certain that each teammate took you to the item you requested in each department?"

I'm finding this type of questioning of what I've reported happening more frequently.

I stated in a Medicare Advantage that the target did not give the presentation. The scheduler said to proceed with the shop. I was dinged 20% of my pay because I didn't state that the target was not even present during the presentation and they had to get clarification from me about it.

In the years I've been doing mystery shopping and audits, I've learned that some auditors are stricter than others. Kind of like in school with teachers and professors. If it doesn't effect what I get paid and a simple fix, I know I did a good report, I'm just dealing with a fussy editor, move on. But there is one particular editor who helps with the yellow gas shops. Every time I push the "submit" button I pray it won't be her reviewing my report. There is one MSC that reviews reports up until they see a problem. They contact you to fix it. Then a day or 2 later, they ask you to address something else. Why in heavens don't they do a complete review to ask you to fix everything at one time is beyond me. But I also wonder if some of the pressure doesn't come from the clients themselves. Often we see clients shift from one MSC to another. There is a reason for that; better price from new MSC, resolving the problems the client had with the former MSC, and the likes.

Here are some questions I was asked by the editor on a valet park, TWICE. I asked for clarification as to what they wanted. The report was accepted without me answering any of the questions. :

Editor - "Please explain the #6 NO answers and the unchecked #13 answers."

Here are the questions and my answers:

"6. Did the attendant give you back a ticket stub? No"

"13. Did the attendant: None of the above"

I guess they wanted me to restate that the attendant didn't give me back a ticket stub and they didn't do any of the things listed.

Editor - "Revenue Control - please explain the #3 NO answer."

Here's my answer on the report which was how did you pay.

"3. How did you pay: Attendant"

Zek,
I feel your pain when it comes to the yellow gas station shops. Sometimes I feel as if a couple of the editors are unnecessarily picky and my natural paranoia leaves me feeling as if I'm being singled out. One is worried about my thumb accidentally covering the item I bought, as if I would deliberately purchase alcohol, tobacco or lottery tickets when we're told so MANY times, over and over and over, not to. And, another one that can't read time, even when it's spelled out in English words. Before when I've had a shop returned to me it was for something I missed, a picture I got wrong or put in the wrong place, it has NEVER been over the placement of my thumb when I hold the receipt so I can take a picture of it, or having to re-write time in 4 or 5 different styles, and still not have the editor understand.

Some MSC's I've quit working for because of editors that insist on things that the guidelines say specifically not to do. They want exact quotes, but it says specifically in the guidelines not to record the shop. One had long miserable narratives that were very difficult, I asked for a break because I was starting to dread doing the shops because of it. I didn't take any shops for a month and they deactivated me. And honestly I haven't been back to that business since then.

@Morledzep, you for sure are not being singled out. I joke with a friend .. "this editor is the gift that keeps giving." There is certainly inconsistency over crazy things. So far there has only been 1 editor who caused me to stop doing shops for a MSC. It was a very small MSC that is out of business now. It was actually the owner. She would nit pick so bad. I mean volumes that left your head spinning. Yet my shops always passed without a peep via another editor there. I finally brought it to the owners attention. She just danced around it. I did like doing the nursery (garden) shops, but not the associated headache.

A tiny bit of advise; when an editor receives a sentence like "If it doesn't ""effect"" what I get paid....." when "AFFECT" is what should have been written, then fully and properly expect the report to get tagged as the misuse of homophones is aggravating and dubs the shopper as unqualified except in the most simplest of shops.

*A tiny bit of advice* You're welcome.

Don't quit. Do as another shopper suggested, don't do the ones with picky editors. Just let them try to find another shopper willing to put up with their "returned" questions. Customer Impact has very fair editors and schedulers.

@sestrahelena A LOL option would be a great option to click on sometimes !

@lydiasbaby Please insert a "." after the word "homophones" Then make a new and proper sentence with the remaining words.

I've had to quote back shop insructions to editors to prove I did it correctly and usually they agree and are thankful. I've quit doing some bar shops because it seems they want a minute-by-minute detail of what occured at an hour long shop. I've deemed the effort not worth the pay/reimbursement.

I used to do shops for the Intelli-gent people you speak of. And agree, there are some editors that are off the chart. There used to be a scheduler there that could have used re-training. I found it better for me just to stop doing shops for them and wish them luck being able to find loyal shoppers that do a great job.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2022 07:47PM by FrostyBubbles.

Some of these companies have to realize they can't keep dropping the fees and pay for shops and expect highly detailed reports. The amount of detail I give is in direct relation to the pay. If the pay is bare minimum, they get the basic details they request and that's it.
I've also been a shopper about that same time frame, silver certified and find myself doing a lot more of the "app" type shops like Mobee or Field Agent that don't require a ton of narrative. I work full time, have two littles at home and I just can't do the highly detailed, lengthy narrative shops that I did in the past.

Angelsgirl85, I am so, so curious if you got the same editor who has nitpicked a couple of my reports and made me want to pull my hair out. I got emails, and texts, asking about separate issues days apart, and wondered why they didn't just ask all their questions at one time. She also wanted me to go back and explain why I answered the way that I did and how I "felt" about certain interactions. This clearly wasn't in the guidelines, and I wanted to call her out on it, but also wanted her off my back. The last email I couldn't get to in her four-hour window, and she sent me kind of a snarky email telling me how it was part of my job to address all issues related to the report. It has made me kind of hesitant to want to complete another of these shops, and I haven't in a couple of months. I wonder about the person(s) doing them now though and how they're faring, since it looks like they accepting them for less than I did. I worked for every bit of the $90 they paid me, but not a chance I'd go through all that for the $40 they're doing them for. It was a small furniture chain, I think specific to the south, and if you take a closer look, you'll see going through all that is too much sugar for a dime.

I agree. Nitpicky editors piss me off royally. Especially if they ask for detail beyond what the report specifies. I have had reports kicked back for non-sense as well. Who hasn't? I did a gas one that was kicked back so many times for a question that I'd already answered I was gonna lose it! I shop for recreation so personally, when I have that issue with an editor on a shop I go on strike and refuse to do that shop for a long time. for me, the money is not worth the hassle. In my world, if i know ahead of time that a report has a lot of narrative, I won't take them.
Also an enormous peeve is when the editor takes DAYS (14 days was the longest) to contact me about a shop but expects me to get back to them within a few hours. i pitch a fit.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2022 09:58PM by cherokitty.

@jlcarter1975 AMEN!!!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2022 10:01PM by cherokitty.

@lydiasbaby wrote:

A tiny bit of advise; when an editor receives a sentence like "If it doesn't ""effect"" what I get paid....." when "AFFECT" is what should have been written, then fully and properly expect the report to get tagged as the misuse of homophones is aggravating and dubs the shopper as unqualified except in the most simplest of shops.

"Most simplest?" Why do you feel like you need to be rude to someone else about a grammatical error?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2022 07:23AM by patman9760.

@patman9760 wrote:

@lydiasbaby wrote:

A tiny bit of advise; when an editor receives a sentence like "If it doesn't ""effect"" what I get paid....." when "AFFECT" is what should have been written, then fully and properly expect the report to get tagged as the misuse of homophones is aggravating and dubs the shopper as unqualified except in the most simplest of shops.

"Most simplest?" Why do you feel like you need to be rude to someone else about a grammatical error?

Especially when there are several errors in the poster's own reply!

Usually, my reports are accepted as is and everyone moves on to the next thing. This probably is not too much of a hassle for the editors. A few times I have wondered what has happened to my report. I never have time to argue about basic factual errors, but I think they have occurred. I have compared editor notes with my saved reports and wondered if the comment was meant for someone else's report or reflected some avoidable change to my report. This should not happen. but it might be possible for coders or someone to tighten up the editorial process so that provided information does not get lost, dropped, altered, or otherwise become an issue that shoppers did not provide. This is what the OP and a few others are rightfully contending. I wish us all luck for future reports.

But there are times..... Editors should be eligible for hazard pay. Recently, there was a ghastly time in my world involving too little sleep, too much overload from the fallout from hubby's scammers, and no editor or ghostwriter in my pocket who could whisper, "Type this and not that." Two reports, each with some narrative, were horrid. No thesaurus has an adequate word to describe them. Those editors deserve hazard pay, service medals, and whatever else their companies can give them.

I had an editor send a report back because I wrote "I felt..." (the report asks for subjective feedback). The editor said I need to phrase this as "I feel that..." because this explains my feelings while "I felt" is synonymous with "I think".
How are you an editor and unaware that felt is the past tense of feel???
Sadly, it was easier to update the wording than to try to explain that I think and I feel that they are wrong.

Twice in the last couple weeks, I've had an editor from the same company get back to me on various that was not mentioned in the guidelines or questions, a couple times wanting me to comment or attach various such even though there wasn't even a place to attach or comment. See above about not in guidelines or questions. It is always the same, we can't use this shop if you don't do this, and we don't want you emailing us back either, just do it, whether you are physically able to do it on their reporting form or not.

After years away, I started shopping again over the summer. In the scheme of things, it is working out fairly well after having been away so long, actually the best it has ever been. However, I am baffled at the utter lack of respect and professional courtesy toward shoppers from some of the companies. Schedulers don't respond to questions, then send you nasty form letters or ding you on the quality regarding something on which they never responded even after multiple emails. Meanwhile, editors make up new requirements as they edit something for which it is pretty clear they have not seen the requirements, much less the form you actually filled out, and they too refuse to respond to a single one of your emails to clarify. My ten-foot-pole list is growing, it could be that I need to expand my reach a little more. We do have that option. I came looking for other comments on such, and I guess I found them.

I actually feel nauseus reading your post. WTH.

@rarararara wrote:

I had an editor send a report back because I wrote "I felt..." (the report asks for subjective feedback). The editor said I need to phrase this as "I feel that..." because this explains my feelings while "I felt" is synonymous with "I think".
How are you an editor and unaware that felt is the past tense of feel???
Sadly, it was easier to update the wording than to try to explain that I think and I feel that they are wrong.

I have also noticed more editors asking for more detail iny reports (and being asked to restate or repeat my statements). I've wondered if it's because there have been more fraud issues recently. They might be asking for more detail to make sure the shops actually happened.

I once did a shop which called for "a full and detailed narrative of the entire experience." I wrote 1.5 pages. The editor told me that five sentences was the limit, but I should strive to stick with three or four sentences. "I asked. The associate explained. I purchased. I was thanked."

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2022 04:09AM by Rousseau.

I sympathize with your frustration. I have had too many shops declined due to not completing them on time. However, they were in fact done on time. When I realized I wasn't losing my mind, I took screen shots showing proof and emailed whomever should be able to resolve/correct the problem. I received no compensation for those shops after showing it was no fault of mine. I submitted appeals and received no response.
I believe the proofers being unreasonable and not accepting completed reports may be coming from higher ups getting greedy. They get their reports done and avoid paying for them. At the risk of sounding paranoid, that's the only reason I can come up with when Shoppers have done what they were asked, providing top notch reports only to have them returned/declined.

Please name the MSC. How many reports were submitted on time and not paid?

@DiannaL wrote:

I sympathize with your frustration. I have had too many shops declined due to not completing them on time. However, they were in fact done on time. When I realized I wasn't losing my mind, I took screen shots showing proof and emailed whomever should be able to resolve/correct the problem. I received no compensation for those shops after showing it was no fault of mine. I submitted appeals and received no response.
I believe the proofers being unreasonable and not accepting completed reports may be coming from higher ups getting greedy. They get their reports done and avoid paying for them. At the risk of sounding paranoid, that's the only reason I can come up with when Shoppers have done what they were asked, providing top notch reports only to have them returned/declined.

As an editor, the pressure indeed, does come from the clients. Questions that don’t often make sense in how they are asked and we have no guidance on how to “grade” it - especially if we don’t have any guidelines. This is coming up more and more where a client can spend 45 minutes picking apart a report. Editors can’t spend 45 minutes per report. After 15 minutes, it becomes almost not worth it to do one at all.

Couple that with having to send it back to the shopper, it adds up fast. I like to put everything that needs fixing in one email. Sometimes that overwhelms a shopper and they ignore it. Sometimes, if that happens and it becomes a late report, NO ONE will get paid for the shop because the shopper dropped the ball. The scheduler doesn’t get paid, the editor that has probably spent 30 minutes on it by now doesn’t get paid and the shopper doesn’t get paid.

Shoppers need to monitor their emails for a day or so to be on the lookout for editor questions. Shoppers also need to run spell check and proof their own work at least once before hitting that submit button. You would not believe the things I see that should be caught. Every little thing takes time. Erratic spacing between sentences, feline instead of feminine, the same pictures for all the food ordered, no receipt, not following directions (one, in particular, is where you have to make a reservation during the phone portion). I send at least 15% of the shops back for that to be redone.

That said, I also shop. I received a score recently that was 8/10. No reason at all was given. I don’t like to give an 8 or receive an 8. I emailed the editor and asked for a review. It takes me just as much time to write to the shopper (in the hopes that their next shop will incorporate the coaching, making everything run more smoothly) as it does sometimes to edit the report. I wish I could get away with scoring and moving on.

Most companies have a time stamp for when you complete/submit your report, meaning, you submit it for review. That is your go-to for when your report was due. We routinely ding 1 point even for a perfect report if it is completed past the deadline. Sometimes, we may miss it as there is a second place we have to check for the date/time.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/2023 08:30AM by wanderer.

I can understand a little bit of that, I think. At one job, we are given scripted questions to ask each respondent. For some questions, there is additional or explanatory information for respondents who don't know what to make of the questions. For others, there is no additional information. Sometimes, the respondents give us gratuitous grammar, syntax, and logic lessons about the questions we ask. The only possible response on the job is that we are given a script to ask of each respondent. We do not write the script. The other response is here, when I can say that I understand about test or survey construction and when it works well and when it might not be as strong as it could be for all involved. To be fair, it is not so easy to make a test or survey that is perfect.

*eta*
I can see my own hypocrisy. I have complained about some of the surveys we work with from time to time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2022 06:20PM by Shop-et-al.