I sprained my ankel on my way to work and had to cancel two shops.

The first mystery shop was very nice about it and gave me a date in the future.

I am copying and pasting the exact words of the scheduler:

Consider your shops canceled. I also work with several other scheduler's and scheduling companies---I will let them know you hurt your ankle so bad you can't do any shops, if even mental with no physical involved. I hope that helps.

I don't know if I would want someone spreading my business like that, but thats just me.

Assuming no prior history of cancellations with that scheduler, that is absolutely uncalled for and noxious. I think I would be just as happy not to work for/with that scheduler in the future and I do appreciate your post here because hopefully the scheduler reads this forum and realizes that being a jerk is uncalled for. Certainly I'm sure schedulers get tired of what they see as lame excuses and when they have no sympathy, one can only hope that the next time they have a medical or family issue their employer is equally unsympathetic. There is more than a wisp of truth to "What goes around, comes around."

Wow - my jaw is dropped. That has to be the one of the most unprofessional and mean-spirited response to a request to cancel/reschedule I have ever read and it reads like she/he is in high school. Please, please, tell us which scheduler did this.

Flash: I never canceled a shop with that scheduler before. I realy don't care if the scheduler reads it.

I assumed that you hadn't, which was why I figured you were so outraged and the scheduler was so out of line. And I agree with MickeyB, naming the scheduler would be suitable if your reaction is that you would not work with him/her further anyway. It really would be nice to get some of the jackasses and 'know nothings' out of business because nobody accepted work for them.

That's awful. What scheduler was it?

First, let me start by saying this is not the whole story and I am sorry she had to post this in the context she did.. Several other emails regarding this situation are missing from kittybrats email/complaint on this thread. There are two sides to a story and I would like to share the other ½.

We have been in business for 12+ years. We have an outstanding rating within the MS community. However, we also can't make all shoppers happy. We try, but it's not always possible. We love what we do and believe in it 100%. We value our shoppers and try to take the care and responsibility with them, always.

We do hire other IC scheduler's. Monday we posted several hundred new shops. If someone is not able to work because of injury, a death in the family, etc. we notify our IC's so the shopper is not bothered. We also post it in our system so they are not further sent posts.

A couple of issues I am having with this thread is this shopper told us she hurt her ankle working out at the gym. However, she posted on here it was on her way to work.

So my company is not judged by her thread only, the parts of the email thread not posted by her are below, beginning to end. First email to me after I gave her the shop she requested:

10:56am
I sprained my ankle at the gym this morning and must cancel this shop.
I am very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

My reply back:

11:06am
It does not require anything physical. Do you want to reconsider?

11:15am
I have to take transportation to get to the store and then walk. I must stay off my foot.
(her name)

Then my reply was the one she listed above. In the meantime we learned she posted she hurt her ankle on her way to work (above) not at the gym like she told us.

As she states in her email above another company gave her another date. We offered the same courtesy within 5 minutes of hearing about her ankle. She declined stating she had to stay off it and had no transportation. She chose not to reschedule when offered.

She was upset about my final response to her and wrote to me:

12:48pm
I am a reliable shopper and do not cancel shops for a reason. I had to cancel another shop, and the scheduler was quite nice about it. If I was able to do your shop today, without walking, I would do it.

Please note the shop was not due until the 22nd.

My final email to her was not us wanting to wish ill will, just to let the other scheduler's who work for us or who request shoppers in her area she is out of commission.

I wrote at 12:55:
I was just trying to help. Usually if a shopper does something like this they ask for an extension, not cancel altogether. We all network so if someone needed a NY shopper I would not refer because you are so hurt. That's all, nothing personal.

Our company spent a considerable amount of time regarding this shop--her very first shop with us that she cancelled due to injury. We are still not sure how her injury happened because she has stated two different reasons. But we still took the time to still offer her the shop, extend the shop, which she declined, and then told her we would let our other scheduler's/contacts know not to bother her and to not take our email to extend that offer personal.

I feel it’s only fair when a very reputable company gets posts like this that only tells ½ the story it’s reasonable for us to tell the other ½. From there others can judge the full story and decide how unreasonable we were or were not with this shopper.

Thank you for your time reading the other ½ of the story and we hope to work with some of you in the future.

Thank you for clarifying that. I can see how things got turned around. Of course, some people do work out at the gym before they go into work. But, there is still more to this story.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2011 11:28PM by TechSavvy.

Thank you Lisa, now that makes more sense than when I first read it as there was definitely more to the story. BTW...what hundreds of shops did you post and if you could PM me your company name, if I'm not signed up with you, I'd love to check it out!

Why should a PM be necessary? Most schedulers and MSP owners/representatives not only identify themselves, they post the name of the company they represent. I'm sure it was an oversight in this case. Laurie, could you identify the company you represent?

I wasn't sure if that was cool or not to do (same as the names of clients, etc), so I took the safer route!

As long as the client is not disclosed when discussing an MSP OR when discussing a particular client/shop the name of the MSP who shops that company is not identified there should be no problem. A MSP representative, if posting to represent her company, as is the above poster, should have no reason not to identify not only herself by her company. I'm sure Laurie intended to sign her name and identify her company. I'm thinking she will remember and return to identify herself and her company. Inquiring minds want to know.

And it certainly is a situation where it would make a significant difference if, in responding to a shopper, schedulers would take a deep breath and read over what they are writing before hitting "send" (and of course shoppers need to do the same thing). Regardless of the facts, the response originally posted sounds unnecessarily aggressive.

I too would like to know what company Laurie works for, so that I can properly judge it, based on both the OP and the response.

I don't get the"issue" about WHERE the OP hurt her ankle. OP said she hurt it on her "way to work" - and she told the scheduling company it was at the gym... So it seems obvious that she hurt it at the gym, on her "way to work" - I don't get why it matters if she hurt it getting on the subway, walking out of her house, or on her way to work at the gym?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2011 02:27AM by MickeyB.

Well I would question the two stories. I totally agree that it was probably "in the gym on the way to work", but still, that should have been clarified. Just being able to state the same thing twice in the same way is important, I think.

The point is that it doesn't matter whether she sprained her ankle or knee or hip getting out of the car, in the gym, jumping off a flying trapeze or skydiving. When you state you are injured and unable to perform the job so need to cancel, that should be the end of it with the gorey details unnecessary. At least there WAS a reason why she was cancelling, she didn't just flake on them. And since the job is not due until the 22nd, she is at least giving them a couple of days to find another shopper, which in this market should not be difficult with a company with a good reputation--with or without bonus needed.

Just to clarify. I sprained my ankle at the gym on my way to work. It should not matter where I sprained my ankle. I am not the bad guy here. It is quite sad that this is supposed to be a shoppers forum, where we an feel free to post, and not be monitored. The exact correspondence is a is as follows. Perhaps I shoud have sent a doctor's note. In addition, this was NOT my very first shop for this company, as Laurie states. She did not spend any time on this shop, there were no questions asked.

Hi Laurie

I sprained my ankle at the gym this morning and must cancel this shop.

I am very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Thank you.


It does not require anything physical. Do you want to reconsider?

Hi Laurie:

I have to take transportation to get to the store and then walk. I must stay off my foot.

-Consider your shops canceled. I also work with several other scheduler's and scheduling companies---I will let them know you hurt your ankle so bad you can't do any shops, if even mental with no physical involved. I hope that helps.

-
Laurie:

I am a reliable shopper and do not cancel shops for a reason. I had to cancel another shop, and the scheduler was quite nice about it. If I was able to do your shop today, without walking, I would do it.


I was just trying to help..usually if a shoope does something like this they ask for an extension not cancel altogether. We all network so if someone needed a NY shopper I would not refer because you are so hurt. That's all, nothing personal.
LaurieThank you.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2011 01:28PM by kittybratt.

I think the problem arises sometimes because e-mails are just text on a screen. There is no way to read the inflection with which the writer would have said it. We can only assume. Some of the time we assume correctly, but sometimes not.

When I first read the original post, I took Laurie's response to be pretty snarky. That was after reading a few others' comments and, I think, feeling the mob mentality begin to creep in. Who did this? Out her! You know?

However, when I re-read it later, and then saw Laurie's response later yet, I thought it could be taken a couple of ways. There are times when pain will definitely render a person off their game, so the mental reference could apply there. I know I can't do a good shop when I have a migraine, even if I could physically get to the store.

Recently, I elected to re-schedule two shops rather than cancelled. The MS elected to re-schdeule the shops a week later. Because I was in an Emergency Crisis Mode, the MS stated that if that did not work for me then I could always camcel.

At that point I took my "MODE" day by day. If my family member remained in ICU, I would cancel.

LAURIE 1111 post gives me great cause as to why I did not post my son emergency injury until now. I did not want to exaggerate or aggatate my health concerns. As much as I also wanted to do shops in the other part of the state where my son was hospitalized, I did not.

LAURIE 1111 should let us know b/c she could have posted her rebuttal under MSCDisussion, with the topic "How to get schedulers to send U a disgrutled email."

This is my opinion.

My $.02...

Kitty is a long-standing member of this community and clearly not a flake.

Laurie's initial response sounded sarcastic, at the least, on first read. Her not disclosing her MSC affiliation is also kind of telling. We certainly have visited the realm of MSCs disclosing private emails before and that has not gone over well.

Bottom line: This is a public board so any and all have a right to comment/read. However, MSC's maintain their cherished platform where shoppers are ICs and need to recognize the dynamics of that relationship. We have the right to cancel if needed. No excuse is required. You are free not to use again if you do not like how we handled the situation.

I mean, if the shop was worthwhile, it would be easy to reschedule, so what's the big hassle. Was it a Swedish furniture shop or something like that? How much time and effort could possibly have been spent scheduling this shop?

The scheduler was clearly being a jerk. She was letting it be known that she knows people and if you try to work for anyone else while your ankle was injured she was going to stop that from happening. When she stated "I will let them know you hurt your ankle so bad you can't do any shops" she was clearly out of line and unprofessional. Everyones pain tolerance is different. Plus who is she to call anyone and tell them anything pertaining to you without your permission.

Then she had the nerve to come on here to tell her side of the story. It really didn't matter how she hurt her ankle. She was giving advanced notice that she could not perform the shop. That scheduler knew what she was doing. Funny she only has 1 post from that account. She stated she has a "reputable company" but never mentioned the company. Laurie please go somewhere and have a seat and find you something else to do because you are full of it.

Okay, last weigh in on this one. I can understand to an extent, how Laurie WAS indeed trying to be helpful, and to prevent Kitty from getting bombarded with phone calls and emails of shops she would be unable to perform due to the sprained ankle. It could be seen as a protection, but protocol would have had her ask Kitty first. That is all.

I rarely cancel a shop. I did because of car trouble and cancelled or rescheduled four or five shops I had that day. I did not give a reason to one of the companies and received a telephone call later that day. I was busy so it went to voice mail. When I listened to the call the scheduler said she could not cancel the shop for me with out a reason for the cancellation. This ticked me off so I emailed her back and told her that she had been given 24 hour notice and that due to her response I was still cancelling the shop and that rescheduling now was out of the question. I get a phone call and she said for the record she needed a reason. I told her that I was an independent contractor and that no reason was legally required. I could of just told her my car was at the shop but like I say she ticked me off. The shop was put back on the job board that same day. About a week later after my car was fixed I applied for the same shop and it was assigned to me. The reason for the long narrative is to let you know that they need us as much as we need them.

Maybe I'm reading it wrong but the scheduler's post about telling others about Kitty's injury seemed threatening (i.e. I'm gonna tell everyone I know just how unreliable you are!) and sounding a bit like bullying to me. She has no right to tell anyone anything about Kitty. If Kitty has something to say to any scheduler, she will do so herself. Laurie's interference in Kitty's business is uncalled for. She canceled a shop with plenty of time to find someone else.

I see both sides and Laurie is totally in the wrong. Kitty does not work for the scheduler and does not even need to give a reason for canceling as she is an IC. That she did and is being doubted because of where the injury happened is really sad. It really does not matter where the injury occurred as that is not the point. The point is that she's injured and cannot perform the shop ~ period. To dissect how, when and where her injury occurred is ridiculous. Laurie says they offered Kitty the chance to reschedule 5 minutes after hearing of her injury yet that does not appear anywhere in the correspondence. Only partial copy and paste?

How did Laurie hear about this forum and know there was a discussion going on about her bad behavior? She knew it was not going her way because she took the time to make an account, identify who was complaining from her masses of shoppers, copy and paste private correspondence, and try to defend her bitchy response to a simple issue. I'm not buying it.

Kitty, I'm totally with you on this one. What Laurie did was wrong and she should be apologizing. To try to disguise what she said/did as "trying to help" is BS. She should just mind her own business. If she has enough free time to badmouth Kitty to other schedulers, that time might be put to better use trying to schedule the canceled shop.

I agree about it being odd to not disclose names. I was wondering the same thing when I saw all these posts have no names, first or last, on here. I went through this entire thread and many others before choosing to not post mine---no one else has so I thought this was normal for this board.

It doesn't matter how/when she got injured. The shop is canceled because of it and we let our other scheduler's know she has an inury and per her reply, did not re book it for her.

Now, I did not start this post but for those who chose to email me directly via the 'private' section and disclose their names to me I responded in kind.

The person who started this thread chose not to disclose my name company or hers. No one here discloses their names either. I have to question that in general and why I am getting flack for following the protocal that appears to be standard on this board.

Anyway, I am putting this to rest. I responded at 7pm last night and now again at 6:30am. I am going to get back to work and put this to rest.

Laurie1111 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> First, let me start by saying this is not the
> whole story and I am sorry she had to post this in
> the context she did.. Several other emails
> regarding this situation are missing from
> kittybrats email/complaint on this thread. There
> are two sides to a story and I would like to share
> the other ½.
>
> We have been in business for 12+ years. We have
> an outstanding rating within the MS community.
> However, we also can't make all shoppers happy.
> We try, but it's not always possible. We love
> what we do and believe in it 100%. We value our
> shoppers and try to take the care and
> responsibility with them, always.
>
> We do hire other IC scheduler's. Monday we posted
> several hundred new shops. If someone is not able
> to work because of injury, a death in the family,
> etc. we notify our IC's so the shopper is not
> bothered. We also post it in our system so they
> are not further sent posts.
>
> A couple of issues I am having with this thread is
> this shopper told us she hurt her ankle working
> out at the gym. However, she posted on here it
> was on her way to work.
>
> So my company is not judged by her thread only,
> the parts of the email thread not posted by her
> are below, beginning to end. First email to me
> after I gave her the shop she requested:
>
> 10:56am
> I sprained my ankle at the gym this morning and
> must cancel this shop.
> I am very sorry for any inconvenience this may
> have caused you.
>
> My reply back:
>
> 11:06am
> It does not require anything physical. Do you want
> to reconsider?
>
> 11:15am
> I have to take transportation to get to the store
> and then walk. I must stay off my foot.
> (her name)
>
> Then my reply was the one she listed above. In the
> meantime we learned she posted she hurt her ankle
> on her way to work (above) not at the gym like she
> told us.
>
> As she states in her email above another company
> gave her another date. We offered the same
> courtesy within 5 minutes of hearing about her
> ankle. She declined stating she had to stay off
> it and had no transportation. She chose not to
> reschedule when offered.
>
> She was upset about my final response to her and
> wrote to me:
>
> 12:48pm
> I am a reliable shopper and do not cancel shops
> for a reason. I had to cancel another shop, and
> the scheduler was quite nice about it. If I was
> able to do your shop today, without walking, I
> would do it.
>
> Please note the shop was not due until the 22nd.
>
> My final email to her was not us wanting to wish
> ill will, just to let the other scheduler's who
> work for us or who request shoppers in her area
> she is out of commission.
>
> I wrote at 12:55:
> I was just trying to help. Usually if a shopper
> does something like this they ask for an
> extension, not cancel altogether. We all network
> so if someone needed a NY shopper I would not
> refer because you are so hurt. That's all, nothing
> personal.
>
> Our company spent a considerable amount of time
> regarding this shop--her very first shop with us
> that she cancelled due to injury. We are still
> not sure how her injury happened because she has
> stated two different reasons. But we still took
> the time to still offer her the shop, extend the
> shop, which she declined, and then told her we
> would let our other scheduler's/contacts know not
> to bother her and to not take our email to extend
> that offer personal.
>
> I feel it’s only fair when a very reputable
> company gets posts like this that only tells ½ the
> story it’s reasonable for us to tell the other ½.
> From there others can judge the full story and
> decide how unreasonable we were or were not with
> this shopper.
>
> Thank you for your time reading the other ½ of the
> story and we hope to work with some of you in the
> future.


Seems very professional reply. What do you do when the company wants their website "Mystery Shopped"

Drachsi

While I agree it's not required for an IC to state a reason for cancellation, from the standpoint of courtesy, it's prudent. I've been fortunate in that the overwhelming number of people with whom I've been involved in shopping have been outstanding from both a business and personable standpoint. To date, there have been a few folks where our personalities weren't a good fit, but only 1 @#$%&. The details are included in the next paragraph.

As to the threatening tone of the scheduler, I've only encountered that once in my yrs. in this business. I had a buyer's club assignment to first call the store, but they neither answered the phone nor returned my messages. I mailed the scheduler after each of 3 calls, only to have her accuse me of being a flake and issue her statement of notifying others of my action. I immediately requested deactivation and mailed the owner I would pursue a civil suit if this matter weren't laid to rest; the owner agreed. End of story!

It's my opinion Laurie was unjustified in making identities an issue. The "I said, she said" is debatable, but it certainly appeared to my eye as though a veiled threat was being issued.

Laurie1111 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I agree about it being odd to not disclose names.
> I was wondering the same thing when I saw all
> these posts have no names, first or last, on here.
> I went through this entire thread and many others
> before choosing to not post mine---no one else has
> so I thought this was normal for this board.
>
> It doesn't matter how/when she got injured. The
> shop is canceled because of it and we let our
> other scheduler's know she has an inury and per
> her reply, did not re book it for her.
>
> Now, I did not start this post but for those who
> chose to email me directly via the 'private'
> section and disclose their names to me I responded
> in kind.
>
> The person who started this thread chose not to
> disclose my name company or hers. No one here
> discloses their names either. I have to question
> that in general and why I am getting flack for
> following the protocal that appears to be standard
> on this board.
>
> Anyway, I am putting this to rest. I responded at
> 7pm last night and now again at 6:30am. I am
> going to get back to work and put this to rest.


I still think you're missing the point. It's not about names or why someone was injured (although your first post made it quite clear that you were doubting the shopper's story and you proceeded to repeat that more than once). We're baffled that you would take it upon yourself to tell other schedulers of a shopper's injury. Do you do this every time someone cancels a shop?

This would have gone down so much differently if you'd just fessed up to sending a nasty email and apologized. THAT's what this is about. Someone had the courtesy to cancel rather than flake, giving a valid reason for the cancellation. You chose to doubt them, send a threatening/nasty response, then took some time to seek them out on a shopper's forum and try to justify yourself.

We're not dumb. What you did was mean and wrong and we're calling you out on it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2011 04:12PM by MtlShopper.

'We're baffled that you would take it upon yourself to tell other schedulers of a shopper's injury. Do you do this every time someone cancels a shop?'

No, of course not. Shoppers have a cancellation rate of 30% across the board industry wide. 75% rate for new shoppers who have never completed a shop.

This means for one reason or the other 30% of experienced shoppers don't complete their shop by the due date. It could be a death in the family (12 this week) It could be a car accident (23 this week) or it could be a number of other things.

75% of new shoppers for a company, even if experienced with other MS companies, just don't bother to respond to any email even though they requested the shop.

This is just the reality of scheduling. We know this going into this industry.

With that said and given these statistics, a lot of repuatable MS companies refer their great shoppers with each other. Yes, it takes time to do this, but it also gives the great shoppers more work! Something that is appreciated by all, especially our great shoppers who want the income.

Do scheduler's in this industry network like the shoppers do on this thread? Of course. Do we share 50 cancellations and why? No.