@mystery2me wrote:
I did it once when I started. Was supposed to call a senior home to get them to mail me brochures. Turned out I needed to grill the rep for dozens of prices and other details.
@mystery2me wrote:
I did it once when I started. Was supposed to call a senior home to get them to mail me brochures. Turned out I needed to grill the rep for dozens of prices and other details.
@ceasesmith wrote:
Years ago, I accepted a "big box store" shop that required interaction in 3 different departments.
The guidelines were a mish-mash of contradictions. I read them carefully and wrote down every question I had. I then wrote a polite e-mail to the scheduler asking for clarification. Her reply was: "I don't have time to answer your questions. Follow the guidelines." I cancelled the shop, and to this day, refuse to accept assignments from that scheduler.
Sorry, but if you don't have time to answer questions, I don't have the time to do your shop -- and risk not being paid because the guidelines were contradictory, confusing, poorly written (actually written for another store, and the wording not changed, just the name of the store! And the two stores had totally different departments, procedures for returns, etc. For example, my guidelines said to get a business card in each department -- and the store doesn't provide business cards for employees!), and basically impossible to follow.
@hbbigdaddy wrote:
I do not cancel often, but when i do...it's exactly for these reasons!
The national sports bar that struggles to get filled with 1 hour minimum at location and heavy question/narrative on cash handling and alcohol pour is an example of one I bailed on. I don't mind writing and sometimes get mad when the narrative fields have a max number of character. But being told I have to write all this is different from me wanting to explain what I observed. Now I feel like I'm forced to find things to say to meet the minimum text.
I'm more about quick hits now. I don't want to be spending an hour at a location and then an hour (or more) writing about it. I can do quicker places and make more $ in the process.
@olympia tennenbaum wrote:
@hbbigdaddy wrote:
I do not cancel often, but when i do...it's exactly for these reasons!
The national sports bar that struggles to get filled with 1 hour minimum at location and heavy question/narrative on cash handling and alcohol pour is an example of one I bailed on. I don't mind writing and sometimes get mad when the narrative fields have a max number of character. But being told I have to write all this is different from me wanting to explain what I observed. Now I feel like I'm forced to find things to say to meet the minimum text.
I'm more about quick hits now. I don't want to be spending an hour at a location and then an hour (or more) writing about it. I can do quicker places and make more $ in the process.
Yeah, I'm with you. i need more value for my time.
Read a sample with insane level of detail demonstrated for alcohol proceedures. Jigger used for this, free pour for that, according to the count method that was 4.5 oz of ..... Too much for me. All this while expecting that you're having several drinks and paying cash and watching everyone in the entire establishment and also naming, describing, etc. Just driving to these places is worth more than $10 let alone all of that work.
As a newer shopper I'm starting to learn by watching which jobs just sit and sit and sit on the boards. I've been avoiding them thinking if no one is taking them there must be a reason.
@GinnyLynn wrote:
More than once, I've got sucked into shops that were recruited as being simple but that were actually targeted, and these simple little shops would drag on for a week and sometimes more. Meanwhile, to come close to getting the shop right, if and when you ever do reach your target, you have to go through all 20 plus some pages of guidelines every single time you go back and try again, or you will most surely miss something, only to get called out and have your shop rejected, along with a reprimand, as fast as you can blink your eye.
Two of those were with the same company, recruited by the same scheduler, and I didn't know until I was in the shop that they were targeted. I slogged through, but the second time I got one of those, I took myself off that MSC's email list. The thing with these targeted shops is that all is cool if they pay accordingly, but a number will try to slip them in and pay like it is a short little shop, when it is not. I went back and signed back on later, thinking maybe it was just the one scheduler, and maybe I was hasty, but it seems that the same company has oddly hidden and time consuming requirements at every twist and turn. To compound the matter, the schedulers don't answer questions that quickly get shops rejected, and the latest is to redact various information on emails, which the best I can figure, I can get done if I get an Adobe subscription, which is money out of pocket every single month to do inordinately time consuming work for very little pay for a company that I had already decided wasn't worth working for.
As to the ditching, targeted shops were already on my ten-foot-pole list, and I've become a lot more assertive in ditching a shop when I get sucked into something with various hidden guidelines and sometimes downright deceptive schedule recruiting. One learns to politely say no. After a while, you learn to watch out for certain schedulers, and sometimes it is not worth being on any given MSC's email list at all. I know, I vented, but yes, it is an issue, and I've been burned on this one too.
@olympia tennenbaum wrote:
Another complaint is how threatening some of the forms are... if you are found knowingly or unknowingly falsifying info this will be rejected. If you fail to do x it will be rejected. If you don't respond within x it will be rejected. I get that parameters are needed but sometimes the wording just gives you a lot of pause as to whether or not something is worth your time and effort.
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@olympia tennenbaum wrote:
I'm reading this and I'm not quite sure what you're referring to but maybe I haven't encountered this kind of thing. I think I'm misunderstanding what you mean by targeted; could you elaborate on that please?
How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?
"Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."
-- Abraham Lincoln
@GinnyLynn wrote:
I still haven't figured out how to quote or answer a question, so I may have missed.
Anyway, to answer @olympia tennenbaum:
A targeted shop is when you have to shop a specific named person, instead of just the business. Ideally, and if you are lucky, you get it done on the first attempt. However, these can be a gamble, and I've had some of them stretch out to five or more attempts to contact the right person, and that is just with phone shops. I do not do on-site targeted shops at all. However, some of the better companies will pay you well to reach a certain target. That is something to be aware of if one is convenient enough to you to make it worth your while. They can be difficult and hit or miss to complete, and should be paid accordingly. Sometimes you will run into schedulers who don't mention that what is supposed to be a simple shop, and is paid like a simple shop, is actually a targeted shop that can stretch out for days or even weeks. That is what I was talking about. I got burned on a couple of those not too long ago.
And thank you all for the hints on how to redact an email without spending an arm and two legs to get it done. That helps.
@GinnyLynn wrote:
I have a fairly decent Android, and can do a lot, but not everything an iPhone can. However, I do most of my work on a work station computer. I have used Powerpoint to scribble through the various, but it was not honestly effective. Sometimes I will use text blocks if it is a whole block that needs to be covered up. The whole process is pretty cumbersome for a low paying assignment, which is why I kept looking for a better way. I had pretty much decided against even fooling with lower paid assignments that required such if I didn't find a more time and cost effective solution. These little extra chores some of the companies keep throwing in (without raising the pay) really eat into how much you actually make with the time you spend working. I've pulled away from some such. In my day job, I am an editor (mostly technical, not MSing), although I have been mystery shopping more and editing less since the pandemic hit, anyway, thus I mostly work at a computer.
@GinnyLynn wrote:
I have a fairly decent Android, and can do a lot, but not everything an iPhone can. However, I do most of my work on a work station computer. I have used Powerpoint to scribble through the various, but it was not honestly effective. Sometimes I will use text blocks if it is a whole block that needs to be covered up. The whole process is pretty cumbersome for a low paying assignment, which is why I kept looking for a better way. I had pretty much decided against even fooling with lower paid assignments that required such if I didn't find a more time and cost effective solution. These little extra chores some of the companies keep throwing in (without raising the pay) really eat into how much you actually make with the time you spend working. I've pulled away from some such. In my day job, I am an editor (mostly technical, not MSing), although I have been mystery shopping more and editing less since the pandemic hit, anyway, thus I mostly work at a computer.
@las30 wrote:
Years ago I accepted a pizza delivery shop for a company I had never worked with before. After accepting, the guidelines stated that I was not allowed to tip the driver. One of the questions was something along the lines of, “Did the delivery driver ask for a tip?”
I cancelled the shop explaining that I didn’t feel comfortable with not tipping the driver.
That kind of information has to be explained in the job description. Apparently the company disagreed and they said I was on probation yadda yadda. I had to do three jobs before I could be off probation.
I never applied for another. I figured they would have other crazy requirements that I wouldn’t know about ahead of time.
@rarararara wrote:
@olympia tennenbaum wrote:
Another complaint is how threatening some of the forms are... if you are found knowingly or unknowingly falsifying info this will be rejected. If you fail to do x it will be rejected. If you don't respond within x it will be rejected. I get that parameters are needed but sometimes the wording just gives you a lot of pause as to whether or not something is worth your time and effort.
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There are some seriously threatening guidelines. There is one shop which is actually pretty easy and frequently gets bonused a crazy amount, but I refuse to do it on principle because the whole report screams at the shopper and is incredibly insulting and accusatory.
@rarararara wrote:
@olympia tennenbaum wrote:
.
There are some seriously threatening guidelines. There is one shop which is actually pretty easy and frequently gets bonused a crazy amount, but I refuse to do it on principle because the whole report screams at the shopper and is incredibly insulting and accusatory.