I have to somewhat defend Nikki here, although I know a lot of people have had trouble with her. While I think she could use a re-work of her email templates and some tips on more effective communications, I've never had a problem with her. I had to cancel a shop a few years ago at the very last-minute because my son had a medical emergency. Although I didn't get a reply to my email cancelling the shop, and I did get a 1 on the shop, I wasn't blocked from self-assigning nor was there any negative pushback.

I also did a multi-part, month-long project for her, which was pretty labor-intensive, and I had to ask a few questions. She always responded quickly, gave me the answers I needed, and was friendly. At the end of the shop, I got paid the fee, but not the reimbursement, which was a significant amount. I contacted her and she put me in touch with the person who could help, and I got my $$.

Haven't dealt with Elise much. I did cancel a shop once because I'd taken it based on an email that said there was a bonus on it. When I checked my jobs, there was no bonus listed, so I contacted her and she said that the email was a mistake and there was no bonus. I told her I couldn't do it without, so she cancelled it. But no repercussions from that, either.

Maybe some schedulers don't handle the stress of the job as well as others and get defensive, angry, etc. No excuse for being rude to shoppers or retaliating, but I wonder if some schedulers might be happier doing something else.

Purple,

Thank you for the most unusually gracious compliment I recall ever receiving. Except for the 21 mos. when I failed in my attempts to free a woman I loved from drugs, I have been blessed with a fulfilling life.

@wrosie wrote:

. . . Nikki does the East Coast and someone else, possibly Robin, does the West.

I'm on the East Coast and I get emails for shops from Abby Morgan as well as both Nikki and Elise.

A testimonial:

Years ago, I worked with Nikki Atkins on several big route projects. I then worked with her off and on for a half dozen years as she cycled through a handful of MSPs. Her time with most of these companies was drama-filled and always ended poorly.

I ended the relationship when she adjusted and then lied about my shop fees. I produced the evidence that affirmed my claim. Nikki answered with an email labeling me as “obsessed” - just because I had made screenshots and saved correspondence in order to protect my profit margin.

I started to fire back an angry email, then paused and looked at my email address field. Where I had typed “Nikki@“ it had auto-filled a half-dozen different MSPs, all of which she was no longer affiliated with due to her unprofessional behavior.

Suddenly I realized: She will never change. She’s done this over and over, and she always gets rehired.

As others have pointed out, a couple of unprofessional schedulers have left a lingering stench in this industry that, oddly enough, Reality Based Group has no problem with and has tolerated for years. And - as others have also chimed in - I haven’t done a single shop for RBG, even though I’m still on their active shopper list, because any company that hired her on and is happy with the way she treats their evaluators is not one that I’m going to pick up assignments for.

Sadly, I predict that there will be no consequences for this latest act. All that I (we) can do is stand in solidarity and stop accepting assignments for companies who employ unprofessional, abusive schedulers. Maybe then there will be some change.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2023 04:19PM by ColoKate63.

To those of you who have had issues with these two schedulers, does it only happen when you need to cancel or reschedule? I have worked with both and have never had a problem, But, I have never had to ask to reschedule or cancel a shop. I'm certainly not questioning the validity of the complaints, just wondering if there is a common theme?

@kathygry wrote:

To those of you who have had issues with these two schedulers, does it only happen when you need to cancel or reschedule? I have worked with both and have never had a problem, But, I have never had to ask to reschedule or cancel a shop. I'm certainly not questioning the validity of the complaints, just wondering if there is a common theme?

My issues with the scheduler that I referenced centered around payment. My experience was that AFTER the assignments had been submitted, graded and approved for the client, the bonuses disappeared.

I have had it explained to me that it’s pretty common for schedulers get a “bonus account” - for example, $2500 - to pay out in order to get those last difficult shops filled. If they can get those orphan locations completed without dipping deeply into the bonus money, they get to keep all or most of that account as their reward for pushing the project across the finish line.

In other words, there’s a lot of incentive for a dishonest scheduler to make bonuses disappear after the work is submitted. Keep screenshots, emails, and receipts until you get paid, folks.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2023 04:16PM by ColoKate63.

Katie comments concerning Nikki Atkins--.......any company that hired her on and is happy with the way she treats their evaluators is not one that I’m going to pick up assignments for.

Bob's position--I agree.

Helena,

You possess an admirable quality: The ability to bring a smile to an octogenarian's face. Thank you for your comment.

@ColoKate63 wrote:

@kathygry wrote:

To those of you who have had issues with these two schedulers, does it only happen when you need to cancel or reschedule? I have worked with both and have never had a problem, But, I have never had to ask to reschedule or cancel a shop. I'm certainly not questioning the validity of the complaints, just wondering if there is a common theme?

My issues with the scheduler that I referenced centered around payment. My experience was that AFTER the assignments had been submitted, graded and approved for the client, the bonuses disappeared.

I have had it explained to me that it’s pretty common for schedulers get a “bonus account” - for example, $2500 - to pay out in order to get those last difficult shops filled. If they can get those orphan locations completed without dipping deeply into the bonus money, they get to keep all or most of that account as their reward for pushing the project across the finish line.

In other words, there’s a lot of incentive for a dishonest scheduler to make bonuses disappear after the work is submitted. Keep screenshots, emails, and receipts until you get paid, folks.

Wouldn't this be fraud on a scheduler's part? But then who do you report it to, which, I think, is what the original poster asked.

@wrosie wrote:

Wouldn't this be fraud on a scheduler's part? But then who do you report it to, which, I think, is what the original poster asked.

In my case, I ended up emailing the MSP’s owner. I had attended a conference and found his business card in my box of stuff from that event.

I got paid.

Fast forward a couple of months and she was no longer scheduling for that company. I suspect it had more to do with her behavior towards company management than the shoppers. We are at the bottom of the bottom of the totem pole, even though they talk a good game about how much they value our services, lolololol…

Edited to add: You know what would be handy here for shoppers in addition to the spreadsheet of pay dates? A list of contact emails for MSP leadership. A simply-worded, factual email sent above a scheduler’s head would help immensely when dealing with this sort of situation and curb the abuse.

Going forward, I’m considering forwarding the Reality Based Group executive whose email is given in this thread the “Shops are posted!” solicitations from RBG that I receive, together with a brief “I’m not picking any of your assignments this month because you employ unprofessional schedulers to handle your projects.”

Management and ownership need to know who they are employing and how well/how poorly they are representing their company, don’t you agree?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2023 08:05PM by ColoKate63.

Several months ago I received a mass email about a shop... I read the guidelines that were in the e-mail and I self assign.


I then looked at the guidelines that were attached to the report... I also looked over the report that I needed to fill out.. There were a couple of things that were mentioned there but they were not mentioned in the mass email.

I email asking which one do I do.. She said that she will get back with me.. A couple of days later, she said go with the guidelines on the forum/ in the report..

I thanked her for checking on that for me. I told to please cancel the shop for me.. She cancel the shop with no problems at all..

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2023 09:26PM by Isaiah4031a.

All of this commenting about RBG inspired me to open my remote hard drive and search for shops I had performed for that so named MSC.
It was almost 10 years ago that I fired the Reality Check MSC. I had asked for a $15 additional incentive for performing a shop for an unnamed business. I was denied with the scheduler advising that I was asking more than usual.
So there it sat.
BTW, as I remember those shops, they took at least 1 hour at the business, interacting with a named employee in each department. The report itself, took another 30 minutes.
I walked away, proud of myself for firing them, never looking back at those hooligans masquerading as an MSC.

Cheers and Happy St Patrick's Day to my partner and how we shall celebrate and to those who also do - as we look out onto our fields of the deep, deep last of winter's snow.

@ColoKate63 "I have had it explained to me that it’s pretty common for schedulers get a “bonus account” - for example, $2500 - to pay out in order to get those last difficult shops filled. If they can get those orphan locations completed without dipping deeply into the bonus money, they get to keep all or most of that account as their reward for pushing the project across the finish line."

"In other words, there’s a lot of incentive for a dishonest scheduler to make bonuses disappear after the work is submitted. Keep screenshots, emails, and receipts until you get paid, folks."

BINGO?

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.

I think Bob might be right. Between Nikki and Elise there's very few jobs available through RBG that don't have their names on them. I don't think I have done anything directly for them since Elise stole that money from me. I have tried one other time to do a job for RBG, but the scheduler wasn't willing to negotiate. And I watched for two more weeks and watch the offer go up to I think it was $45 or $50 bonus for a grocery store shop, and I don't think anybody ever took it. I wouldn't because the scheduler wouldn't wouldn't accept my offer of $20, when I was going to be driving past the store to get home. And it's far enough away that a $50 bonus isn’t enough to make a special trip.

It's been almost a year with only Elise's bad conduct and bad faith. And another scheduler that didn’t know a good thing when it was offered. So maybe RBG doesn’t need my services any more after more than 10 years?

I did go looking to see what was available around here couple days ago. There was nothing. There was one job on the job board and I didn't want to do it either. Maybe Nikki and Elise have scared away all the Shoppers in this area? Maybe the clients are going to other mystery shopping companies because they can't get any of the jobs done with RBG?