I went to one of my red and blue gas stations twice and the c-store was closed but the pumps were on. The 2nd time I arrived at the station I checked the guidelines. The guidelines stated that if you could make a purchase do the shop. It stated that if the location was unmanned or a kiosk location but you could buy gas do the shop. Now it does not have specifics that if the c-store was closed and the pumps were on but based upon the above I completed the entire shop. They reduced the pay by half and told me that it should have been done as a closed location, however, the guidelines do not say so.

Was it Exxon? I did one where there was no one present and bought gas with a credit card since the pumps were on. There was no store. I was paid in full for the shop. It was highly unusual because in NJ we can't pump our own gas, so I don't know why the station was even operational, but whatever. I would escalate this to someone else. Sounds wrong to me.

did you make the phone call and they stated the C store would be open?

I've also completed some where the store had been permanently closed starting with Covid. I was always paid in full for the shop. My view is if they sell gas, the place is open.

@jazzzyjd wrote:

did you make the phone call and they stated the C store would be open?

@jazzyjd Do you make phone calls to every gas station you will do before going? If so, what is the percentage of stores that answer their phone compared to the total stores you call. If the store does not answer after calling a few times, do you decline the shop and return it to the MSC?

I've found that more than half of the places I call don't even answer the phone. I don't call every place either. I might call a remote place to make sure they are open or what time they open on a Sunday so that I can work it in if they have early hours. Instead of having an answering machine with their hours, some of them ring 4 times and then there is a beep where you leave a message and the rest just ring forever or up to the limit where there is an auto hang up.

I've visited some gas stations during peak daylight hours where the pumps are on, but the c-store is temporarily closed. If there is only one clerk, they need to close up if they have to use the restroom or worse clean them. You look into the c-store and you don't see an employee. Another time a gas station had to reboot the system so they closed the whole place down fore court and back court. They did this after a customer had finished pumping gas, but then he knocked on the door saying he needed a receipt. The clerk told the customer that he was out of luck unless he wanted to wait the 20 minutes before the system would be back up. There was another time that the pumps were on, but the c-store had a sign reading due to staffing issues they had closed early at 5 pm and would reopen the next day at 6 am. In this case, a phone call to confirm hours, had they answered, would not have helped.

@F and L TeleComm , like @MsJudi explained, escalate it to someone else.

Exxon says you must call first. But I only had a few that actually answered the phone. Only ONE was closed, but it had been open just a few days previous.

But she said red and blue, to me that usually means Chevron. I am not familiar with Customer First shops, so I just don't know the rules for shopping a partially open location.

I sent her a screenshot of the guidelines and she responded with, "what is it you want to appeal? the shop was approved and you were paid. First of all the pay was cut to half without reimbursement. Second, of all I haven't been paid yet AT ALL. I believe the store is going out of business because they opened a brand new, built from the ground up, Chevron two doors down! I went twice during open hours-the second time I went earlier in the day and they were closed then as well. It's not my fault they closed the store and left the pumps on, maybe they want to sell the rest of the gas out, I don't know. But I think it's absolutely ridiculous!

I went to a red and blue Marathon yesterday and it was closed. I didn't realize it was closed when I first arrived because there was a vehicle at the pump. I opened the shop on my phone and logged the date at time before I got out of my vehicle. I saw a port a john in the parking lot near where I parked so I snapped a photo for the restroom question. I saw the sign on the door stating that the only restroom was the one in the parking lot.

When I tried to open the store door it was locked. (Tuesday early afternoon) The person parked at the pump was then also trying to get into the store because she couldn't get the pump to work. After looking for a sign anywhere explaining why they were closed, I found hours of operation in another window that said "closed Tuesday." This station is on a busy main road so I thought that was strange.

Since the due date for the shop was still a few days away I figured I would go back today (Wednesday) when I was passing through on the way to other work. Last night I deleted the photos of the port a john and storefront that I had taken when I thought it was closed without notice. I also tried to clear out the date and time that I had entered when I got there yesterday so that I would not have old info when I did it today.

This morning the assignment was still in my open shops. When I got to the location the assignment was gone. It had been moved into my completed file and I was given a 1/10 with no pay. No other assignments had been graded yet but this one. I never submitted it since I did not complete it. If I had submitted it, it would not have gone through since there was not a single photo loaded or any questions answered.

I sent an email, but, well, ....... I'm sure it went to the mail box named "we don't give a "$#17" you loose!!"

yeah I think they put a timer on some of them when you open them and start them. The crazy thing is they did that number on me and SWEAR that I submitted it as incomplete (which is impossible because Sassie shows you unanswered questions when you try to submit). But an Exxon that I started on accident (inputting in the wrong shop) stayed on my board for 5 days till after it was due! I couldn't get to it and when I went the first time they were closed. I believe they left it on my board and waited for me because it was for base pay and if they pulled it and put it back on the board they would have had to up the pay.

I've had a similar experience a few years ago w/the same MSC but not Exxon. I had started inputting the data but intended to complete later that evening (on WiFi) before midnight. In my case, I believe the scheduler had pushed it through as completed.

Currently, NOTHING sits on my board beyond the due date. If I haven't input the shop info before the due date I'll let it expire. Oh well. I've been known to flake (lately) and maybe they know it. On ONE occasion, a shop reappeared with a bonus. I accepted and completed it that day w/bonus. I'm not a habitual flake and I've never intentionally tried to game the system.

Did you arrive outside of normal business hours? For instance, if the store is only open from 6:30 am to 515pm and you arrive at 6 pm, how are you supposed to evaluate the customer service if you arrive after the store is closed? You should not be paid since you arrived after hours, whether the pump was on or not.

If you arrived at 4:30 pm and it was closed, but the pumps were on, shop like you normally would.

It is in the guidelines.

The posted hours for the store were past when I arrived BOTH TIMES! duh... I've been doing this a long time both times I went the store was supposed to be open. In actuality, the posted hours for this store is "open 24 hours". The first time I went was on Sunday around 4. I went back again on a weekday, still daylight because sometimes stores close on Sunday, maybe the hours aren't updated. But on that block the 2nd time, Everything was still open EXCEPT this store, even the fish house next door. We all know fish houses close early.
PS: Someone upped the pay for this shop. It was not accurate exactly but my disputing it in this case was effective because someone put the pay at a different amount. I'm not going to complain about the new amount even though it wasn't itemized correctly, it's close enough that I'm satisfied.

sounds like you were able to get a resolution that you were happy with