i had visited four banks for maritz today and key-entered 90% of the answers for the reports for each one, but not as yet uploading my scanned images. i had meticulously saved my key-entered answers on all four reports several times with confirmations that they had been saved, but yet needed to convert the file sizes first for 32 total scans prior to uploading.

i was well within the 12-hour deadline to get it all done. but guess what happens.

the editor cleared all of my answers prior to my uploads. i finally go to upload all of my scans, and all of my answers are completely cleared as if i had never entered them. on all four reports. i know that i didn't accidentally clear the answers myself, because it happened on all four reports. i had saved my work on each of the four reports several times along the process, and tediously double-checked that everything was saved for each report each time.

why is maritz erasing my answers prior to the completion of reports, even though it is two to three hours within the twelve hour deadline? they can't give me time to convert and upload my photos first or something?

i've only completed one successful job with maritz (my very first one) since i've started with them with no problems before. but now four jobs tonight (jobs 2 through 5 with them), they mess around and erase my answers hours before the deadline, when the answers were completely correct.

i already had one company before this which would prematurely close out my reports prior to completion. but now this one actually erases my meticulously saved work prior to completion. i'm always an hour or two within my deadline allotment whenever they do this, meaning that i'm hours early with no deadline violations.

what good is the 'save' button if they erase the work afterwards? i have other jobs to get done with other companies, but i've had to do the key-entry for the maritz jobs twice now. four of them. should i really trust this company in the future? i'm tempted to cancel all of my future jobs with them (8 more scheduled jobs) if they are going to pull this stuff. i just don't have the time for this again. this jeapoardizes my other jobs for other companies if i have to do the work twice in multiple reports. here i was all optimistic that i was getting involved with a better company after talking with the nice people on the phone.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2011 09:56AM by vince.

That happened to me with the Maritz bank shops awhile ago. I remember calling and asking what happened, but I can't remember what the reason was they gave me.

Lisa, how was it resolved?

lisams901 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That happened to me with the Maritz bank shops
> awhile ago. I remember calling and asking what
> happened, but I can't remember what the reason was
> they gave me.

the reason that they gave you probably wasn't a good one i bet.

I was just considering signing up with Maritz, but now I'm not so sure. There seems to be such little respect for the shopper from MSC's, and it's hard to take. Without us and our work, they have no job. I wonder if they've ever considered that.

I never had that problem with them or other companies, just other issues, which was why I terminated Maritz.

As a rule of thumb, when I return to the house from shops the first thing I do is scan receipts/business cards or other proofs. Then I deal with any photos or other materials to be uploaded. By then I have changed clothes and the coffee is brewed so I can settle down to report writing with all the materials ready to upload into the reports. I then start with the closest deadline shop if there is going to be any question about meeting deadlines. I usually save the report before reopening to attach receipts and photos, but the shop does not linger in just saved status for long.

UGH, Vince, I would be quite upset if that happened to me!! Did Maritz get back to you with any explanation?

Kinesis prematurely closed out one of my reports before I'd even paged to the final page (they don't have a 'submit' button), and they assigned a marked-down grade for "not completing" my survey even though they did so about 12 hours before the survey was due. It took me days to get the survey back so I could complete it (the editor had already completed it for me, which was interesting to read!) ... and another day and more emails to get my grade fixed. No apology or anything. I suppose I will wait to enter any data on their website until I can enter everything.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2011 05:09PM by PizzaPizza.

I'm of the same school as Flash. I take care of uploads, resizing, etc., first and then don't have to be distracted while reporting. At this point I rarely use my scanner. I don't like to upload video, then photos, then scan a few orphan items, too many steps. If a lot of photos or very detailed photos were required for any jobs it's easier to just use my camera for receipts and business cards. Otherwise, it's usually my phone on days when it's just a few business cards and/or receipts. I have to sync it anyway so better to kill two birds with one upload

I've had the same thing happen with Maritz. Their online reporting system is buggy as all get out. I hate it. I wrote when it happened and received a reply with an apology and the acknowledgement that this was "a known issue".

Don't EVER trust their option to save your report for later. Even if you see a confirmation, it's likely all your work will be erased. :/

When they know the report saving is problematic, why doesn't Maritz do the right thing and post a warning or just *remove* that option until it's fixed? Probably the same reason they don't use e-mail as a common means of communication -- they're behind the times and don't put a lot of effort into the user experience or consider shoppers' needs.

At one time if I logged out the information given was erased. I have not had that happen with the save button. I have completed a evaluation and when I checked all my responses they were blank and had to do it over. I finished them and called them the next day and was told they did have a problem and it was corrected.

Were you able to log back in and complete the report? I can't see why an editor would erase a report. That serves no purpose for them or for you.

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I never had that problem with them or other
> companies, just other issues, which was why I
> terminated Maritz.
>
> As a rule of thumb, when I return to the house
> from shops the first thing I do is scan
> receipts/business cards or other proofs. Then I
> deal with any photos or other materials to be
> uploaded. By then I have changed clothes and the
> coffee is brewed so I can settle down to report
> writing with all the materials ready to upload
> into the reports. I then start with the closest
> deadline shop if there is going to be any question
> about meeting deadlines. I usually save the
> report before reopening to attach receipts and
> photos, but the shop does not linger in just saved
> status for long.

Flash, this is exactly what I do!

I do the same, just without the coffee.

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I never had that problem with them or other
> companies, just other issues, which was why I
> terminated Maritz.
>
> As a rule of thumb, when I return to the house
> from shops the first thing I do is scan
> receipts/business cards or other proofs. Then I
> deal with any photos or other materials to be
> uploaded. By then I have changed clothes and the
> coffee is brewed so I can settle down to report
> writing with all the materials ready to upload
> into the reports. I then start with the closest
> deadline shop if there is going to be any question
> about meeting deadlines. I usually save the
> report before reopening to attach receipts and
> photos, but the shop does not linger in just saved
> status for long.

okay, thanks. today, i visited another shop in this series, and uploaded the scans first before filling out the questionnaire. everything worked fine today, but i didn't bother to save any work before finally submitting it.

PizzaPizza Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> UGH, Vince, I would be quite upset if that
> happened to me!! Did Maritz get back to you with
> any explanation?
>

i haven't even been able to get ahold of them yet, because it's the weekend and i have had other vital appointments. it appears that they don't have voicemail nor do i see an email link specific to the report to contact them. they only give an 800 number in the guidelines, but with no voicemail.

> Kinesis prematurely closed out one of my reports
> before I'd even paged to the final page (they
> don't have a 'submit' button), and they assigned a
> marked-down grade for "not completing" my survey
> even though they did so about 12 hours before the
> survey was due. It took me days to get the survey
> back so I could complete it (the editor had
> already completed it for me, which was interesting
> to read!) ... and another day and more emails to
> get my grade fixed. No apology or anything. I
> suppose I will wait to enter any data on their
> website until I can enter everything.

it seems like a lot of companies do this for this reason. i also experienced something somewhat similar with RSG last month on several occasions. they were closing out my reports before they were even submitted, even though the deadline hadn't even become due yet.

Deech Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Were you able to log back in and complete the
> report? I can't see why an editor would erase a
> report. That serves no purpose for them or for
> you.

it must be their computer system then. you can save your work with the save button, but it only saves your work for an hour or two. then it erases it. it's like filling out the report with evaporating ink.

Vince, great analogy.

Of course it is very flaky if it will only save work for a hour. I have a job scheduled to perform on 11/5. This is not for Maritz. I had preliminary work to report today about the arrangements. This has been input and saved while it is fresh in my mind. When 11/5 rolls around I will reopen the report and fully expect my work from today to still be there. I have done shops over the years that had partial reporting as things transpired over a month or so.

I didn't know it only saved it for an hour but then I have never saved it for long. I learn something everyday.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2011 07:42AM by Deech.

i don't know exactly how long it will save the work for, but all of my saved work for four different reports was lost just a few hours after it had confirmed saving my work.

vince: Perhaps in future you may want to finish report one at a time.

I would also suggest writing ***REPORT IN PROGRESS*** in the first comment box in case it's an editor who's wrongfully doing that. In case it's not, copy all your narrative into Word and save it. You'll still have to check all the answers again but that's a lot quicker than rewriting narrative for the entire report.

This has never happened to me with Maritz. For some reason I am thinking I read or was told at some point not to save a report or start a report until I am positive I can enter the entire thing. I can't remember the reason but I've always kept that in mind.

This has however happened to me with another shop for another company and let me tell you... I was in tears!!!!!!!

Sympathies, steffi. Which MSP do you want to alert us to?

Mert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sympathies, steffi. Which MSP do you want to
> alert us to?


Gosh, I don't even remember now but it was one of em using sassie and it only happened that one time.

AlwaysAngie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would also suggest writing ***REPORT IN
> PROGRESS*** in the first comment box in case it's
> an editor who's wrongfully doing that. In case
> it's not, copy all your narrative into Word and
> save it. You'll still have to check all the
> answers again but that's a lot quicker than
> rewriting narrative for the entire report.


After many lost 'saved" reports, I am now notorious for this. I do this with EPMS loooonngggg narratives too. I keep a Microsoft Word document open just in case I think a page may not refresh correctly in their system or if something seems a bit slow on my computer's end.

I do the same thing with using Word. Especially if its a long narrative or a bunch of narratives. I've had it happen too many times where I go to submit and the page freezes and I have to reload the page and everything is gone!