I have done 20 shops for them and the last 4 days have been having trouble submitting the paperwork because their server kept timing out. I was doing everything right and their Client Operations Support Representative told me that if I was too stupid to figure it out then I shouldn't be working for them.. You have got to be kidding me?

I tried on several computers and followed all directions they gave and they blame it on me?


Will never do anything for them again.

Anyone else ever have this problem with them?

You know I read about people having trouble with time outs and I have never ever - knock on wood.

The only trouble I ever had for them was on a highly bonused covert gas station. I had to submit photos of the bathroom and they said I went to the wrong gas station because the pictures didn't match the ones from the month before. I absolutely positively went to the correct one and further more the bathroom was very dated so I was confident no redecorating had been done. It took some back and forth but there was no way I was backing down and all of a sudden it was ok and I was paid.

Liz

I've had very few problems with their reporting system. At one point I had shops for them almost weekly and can say it was a rare occasion when I would have an issue regarding a time out or anything else. If you are not using their accepted versions of IE then they will put the blame back on you. It does clearly state they are not compatible with other browsers. They are not the only company that requires specific browsers and in the big scheme of things, they requirements are much less onerous than all the other companies I work with that require any number of programs and software.

After 4 years and over 600 shops for this company, I have had more than my share of dealing with schedulers, editors, etc. and have only had one act in a way that was less than professional and still did not even border on what you are saying.

The only experience I've had with a timing out issue in the 5 years I've been shopping with CORI was on the version of Internet Explorer I used. CORI mentions the type of browser to use on their site.

Yes, I didn't figure out that only IE was the only acceptable one to use for a while, so I did get some time outs. If the response was truly that if you were too stupid to use it you shouldn't be shopping, I am shocked.

No problems at all with reports or payment from this company. I have had some malfunction happen when I was selecting shops however.

I've never had a problem with CoRI timing out. I have; however, had problems with BellSouth timing out for years............and even when it does, my CoRI report is still there.

I use Firefox too, lol. I don't switch to IE for CoRI. I figured out how to center the report and get done.

OMG!!! I am steaming mad right now over them. Seriously, I just got off their website and wanted to see what some of our seasoned shoppers thought and boom there you are.
kmiarussi, I thought they were a joke from the beginning but now I...ughhh! I can spit nails. Ok. What I am going to do is copy and paste what I wrote so you will know what happened. No, I did not send it but I need feed back. Has anyone ever sent a letter like this to a so called shopping company?
Here it is...
I have spent the last 2 hours studying to qualify for a shop only to finally find out that the pay is only five dollars. I have 2 pages of notes about what all they expect from this shop and it would take me at least two hours including the return. That is not even minimum wage. I am not in this to get rich but I am also not doing this to get taken advantage of. That is plain crazy. I don't get why you would think someone would put that much time and work into something to only get paid 2.50 an hour. Besides that, the training was chock full of unfinished words and repeated sentences which I would be counted off on my report if my work was that shabby. I have heard talk of boycotting and I just might encourage it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2012 05:37AM by Lorilu.

Lorilu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OMG!!! I am steaming mad right now over them.
> Seriously, I just got off their website and wanted
> to see what some of our seasoned shoppers thought
> and boom there you are.
> kmiarussi, I thought they were a joke from the
> beginning but now I...ughhh! I can spit nails. Ok.
> What I am going to do is copy and paste what I
> wrote so you will know what happened. No, I did
> not send it but I need feed back. Has anyone ever
> sent a letter like this to a so called shopping
> company?

NO, because I am not naive or newbie enough to take that shop for $5 in the first place. If you will delete the name of your client from your post (which is a violation of your ICA) and just bide your time, the fees will go up. I did the same shop last week for over $18, lol. I've never done it for less than $12 and I've done quite a few.

Sorry. My bad. I knew I wasn't suppose to mention names but I let the moment take over. How do I delete it??? I figured it out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2012 05:38AM by Lorilu.

They hide the pay until you get qualified and then the boom is lowered. So,3offthecharts do you think I should chock this up as experience? Live and learn for the newbie. Are you saying you would let it go? You don't think it would do any good to let them know what we think of their so called "pay"? I wasted 2 hours of my life...I know...a little dramatic. Well, humph!!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2012 05:44AM by Lorilu.

Lorilu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They hide the pay until you get qualified and then
> the boom is lowered. So,3offthecharts do you think
> I should chock this up as experience? Live and
> learn for the newbie. Are you saying you would let
> it go? You don't think it would do any good to let
> them know what we think of their so called "pay"?
> I wasted 2 hours of my life...I know...a little
> dramatic. Well, humph!!!


But you didn't really - you are now ready for the shop when the commission rises to the amount you feel is worthy of taking the shop...granted it might never, but I do so many CORI shops for 20 plus dollars that started out at 3-4, I find if its a company I am going to want to shop it is good to get the "training" out of the way so I am ready to take that shop once the commission hits an appropriate level.

Liz

I was using the most recent and up to date version of IE and I know that that is their own accepted browser. The only reason I began using Firefox is because I was so frustrated with it not working and thought I would try firefox as it is and Open source browser(meaning usually most everything will work on it that works on IE).. and it worked for one report.


I think the company needs to hire another mystery shop to evaluate their customer service. As a newbie with them it is near impossible to get in contact with anyone as they do not post their phone numbers on the site(have to wait to hopefully get an email from a real person to get a number) and they either don't answer emails or take a very long time responding.

For the Representative to outright call me stupid is unexceptable as I have a near perfect rating with them(as you know your rating starts out at 3/5 and goes up as you compete shops)...

And their online chat support is a joke as well, if you are say the 9th in line and you have been waiting 15 minutes they KICK YOU OFF and you have to reenter at the back of the line?? Why have a time limit on waiting, if a person wants to wait all day then it's our choice. I spent literally 2 hours trying to get into chat only to be kicked off every 15 minutes because they are taking so long.

Yes they pay quick and fairly well if you can wait out the commission(if no one else scoops it up before you) but I just spent the better half of my weekend(which is my bad luck on the scheduling) attempting to do work for them. All this started friday morning.

I agree that their training is "extensive" but really could be broken down to a much faster and easier format. The jobs start out fairly low here as well but as there isn't very many other shoppers here(montana) I can wait it out and get a better commission.


I love that they have a zillion slides on the training only to have 10-12 questions on the quiz..lol

Okay. The reality is this, any time you see a new shop be aware the starting fee is $4 or $5, that way you don't have to surprised. If you can't make up your mind about taking the training, wait for the daily e-mails to arrive with the most recent commission increases. When a shop looks like it's sitting there and going up every other day, then take the training and test. Unlike companies who offer, fast, easy and fun shops, CORI tends to make theirs look much more complicated than they really are. It can take longer to complete the training and quiz than the actual shop and report

If you have any issues, don't hesitate to call and ask for the scheduler. They will speak to you, they will help you. If you feel wronged by a specific scheduler, speak to someone else. CORI schedulers are not available 24/7, but they are there during normal business hours Monday through Friday and often have a skeleton crew available on Saturdays for several hours. That is much more than other companies I've worked with. Another major player has independent schedulers. I was stuck with one who only worked from about 6 pm to 9 pm at night. Once I made the mistake of calling her (through the company line mind you) at 9:30 am and the phone was answered by her none to happy husband who I had just awakened.

I never get emails from them and always have to go to the site to find out if the fee's have gone up. How do I get emails sent to me? I've only done work for them for a few months and have not have any issues so far. I just went ahead and took all of the training for every client they have in my area so I'm prepared to grab a shop if the fee is reasonable for me.

ahmaynard Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I never get emails from them and always have to go
> to the site to find out if the fee's have gone up.
> How do I get emails sent to me? I've only done
> work for them for a few months and have not have
> any issues so far. I just went ahead and took all
> of the training for every client they have in my
> area so I'm prepared to grab a shop if the fee is
> reasonable for me.


Sign in, then poke around in your profile or whatever they call it, settings or whatever it is. There is a way. I get emails from CoRI almost daily informing me of shop-fee increases.

And on a related note, yes the training is kinda tedious, but you only have to endure it once for each client, so it's not a matter of time-per-hour. Fastest way I found to pass the training is:

1) PRINT the test.
2) Watch the STANDARD presentation (not the Video) while checking off the correct answers.
3. Submit.

Lorilu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have spent the last 2 hours studying to qualify
> for a shop only to finally find out that the pay
> is only five dollars. I have 2 pages of notes
> about what all they expect from this shop and it
> would take me at least two hours including the
> return. That is not even minimum wage. I am not in
> this to get rich but I am also not doing this to
> get taken advantage of. That is plain crazy. I
> don't get why you would think someone would put
> that much time and work into something to only get
> paid 2.50 an hour. Besides that, the training was
> chock full of unfinished words and repeated
> sentences which I would be counted off on my
> report if my work was that shabby. I have heard
> talk of boycotting and I just might encourage it.

Really? You would write this letter and actually send it? What would be the point? If you don't like the wage being offered, don't take the job. If you don't like to take tests, CORI may not be the ideal MS for you. If you feel it's a waste of time to certify for shops, maybe MSing is not for you.

If you feel it necessary to send this letter, expect the MSC to fire you as they will deem you to be difficult, lazy and unmotivated. From their point of view, all their other shoppers jump through the hoops, why shouldn't you? Threatening them with boycott at the end is just the icing on the cake. Seriously? Do you think your letter will cause them to change their certification program or change their fees? LOL!

I can appreciate your vent but you might want to think again about actually sending such a letter.

Why is this a constant topic with CoRI and the sad thing is most of these people that post these, "OMG CoRI is the worst, they pay peanuts!" have worked for them before and know how they work. I love CoRI and they are one of my favorite companies to work for and even as a newbie I could tell that those jobs were far more work than $4 but I have no problem doing them all day for $30. Just wait for them to get bonused folks, that is all.

Also done many shops for CoRI and never had an issue with their website or submitting reports.

CORI was the second company for me, Market Force was the first. Not exactly high paying shops. When I saw the fees CORI was paying all I could think was, "how in the hell do shoppers make money at this?" I also did not take any of the jobs. It was after being registered with them for almost 2 months that a scheduler contacted me with a bonus on a job 5 minutes from my house. My first experience with being called directly and my first bonus. Bottom line, I didn't have to take any low-paying shops to figure out it was not worth my time. The phone call and bonus offer taught me how this really works and after that there was no stopping me!

As several of us have said before, if you don't like'em, don't take the shops. Save all the big bonuses for us!

No, No, No Don't shop for CORI

...that will leave more shops for ME...I love CORI and their HIGH PAYING shops.

Expecting a direct deposit of over $300 soon...for relatively easy peasy shops.

I wish I had known of them sooner, and that they had more clients in my area. I did my first shop for them in early December, and was paid before I could file the paperwork. I don't have time to take a lot of tests, and I don't want to deal with a lot of shops that require pictures. So, I wait for the shops I like to increase and, like everyone else, I grab them.

Perfect example of one person's treasure is another's trash. I would suggest that like with any relationship, not to spend time stressing and move on. They are sucessful w/ their system and I doubt will change any time soon.
Remember to check out my new cable show on MSN (Mystery Shopping Network): Dr Cyn hosts Mystery Shopper Rehab. Next topic: Why to schedulers ignore me? Don't they like me?

Hmmmm....let me guess...Jennifer Lieber? I would call the phone number for CORI, ask to speak to a supervisor, and repeat exactly what you were told. If you PM me, I think I still have the name and extension of her supervisor. I have never been treated like I was stupid or incompetent- except by a CORI employee. kmiarussi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have done 20 shops for them and the last 4 days
> have been having trouble submitting the paperwork
> because their server kept timing out. I was doing
> everything right and their Client Operations
> Support Representative told me that if I was too
> stupid to figure it out then I shouldn't be
> working for them.. You have got to be kidding me?
>
>
> I tried on several computers and followed all
> directions they gave and they blame it on me?
>
>
> Will never do anything for them again.
>
> Anyone else ever have this problem with them?

So right Jaosmom...

Okay, Okay, I did not send the letter and being a newbie I did not know that a $4 job could jump to a $20 job. I will be patient. Thanks for all of the advice and some of the gentle repremands. I do like MSing and I am glad we had this forum so I could get feed back from the experts. I will try CORI again. I have never shopped for them and was just shocked that's all. Lorilu thanks you all.

ROTFL!

cynb Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Remember to check out my new cable show on MSN
> (Mystery Shopping Network): Dr Cyn hosts Mystery
> Shopper Rehab. Next topic: Why to schedulers
> ignore me? Don't they like me?

I really like working for them, but my first big box home improvement shop about drove me to tears. There is no way to save your work until you are done, and I lost my data several times by hitting the back button or something. I finally started copy and pasting all those narratives, but even that is such a pain.

I have been doing them for some time now. Daily I do around five jobs. Around the third one I get timed out but if I wait a bit I can get it to go in. I use I.e. like they suggest. It could be the time of day because I usually go on after lunch. It is frustrating but not a deal br
eaker because I get steady income from them.

I have a question about bonuses. When the scheduler calls you on the phone do you try to negotiate a higher fee?
Also, how do you make sure they do pay you the bonus you were promised?
Thank you.