txmedia Wrote:
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> I shopped at a wireless store. Two of the three
> didnt have business cards and I dont have a
> digital camera. The shops did give me a catalog
> and wrote their name. The company wont accept the
> catalogs. I can not drive around for free. It is
> not my fault a company does not have business
> cards. MCP should trust their shoppers and not
> treat them like lying thugs.

I have done these shops. MCP specifically says in the instructions that you MUST either provide a business card OR a photo of the outside of the location or you will not be paid. It is not MCP's fault that you do not have a digital camera. They can't be expected to pay you for a shop that they cannot use. Read the instructions before performing shops and understand that if the requirements are not met, you will not be paid.

Unfortunately in this business, there are too many shoppers that have been caught cheating which makes the need for proof a necessity. The process for signing up for most companies is minimal and there is no formal interview process and reference checks this is what they need to do.

While some of the guidelines don't drive me nuts, providing proof of a visit isn't one of them. If they actually gave you multiple ways to provide it, then I don't think that refusing to pay for not doing the job requested is unreasonable.

Most jobs, whether MSing or other areas, have some expectations. With MSing a mistake will only cost you for that one visit and you can just go out again the next day, while with other jobs the mistake could cost you your sole source of income.

A couple of notes from what I'm reading here:

In the case of MCP, it's best to use the link in your shop to contact your scheduler. I'll give you an example. David does not work weekends. SSE has been scheduling the exit interview project (which ends today). Frequently we get an email forwarded to us on Monday for a shopper who wanted to know something about their Saturday visit. If they had used the shopper contact link, we would have gotten it right away and responded right away. We can't really help when we get it two days after the fact.

About shoppers and validation: If the location didn't have any business cards, they surely had brochures or some other sort of collateral that you should have picked up and ASKED it it would be accepted. And, when you talk to that salesperson, if you had asked them for a business card and they didn't have any, it has been my experience that they will write their name/phone number on a brochure, which is fine as well in most cases. It doesn't seem like the company is asking too much for some sort of proof. In today's age of cell phone cameras, it's very unusual to find someone who can't provide either paper proof or photo proof.

Now, with that said, the reason you have to provide proof is that the end client requires it, AND because there is an alarming number of people out there looking for creative ways to falsify shops. In the past two weeks I have caught shoppers screenshotting Google maps street views and submitting them as proof of shop (we can tell when you do that - don't do that.) I have caught people photoshopping business cards and misspelling the brand on the card. And, in a high end age limited shop that I have been scheduling myself, I have been shocked at the number of shoppers changing their dates of birth in order to apply. Here's a tip - companies can often tell, and it gets you deactivated forever. Shoppers with 100+ shops in their history are no longer shoppers due to doing this.

Just be honest.

I shouldn't find the photoshopping of the business cards amusing, however, if you're going to take the effort to be deceptive at least make sure you spell the name right!

It almost seems like more work to "fake it" than to just do the shop to begin with. I also had to chuckle about the misspelling.

I really love working with this company! I wish they has more shops in myu area ALL the time.

How about this novel idea? Go out, perform your shop, take a REAL picture, get a REAL business card, get the name of the associate, get all your information and when leaving... get a REAL picture of the business.

Doesn't the offending shopper realize that MCP has picture "OF" the business already and they KNOW if you are throwing in a cut and paste, an adobe "do-over"or a BS photo from who-knows-where?

Ban the offending shopper forever... to save room for us that are honest and amazing I know...um... who are "Actually" DOING the shop, per the clients instructions...

I think the shoppers that pull this stuff should be banned from all MS companies. TO the honest, ethical shoppers, who work very hard at this, it's an insult and exactly "why" we have to provide photos, pictures, business cards, brain scans, fingerprints, and voice recognition (pretty soon!) ugh...

SunnyDays2 Wrote:
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> Doesn't the offending shopper realize that MCP has
> picture "OF" the business already and they KNOW if
> you are throwing in a cut and paste, an adobe
> "do-over"or a BS photo from who-knows-where?
>
This is absolutely true: they do already know exactly what the building looks like. I did one cell phone shop in a strip shopping center and snapped a great picture of the door. The address was on the upper corner of the building. The cell phone place was in the center and had a number 7 on the door. I got a response from a MCP editor, not very tactfully worded, telling me I had shopped the wrong location with the wrong address and provided a bad picture. I was absolutely certain I had not and sent a tactful but strongly worded response. I got an immediate answer from Dustin who said "She is wrong. I can tell by the picture that you shopped the right place. Everything's OK. Don't worry about it."

It would have never occurred to me that someone would try to fake a picture - is it not easier to just go and take the picture?

I am thinking that some shoppers are not going to the location and tried to get paid with fake info. But then how would they get the employee name?

I like MCP a lot. I do agree with those who've posted saying it's really frustrating to have requested shops sit out as requested for weeks. It's hard to plan routes when key waypoints are in limbo. We route shoppers want to help out with the work and we'll go to where it is, but we need to be able to plan.

I have a catalog with the employee's name and phone no. written and I scanned such. Still not a go. Until I get a dig. camera I guess I should avoid such jobs?

A digital camera orphone that takes good pics. is absolutely necessary in this job.

Well now that you are sounding a little more reasonable, for these shops and many others you must take a photo of the exterior. It clearly states that in the guidelines In fact it states that if you cannot take a photo, do not apply! This is standard procedure for a lot of shops. You can buy an inexpensive $20 dig camera, try Walmart. They are not with the other cameras, but in blister packs and they will work fine for your purposes.
Strongly suggest that you chill, read the guidelines carefully b4 you accept any shop. If this is so stressful for you maybe not do it.

cynb is absolutely correct. Read before accepting any shop. If the detailed instructions are not available before you accept, read ASAP and email the schedler to decline immediately if you find that you really cannot perform according to the detailed instructions. Waiting until the last minute to read the details may mean that when you have to withdraw you will get a "flake" citation.

In future, if you simply miss a requirement because you did not notice it or just plain forgot, it is best to just 'fess up ASAP, telling the scheduler, in essence, "No excuses, I goofed. It won't happen again." AND, if you notice that you goofed before sending the report, it is even better if you let the scheduler know before entering the report and ask how she/he wants to proceed. Sometimes it will be something as simple as being given a chance to return to take a picture, sometimes the scheduler can switch assignments if you went to the wrong location of the right client, sometimes you may get a chance to simply return to repeat the shop. If none of those can be done, you will, at least, get points for letting the scheduler know early that she/he needs to get another shopper to do a reshop ASAP. Schedulers on tight deadlines WILL appreciate that.

Every one of us has had to do that at least once! It's how we learned enough to be able to help new shoppers survive the learning curve.

Tx -

What about your cell phone? Does that take pictures? Most do now. I've never used my digital camera to take photos of the outside of the buildings. In fact, at times, depending on the lighting, my cell will take BETTER pictures than my very good professional camera (that I drag along when I do my routes of photo audits).

From your cell phone, just email the photo to yourself, download it, resize it and upload it on the report.

Also - because my cell doesn't have the date/time stamp, after I download the pic, resize it to 800x600, I just use my text tool in paint shop pro and add the date to my picture. The text on my picture will say something like:

Business name - 07/31/2012
111 Main St., Tucson, AZ

TaDa.. and I've never *knock on wood* had a photo returned or rejected.


txmedia Wrote:
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> I have a catalog with the employee's name and
> phone no. written and I scanned such. Still not
> a go. Until I get a dig. camera I guess I should
> avoid such jobs?

"It would have never occurred to me that someone would try to fake a picture - is it not easier to just go and take the picture?"

I think you have unscrupulous shoppers who say: "Yeah, I did an exit interview/or mystery shop, over at 1234 Anytown lane," when in fact, they were never there at all. And because of this... we now have to take a picture of the building, get a business card, get a name, description, time in and out, and a layout of the entire business.

I have only shopped about 16 months now, but I wonder how it was 10 to 20 years ago? Did shoppers have to prove they were at the location? I do understand. We have to pay for what others have done in the past....

Speaking of "building pics" A certain mystery shopping company which does the "take a pic of the salsa bar," now wants you to INCLUDE a pic of the "building" now... Once I forgot, get back on the freeway.... "OH cra* and had to turn around because I was not used to the "Salsa Pic Place" wanting an outside pic of the building........

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2012 05:40PM by SunnyDays2.

Tried emailing David Mitchell at Measure Consumer Perspectives using David@MeasureCP.com handle and never received a response. I had to call the company instead, and after reaching David, I was passed into a scheduler's voicemail. Knowing that the scheduler would never respond, I escalated my concern to a higher level of management, and had some email exchanges that were unproductive, insulting, and very condescending. All this over a very, very simple question that involved the video shopping realm of the company.

Although I'm disappointed in the company's response structure and contempt towards me, I do hope that the company will grow and achieve greater levels in their mystery shopping projects. I will pray for the company's owner and schedulers that I've dealt with and hope that the next video shopper that the correspond with will receive better respect as both an individual and a shopper than I have today.

Eric in Tampa Wrote:
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> Tried emailing David Mitchell at Measure Consumer
> Perspectives using David@MeasureCP.com handle and
> never received a response. I had to call the
> company instead, and after reaching David, I was
> passed into a scheduler's voicemail. Knowing that
> the scheduler would never respond, I escalated my
> concern to a higher level of management, and had
> some email exchanges that were unproductive,
> insulting, and very condescending. All this over a
> very, very simple question that involved the video
> shopping realm of the company.
>
> Although I'm disappointed in the company's
> response structure and contempt towards me, I do
> hope that the company will grow and achieve
> greater levels in their mystery shopping projects.
> I will pray for the company's owner and schedulers
> that I've dealt with and hope that the next video
> shopper that the correspond with will receive
> better respect as both an individual and a shopper
> than I have today.

Eric, I had to email MCP and used the address you gave above for David.. I not only got an email from another scheduler, I got one from David himself too.....

If you still need an email for someone to respond to you...just let me know...