Best Mark Fired Me Because I Said Fee Was Too Low

i got fired because they said i cancelled too many shops
in 6 month period
they dont make any exceptions , like weather, family emgeencies
etc
plus they dont even warn you
if you cancel any more shop you could be terminated

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I canceled a shop which the scheduler said I self picked - I dont think so - I'm probably too new to be allowed to pick. Anyway a couple of things with BM - I agree about not telling you the details of the shop and survey - but after I signed in I looked at it, or a sample of it - twice as many questions (over 100) for one quarter $ of what they finally paid me for another shop. I didnt say that was the reason I was canceling the shop - and also the last shop I did for them payed well but 5 weeks late "the check was lost in the mail" .....so I'm probably canceled - but you know what ? I dont care.
They keep a running percentage of your reschedules and cancellations that you can see on the search page. It is even in bold. Somewhere on the site they also tell you the limits.
ISpyForYou Wrote:
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> They keep a running percentage of your reschedules
> and cancellations that you can see on the search
> page. It is even in bold. Somewhere on the site
> they also tell you the limits.


$17 for 110 questions when I received $45 dollar bonuw for 53 questions?

all the things you have to answer when doing oil change but in this case no oil change, just twice the amount of questions for pretending you want to buy car.
I have had both good and bad experiences with Bestmark thusfar. While I won't take the time to go into detail, I would contact this person: Susan Schweikert (schweikert@bestmark.com). I had a conversation with her on the phone the other day re: issues I was having with Bestmark. In one of the instances, I had called in to talk with someone about a response (which apparently was a form response, which made it even worse in my book) I received to an email I sent asking for help on one of my shops. I had, the previous day, caught NUMEROUS (about 50) typos someone had put out on the boards. I managed to catch it early, but instead of saying "Thanks! You rock!" or something maybe more professional (and sterile), I received an, "Okay, got it." Well, gee, thanks. Anyway, I'd asked a return question, the response I received was icy at best, so when I called in to talk to the person who handled the shops, the person was utterly horrid to me.

One of her responses, when I said that other shoppers had had like experiences was, "Well this is the first I'm hearing of it." Like... she'd never been made aware and so therefore that negated my issue with the survey. Like I said, I'm already going too into detail, this is TLDR, but I wanted to give some background. When I called in, Susan spoke with me, we talked over the issues and how Bestmark is perceived and she said if she could help with anything else, she definitely would. I say you give her a try if you really want to resume a relationship with them. I can completely understand wanting to wash your hands of such a thing, but in this case, it sounds like maybe there might have been an overreaction.
While I completely respect the folks who have the stick-to-it-tive-ness (wow, that needs to be a word!) to do this, and while, I, myself, would do the job-- I don't think I hold this position. I would do it purely because I was raised that when you obligated yourself (no matter what it was) you saw it through. I don't think that helps an MSC (who has a lot of shopper animosity-- for various reasons) get any better, however.

I'm probably naive in thinking that when shoppers back out because they believe a shop is one thing (due to shoddy instructions) and find out it's quite another after they've been able to delve further (something that can only be done by either by self-assigning the job or constant email contact back and forth with the MSC), it makes a difference and the MSC really _cares_. I want to think that when enough people "fire" them (or give voice to their issues) that they take notice. That they are forced to re-examine. That when their big clients don't get the quality and attention they need, they realize it's time to stop being tools about some things and actually change... I have to hold out hope that we can make this industry better, together, by voicing our contention.

Maybe I'm wrong. Or too idealistic. But there are days I wish I wasn't so hampered by my own upbringing. As it is, I've definitely made calls and made "noises" to try and help things get better, but I do believe sometimes the louder squeak gets the grease. =))

SunnyDays2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OP you might disagree with me but I would have
> done the job, sucked it up and never taken another
> one of that "type" again.
>
> To cancel the shop because of low pay or horrid
> directions will likely pis* off the MS company.
> (Not saying that's right or their methods of
> *sneakery* but I would bite the bullet and do it
> "IF" I liked the company and was making money from
> them.)...Or, you must make up something like you
> don't feel well. I would not say low pay to them,
> that's just me. Some here might. I don't have the
> "cajones" to say low pay.
>
> Example: I chose a shop I thought was in my own
> state. It turns out it was in the next state!..(my
> state has a similar city) I quickly mapquested it
> and found it to be 50 miles away. Instead of
> cancelling, I decided to go, enjoy the trip and
> found 3 more shops with my bank to throw in
> there...
I have never had a problem with Bestmark. Last week for the first time ever, I forgot to upload a receipt for a dinner shop I sent in. I was filling out 3 different shops that day, and just overlooked it. Next morning came a "we are docking you $2 for this", I replied I thought I had done it, and since I have a great reputation shopping for them, I asked that they remove the penalty. THEY DID~! Happy camper here, will shop lots for Bestmark, but I have learned my lesson about the 2 interactions, $10 with $1.50 (it used to be $1.00) reimbursement shop. Gee, you are practically an hour in the store!

Carol
SUSANSDCA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I rebuke your statement that schedulers "always"
> do anything in particular. I have had all the
> requests you cited ignored by various schedulers
> at one time or another. Why do you assume the
> person complaining is at fault? Emailing back and
> forth is inefficient communication. Phones
> answered would and quick conversations would be
> best.

Sadly, SUSANSDCA, there are folks out there who need to believe that the victim is guilty, it validates them.

When a newbie I attended a payed training seminar. During the brake a MS complained bitterly about Best Mark. After reading these posts, I've yet to find any rational reason to work for them, except "close to home" for some. These assignments for these types of companies are a recipe for major depression.I get sad just reading this tripe. Who shops in a store that doesn't value them and who shops for a company that doesn't value them? Get a grip people.
Hooray for You. Dump the the low and slow paying MSPs. I CAN not figure why ANYONE WOULD TAKE A $10 JOB TO SHOP 2 DEPARTMENTS IN that store. I don't even like going there to shop for real. I know this store is not earning well. But it is because of Amazon and other online sellers. Price is paramount and gas is too high. Susan
"Price is paramount and gas is too high". By price do you mean what you're earning?. I try for a minimum $10 per hour. The shops that pay $5 for half an hour or less, total, are acceptable to me.I adjust to the 3 month payers and do those with my future expenses in mind. For example an August birthday makes me hustle in May.

What I regret most is time. We all have the same amount, 60 sec to the minute etc.I don't mind spending it when I choose to stop and smell the flowers but I strongly begrudge having it wasted for me !
I try to stay at $15 or more per shop unless it is on a drive route, quick, and easy too. Gas is hovering around $4.17 /gal here. Fine dining for $10 fee + plus reembursement is a good deal for my time and effort. When it is bar plus dining room I get $20. I like apartment shops and assisted living, too.
Assisted living shops makes my eyes glaze over especially after the tenth unctuous reference to my "loved one".Additionally, I sometimes want THAT wing chair to nap in and these sharp oldsters smell my desire and dare me, with their eyes, to take it. The reports can be lengthy and remembering all those names a challenge but the pay is good.
sun&fun Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I like Bestmark, but they are aggravating. It is
> rediculous not to let us know the place we're
> shopping beforehand. And they won't answer you
> back to help you find out if you have a
> conflicting interest to be able to know if you can
> accept the ahop. Also, recently through some type
> of error on their own (which they adnitted), they
> were 2 weeks late in showing my shop as accepted
> (hence 2 weeks late in paying me). I was later 2
> hrs late in sumbitting my receipt (just receipt,
> not the report). I kindly asked them in light of
> their recent error if they would wave my $2 late
> fee - NOPE.

I think you/we all wish to bill them with interest when this happens.To bad. To bad we can't or can we??? Hmmm....

Anonymous shopper.


Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2012 06:04PM by Anonymous shopper..
I like their restaurant shops - one seafood and the other salads/soup/pizza. The reports are easy and I have never had a payment issue with them. The phone and electronics shops takes way too much time for the reports.

Not my circus - Not my monkeys @(*.*)@

~Polish Proverb~
Unfortunately they wont assume responsibility for their own errors!!!


sun&fun Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I like Bestmark, but they are aggravating. It is
> rediculous not to let us know the place we're
> shopping beforehand. And they won't answer you
> back to help you find out if you have a
> conflicting interest to be able to know if you can
> accept the ahop. Also, recently through some type
> of error on their own (which they adnitted), they
> were 2 weeks late in showing my shop as accepted
> (hence 2 weeks late in paying me). I was later 2
> hrs late in sumbitting my receipt (just receipt,
> not the report). I kindly asked them in light of
> their recent error if they would wave my $2 late
> fee - NOPE.
I deactivated my account with Best Mark, LOL, not fired them. They are a good company and were paying fairly quickly at one time, I deactivated after having to do double shops for the same low pay. I had to go in to a Big Box store and shop the games, then across the aisle and do the cameras. This Big Box store had few employees and it seemed awkward to shop the same person in the different departments and turn them down on the close both times. It made me feel like Forrest Gump! On my last shop, I almost said after being asked why I wasn;t purchasing, "cause Mama said....
I was assigned the soup shop and had to have it cancelled because I didn't know I had to have somebody with me. But after I read what all the shop entailed, I was glad I didn't have anybody to go because it wasn't worth my time to do the shop and complete the report just for a reimbursement.

I'll do their car shops when there is a bonus attached. That way I can see if there's anything going on with my car that I need to be made aware of before it gets to where it will cost me a lot of money to have fix.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart..."
The soup and salad shop is easy and to me, it is worth the reimbursement. There are three in my area and I managed to do at least one a month. I love their healthy food.

Not my circus - Not my monkeys @(*.*)@

~Polish Proverb~
Mrpanitz, Bestmark's attitude towards shoppers is very inhuman to say the least!






Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i got fired because they said i cancelled too
> many shops
> in 6 month period
> they dont make any exceptions , like weather,
> family emgeencies
> etc
> plus they dont even warn you
> if you cancel any more shop you could be
> terminated
I was also fired tonight because they said I cancled too many shops. I emailed the scheduler to ask why and if I will ever be allowed to reapply in the later future to work for them? Hmmmmm well she replied and she came off Happy, telling me that I will never work for them again!
Interesting commentary. Like most of you, I've had to have an appointment or two rescheduled because of things that came up, one that I even forgot about altogether, but the schedulers have been good to me and I appreciate that. I had one for next week I realized I couldn't handle because it was a bar shop and found out I would have to have my son with me, and those don't mix. I gave the scheduler a choice of doing it the following week or opening it back up to reschedule, and she chose the latter. Not a problem there.

I agree, Bestmark does not put a lot of detail on their shops. Some are better than others. Second to None's approach is much better, for example, where you can see everything before you accept. As a result, I've done a lot more Second to None shops than Bestmark. But, I've never attempted to cancel a shop once I accepted it because of the effort involved. I've always "sucked it up", but then told myself to never do that one again, and for those, I haven't.

Silver Certified
Upstate, SC
For those who think BestMark's fees are low for the work involved.......have you done shops other than the electronics store? I've done that one way too many times and I think I've finally had it with that shop. However, I just did a different shop for them at a farm supply store, they sell more than tractors and horse feed though. They have clothing, tools and various other things. They sell the pellets that we use for our smoker grill. There are two sales interactions and one cashier interaction. I was done in under 30 minutes and the combined fee/reimbursement was $20.00. It was higher on the reimburement than the fee, which is fine for me since they have something there I want anyway.

Just wondering if people are anti-BestMark just because of the one shop.
I want to say, first of all, that my BestMark casino shops are handled entirely separately from the other shops, and one set never even appears on the job board-the scheduler has just built her own team. I love those shops, and the scheduler for them is one of my very favorite schedulers, She is very reasonable about everything. I have not had any problems with restaurant shops for them, but haven't done a lot. There is a scheduler who calls when they are in a pinch, and she is so pushy and demanding that I regretted the one time I took a lousy, low-paying job just because I had sympathy for her. As for the electronics shops, another one of the things I hate about them is that the employees are usually dreadful, and I hate writing so negative reports. It's clear that most of them do not care enough about their work to learning anything or grow from what I am wasting b my time doing.
I guess I'm in the minority in that I've never had issues with Bestmark. I've done a few of the big box shops but maybe two or three early on in my career with them. I only take what interests me. The rest I leave behind. There are probably more I could take if I had the time to look over all the emails. I do what I can when I can and I've never had a problem. Only a couple of their jobs are "never again" shops for me.
AlwaysAngie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I guess I'm in the minority in that I've never had
> issues with Bestmark. I've done a few of the big
> box shops but maybe two or three early on in my
> career with them. I only take what interests me.
> The rest I leave behind. There are probably more I
> could take if I had the time to look over all the
> emails. I do what I can when I can and I've never
> had a problem. Only a couple of their jobs are
> "never again" shops for me.

I agree with you. I'm pretty sure every MSC has some people who hate them and some people who like them. Their big box $10 shops are not the only shops they offer. I've done several shops for them that pay fairly and quickly. I've never had a problem with them, and their editors have been really helpful in the past.
I have done (to date) 41 of the big box, 2-employee shops. All but two of them were for $10.

I really like these shops! And the $450 I earned doing them has been easy money for me.

I'm a total electronics geek, so I enjoy going in and learning about the difference between LED and LCD displays, how many Hz/second a refresh rate is good for a video game, etc.

So go figure.

Like they say - one's candy is another one's poison.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2012 06:20PM by MissyH71.
Missy - you sound like my husband! He loves those shops and can whip out the reports easily since he's done so many (in spite of his problems with narratives).

Me, on the other hand? I hate those shops. The only reason I do them is when I really, really, REALLY, need to fill in and get some more jobs - or, I want to pick up a new DVD or something for my computer! *laugh* Heck, a $1.50 reimbursement is better than nothing, but now with Christmas just around the corner (how time flies), I'll be starting those shops again and pick up the $5.00 gift cards for $3.50. If DH does 5 of those and I do 5 in a month, we'll have $50 in gift cards for $35.00 and a nice gift for one of the kids. With 5 months left (and since BestMark pays so quickly), the gift cards will really knock out some lists!




MissyH71 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have done (to date) 41 of the big box,
> 2-employee shops. All but two of them were for
> $10.
>
> I really like these shops! And the $450 I earned
> doing them has been easy money for me.
>
> I'm a total electronics geek, so I enjoy going in
> and learning about the difference between LED and
> LCD displays, how many Hz/second a refresh rate is
> good for a video game, etc.
>
> So go figure.
>
> Like they say - one's candy is another one's
> poison.

~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~

Proud To Be A Soldier's Mom
It's funny, isn't it?

I've also done restaurants and car dealerships for BestMark too.

That check that arrives like clockwork every other Friday is a huge incentive to me.

I'm willing to do a shop for a 30-40% pay cut if (a) it's fairly easy with just a little narrative and (b) my pay arrives when and where it's promised.

It's a smart business model; get your accounts payable department cracking and you can keep a lot more of your client fees.

Knowing that I'm going to get paid next Friday for a $17.00 car dealership shop is so much better than getting $25.00 in ... oh, maybe 6 weeks or so.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2012 01:57PM by MissyH71.
Missy states: It's a smart business model; get your accounts payable department cracking and you can keep a lot more of your client fees.

Bob's reply: I completely agree. Although I'm not one of their shoppers, I was terminated in 2007 for refusing their high work/low pay jobs, BestMark is a well operated MSC.

Missy states: Knowing that I'm going to get paid next Friday for a $17.00 car dealership shop is so much better than getting 525.00 in ... oh, maybe 6 weeks or so.

Bob's reply: From a rate of return standpoint, the second number would be an increase of almost 50% in less than 2 months, but, as the old adage goes------To each his/her own. We're all different in what "floats our boat."
Hi Bob!

(takes a drink*)

Right now I'm still new to the game (18 months= novice).

I need cash flow - for my iPad and DVR and to keep gas in the tank for the routes I love to do.

And I need to build a good reputation in the MS community.

Believe me, I'm starting to get those nice triple-figure shops from frantic schedulers. OK, two of them. But still. It's a start.

And I'll be shopping smarter, not harder - but I think it takes time before I can consistently count on $30+ shops. Right?

So - Missy's business model is: (1) Look out for Missy first, (2) Do good, consistent work on deadline, (3) Keep the cash flow steady with smaller jobs, (4) Stay cutting-edge with an iPad, DVR, maybe a PV5000 soon so I can appeal to the higher-paying firms, (5) Grab up those bonused shops like a duck on a June bug.

* - from a drinking game, "Hi Bob" that I used to play in college with the Bob Newhart Show. smiling smiley
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