Saw this from a company that I haven't shopped before:

"If you need to cancel the observation please first consider if you can reschedule the observation. If you must cancel you must call at least 48 hours prior to your observation time. If we are not able to reschedule the cancelled observation, you will be fined $25.00. All rescheduled and cancelled observations will be documented. We do understand that emergencies arise and do allow a minimal number of reschedules and cancellations within a six month period. Shoppers with excessive reschedules and cancellations will no longer be able to perform observations for us.

Please only accept date specific observations after you are certain you can commit without any possible conflicts. All cancellations for date specific observations will be subject to a $25.00 fine."

never seen a company that fines anyone for not doing a shop...

I have seen that or similar with several companies. I can't say that I blame them. "It is a beautiful day and I think I'd like to go to the beach rather than do that visit and the report so I'll call and tell them ______ and just cancel it." Those same companies tend to terminate shoppers who flake. I did have a real problem about a shop that could only be done a particular day. I did call as soon as I knew there was a problem. They were never able to fill the shop I cancelled but we horse traded for another shop they had not been able to find anyone for. No harm, no foul as far as I can tell--though it will be on my record with them.

By stating that there will be a cancellation fee, they got your attention that they want you to be serious about performing work you accept. They are under no obligation to charge you unless they feel by your attitude that you are not being professional about your obligation to perform. And of course if you cancel they may have to pay some other shopper a bonus to get the work done.

How do they get the money from you...I remember seeing that, and thought, really? I forgot how long they take to pay, but, my first thought was,
if you don't pay within your stated time limit, I am charging you an extra
$25.00 late fee, it's a two way street.

I think both are fair, Irene.

I'm assuming the fee gets taken out of the next shop you do. They can't really force $25 from any more than we can force it from deadbeat MSCs, but they would have legal grounds to deduct from any money owed to you.

Unforeseen, long-term emergencies happen. Those aside, I don't know why a shopper would accept a shop, then cancel rather than reschedule. I understand the MSP's point.

Why doesn't the MSP disallow self-assign, or deactivate a shopper who cancels one too many times? The threat may be idle, but is an attention-getter.

I don't know that the question of how the MSP collects $$ speaks to the point. Shoppers, of course, also have the right to deactivate when terms are violated.

I seen a job one time, that said if you cancel the job for any reason, you will never work for their company again. Obviously, that was not a job to take. You never know when a valid emergency will come up, and need to reschedule. I'll leave that type of job to someone else.

Agree, but the past tense of see is saw, not seen. Otherwise your post was well written. At least they were telling you what the guidelines are, which I appreciate.

ceil01 Wrote:
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> I seen a job one time, that said if you cancel the
> job for any reason, you will never work for their
> company again. Obviously, that was not a job to
> take. You never know when a valid emergency will
> come up, and need to reschedule. I'll leave that
> type of job to someone else.


Rescheduling a job is different from canceling. If I accepted a job and a valid emergency came up (there are only a limited # of valid emergencies), I would contact the scheduler to request a reschedule rather than cancel. In 4 years I've only requested rescheduling 3 times and never canceled. I think it's good that this company is stating up front what its terms are; there are several companies for whom you will never work again if you cancel for any reason - they just don't tell you in advance......

cynb Wrote:
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> Agree, but the past tense of see is saw, not seen.
> Otherwise your post was well written. At least
> they were telling you what the guidelines are,
> which I appreciat


I done seen what you mean.

sounds like service with stlye.

I have had cases where the MSC cancelled my job at the last moment. I know this is probably at the request of the client but I still wish I could "fine" them or at least get paid for all my preparation work. It does work both ways.

There are valid reasons to cancell, such as auto problems. My battery died last week, had I had a job scheduled (which I didn't), I would have had to re-schedule. Health issues come to mind, when re-scheduling is impossible, family
problems, however, too many cancellations should lead to reprecusions, and they
go on your list, hence, you won't see the good jobs any longer. Charging, no.
What about jobs that sit pending forever, and you can't plan, perhaps after 3 days, an email stating we did or didn't get it, or an apology for delaying, but, hell, I'll take 25.00 for the inconvience.

I had to re-schedule a shop when Chicago had it's big snow. My car was buried under five feet of snow and took five hours and five people to dig it out. This particular company would probably have fined me the $25. I would never have done another job for them. There needs to be some flexibility.

What annoys me more is the companies that perceive they are being abused and threaten actions for too may cancellations or reschedules and apparently never follow through because the next round of threats is accompanied by tightening requirements on all shoppers. It reminds me of the parent who threatens little Johnny "Stop that before I count to three or I'm going to _____. One . . . two . . . two and a half . . ." Meanwhile little Johnny just keeps doing what he is doing because he long sice learned that the parent could not count to three so there will be no ramifications for his actions.

Of course there needs to be flexibility. Of course the company will call it wrong from time to time and be 'unfair'. But taking no action with specific shoppers but rather penalizing all shoppers hurts every shopper who is doing it right.

If I feel that $25 is a penalty I might incur because of my personal habits/situation of frequent need to cancel or reschedule, I shouldn't work for the company.

If the msc would give us a 3-day range to do a shop, I think there will be less cancelling.

I find that most of the companies that I have found to be professional do offer a perfectly reasonable window when possible. Some are trimming their window size, evidently due to shopper abuse and waiting until the last minute and then either trying to reschedule or to cancel. I personally try to work the front end of a window or at least the front half of a window since you cannot predict when you will have an emergency. But there are events to be evaluated that only happen at a particular time and place and these shops, if a shopper fails to produce a usable report, the opportunity is gone forever.

techman01 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Saw this from a company that I haven't shopped
> before:
>
> "If you need to cancel the observation please
> first consider if you can reschedule the
> observation. If you must cancel you must call at
> least 48 hours prior to your observation time. If
> we are not able to reschedule the cancelled
> observation, you will be fined $25.00. All
> rescheduled and cancelled observations will be
> documented. We do understand that emergencies
> arise and do allow a minimal number of reschedules
> and cancellations within a six month period.
> Shoppers with excessive reschedules and
> cancellations will no longer be able to perform
> observations for us.
>
> Please only accept date specific observations
> after you are certain you can commit without any
> possible conflicts. All cancellations for date
> specific observations will be subject to a $25.00
> fine."
>
> never seen a company that fines anyone for not
> doing a shop...

______________

I've wondered if they can bill paypal, if that's the way they pay.

But the answer to any company with those parameters is just not to sign up.

I've had two shops canceled on me, both of which I performed, and notified me afterwards. I'd sure like to charge those companies $25 - but since we dont submit or amend their contracts - difficult to bill them.

On the subject of shopper windows, I've recently noticed some Sassie jobs require one to pick a specific date they will complete the work. I so enter, but then explain the date is only to satisfy the program. The result is that shops I would normally receive haven't been coming my way; so be it! Over the 9+ yrs. since my first assignment, I've watched as fees have plummeted and shop windows have tightened. In that I ONLY work for the money, it simply would be illogical for me to attempt to schedule work, especially if it required a guest, under such conditions.

I know a MSC that only pays you via free tickets to an event. If you sign up and don't go, they will charge you the cost of the tickets which are heavily inflated. I remember getting nosebleed seats that were marked as valued at $200+ each.

What company is this?

Please let us know so I can put them on my "do not shop" list.

frodosdojo Wrote:
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> I know a MSC that only pays you via free tickets
> to an event. If you sign up and don't go, they
> will charge you the cost of the tickets which are
> heavily inflated. I remember getting nosebleed
> seats that were marked as valued at $200+ each.



.FRODO

you really should name the company so none of us get caught in that spider web.
I'm working for money, not tickets to their choice of entertainment.

this is service with style

techman, it would be good if you went back and edited your first post subject line and inserted the company name. That makes it searchable by company name. Many things written about companies are lost in a jumble of posts because the subject line does not identify the MSC.

What I hate:

Those screaming guidelines that fill up an entire page with " ATTENTION SHOPPERS!!! WE HAVE CAMERAS ON YOU! WE WILL PULL THE VIDEO AND FIND OUT IF YOU ARE LYING TO US! DO NOT LIE! EVER!!!!!

"WE need 6 forms of proof that you were THERE: receipt, photos, brochures, your fingerprints, an eye scan, palm analyzer. "

Okay, to me that sets the precendence for saying,"We trust NO shopper. And we don't trust YOU either."

the camera thing is nonsense. There are very few that actually review the tapes. Some do, but most dont and its the reports that they are given poor ratings that the tapes are checked.

I like the company that requires you to have a gps on your phone now to do their shops so they make sure you were actually there.

You know that in states that two party consent is required, the tape does not have sound so it is basically useless. Once I was in an argument with an annoying associate and asked her to pull the tape and she told me that they do not tape sound because it was illegal in the state.

techman01 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> the camera thing is nonsense. There are very few
> that actually review the tapes. Some do, but most
> dont and its the reports that they are given poor
> ratings that the tapes are checked.
>
> I like the company that requires you to have a gps
> on your phone now to do their shops so they make
> sure you were actually there.


I know of a few companies that allow you to use their gps system, but I haven't seen yet where they require you to use it. If they were ever to 'require" it, then they won't have me shopping for them.

About Face, as I indicated before is offering a demo shop only if you have an Android phone w/ gps

AustinMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> techman, it would be good if you went back and
> edited your first post subject line and inserted
> the company name. That makes it searchable by
> company name. Many things written about companies
> are lost in a jumble of posts because the subject
> line does not identify the MSC.


Agree totally. I need to know who that is. I have cancelled a shop yesterday for only the second time since I've been shopping (and the other was a federal disaster, lol) and this worries me.

They have their own rules. They do monitor these boards so be careful what you say. You might find yourself blacklisted.