I write "mail xxxxxxQ4" across the top in large marker and "Branch xxxxxxQ8", etc instead of color coding. This helps the editor.

vince Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> vbarbara Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Vinc,
> > I'm not sure what they did, but I do know I did
> > not get credit for the shop without any
> > explanation it just disappeared. When I called
> > they really didn't say.
>
> they would not have used your shop if they did not
> pay you for it. if it suddenly disappeared from
> your shop log, then it is likely that it was
> assigned an entirely new ID and assigned to
> another shopper as per the contract. the original
> shop ID was likely deactivated and replaced by an
> entirely new shop ID, but i'm not sure. they are
> not obligated to allow you to correct the shop if
> the guidelines were not accurately followed.
>
> it sounds like one of the lower-ranked phone
> people was attempting to work with you, but that
> their choice may have been overridden by upper
> management due to deadlines. they are not
> intentionally trying to slight you. these are
> just common communication lapses inherent within
> any corporation. the principle of the matter is
> not that you were wronged. the principle is that
> you can learn from your error and improve for next
> time.
>
> if i were you, i would just take the $12 loss and
> learn from your error. you can consider it maybe
> as part of your training as a shopper. you can
> further contrast your $12 loss against the $100s
> or even $1000s that you can make with them in the
> future upon gaining enhanced proficiency. hence,
> you can do 10-100 more of these shops, rendering
> your current loss as miniscule by comparison.
> you're concerned over spilt milk with a small mess
> to clean up, but your frustration ought merely be
> momentary. i pay my mortgage with these shops,
> for example. a couple of my shops didn't have
> bankers available, so i had to make two trips, but
> i'm overall satisfied with my workload.

Vince

Well said! Maritz is great compay!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2012 05:25AM by Namkurtz.

Hello fellow shoppers:

In response to Maritz being a rip off.. oh NO !! I work full time as a mystery shopper, and I work with Maritz more than half of every month. I have NEVER had a problem with anyone there.. and if they reject a report.. it was because I made a mistake. Even as experienced as I am, these things do happen. That being said, I have always found everyone there MORE than willing to work with me to fix any problems. I get paid regularly .. and ON TIME from them. The people I work with at Maritz I consdier not only co-workers, but friends. I think this is without a doubt one of the best companies I have ever worked with, and I plan to be with them for a long time to come. I appreciate all of the assistance I get from everyone there. I do ALOT of evaluations for them every month..and they are always there to help if I have a problem. I have even had them take the time to contat ME if I forgot to invoice an assignmnt, to make sure I got paid.

This is a first class.. A-1 company to work for. Anyone who says anything different.. well.. I hate to say this.. but the problem is not with the company.. it is with YOU !!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2012 06:45PM by Spikeconnie@aol.com.

While the lack of e-mail communication irked me, I did many dozens of bank shops with Maritz and made some great money with them. Once I worked out a system, similar to what others mention, it went very quickly. I wrote the shop numbers on the pieces and took photos with my phone, too. It is much faster than scanning, and they want the images resized so it's easier to just set the phone resolution to the desired size and fire away. I switched over to existing customer shops of that bank because I was bored with the platform shops, but now I kind of miss doing the others. I don't even know if they still do the existing customer banker shops for big blue. I did so many in my area, I took myself out of rotation when it was just too awkward.

TechSavvy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> While the lack of e-mail communication irked me, I
> did many dozens of bank shops with Maritz and made
> some great money with them. Once I worked out a
> system, similar to what others mention, it went
> very quickly. I wrote the shop numbers on the
> pieces and took photos with my phone, too. It is
> much faster than scanning, and they want the
> images resized so it's easier to just set the
> phone resolution to the desired size and fire
> away. I switched over to existing customer shops
> of that bank because I was bored with the platform
> shops, but now I kind of miss doing the others. I
> don't even know if they still do the existing
> customer banker shops for big blue. I did so many
> in my area, I took myself out of rotation when it
> was just too awkward.


May I ask you, do you submit photos or scan for the bank shops?

I've done loads of these bank shops, but always photographed before the last two. I scanned the documents, and the scans all looked so uniform and crisp that I want to always do them that way.

Thanks,
Elise

Spikeconnie@aol.com Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> This is a first class.. A-1 company to work for.
> Anyone who says anything different.. well.. I hate
> to say this.. but the problem is not with the
> company.. it is with YOU !!

fully agreed.

EliseSm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> I've done loads of these bank shops, but always
> photographed before the last two. I scanned the
> documents, and the scans all looked so uniform and
> crisp that I want to always do them that way.
>
> Thanks,
> Elise

personally, i used to scan everything, but the business card scans would always be too blurry for some reason, even if magnified. therefore, i began taking photos of everything. i'd prefer to scan again, but i can't get the scans to be clear enough for the business cards. and i don't want to send both scans and photos at the same time for the same shop, because that would look unprofessional.

If you have a smart phone use the free scan apps.... they work perfect and it crops as needed.

I have an iPhone and the scanner app, but haven't figure out how to use it yet. My hp scanner works great. The hardest part is to keep going back to the same banks over and over again and come up with a believable scenario.

cubbiecat

get your receipt, open app
scan just like a pic
and it pops a screen to send to your email or wherever
MUCH faster to do it in the car before you leave the store then never a lost receipt
or business card

it will save it in the app until you erase it

Personally I like to snap a picture of each of the banking info pieces. I write the ID the question Q8 and M or B on each piece. I then line them up on the floor and snap one of each in order they are uploaded.

Goes super quick. I love doing these, but have done so many it is getting weird at the branches. Thankfully, one branch manager just goes with me, although when I walk in everyother month, I see him hang his head because he knows what I am there for.

CANADAMOMMY Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> cubbiecat
>
> get your receipt, open app
> scan just like a pic
> and it pops a screen to send to your email or
> wherever
> MUCH faster to do it in the car before you leave
> the store then never a lost receipt
> or business card
>
> it will save it in the app until you erase it

The app is call camscanner. Is that the one you use? It's complicated and there's step after step...I need a simpler app.

SpikeConnie: You have revealed the name of a client in the same thread as the MS company's name is stated. Please remove the client name. Thank you.

I use photographs almost exclusively. I don't typically use the scan-to-PDF apps, though I do have one on my phone. I use my Dropbox account for shop things so I can access files with my laptop browser, phone, tablet or anyone else's computer. I take a photo of the collateral and share it to my Dropbox with a couple of taps. I used to have Dropbox set to automatically sync every photo I took to the remote folder, but I take a lot of pictures and don't want to use up a huge chunk of our data plan doing that.

@ SecretAgentMom: Is it okay for the managers to know why we are there? I am starting to be recognized by the managers. And I have shopped the same banker once or twice. I think one recognized me.

When I started my bank jobs, (I just love saving bank jobs!) I was blonde then in the winter I went red/auburn and now I am back to blonde. I don't know if my hair can take much more! Maybe I need to buy fake glasses.

Hi Karen:

I apologize!! I have removed the client's name and will be more careful in the future.

cubbiecat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The hardest part is to keep going back to
> the same banks over and over again and come up
> with a believable scenario.

i may simply say that i have multiple credit cards with balances, but the expirations on my zero percent offers are staggered out every few months on each card. therefore, it is natural for me to check offers with other banks every few months. i may have to make a balance transfer every few months from a different card to avoid rate increases when the intro rates expire on each card on a staggered basis. recently, i saw a bank ad at the local gas station when i was at the pump, so it reminded me to inquire about another credit card.

in addition, if i get a repeat banker at the same location, i don't schedule that shop for rotation. or if i get a manager at the same location, i don't schedule that shop for rotation. i would have to get a new banker at the same location before scheduling it for rotation. there are some locations that i don't plan to do for another year (if still available then), simply because i had gotten the same banker twice during different visits there.

during the summer time, i am scheduling shops farther away from my home, that i probably wouldn't drive to in the winter. this also decreases any potential monotony. i try to vary my routes to get new bankers each time. i'll also revisit larger branches versus smaller branches more frequently, since larger branches offer a lower likelihood of getting a repeat banker. smaller branches have a greater likelihood of getting a repeat banker.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2012 08:18PM by vince.

Shop2LiveinFL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @ SecretAgentMom: Is it okay for the managers to
> know why we are there? I am starting to be
> recognized by the managers. And I have shopped
> the same banker once or twice. I think one
> recognized me.
>
> When I started my bank jobs, (I just love saving
> bank jobs!) I was blonde then in the winter I went
> red/auburn and now I am back to blonde. I don't
> know if my hair can take much more! Maybe I need
> to buy fake glasses.

I have fake glasses! LOL!!! I spoke to my scheduler about it, telling her I think I needed a brake because they recognize me now. She said as long as we play dumb and play out our scenario not admitting we are a mystery shopper that is ok. She said the client knows this happens, but as long as we don't "out" ourselves we are in the clear. She went onto say if they really wanted to know they could pull video, but that doesn't really ever happen. The blue banks are not allowed to out us as a mystery shopper to our faces. They are supposed to play along as well.

Thank being said, don't you think they would give all the correct information and mention specific cards like they are supposed to. LOL.

Shhh! I've been lucky! Only evaluated the same person, maybe once? (:

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2012 05:48AM by EliseSm.

Maritz is a decent company to work with. However, when shops don't go as expected, expect absolutely nothing.

Don't expect intelligence from their schedulers or managers. They are about as bad as outsourced screen readers when it comes to being flexible. The buck gets passed to someone as ominous as the banker from Let's Make a Deal.

I have noticed some branches' bankers eyes perked up, as soon as I asked about overdraft protection. They are not stupid and after two years (1-1/2 years?), they figured out we'are ms'ers. However, I continue to play dumb and keep asking the same od questions. I talked to a scheduler once about it. She begged me to take one and I told her I had gotten the same banker (small branch with 2 bankers) eight times already. She told me to just go and pretend I have 25 relatives. She said the client does not care.

Oh, but cubbiecat, it is entertaining and challenging to pull it over without them knowing. I know who I've evaluated and have even revisited to get another employee. So devious...

I've already been through the ole - yes, it me and let's pretend I'm a real customer- while doing loads of cell phone shops as a newbie.

cubbiecat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have noticed some branches' bankers eyes perked
> up, as soon as I asked about overdraft protection.
> They are not stupid and after two years (1-1/2
> years?), they figured out we'are ms'ers. However,
> I continue to play dumb and keep asking the same
> od questions. I talked to a scheduler once about
> it. She begged me to take one and I told her I had
> gotten the same banker (small branch with 2
> bankers) eight times already. She told me to just
> go and pretend I have 25 relatives. She said the
> client does not care.

there are a few bankers who immediately ask for an ID or a social security number to pull up personal contact information. through this, they can track every location that a shopper had visited, if the personal identity had ever been recorded at those locations. a banker could potentially piece together actual route maps of all of the shops for that shopper since they began shopping, if personal contact information were shared.

this is why i never use my actual identity and why i can never show an ID or give out my social security number if requested. i use a fake name during each visit, just saying that i live nearby. and i never give out a phone number, because they will begin tracking that also. they will even track false contact information if they begin a new profile on you using your fake name, so i had to change that once too, but they had only tracked me from one other location, so no big deal in my case.

when failing to show the ID, give out the social security number or telephone number, some bankers will get suspicious, but most are okay with it. then a select few may intentionally withhold a business card unless asked. on top of that, i never actually start a new account.

what gets me is that some bankers still don't follow proper procedures against which they are being graded, even if they may have figured out who a shopper is. it's like some don't know what they're being graded against or what the proper procedures are with customers, if indeed they are able to spot shoppers. i don't know for certain that any have spotted me, but a select few will act suspicious, yet sometimes failing to follow proper procedures anyway.

@vince - I did not know they can track by id. I have 3 today, so will be careful and use a fake name. Thanks!

cubbiecat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @vince - I did not know they can track by id. I
> have 3 today, so will be careful and use a fake
> name. Thanks!

yes, whenever they key your personal information into a computer, they are tracking your visits. they check the computer for any previous inquiries that you've had. they are able to see your other locations and when you've visited them.

they may even begin a new profile for you under a fake identity. if this happens, you will have to change the fake identity again. therefore, don't give out your real last name, address, telephone number or social security number.

i use my middle name for my first name and a relative's name for my last name, so that i remember who i am. i use the same fake identity, until a banker begins a new profile on me, but no new profile will be made if i don't give out any contact information. one time a banker started a new profile on a fake name of mine, just because i said that i lived in town nearby, but he didn't complete the profile. so now the fake name shows up in their computer linked with that town, but with no exact address, telephone number or social security number.

when asked for personal contact information, i just say that i will give it out only when i make a final decision on the product, which won't be today. never ever show your personal ID. you still have to compare their product against their competitors. just mention that you still need to research their competition before making a final decision, so you can't possibly decide today.

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2012 07:19PM by vince.