avitoots Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How hard is it to break through to get
> assigned?


I think it varies on a case-by-case basis. Perhaps you offended their scheduler at some point...

Not sure how that would happen since, as far as I know, haven't had any contact with any of their schedulers. If, however, they have read my posts on this forum and have taken offense at anything I've posted here, then that would be the height of unprofessionalism and I wouldn't want to work for someone like that anyway.

I think it depends on the needs for where you live. I have a ms friend who was asked to apply, as there were very few shoppers in his area in north Florida. My other friend in south Florida applied several times over a few years and never heard back.

Yeah, I'm in southern Florida and have applied for their phone shops. All of their apartment shops are in California so can't prove myself doing those. I'd take a road trip to the northeast coast for a shop if it was a really good one.

Why would it be unprofessional to judge a shopper based on things that were posted here by them, much less the hight of unprofessionalism?

If what I suggested is the case, I think you just dug the knife a little deeper, avitoots!

This is not aimed at avitoos, but all shoppers. It's not that much of a secret who posters are. If you make argumentative posts, show a lack of understanding about the MS industry or express hostility toward MSCs, there is a very good chance it may effect your ability to be scheduled by some companies.

That's not unprofessional. It's smart scheduling. We are ICs and schedulers have a right to show any bias they want when selecting a shopper.

I'm not suggesting that we should't make posts that may be unpopular. I'm just saying be willing to take your lumps if you do...and perhaps do a little reading here before slamming a particular MSC, scheduler or other shopper. It may come back at you.

I thought this forum was for shoppers to share information and discuss issues freely. Guess that's not the case. And to suggest that calling an action of blacklisting unprofessional and also unethical digging the knife in a little deeper proves my point. My posts here have nothing to do with the kind of job I do as an MS. So, if a scheduler does not agree with something I post here and decides to blacklist me as a result, that is unprofessional and unethical. I do not believe that I have slammed an MSC or a scheduler but I have had disagreements with other shoppers (or people I though were shoppers) on this board. I have also been attacked on this board by people. But, based on your response, I guess expecting a certain level of professionalism and ethics may be a little bit naive on my part.

Companies will hire those they consider most qualified, based on their own criteria.

We are free to post any comment we choose about any company. They are free to take note of what's being posted about themselves and their fellow companies. It is not unprofessional on their part for them to be selective based on what they observe on this forum and elsewhere.

It is to the shopper's advantage to maintain a professional relationship with all companies with which they are involved, as other companies are watchful. The shopper who chooses to attack and degrade a company, no matter the issues, may appear angry, hostile, and unemployable.

Honestly avitoots, I tried to hand you this to you gently and you missed my point...again! Your posts here speak toward your disposition. Why would a scheduler want to hire an argumentative individual that deems their business practices unethical and unprofessional?

You need to realize that many forms of blacklisting are perfectly legal and ethical. A business refusing to allow patronage from a customer that passes bad checks, an airline refusing to passage to an unruly customer and schedulers sharing information about problematic shoppers are all forms of legal blacklisting.

I'm not saying that you are on any such list, but if there was one and you were in consideration for it, I think your above comments would seemingly push you closer to it. That was my point.

You could have come back and said, "If, however, they have read my posts on this forum and have taken offense at anything I've posted here, I apologize. I know I was a bit of a hothead when joined the forum, but I have learned a lot since then and now realize the value in creating a positive environment." Instead, you insinuated that anyone who does not share your point of view is unethical and unprofessional.

If anything, unjustly insulting people and then expecting to be hired by those who observe it is a little bit naive on your part. If I can give you any positive advice, it would be to remove your name from your profile. That way if any schedulers come across this thread in the future and are offended by it, it may take more than one click to realize who it is that wishes not to work for them.....

Now, see, Steve, you're the one who brought up the comment about offending someone to a very simple question I had about getting an assignment. So, now I have to wonder if you're the one blacklisting people, I wouldn't have said anything about blacklisting if not provoked by your statement. So, have you blacklisted me or told someone to blacklist me because you haven't liked some of the things that I have said on these boards? If so, admit that's what you do to people

Edited out because sorry, I said something here really unkind.

I offered a simple premise to answer your simple question, avitoots.

I can assure you that I didn't put you on any blacklist or even have access to one (for mystery shopping). Perhaps your application narrative is not up to par or perhaps the person who assigns the phone shops reads the forum. Perhaps your are just unlucky, applied too late or the scheduler has something against actors. I can't say for sure because I don't have access to any of that information.

If you are not being scheduled it has nothing to do with my opinion of you.

That was as nice as I could put it. I kinda wish I had seen what MDavisnowell wrote, though....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2013 02:36AM by CAscotch.

CAscotch -- Thank you for responding to the question I actually asked.

Sometimes the best advice is given when we arne't looking for it

I'm in the same boat with Coyle and am patiently applying for my first job. Hopefully, they accepted my application for a reason? I hope applying for multiple jobs a week, to never get a response on any of them, turns out to be worth it someday. Hotel shops are my favorite, granted the ones I've done aren't as intensive as Coyle apparently is. I live in the Midwest, so I apply for the restaurants where I'm traveling that month (usually Chicago) to no avail. The phone calls are all for the West, but I've tried to get those too. Maybe I should try to hit New York or LA more often.
Someday..........

They had some travel agent phone shops that appeared to be from anywhere in the country. I guess we just need to be patient.

I'm registered with them, but not sure how I would get started. I haven't seen the phone shops, I thought I read that people start with restaurants, but they have no restaurant shops anywhere near me!

CAscotch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, I'm wondering about that as well. Besides the
> cruise evaluations, I don't know if the travel
> reimbursements are for the guest.

Travel is usually NOT included for the guest, even on their cruises. I just did one in May and my guest had to pay her own way (meaning airfare) to get to the port. The cruise itself WAS covered, however.

As grueling as it was, it is and probably will always be my most favorite MSing experience and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2013 02:26AM by CAscotch.

It varies by client, I think , but the majority or reports only cover the evaluator's travel. I've done a cruise for them where both my guest and I received a very generous travel allowance.

You just have to look at the assignment guidelines. It's almost always listed where you sign up for the shops.

Adding in for that cruise I did, it was only the airfare to the port that was not covered for my guest. The shuttle from the airport to the port and the reverse WAS covered....so it was clearly beneficial for my guest, especially since she didn't have to write up any of the 122 page report!

I'm in the exact same boat as you. This is what I think is happening (at least to me) -

I apply for a phone shop. They hold me in the "Requested Assignments" limbo while they wait for a person with more seniority/expierence (with Coyle) to apply for those shops. To date, which has only been a few months, they always find somebody more qualified to do the shop.

What we have against us is the competition with more seasoned Coyle shoppers. We're even competing with other new-to-Coyle shoppers. One of these days we'll get lucky and they'll assign us something because nobody else applied for it. Sad, I know, but we're on the bottom of the totem pole and have to patiently wait for our turn. Good luck!

avitoots Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've been trying to get shops with them. I have
> read that you have to prove yourself first before
> getting the great hotel and cruise shops. Have
> applied for a couple of phone shops without much
> success. How hard is it to break through to get
> assigned?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 01:07PM by carscheles.

I did a hotel shop for another MSC last weekend, and that was exhausting enough. So I've decided to not even try the Coyle hotel shop.

I found these postings to be humorous as well as informative...Steve, while you are doing your shops and entertaining your GF when do you have time to write evaluations? I applied for Coyle and have not heard yet...How did you break in?

verysecret Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Steve, while you are doing your
> shops and entertaining your GF when do you have
> time to write evaluations? I applied for Coyle
> and have not heard yet...How did you break in?

I do something that I would never recommend to others, but I write all of my narratives after I leave. I have an excellent memory for detail and have learned to sequester myself for a full day after I check out of a hotel (or 3 days for a cruise) and spend the entire time writing.

As far as getting in; I came aboard with Coyle a long time ago, when they have very few clients and even fewer shoppers in my area. I still had to wait 6 months to get a response to my application and had given up on ever hearing back from them. You never know.....

First report for Coyle probably took me 12 hours or more to do. Just completed second report and did almost all work at hotel and took about 6 hours for a 2 night hotel stay. Was wondering for the cruises how involved the report are. Do you have to write narratives for every meal and every housekeeping.

carlsbadguy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> First report for Coyle probably took me 12 hours
> or more to do. Just completed second report and
> did almost all work at hotel and took about 6
> hours for a 2 night hotel stay. Was wondering for
> the cruises how involved the report are. Do you
> have to write narratives for every meal and every
> housekeeping.



Not for every meal, but for several. Same goes for housekeeping. Cruise evaluations are a TON of work, not gonna lie. HOWEVER, you have time while still cruising to do the narratives.

What I did was I took time before bed each night while on the ship to write that day's evaluations. I took over 500 notes in my phone to help jog my memory. I also got as many of the individual evaluations done in the first few days of the cruise as I could.

By the time I got home, I had only the final day's evaluations to do. I did spend another day re-reading and editing to get as close to perfection as I could, and I also had to do the pictures (of which there were over 100 that I submitted). But I turned in my evaluation two days after I got home.

My written evaluation was well over 100 pages in Word!

Was it a crazy amount of work? YES. Would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY.

My experience with cruise shopping is similiar to ShopperShel's and I also approached the workload likewise, with front loading my evaluations at the beginning of the cruise. I finished mine on the plane home and turned it in within 24 hours of disembarking; however, I am one of those people that cannot chill out until the writing is done.

It was a lot of work for sure. I would consider doing it again - depending on the ports and ship.

I had already been MSing for a few years when I first applied with Coyle but heard nothing. I re-applied every other year or so until I was finally accepted. I then started applying for restaurant shops (no phone shops in my state ever), and it took another 18 months or so to be accepted for one. I assumed that a) there is a strong shopper presence in my region (confirmed by the fact that all jobs disappear within the first few days of posting each round) and b) they were looking for a particular area of expertise/demographic/etc. I didn't take it personally. I was excited and intimidated by my first restaurant shop. I got a 16 and very helpful feedback. I've just applied for two more restaurant shops to be completed on an upcoming business trip - I'm not sure if they'll award both (or either) as I have only the one shop completed with them so far and I only got a 16, but at least I feel like I'm mentally prepared for what I'll need to do this time. I based my first report *generally* on the narrative, erring on the side of caution, not wanting to be too close to their samples for fear they would think I was just taking an easy way out. This time I will try to mirror their style and flow exactly, with my own details (of course). I think once I have the hang of their preferred lingo and flow, I should be able to increase my score. That's assuming I get the assignment(s)! Fingers crossed!

Hi TSK,
Have u discovered their prefered lingo and flow as yet. I've got a Coyle hotel shop for 2 nights. Did you succeed with a good score after miroring their style and flow exactly.