Has anyone done these? They pay above average, so I'm guessing that there is more to the job than meets the eye. I have never worked for this MSP, so I have never seen any of their forms. Thanks.

lots and lots of photos. Pay vs the time not worth it, especially since when they were with the other msc they paid more for less photos. Over triple the photos for less pay = no thanks.

Jamie - I do these and they're not bad after you catch on. What they pay for this job is more than I would get if I didn't work, so unless I have something more lucrative I'll keep on happily doing these.

When I first started, I thought OMG I must be doing something wrong. It took me forever to get out of the quagmire but now it goes well. I made up my own check sheet and I'm not exactly zipping through them, but it's turned into a moderately paying job for me. I would be thrilled to take on 20 to 30 more of these per quarter. I love dependable work that's there over and over.

If you decide to pick these up, here's a tip they put on the report in red, but I'm going to tell you again. Don't hit save after you enter pictures. You'll lose them. After you put in pictures, always hit submit. If you missed anything, it won't go.

Here's another tip. Answer all the questions without uploading any pictures. Hit save. Go back into your report and go to the bottom. Hit submit. You will get a red bar almost every place you need to enter a picture. The only exceptions are what I call the second shots, like the second shot of the restrooms and the second shot in the showroom. I emailed Circle with this tip and they said they were going to incorporate it into the training.

Once you catch on, it's no harder than a station but takes a bit longer. I don't have a problem picking up other work around my locations so this works well for me. Others think it's peanuts for the work involved. I think it just depends on whether you have a full plate of work that pays better, and I don't. More questions?

It is not a difficult shop. Initially, I was intimidated as I wouldn't have known a rim clamp machine or wheel weight machine from a hole in the ground. Their training is good, and their photo examples are helpful. I appreciate the ongoing assignment, that I can count on every quarter. Have no problem with the report, or payment. The first couple of times, expect about an hour on site, and about 30 minutes in report. With experience, less time is needed.

BUT, they should pay more. There are other photo audits which pay more for much less. Yes, there are also other photo audits which pay less, but they are known for being low-paying MSPs, while Circle of Service has not been, in my experience.

The photo processing (resizing and time stamping) goes a lot faster for me now that I use a program that does it in one batch. The time in the store is less than 45 minutes, and can be more like 20 minutes for the basic image audit, unless there are a lot of "fails" which require more photos.

Thank you for the responses, but I have no reason to believe that photos are required based on the emails. Given that, does anyone have anymore info? Thank you.

The email doesn't say anything about photos. In short, this visit is a vehicle inspection (not state inspection). I would be required to get a vehicle inspection. Evaluate the facility and customer service. Be reimbursed up to $25 for the vehicle inspection and paid $17 for the shop.

It sounds like only Mert has done one of these (no photos).

Has anyone else done this?

Mert, did you have to print the photos or just learn them?
Did you have to watch them do each thing? If so, how?
Or is it more like an oil change, where you mostly sit and wait and look into the garage when you can?

Thanks again to everyone who posted. I appreciate it.

Well, excuse me all to heck! I believe mine, and other posts, were for COS tire/oil change audits.

My State doesn't require vehicle inspections, so I have nothing to add ={

Mert, what are you talking about?? Excuse you for what? How on earth did I offend you??

I thanked everyone for their posts and asked you a couple of more questions, noting that it sounded like only you did the shop in question because everyone else talked about photos being taken.

BTW, it's not for a state inspection; it's just an inspection.

Jamiesan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mert, what are you talking about?? Excuse you for
> what? How on earth did I offend you??
>
> I thanked everyone for their posts and asked you a
> couple of more questions, noting that it sounded
> like only you did the shop in question because
> everyone else talked about photos being taken.
>
> BTW, it's not for a state inspection; it's just an
> inspection.

Mine was an off-handed remark, eveidently a failed attempt at humor. I was not offended.

Just goes to show that the written word certainly does not convey everything. Maybe that's why we need emoticons.

I haven't seen the vehicle inspection shops with Circle of Service but have done the image audits. Once you've done a few it's really quite easy and I don't think the report is very hard either, although places with lots of fails take a little more time on site and doing the report. I did the other type of audit with measuring between machines etc when it was with the other company... real PIA and don't want to do those again. This quarter they added a real estate photo audit which can be done at the same time and some of the pictures are the same ones needed for the image audit. I wish I could do more but the rest of the locations are too far for me to do more than one after work and therefore not cost effective.

I have done these and they are straight forward and simple - no pictures. You take your car in to be inspected (not state inspection - just an overall look at the car.) They also have oil change visits. Again - the same way. Get your oil changed, watch the service area and sit in the waiting area. Quick and painless.

I have also completed some of the audits (that require pics) and I find them to be easy and straight forward as well. The pay is fair in my opinion. Some locations take longer to complete and some take no time at all. It just depends on how good/bad they are. I do several every quarter that are guaranteed to me and I make a lot of money with them. I have had a good experience with them.

I did my first and last audit for Circle-Of-Service at a national tire store today. First, had to go through a one hour phone orientation. Then, had to print about 70 pages, wasting a lot of valuable ink. Then, went to the location and took over 100 pictures, as I was there for about 45 minutes. Then, came home and tried to enter my report. After upoading about 90% of the pictures which took me over 2 hours to do, I then "saved" them so my work would not be lost. Well, the pictures were then erased from their system. I wrote to COS to tell them that they can basically take their rotten $18 pay for this shop and stick it.

Aren't they on Prophet? I absolutely hate that about Prophet, you can't attach anything until time to submit. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why it won't save photos.

Has anybody been assigned their tire audits for this quarter yet? I am curious as I checked their job board and one of the ones I do every quarter was sitting on the job board. I have not been assigned any of mine yet.

No assignments. However, locations near me were listed as available on their site. I had completed one of the locations, and it had been automatically assigned, last year.

Don't know why it wasn't assigned this quarter - glitch? program change? boo-boo?

I would suggest you check their site, and accept what you want, if it's there.

I never see the tire audit shops on the job board. I'm up to about 10 that are automatically assigned to me, and I haven't been informed of the assignments for this quarter yet. I'll miss the extra $15 for the real estate audit photos.

I have seen them a couple of times but they can't be self assigned. It makes me feel better to know yours haven't been assigned yet. I got worried seeing that one posted on the job board. Maybe it's just a glitch in the system. At least I hope so. I don't want to lose any of my locations. I will miss the extra 15 also.

I self-assigned.

Mert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I self-assigned.

I was asked to pick some up a couple.of months ago.and I was told they were self assign now. Bit when I tried,it wouldn't let me so the scheduler had to assign it to me. I haven't tried since.

Just got an email about the vehicle inspection shops and was wondering, too, if anyone had done them. So far from the above responses it looks like maybe not. I would appreciate knowing how bad the reports are although it sounds like it's much the same as the oil change and brake shops I've done. Am still house and dog sitting so if they are still on the board by Thurs. I may take on a couple.

howzer12 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I did my first and last audit for
> Circle-Of-Service at a national tire store today.
> First, had to go through a one hour phone
> orientation. Then, had to print about 70 pages,
> wasting a lot of valuable ink. Then, went to the
> location and took over 100 pictures, as I was
> there for about 45 minutes. Then, came home and
> tried to enter my report. After upoading about 90%
> of the pictures which took me over 2 hours to do,
> I then "saved" them so my work would not be lost.
> Well, the pictures were then erased from their
> system. I wrote to COS to tell them that they can
> basically take their rotten $18 pay for this shop
> and stick it.

WOW...over 100 pictures? I took 5 of the Image and 20 of the TCS part-My print out was 45 pages and I needed them to show me the pictures so I knew what I was looking at. I will say my first visit I was there for about 45 minutes, but by my 2nd and 3rd and so on it was about 30. 20 minutes to upload because I listened in the training and did the resizing in my camera. Sorry you had such a horrible experience but for $18 for less than an hour of work, I am making way more than I did at an office job.

I can't do them because I am the auditor for my state, some in NY, MA and NH. I'd love to though. I have to admit that the guys that I audit quarterly with the exception of one location, are among the most professional and nice guys I've met doing audits.

To the point when my husband's car needed tires, I sent him to the location I liked the best to give them our business based solely on their attitude (and their shop was absolutely perfect!)

I started self-assigning my Circle of Service shops earlier in the month. They are all image audits this round. Last round they included both the Image Audit and the Real Estate Audit as well. That task was little more time consuming, and it took longer to resize and rename the photos. Overall, I think it is a great company to work for. They pay on time every month with no hassle. I did not get any reports rejected so I was happy. In Virignia they have the Image Audits and what they call the TCS audits which are allot more involved. I was told our area was not ready for the TCS audits yet, but soon. The reports are also going from quarterly to twice a year unless Firestone finds more money in the budget allotted to the audits.

In our area, once you are assigned the shops the first time they put them in your queue each time and you just need to put in the date you would like to conduct the audit. They make the process easy each quarter or twice a year now. Good pay for the amount of work involved.

My picture list for the Image and TCS audit is 33 pictures. This is the minimum to fulfill the upload slots in the report. I always take 3 of the same shots of everything so that's 99 minimum for me. Add on three shots of each exception and you get a good number of pictures. The audit I reported today had eleven exceptions, so that was 33 more pictures. That total job would have been about 130 to 135 pictures, but there were a ton of duplicates. Sometimes taking three shots of the same pic has saved my bacon. I'm big on saving my bacon when I have to drive 100 miles round trip AGAIN to get what I didn't get on the first go.

When I first started doing these jobs, I couldn't believe how hard they were for me. I could not get my head around the situation no matter how hard I tried, and I thought about giving them up. It was a long dry spell before it got better, but I caught on and now they seem easy. At first I thought the money was ridiculously low, but now it seems about right. Perspective is everything.

Circle of service has treated me splendidly, and they are a joy to work with. I recommend the company wholeheartedly.

Here's how not to lose the pictures on the image and TCS audits. Go through the report and fill out all the questions but don't load the pictures. Save your work. Go back into the report, do not load the pictures, go to the bottom of the report, and hit submit. Of course, it will not submit because you didn't load the pictures. But Oh Joy Oh Ecstasy nearly every place you need to upload an image is now red. There will be one slot for the tire wall that will not go red, and one slot for the second rest room that will not go red. Upload all the pictures BUT DO NOT HIT SAVE. Hit submit, and if you have all your pictures in, the report will go. Happiness is a red band.

I got the email about them but there apparently are none in my state.