I was reviewing this company and to apply for a certified on-site inspector job, you need a background check and you must watch their 'professionalism' videos. The background check fee is about 8.00. Is this legit? I have not seen other companies charge this, and if they do, won't I need to pay a fee for each mystery shop company to do this background check?

Specifically, they claim that this background check is required by Experian and some other clients. The checks also must be renewed annually to meet "Client and Credit Bureau contractual requirements".
They also claim that they dont have access to your background check but just if you met the criteria or did not. The criteria includes:
Sexual Offenses
Theft
Violence
Neglect
Drugs

Davisesq212 Wrote:
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> I was reviewing this company and to apply for a
> certified on-site inspector job, you need a
> background check and you must watch their
> 'professionalism' videos. The background check fee
> is about 8.00. Is this legit? I have not seen
> other companies charge this, and if they do, won't
> I need to pay a fee for each mystery shop company
> to do this background check?

The videos I can understand. But no other company I know of has required an $8 "background check" fee to do basic mystery shopping.

If they ask this of me, then I'll happily shop with other companies instead, just on principle.

The background check isn't required for their basic shops. It is only required if you want to become certified as an on-site inspector. It is required because you need to verify the location of important files (confidential files, financial information, etc.). They just want to make sure you aren't a felon and have no theft charges in your background.

fiteybitey
I dont understand how any of that is important for a on site inspector job. I understand if they want a background check for their company in general to see about your criminal background but they dont require that for their basic jobs as most companies dont. What makes their on site inspector jobs so special? What would Experian have to do with any of it (they specifically cited Experian)?

I'm not sure what Experian has to do with it, but I understand that because of the sensitivity of the specific things inspected they company they contracted with wants the background check. I got a similar background check to be a temp mail clerk for an insurance agency.

I did the bg check for Trendsource. If it opens doors to the jobs, it's worth the $8 to me.

This is not mystery shopping. You're going in there to certify that someone isn't committing fraud. If you yourself are a felon, you might be more likely to take a bribe to falsify the report. I had no problem paying $8 to prove I'm honest so they can trust my reports.

The MS companies don't need a bg check because most of the clients have security cameras that can verify our reports. In Trendsource's case, the company you are checking is NOT the client, some bank or licensing department is the client. They are putting their money or approval on the line based on our reports. They need to know we don't have a "past" that could call the report into question.

The bg check may not be MSI/TS's initiative, but may be the requirement of the client (which, as was rightly said earlier, is not the inspectee/local business or even the coroporate owner if the local business is a franchise, but rather an outfit that somehow provides confidential services to the inspectee.)
As the contracted "inspector," we leave the site with the knowledge of locks, security systems, locations of files, building layout, computer systems, etc. Given the extremely valuable nature of the information that is supposed to be 100% secure, we'll know whether and how it is vulnerable, and in two cases where I have been, it would have been very easy to return and acquire.
On top of that, these inspections can take the auditor into the private residence of an individual (I've done three home offices) where there can be just one other person or even children present.
Further, it may not be just us as independent contractors who are required to have the bg check, as at least one of the "clients" require the collection of names and contact info for computer repair and heating/air conditioning services providers to the local business.
I can totally understand the bg checks.
My $8 investment yielded a $500 return last year exclusively for shops that required the check.
My $8 renewal has yielded over $200 so far this calendar year for the same.

I used to do these all the time "until" they required this. I have nothing to hide but for their pay, not worth it to me, not that many "checks" around here. AND if they could trust me for 7 years and all of a sudden don't...oh well.

Thanks for the info on these, and it's also good to see your level of professionalism here. I haven't done the bg check because I'm generally not available to do weekday audits, but I might be interested in them in the future.


elcarev68 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The bg check may not be MSI/TS's initiative, but
> may be the requirement of the client (which, as
> was rightly said earlier, is not the
> inspectee/local business or even the coroporate
> owner if the local business is a franchise, but
> rather an outfit that somehow provides
> confidential services to the inspectee.)
> As the contracted "inspector," we leave the site
> with the knowledge of locks, security systems,
> locations of files, building layout, computer
> systems, etc. Given the extremely valuable nature
> of the information that is supposed to be 100%
> secure, we'll know whether and how it is
> vulnerable, and in two cases where I have been, it
> would have been very easy to return and acquire.
>
> On top of that, these inspections can take the
> auditor into the private residence of an
> individual (I've done three home offices) where
> there can be just one other person or even
> children present.
> Further, it may not be just us as independent
> contractors who are required to have the bg check,
> as at least one of the "clients" require the
> collection of names and contact info for computer
> repair and heating/air conditioning services
> providers to the local business.
> I can totally understand the bg checks.
> My $8 investment yielded a $500 return last year
> exclusively for shops that required the check.
> My $8 renewal has yielded over $200 so far this
> calendar year for the same.

This all makes sense to me now based on what I understand the job to entail. I am going to invest in it as it seems there are a lot of jobs in my area for this and it is something I might like doing. I have a follow up question about this but will make it a new question.
Thanks again.

I just did the background check again as it had expired, and found that someone else's name is associated with my SSN. Nothing showed up on the credit report, so the background check has already proven worth the cost to me. Now I'm in the midst of getting that all straightened out.

I always pay for their bg checks. When you think about it, it's kind of amazing that this wasn't required sooner. Anyway, another company I work for requires one (they wanted about 10 times as much!) and I submit the one that I got through Trendsource.

I applied for this company, had the background check done, now here's the deal. This company pays 17-21 dollars for most audits, pathetic. The first and last one I applied for went like this. I called and made the appointment, at the last minute the guy cancelled and rescheduled, next day he cancelled and rescheduled. At this point I gave up, as I do mystery shopping for a living I do not have the time open to continually reschedule and when you think about it I had not even done the shop yet! Forget It!!!!

What does it mean they pay 17-21 dollars. How is the decision made whether it is 17, 18,19,20, or 21?

The pay varies depending on the amount of information you have to gather and document at each location. As a rule the jobs will not pay less than $17 and no more than $21. I believe you find out the exact amount when you're assigned the job.

I had been doing mystery shops for Trendsource for a while and decided to bite the bullet and give this a shot since it sounded like something I could easily do. There were a lot of inspections posted in my (previous) area, so I paid for the bg check and signed up for my first assignment. It was an unscheduled exterior inspection, so I went the same day I received the assignment (within the times posted). As luck would have it, it started raining while I was taking my pictures....but I pulled out my umbrella and kept plugging away. I got back in my car to go over my checklist and make notes and decided to check my email while I was sitting there. Lo and behold, an email from Trendsource telling me the assignment had been cancelled. I emailed them back and told them I had just finished taking all the required photographs even though it was raining. I also asked them if cancellations happened often because I couldn't afford to do jobs I didn't get paid for (through no fault of my own, that is). No response from Trendsource. I still MS for them....but haven't taken another business inspection assignment because they never explained what happened.

Needless to say, they didn't pay for it even though I did what was required.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2013 10:42PM by lburcher.

After reading more than one story like this I am leaning towards not doing these type of jobs.

Yea I do lots of assignments for Trendsource but I have been passing on the on site inspections because I also feel that I don't want to spend $8 on a background check. The On Site inspections I see near me are for the most part business verifications although I'm not sure who wants to verify these businesses. I see a lot of apartment complexes on that list of business verifications.

I think the verifications are often for lending companies. They ask questions about the surrounding area and whether nearby businesses are for sale or rent as well.

In the past, I did many business verification shops for TrendSource. Fortunately for me, I never had a cancellation. They were very easy and quick jobs. I could go through the requirments with the owner, office manager, or whoever was in charge. I also did many alternative health care facilites (massage therapy, chiropractors, accupuncture) and they were also very easy and quick. I found everybody to be very accommodating. They usually thought I was somebody important, not realizing I was just the middle man (woman) with no authority whatsoever, so they would go out of their way to be nice. I am in the process of working with them again, after not doing so for a few years, and will pay the $8.

I've been doing all the bv's I can grab for TS. They are easy and the folks look forward to seeing you. I've had a couple cancelled but it was before I went out to do the project and was paid $3 for any initial work I did.

Last week I did 2 Scope (where you review the property, i.e. info on any structure, location, pics of place and streets) and had negotiated a $75 PAD fee since the properties were 75 miles north of my home. One of the inspections went the way it should have and the second one did not. For the life of me and after driving up and down the street I could not locate the street number listed on the asignment page. Using my phone's GPS, it kept bringing me back to the same property. It was on the street listed on the assignment page but it was a different street number - off by about 5 blocks. Since I was already there I went ahead and got the info. required. When I got home I emailed TS and explained all of the above and then received a message back that I should go ahead and input the info. from the property I felt was the correct one (it matched the satellite photo provided in the instructions) and that I would be paid the negotiated fee.

I expected TS to not want to pay me so this was a very welcome outcome!

Do I think they pay enough for these bv's? No, I don't but then on the other hand you do not have to be discreet, you ca schedule an appt. and if you match them up against doing a cell phone shop for $15, you spend just as much time, energy and travel for about the same fee.

I'll take the bv's before I do the other shops. I always try to match up a couple other shops though so that I'm not driving out to a location and back for just the bv fee.

Small investment for a possible gain. Check first if you want to see if they have any inspections or bvs in your area. I see it as perfectly legit and indeed necessary for this type of shop.

If Experian is involved they are probably checking your credit as well as the other things.

I always understood that a company that charges fees is one I should stay away from. I have not encountered any background check fees yet. I probably would not sign up.



Davisesq212 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was reviewing this company and to apply for a
> certified on-site inspector job, you need a
> background check and you must watch their
> 'professionalism' videos. The background check fee
> is about 8.00. Is this legit? I have not seen
> other companies charge this, and if they do, won't
> I need to pay a fee for each mystery shop company
> to do this background check?
>
> Specifically, they claim that this background
> check is required by Experian and some other
> clients. The checks also must be renewed annually
> to meet "Client and Credit Bureau contractual
> requirements".
> They also claim that they dont have access to your
> background check but just if you met the criteria
> or did not. The criteria includes:
> Sexual Offenses
> Theft
> Violence
> Neglect
> Drugs

See, plm has the right idea-- one thing I learned early on in this business is you work smarter, not harder.

If this is a situation where you're "inspecting" a certain target (individual/building/company/etc.), then do yourself a favor and factor in things like cancellations, distance, mileage, wear and tear on your vehicle, your time, and anything else under the sun you think you'll need. Don't go crazy, that's a surefire way to get yourself ostracized, but make a logical and sensical case for why you're requesting P.A.D.

For those who don't know, and I know many do, but P.A.D. stands for "Paid Authorized Distance." It's something that I've only seen used by TrendSource, but it's completely invaluable. The benefits of being able to ask for P.A.D whenever you need it is that you don't have to wait for a company to start bonusing shops. You don't have to wait for the pay to rise to a certain level, risking losing the shop for it to get to something respectable. You just add what you think you'll need to make the trip worth it and go from there.

If TrendSource contacts you back or schedules the shop (which is what usually happens), you know that your request was on target. If TrendSource doesn't contact you back, or waits until the very last minute with an "Oh! So sorry, just saw your request..." (=D) kind of thing, then you know what you asked for was too high for them, but now the work is so long in the tooth and needs to be done, so they care enough to pay it. (Or they'll renegotiate. That happens a lot.)

For those of you scoffing at the $17-$21 inspection type shops, you have to keep in mind that sometimes you can make cases for $20, $30, sometimes even more (someone above me said they asked for $75 P.A.D and they were granted it). I would caution-- and say that I think it makes smarter business sense if you want to keep a good working relationship with the company to be reasonable (I'm not saying that the $75 wasn't reasonable, I just want to caution new shoppers away from going wild -grin-) and not try to bilk them, but you can also be rational and simply state that if you drive so far it would be so much for gas and you try to make an average of so much per hour and in order to do that, this is the P.A.D you're asking for to make the job feasible for you...

Anyway, I keep trying to drive the point home because someone here drove it home for me and it's been a lifesaver ever since it's become my mantra -- work smarter, not harder. You'll do less work for more pay with a lot more options, you'll develop a relationship with schedulers who will respect you for being forthright and reasonable, and you'll find yourself with more time to do fun things instead of trying to pick off the tiny jobs.

Sending the best,

Jen

It really depends on what kind of information you will be accessing when doing these visits. I had a company request a background check last year for an unrevealed shoe audit in several discount retail stores. I was most specifically looking to see how many shoes did not have sensor tags attached. Given the circumstances of the information I was required to find out, a background check was understandable. This is something that a shoplifter would scout for. However, they did not ask that I pay.

While I get about 5-10 e-mails each week regarding inspection assignments, I have no interest in paying for something I will likely not get. I have been with MSI from the beginning, and they were one of the main companies I shopped for when they had grocery shops. I fully trust them, there were never any issues unless it was an error on my behalf. But until I regain self assign status, I will not pay for a background check. Because that is the only way I could possibly snag one of those assignments in my region. I hope they get a major client soon. I never get any of the assignments I request from them, and they all go so fast that I almost never get e-mails when new assignments become available.

I have done many of these inspections and just had to do my second background check. I guess it only last a year. I have gotten alot more for some of these inspections because of the distance. There is a place at the bottome of the job description where you can ask for extra pay and I have always gotten what I asked for. I don't usually go more than $10. more but I have.

Also, according to the fine print in TrendSource's IC agreement for shopper's, shopper's are required to have and maintain liability insurance.

I think the $8 is well worth the money, and definitely not a scam. I did the bg check in the middle of April and have already netted over $100 in inspection fees. There are quite a few in my area, and they are quick. About 30 minutes and a few pictures. The report is about 80 questions, but almost all Y/N, very little narrative. I haven't had any problem with anybody rescheduling or not showing up. I only schedule shops within 15 miles, so if there is a problem I'm not out of my area if I have to go back. They also pay very quickly, on the 5th & 20th of every month. I would stongly recommend it if there are enough in your area.

First of all the bg check repays itself after 1 job. Second MSI is not a company that refuses PAD (my last verification 2 weeks ago got me $52, $17 PAD). Third I think people don't take this seriously enough. I had a verification to carry out for one of the biggest companies in the world for refrigeration, electrical and many other products. To enter in that facility took me close to one hour. I had to watch video, being searched, had to wait 30 minutes for a high manager to approve the use of the camera...
Verification and mystery shopping are two separate things. You get to know where delicate documents are stored and have pictures of the security and rooms. You get to know schedules of people getting in those offices. You get to know who takes care of their computers and where they keep the main server.
I keep all my mystery shop pictures and recipts scans store on cd roms for years. Do you know what that means to the client? The big trust they put in your hands? Most of the times the contact volunteer the information on why the client wantes the business verification, but if you notice they never tell you. They try to protect information, so you don't know how to use it.
Sorry but bg check is the least they can ask for. Funny thing is, many of the clients carry out background checks as well as one of their line of profession. MSI does not use them though lol.