Just wanted to hear what everyone thought. I find it hard to make any kindof of route out of them and the reports are not the longest I have every done but they sure aren't the shortest.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2013 01:09AM by CAscotch.

In VA they go for $40 and I have been doing some of my little $30 stores but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going crazy thinking this is a lot of work for nothing.

If you are doing video shops for them and have a good track record with video, Robert will work with you to build a route or to halp you pad an existing route. But, travel bonuses are not part of the EPMS corporate culture. They do pay a bonus for having your own audio or video equipment, though.

Not in my opinion....especially if you have to get a "targeted" person...and you "may" find tons of questions from the editor once you turn in it....

$30 for random agents, yes, it is worth it. For targeted agents, no.

I agree. Targeted agents absolutely not. Untargeted I will do if I'm in the area anyway, otherwise no.

They pay $40.00 here in L.A. I just did three of them in a week, and yes, they are detailed down to the color of the
Agent's eyes. The ones here are all targets, but they work with you and will extend dates. I think 50.00 is a better
price (30.00 is too low), as the report takes a couple hours. My jobs were all in my area, so I took them, oh, bring
your best memory along, so much to remember.

For the amount of detail and time required to do the shop and then the report, I would suggest proceeding with cAution. For your first shop, do not schedule more than 1 shop with them per day unless sleep and doing anything else is irrelevant to you.

Oh, heck no. $100 isn't worth doing there shops. You end up spending hours on the redundant reports!

In the last few weeks I have decided they are not time efficient for me. Between the drive (gas), the on site visit, the chasing of targets and the 60-90 minute reports I end up making around minimum wage. I like and respect the company. I just dread their reports.

I've never seen them as low as $30.

My compliments to Goofy for a concise comment. She stated her decision, explained her reasoning and added a terminal contrast between the MSC and their reports.

Unless your area is experiencing a dearth of shops, I see
no reason to these shops. Between the on-site time and report
entry time, you should be able to make alot more money
doing other shops

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOmg! Do Not do this shop without getting a huge bonus! The reports are a nightmare, about 2 hours long and they bounce them back for more info. I just took a shop that had a target to contact, it paid $60.00, of course I could not get a hold of the target. I could not get the phone call to record, the schedulers did not get back to me, then I finally find out the target works part time every other weelkend. I notify the scheduler and she tells me to call back and fluff the call, I contact her back and say, "What am I calling again for, I don't need to call again I found the information I needed. SHE IS NOT THERE!!!!! They want you to call 3 to 5 times a day from a land line, needless to say I am out trying to make a living! I cancelled the shop which I never do, but this is just too much! $30.00, save yourself!!!

For IGLOOgleit: so you are saying that even if EPMS bonused their shops where the total payout would be $100 for a walk-in (and with no-recorded phone call) that you wouldn't do these shops? I'm sorry, but that is just crazy to even fathom. Just crazy. Yeah, their reports are long, yet not 2 hours long as one poster put it. Yeah, those reports are redundant. So what? For every redundant question that you see, copy and paste a response back in the comment box. Yeah, it may take me 15-20 minutes extra to do than most. Ok, whatever. At least I know that they are consistent every year, so on and so forth.

I sure wish that many others thought the way that you did. If that was the case, there would be TONS of EPMS bonused shops that would go untouched every month. And guess what? I'll sure take them and not having to worry about the company paying me 60-90 days later, or possibly never. 30-day payment.

Eric: I agree with you. I like doing apartments. The report is long, but I just do them while I'm watching TV at night when I'm not doing anything else anyway.

Here in Colorado they only pay $30 though so I only do the ones that are close to my house. The only problem is that once you have done a maximum of shops for one management company, they don't let you shop for that company for a year and a half. Here there was one company who had bought up all the apartments in my part of town. I have been noticing, though, that they're no longer around.

I had a problem with a shop recently, and of course the only way to get ahold of the scheduler was by email, so I called the office. They were extremely nice and fixed the problem right away. And I have never had a problem with not getting paid or having a report rejected. They also pay right away with direct deposit.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/2013 09:02PM by DanceMom.

Eric in Tampa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For IGLOOgleit: so you are saying that even if
> EPMS bonused their shops where the total payout
> would be $100 for a walk-in (and with no-recorded
> phone call) that you wouldn't do these shops? I'm
> sorry, but that is just crazy to even fathom. Just
> crazy. Yeah, their reports are long, yet not 2
> hours long as one poster put it. Yeah, those
> reports are redundant. So what? For every
> redundant question that you see, copy and paste a
> response back in the comment box. Yeah, it may
> take me 15-20 minutes extra to do than most. Ok,
> whatever. At least I know that they are consistent
> every year, so on and so forth.
>
> I sure wish that many others thought the way that
> you did. If that was the case, there would be TONS
> of EPMS bonused shops that would go untouched
> every month. And guess what? I'll sure take them
> and not having to worry about the company paying
> me 60-90 days later, or possibly never. 30-day
> payment.


I might be crazy, but certainly not desperate. The facts remain, read the other posts, sir. The reports take entirely too long, they ask for the same information over and over, and chasing the target takes too long, etc...everyone has a price in which they feel is fair. Mine is at about $100 for this shop. To each, their own...

I will never argue that theirs are the most tedious reports in the MS world. I now have them down to the 45 minute range. Getting the target never works out for a same day visit so I schedule appointments for my convenience. That said, the starting rate here is higher than $30. I will not take the written shops until they reach a minimum of $45 and will only schedule them during a slow time which is normally the third week of the month. About half of mine are written and half are video.

Doing three in a week all in the same area (mine) made me $120.00, so the stress was worth it. The more you do, the easier it gets, except for the calling, but I got lucky and reached the targets....but, the report is loooong!

Well, well, well.........I spent a week and a half trying to reach the target. I made about 20 calls. I probably spent 5.00 on ink and paper printing all of those instructions and survey questions. After going back and forth with the scheduler and she with the client, I was finally told to go ahead and ask for her by name. Guess what? The target no longer works there. I emailed the scheduler and she basically said that she was sorry and cancelled the shop. What? I would have thought she could have thrown me a ten or something for making all those calls, but that did not happen. I think I will have to be desperate before I work for EPMS again. I only took the original job because it was up to 50.00.

If you spent all of that time the only right thing would be to pay you since it is not your fault. They don't have to pay the full $50 but $10 or $15 would be reasonable.

@IGOOgleit I have read the other posts, and have acknowledged this. Did you read my post thoroughly? I never presumed that you were desperate, yet I think that you miss my point. If you see one of their shops that are offered in a very high bonus range (betweeen $75-100), you were basically saying that you wouldn't take it? And this is due to the fact that their reports are longer than usual? That is just mind-boggling to me. Have you shopped other companies that offer either written or video apartment shops and have done a comparative analysis?

I completely understand your disdain for doing shops for them, as well as for other posters within this forum. In fact, I really don't mind at all. For everyone that hates EPMS, I just pick up a $65 or $75 video shop that noone wanted to take because "the report was too long." All day long.

They are worth 50.00+, we get 40.00 which averages to 12.00 an hour. I wish they bonused here, too many shoppers.

$30 not worth IMHO. I typically do the $40 or $45, plus $5 bonus. Even then sometimes I want to beat my head against the wall trying to reach the target. Though a couple weeks ago, I viewed a building, which is currently leasing just under $4K a month. Whew! That was fun! 24 concierge, roof top pool, roof top garden, huge screening room, etc, etc, etc...I wanted to lease on the spot after viewing all the benefits. Then I realized, 1) um can't afford $4K a month and 2) I'm not really in the market to lease you idiot, this is a SHOP.

I have done several of these shops and I kick myself in the butt each time. I must not take them for less than $70 from now on. I continually lose 2 -5 days trying to connect to my target. That is bad enough, the on-line report takes hours to complete.

The fact is this: We are not accustomed to doing these tedious and time consuming shops. All we see is the higher than normal fee being offered. Right? Well, when we all learn exactly what we are getting into, people will stop taking the assignment for the "less-than-minimum-wage" payment. Typically, these assignments are about 130 miles round trip and costs about $30 for gas. Because of scheduling difficulty, it is a miracle to combine the shop with others. So the numbers tell it all. This is a no win situation shop.

I wish I could call first and make proper contact. If the contact was made, then accept the assignment. However, this is not the case and I am tied down for days.

I really must get a minimum or $70 for these shops. Or, how about this? Say we accept a shop and they pay an extra $15 for each day we wait to make contact? Hmmm Sounds like a winning combination to me?

I'm done with them.....they are deducting 20.00 from a shop I did 2 months ago and I don't know why.
I also got feedback to say more and did, although I said what they wanted. This scheduler is one fussy
lady, and for the work I put in, I say up yours!!!! I'm in a rage, sorry.....

They didn't give you any reason for the deduction?

Unfortunately they only pay $25 in Corpus Christi.

That does it. I am finally totally convinced that I will NEVER do an apartment shop. They sound frustrating as all hell, from beginning to end.