I requested some gas station shops from Maritz on Friday morning 7am'ish). I still haven't heard back from them. Is this normal? This is the first time I would be shopping for them too.

I've shopped for them several times and they did the same to me this month. The request has been in for two weeks and so far, nothing. I called last week, team 4 for the gas stations I requested. Was told very rudely that I had not earned the privilege of self assign and THEY would call me when and if the assignment would be offered to me. They went from an A company on my list down to a C, my lowest cat agony. . They don't pay well, require that you send them an invoice to get paid and then they have an attitude. I don't get the office people treating the field reps that way, without us they don't make money.

At a certain point you will be able to self assign and schedule. I've been with them the longest at 18 years and found them to be decent people.

I completely agree with Her Imperial Majesty. While I've only been with Maritz 1/2 decade, these folks are the epitome of easiness with whom to work. Some months we agree and others agree we disagree; THAT"S business. NEVER the need to send a letter and HOPE you receive a reply. NEVER a need to, on your dime, call; they have an ALWAYS answered 800 number. NEVER a need to wait on your check; it arrives as surely as the rotation of the Earth.

I love Maritz and their office people. They are helpful and never coped an attitude, even when I messed up and needed them to fix it. It's worth taking whatever far distance jobs to earn the self assign privilege with them. The have some of the easiest reports next to MFI. The invoice thang takes an extra 10 seconds online - not a problem.

This company has always worked with me in trying to complete projects. While not the best paying, I still enjoy working for them based on their attitude and service towards me.

I emailed them and they phoned me. I didn't understand why my 4 selected gas shops were still 'not scheduled'

She explained that I should call her back and I'll do that tomorrow. She said she'd give me one and see how I do. She wants to make sure I have the equipment needed and to make sure I know what about the pictures and format and etc etc. Makes sense to me, so I'll be calling them tomorrow.

When you are new, you can't self-schedule. You have to do 10 shops (unless they've changed the number in the last 5 years since I was a newbie with them). It's hard because all the other shoppers can self-schedule and they grab the best shops while you wait for a phone call responding to your assignment request. It's a pain in the neck. I think sometimes that they deliberately drag their feet to give the established shoppers a shot at the assignments before awarding them to new shoppers. My best advice is to do 10 crummy shops as fast as you can to get past that and be able to self-assign. Once you get to that, Maritz is really easy to work with.

I have a love/hate relationship with Maritz.
I love their scheduler accessibility by phone.
I hate not being able to communicate with the schedulers by email, especially when having to put together multiple routes and read them over the phone while they search their lists and take down info so as to present an offer to their supervisor (I already have it all typed out, can't I just send it to you instead of using 25 minutes out of my 30 minute lunch break to read multiple lists of obscure town names over the phone with you... pleeeeeease?)
I love the huge bonuses that orphaned shops can yield at the very end of the quarter!
I hate the starting prices of nearly everything they offer, and generally have to ask each scheduler, politely, once per client per quarter, to please not call until distance pay is being considered.
I love getting a call from a scheduler for a shop that was never even on the board, but they need it done the day before yesterday and so they don't even bother with let's make a deal and just offer a ludicrous price that I could never say no to.
I hate getting up to five calls per day all the way up to 9:00 p.m. towards the end of each quarter, each from a different scheduler, each asking about the same shops, each taking to the supervisor a distance pay request that each previous scheduler has not been able to get approved.
I love the fact that they have paid every penny they have ever promised, all within the time frame that they've stated.
I hate not being able to communicate with the schedulers by email (yep, I doubly hate that.) And I hate losing that extra minute each invoice takes (because it's a pointless lost minute of sleep per shop.) And I hate how a little bit more seems to be added every quarter to one or more clients' reports.
And I really, really love their schedulers. I haven't encountered a whiff or shadow of rudeness among any of them. They're sincere, earnest, persistent, helpful, grateful, and all around good eggs just trying to get the job done.

And Rebekkah, scheduler par excellence, while I did receive payment for the outrageous sum that it took for me to drive 350 miles to get the last shop in my state done for Q1 this year, you also promised to come clean my bathrooms if I took the job. If you're reading this, please know that I'm still waiting, and they're getting kind of gross.

Thought I haven't done any shops for them yet, the woman who left a message was really nice and explained it all.

I shall call her today, after I finish cleaning MY bathrooms!

It seems they scraped the bottom of the barrel and I am a winner! I was assigned all four jobs I requested.

Wow!

You often have to wait if you are new because the self-schedule shoppers get a few weeks to look at the jobs before they can begin to hand them out to others who request them. I like the fact that Maritz is a company that rewards steady, dependable shoppers by letting them have first crack at the new assignments. There are plenty out there so that anyone can get their feet in the door. You may have to take less desirable or more remote locations; that is how I got started. Now I can schedule what I want.

It will get to the point where some schedulers will give you a call to ask you if you'll take certain shops before they hit the job board.

I'm getting everything set up with them now, but am wondering if it's a good "fit".

Why don't they accept email? That seems unprofessional, or at the very least, a very archaic way of doing business. I prefer I to have everything in writing. It's also much easier for me to access my email during the work day than try to take a call. Likewise, it's troubling to me that they don't have shop descriptions for the available shops on their website. Why waste both my time and theirs on a phone call when it would be clearer to have it all in writing?

To your credit, you're questioning this association. This company, as with many others, has their manner of conducting business. As an example, they are the only MSC with whom I'm contracted that requires me to submit an invoice. I've no idea why, but it doesn't bother me. Next, as you've noted, they are "telephone" people, which for me is great, but you dislike that manner of communication. Finally, all of the work I've completed for them in 5 yrs. has required a considerable amount of uploading; for some folks, this is an unacceptable repetition.

Why not give it a try? The worst that can happen is you'll be dis-satisfied and can then request de-activation. If, though, you scratch Maritz without an attempt to succeed, every time the name crosses your mind, you may wonder, "what if?" Personally, I would rather fail on a dozen occasions that to wonder "what if?"

Market Force also requires an "invoice" -- the CPI.

Riversong, try one bank shop first. Do the overdraft protection one. Takes 5 minutes in the bank, the report is a piece of cake. Remember to write the job number on the documents you have to upload. Use your camera to take pictures of the docs to upload. Tiny bit time-consuming for the picture part, but really, once you've done a couple and know what documents you need to upload, it goes very quickly.

Do a couple of those, then try the combo shops. Twice as many docs to upload but it pays another $3 for that extra 10 minutes of work plus a brief phone call.

Read instructions well, ask questions here if you don't understand something.

After you get your feet wet with the bank shops, try one of the gas stations.

Yes, it's a bit weird that they don't use emails, but it's steady, easy, easy work that you can plunk into a day's shopping as those banks are everywhere. I did a route of 8 of those bank jobs one day, heavily bonused because one of the banks was an orphan in a remote area that nobody wanted to go to. Popped in an audio book and spent a pleasant day driving from bank to bank through some of the prettiest scenery in Arizona.

Maritz is one of my main companies I do work for. The pay is about par for shops these days and the questions are easy and not near as intensive as many others. The hardest part about the bank shops is the multitude of documents you have to upload. But the shops are everywhere and a great filler when I am off doing other shops. Or if I get lucky I can do 7-8 in one day in a specific big city. The schedulers have all been fantastic. I have not been a MS for very long and the scheduler called me and stepped me through the process easy as pie. Now I have two specific routes per month and pick up filler shops on other days I am doing things.

Biggest complaint is the space it takes to keep those documents. I have a huge stack in the corner. Any suggestions how long I need to keep them? I guess I can just ask nicely the next time I talk to them.

I have not done any of the gas stations. I don't have the "stuff" needed and not sure its worth getting? What do you guys think that have done them?

@@Mystery shopping one year anniversary@@

I found no problem with receiving a phone call begging me to take a distant shop in the last 2 days of the year---and having a $300 bonus stuck on it. Yes m'am, I'd be more than happy to oblige you.

Market Force and InTouch Insight require an invoice as well.
Unfortunately it is true. For beginners it is hard, above all if you live in an area with many shoppers. In my area there are not many I guess and I reached the 10 shops rather easy, actually they pushed some jobs on my to make me reach the 10 minimum. But if you have lots of competitors, be ready to do a job 70 miles away just to reach the quota. Now as soon as the new shops come out I immediately self schedule them all in a 90 miles radious. I fill the following 2 month so that I don't lose them. I do the same with the audits from Market Force. Now one of the audits from Maritz has introduced a rotation and night shops...that means less jobs for me. Funny thing is that they should know I got all the north of my state with the last period and they have already called me twice asking me if I am willing to do them. I say yes...but you should check if I meet the requirements first...they apologize and hang up LOL.

Now, no matter how good they can be, they can also be a**holes. They treated my wife like crap for refusing to do a single job 40 miles away with no incentive. They give me probably 1/5 of my mystery shop income so I need to smile and swollow the bitter bite. Otherwise I would have dropped them as MSC. If my wife was one of the forum I would have said she was BSing us, but seeing that behaviour with my own eyes kinda shocked me. And this is a company wich called my home to ask about my health since they knew I was undergoing serious health problems.
They can be both ways of the medal...good and evil. So watch out when you say no to a job with them. Since the way they treated my wife I very seldom return their messages or calls...I tried to avoid having to say no to a job offer.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2013 08:37PM by italiano.

cincitycon Wrote:
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> Maritz is one of my main companies I do work for.
> Biggest complaint is the space it takes to keep
> those documents. I have a huge stack in the
> corner.

Rip the cover off the bank booklet and throw the rest of the document away. Staple the rest of the brochures and rate sheets and business card to the cover. I keep that for six months, although three should be sufficient, then pitch it all.

I put my stack in a large Macy's shopping bag and every six months, I toss the bag and start a new one. Too much work to rip off the cover and staple. LOL! Their bank shops are great fill ins if you are going to a certain part of town, or another city. There is a rotation on the odp and the combo requires one day to make the call first.

I do their bank shops but they won't let me do the gas shops. My husband works in the oil field so apparently that is a no no. :/ Bummer! I'm surprised anyone can take those shops in this town. We are in the middle of an oil boom and that's why most of us are here!

Is that why the gas started going up again? Dang, 40 cents in 5 days here.

I have worked with them for over 3 years. Lately I see no green gas station shops. Does anyone know if they lost that account?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2013 09:15PM by karen A.

Gotta remove the client name.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/2013 04:11AM by Karen IL.

Thanks, itsasecret, et al.

We don't seem to have the bank shops here, but I probably couldn't do them anyway schedule-wise. I'm generally only available to shop after about 6:30pm on weekdays so the only banks I shop are the ones that are open nights and/or weekends.

Maritz loves the idea that I'm up for trying the night shops. I've taken the plunge and signed up for one night gas shop (I found one on my way home from my usual weekly dinner with a friend) and one day gas shop (close to work) ... no counting cards on either one. We'll see how those are, and go from there. I haven't seen the required invoice yet. MF's CPIs are nothing but a couple extra clicks on their website. I can deal with that.

karen A Wrote:
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> I have worked with Maritz for over 3 years. Lately
> I see no XX shops. Does anyone know if they lost
> that account?

karen -
You need to edit your posting to remove the name of the client. ICA violation and against form rules to have client and MSC named in the same thread.

karen A Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have worked with Maritz for over 3 years. Lately
> I see no green gas shops. Does anyone know if they lost
> that account?


They didn't loose the account. They shifted to a invitation only route system with no rotation. They routes will open again in June.

Like others have said, please edit you post to remove client name.