This company I have done only 2 shops for in early July. They seem to only have apartment shops. The pay seems fair enough at mostly $30. but the report can be lengthy depending on which phase they are in.

Has anyone worked for them in the last 3 months and what is your experience? I just don't get it. A scheduler has a target/recorded shop and you can either use their recorder ($5.00) or use your own. The current voluminous shops in my county are just as I have said. There were 7 at my back door nearly. What a payday that would have been. I saw where another shopper received a bonus on 1 of the shops so I emailed the scheduler asking for the same bonus to pick up all 7 for her (and me). She wrote back she would pay me $4.00! That was disappointing and raw I felt!


Since July 22nd, 4 remain on the board. This week I also received a 'recruitment letter' as they needed shoppers so badly. August 16th they remain on the board~ no takers, no bonus. Emails go unanswered. And I have not been paid although it says I have been the way I read the pay schedule.

If you have had experience with this MS please share with me.






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Shopping in Central FL and into eternity!

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EPMS isn't known for being generous with the bonuses.

Thanks Bay for your response. I did look this morning (Sat) and yep, they are all still on the board!

When I went to login this morning, they had changed my password which was unknown to me and I had to contact them.
Got the password, but even so the dstatus is still the same.

Thanks again for responding.

Happy shopping!


distantwings

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Shopping Central FL and into eternity~

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They seem very difficult to work with to me. I have done a handful of shops for them but I always correspond with someone different every time I e-mail them. None of the ones I work with know what they other said. I have my own recorder so they usually always bonus the recorded shops.
When I have an issue with a due date, I e-mail and ask for an extenstion or to be removed because I cannot use that date, and hear from someone who says they can move it and someone who says they cannot.
Make sure if you change your bank info, that you do it BEFORE the 7th of the month or you have to wait until the 22nd of the FOLLOWING month to get paid for your shops. It happened to a girl I recruited into shopping and no one was helpful at EPMS. We finally had to report them to MSPA.

Don't lose any sleep over it......not worth your time and effort....

There is another thread on them, read it, I don't want to repeat myself.

Irene_L.A. Wrote:
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> There is another thread on them, read it, I don't
> want to repeat myself.


I've looked for your post, Irene. I don't see it.

I have never had any problems with EPMS. I have completed a lot of shops for them. The problem I have is with their reports. There is SO MUCH redundency in the form. I emailed one of the schedulers and suggested another sort of form. I was told that the current form is what the client wants. I hesitate to do any more shops for them because the report takes me at least three hours to complete. In addition to the one-two hours the visits take, it doesn't seem worth my time.

My experience is reaching the targets (impossible), doing the actual shop doesn't bother me, but the target calls are made 3-4 times a day, then you can ask for target (after EPMS gives you permission). The report is extremely detailed, I'm used to it and o.k. with it now. We get paid 40.00 and sometimes there is a 5.00 bonus. Have a good memory because, you need
to remember colors of the model, eye color of Agent and lots of details. I find the schedulers easy to work with and they always pay on time. Take your time with report, as there are deductions for errors. Good luck.

I seem to remember them telling me I have done 200 shops for them, which does sound realistic - in over 13 years. They are picky but I think pretty easy to work with. If you can hold out, it is possible to get a bonus, if you wait till the end of the month. I've been doing the telephone shops from home, across the country. I think they are easy, you get to listen to the entire recorded conversation and never leave the house.

I just started doing shops for them. Got a call to do 4. They were easy to work with when I told them that I couldn't reach some of the agents or no one answered. (they could see that I had been trying diligently by looking at the recorded call log). One I never could get on the phone nor did they have an anwering machine. It took 4 days for scheduler to contact me again, presumably they had to reach the client and determine what needed to happen next. They asked me to drive by and see if I could catch someone. Luckily I did.

The reports...I agree, there is much that is redundant and could be streamlined. They are very long too. I'm finding that it is taking me about 2.5-3 hours to complete shop. That is pushing my shop pay to approximately $11-12 per hour, which is below my target. If I can't get the time down to 2 hours by learning how to do report faster, I will need to start asking for increase or stop doing shop.

How long is it taking for you all to receive your pay?

In my area, bonuses are $5 for traditional shops. Regarding targets, I have only had one shop where the target was a stupid, unartful dodger. I made 13 phone attempts (my total time attempting was less than seven minutes). EPMS communicated with the client along the way, and directed my efforts. I was eventually told to push the shop through as phone attempts only, and was paid $5.

On their site, payment terms are stated "EPMS shop payments are automatically direct deposited (electronic payment to your bank/card account) monthly. Payments process on the 7th of each month and will deposit to your bank/card account on the 22nd of each month (or on the following business day if a weekend or holiday). Paper checks are no longer an option for payment. In order to pay you by direct deposit, you must have submitted your bank account information through our system."

With only a few exceptions, my payments have been timely.

I have done about 50+ shops for them and I haven't had any problems with them. I receive my money on time which is on the 22nd of each month and if you have questions about a shop they answer back quickly. The problem I do have is of course the reports. I tend to do audio shops more because the reports are a little easier. I do like that they send you emails if they have shops they need to be completed right away. They will work with you on the bonus if you live a long way from the apartment that you need to shop. The most I've gotten for bonus shops is $15.00 which is pretty good. If you live near the apartments that need to shopped they won't give much on bonuses. Sometimes they will add $5 or $10 if they see that no one is assigning the shops to themselves. I know the things they require you do seems like a lot but if you look at other mystery shopping jobs not that many pay $30 or more like the apartment shops. The only other types of shops I have done is car dealerships and the most I received was $50.

I learned the hard way trying to do a route but like Irene, it's impossible to get the target. What makes it worse is when the same person answers 3 times! If they are true seasoned sales people, you NEVER forget a voice or phone call. It made it tough trying to obtain a set schedule and set pay to do so many shops a day.

If the shops are a few miles in proximity to you, it's not a problem but I was scheduling ones out of the area with bonuses in conjunction with other shops and it just doesn't work. Targets are like being on call....when they answer, you go run!

I've been with them for over a year now. The shops pay $40 each, some with bonuses either because the target is hard to reach or it's the end of the month. The bonuses range from $10 to $20. It can be difficult reaching the target sometimes, and when I've had that problem, I either contact the scheduler or I cancel the shop. I haven't had any issues with cancelling shops with them - i.e. no write-ups or bad grades from them. Usually when I email the scheduler telling them I'm having problems contacting the target, they give me permission to ask for the target by name and they give me an excuse to give the target if the target asks how I got their name. I've done this more than a few times. If you get your shops submitted before the 7th of the month, they pay you by the 22nd. I've had no problems with them paying me at all, ever.

When you make the phone calls to the apartment community, if you're not using EPMS's phone recorder system, ALWAYS use *67 before you make the call so your phone number does not display. Also, if the same person answers the phone when you call the community, disguise your voice a bit and ask for some generic information so you don't have to end up hanging up on that person.

I check their website every day for jobs. They change quite frequently. I just finished doing 5 ad $40 each last month, one with a $15 bonus. (payday is gonna be sweet on the 22nd!!). I will say this, some of their schedulers have not always been as 'friendly' as others. But you can work around that. The thing I don't like about them is that you cannot reach them by phone. You have to email them. And sometimes, they are a little late on answering emails. But I do like working for them, even though most of their reports seem to take forever to do sometimes. They pay pretty good.

I know for sure that one of the schedulers only works at night. My schedule is days so a question sent on Monday won't be answered until Tuesday. They do have an office and someone answers the phone during normal business hours so it is good for questions that just won't wait.

I have quit doing shops for EPMS. They normally offer $35 to $50 for a video assignment. Their assignments take a minimum of three hours for me to to report. In addition to that, I have driving time and time on site. It cost me $25 minimum for gasoline. It's just not worth my time.

I have contacted them on numerous occasions with a simple request. I asked if it was normal to take this long to complete their reports? They have never had the decency to respond. I have even sent the request directly to the schedulers, and they have not responded.

I figured after subtracting for gas, I was earning less than five dollars an hour. They will not even answer when I send it a request for a bonus. I do not know why I continue to keep their account open. I keep thinking that I am somehow "paying my dues" and at some point will get a response.

After seeing these posts, I do not think I am the only one having a problem.

they have one scheduler who is horrible. she never reads the shop rules before sending out emails. i was assigned a monday-friday shop and she unassigned me from it on a monday morning because i failed to complete calls the previous two days...umm, hello...the rules state don't call saturday or sunday. a few weeks after that, she unassigned me from a shop for the same reason, failure to begin calling. but guess what? they posted that shop on the board a week before I could begin it. the rules said to start after a certain day of the month. both times i emailed her (or it could be a him, who knows) and asked why the shop was taken away from me and I never received a response.

So, I finished my four shops. Two were relatively easy to do. The other two were more difficult as they were targeted shops. One person never picked up the phone, didn't have voice mail. I dealt with more than one scheduler and they eventually asked me to do a drive by, which I did. I actually caught the agent waiting for an "exit" interview with a tenant. She had nothing, and I mean nothing on her relative to the apartment that was available for rent, not even a business card (what business professional leaves their office without a business card?). I got dinged by the evaluator/reviewer because I couldn't get anything from this really poor execuse for a management company. I took photos and had a receipt for parking as evidence that I was there. Really think they should be thanking me. I tried for over a week to reach someone and never did by phone. Frankly, it wasn't worth the money and the reporting time. I would grade the whole experience as a "B".

I will NEVER shop for them again! I've been signed up since 2008 and done many apartment shops, always paid by check, eventually. Since I started doing $35, 10-minute credit union shops for Harland Clark, I decided these lengthy, detailed EPMS shops were not worth my time, especially since Remington and other MSCs pay much better for apartment shops.

I kept getting emails BEGGING me to do shops and I finally caved after being offered a $10 bonus. The shop was 15 miles from home. I wouldn't have touched it but the scheduler was desperate and $45 was doable, despite the lengthy narrative and 2 hours time involved.

I get my check today and they DOCKED me $10 because they say my direct deposit bounced back and they "had" to pay me by check? I reconfirmed all my routing and bank account number and what EPMS had was correct. Not sure if it was bank or human error, but it WASN'T my fault. I never got a phone call or e-mail asking for clarification, just a $10 reduction in my shop payment!

I asked if they could just cut me a $10 check and was told "We're unable to cut physical checks anymore and only have direct deposit.". Really?? Because I HAD a physical check in my hand as I made the call today!! She said the ONLY way they could pay me the $10 the docked me in error was if I accepted ANOTHER shop! Are you kidding? They must be SO desperate for shoppers. Well, guess what. I'm DONE with EPMS... never again. Hope their little scam was worth the $10 they saved and the loss of any potential future shoppers who read this. Stay away...