I did one of the $4 burger shops this week. My kids love when I bring them home food (minus the tasting bites of course), and I was right there doing another couple of other shops. It wasn't too bad. I did indeed write a novel about my burger, but I knew what I was in for when I signed up. I actually enjoyed the clearly laid out directions in the form, so I wasn't guessing how much info was wanted there.

I wouldn't go out of my way to do the shop, but I wouldn't mind doing it again if I'm going to be in the immediate area anyway. Sentry has another, higher paying shop, right next to my house, that I am hoping to score some day. I was hoping that performing well on the $4 burger shop would tip the odds in my favor next time the other shop comes around.

CAscotch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I should not hate on Sentry so much. I am actually
> really curious who are doing shops for them.
>
> One example of a burger place shows over 15 pages
> of questions/narratives. The pay equates to the
> cost of a cup of coffee. The reimbursement is less
> than a Jack in the Box shop. I am dumbfounded as
> to who is doing these shops... Not to mention, in
> the past, they have also deducted $$ for errors.
>
> Yikes.

I am doing shops for them. I've done spa shops for several years now and have one scheduled for this month. Their FD restaurant became one of my favorite place to go to for special occasions. Yes, the report for FD was long, but so are all the other FD reports I've done for other msc. It usually takes 2-4 hours per FD report. The burger place is not in my area, so I have not done it. There's a alcoholic shop in my area, but I don't drink. I do not have any problems with Sentry and wish they have more shops in my area.

shopper64 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My account at Sentry was deactivated after I took
> the time to respond to a survey about Sentry's
> website. Dave didn't like my unprofessional tone.
> I was then retroactively docked a $7 shop fee for
> a job a did the month before and had ALREADY
> gotten a "Great job! Thanks for all your hard
> work. Payment approved" e-mail weeks earlier!
> Nah... Dave doesn't hold grudges. Glad he
> deactivated me because I would never shop for
> Sentry again! They're also one of the slowest
> paying MSCs in the industry.

I have a neutral opinion towards Sentry. I just did a shop for them and thought the form was average length and didn't get a hard time on it.
However, if I was ever retroactively docked $ I would be furious. And this is why I like the forum. We shoppers need to be paid for our work.

I did the burger shop once. The report was ridiculously long. I have heard that it has been changed. I am assuming it got shorter. I don't have that much to say about my drink, ever. The food was great, but my time is worth more than that. I can choose about 20 different lunches a day. That shop isn't going to be my first choice anytime soon, based on the report, not on the food or the payment time.

There are some really nice sounding shops in my area. I am hesitant to do any based on my experience with the burger shop. I'm not saying that I won't, I just don't know that I want to burn 2-3 hours writing about something that costs less than $50 or $100.

The amount of emails I get from them is excessive. I am getting one for each location, and I am lucky (unlucky) enough to have a ton of shops in my area. I would say in excess of 10 per day sometimes.

So, nothing really bad to say about them. It's just not my style right now. I have been shopping for a really long time and do mostly high end stuff. I will knock out the bread and butter stuff when I am in town and have less than 2-3 shops scheduled for the day. Good fillers. 2 hours on a food court shop is not a good filler though.

Hello all,
Just wanted to put out a word of warning about this company. A recent experience has really put a bad taste in my mouth and made me question the business ethics at play here. I have done everything I can to resolve the issue, but can't get anything but blame and excuses. I enjoyed performing the shops very much and had a wonderful scheduler to work with when I initially started. The scheduler quit a few months ago and I began dealing with the company directly. I was told I would have a scheduler contact me regularly about shops. That did not happen. I then called the company directly and left numerous voicemails and emails for weeks and never could get a reply. This happened every month. When I was finally able to reach someone, they made an excuse as to why they hadn't returned my calls.

I also began having issues with being not paid at all or having random deductions taken from my checks with no merit. I finally spoke with the head of the company who informed me that their computer system and the previous scheduler were at fault. It took awhile but we finally got the payment issue resolved. Fast forward to this month where I again had been unsuccessful in reaching someone. When I finally was able to speak to someone, I was told that they did not like the "tone" I used when letting the company know that I had experienced issues. This was after the company had sent a survey asking if there were areas of improvement that the company needed to engage in to make a better experience for the shopper. I was floored when I was told that I should have been happier and nicer when I was having these issues. It's not like I yelled or cussed at anyone, I simply stated the problem and voiced my frustration. I mentioned that I had been dealing with some of these issues for three months and had been very polite but it was frustrating when the company dropped the ball, blamed past employees for their current mistakes, then retaliated against their current shoppers for honestly expressing their disapproval. Long story short, the company did not want to take any kind of responsibility for their poor performance and poor shopper support.
At the end of the day, I am just here to warn others that perhaps they do not want to work for a company who so little values the relationship with their shoppers. And since I can see that the owner appears to be active on this site, I will say this. I respect what you are trying to do in terms of your company, but generally, when a company sends out a survey seeking input as to the type of experience a shopper has, if the company receives negative feedback based on factual evidence and experiences that the shopper has had, it would behoove the company to dedicate time to correcting the issue within the company, not tell the person completing the survey that they are "rude" or "lying" for honestly detailing the experiences they have had. And certainly, it is NEVER good business to retaliate against the shopper for bringing the issues to your attention, especially when you ask them for their input. I asked specifically to speak to the owner of the company but I was told I would not be put through to the owner, so I respectfully thanked the company for their time and wished them the best. At this point, I do not want association with a company that will treat it shoppers in such a manner, so it is all for the best that we don't have affiliation anymore.

Anyway, I hope that everyone else will have a more positive experience with this company than I did. I have been mystery shopping for 9 years and actively work monthly for over 20 companies and I have NEVER been treated as poorly or disrespectfully as I have by this company. Thanks for taking the time to read this!

linzlay

We decided against reactivating your account after you told our team member that our company was "unethical" and “shady”. Deactivating your account was not "retaliation", it was just business. Your excessive negative comments about our company brought your ability to be objective into question. As a shopper, it is your prerogative to accept shops for a company or not to do business with them. As a mystery shopping company, we have the same prerogative.

I am unsure who informed you that a scheduler would contact you each month regarding open assignments because this is not an arrangement we have with any of our shoppers.

During our conversation, I shared with you that I found the tone of your communication was accusatory, unnecessarily aggressive, and overall, was not consistent with the manner in which other shoppers communicate with our company. It is true that there were mistakes made with payment for your first two assignments, but after reviewing the situation, I believe that our team provide a prompt reply to your inquiries and professional handled the situation.

I respectfully disagree with your assertion that we do not care about or respect our shoppers. I hold my team accountable for communicating in a pleasant, professional and patient tone and we expect shoppers to communicate in the same manner.

David Agius, Owner
The Sentry Marketing Group
dave@sentrymarketing.com

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2013 12:40AM by Sentry Marketing.

parad0x088 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> After years of lurking, I came out of hiding to
> simply say that I find it hilarious that Sentry
> would disable your account for making a truthful
> statement. Maybe instead of disabling you, they
> should consider paying more for their shops. Hope
> I don't get disabled for having an opinion.


I agree completely! I just found out that they deactivated my account for answering truthfully to the satisfaction survey they sent me. They asked if I had issues or if there were areas of improvement that I could offer suggestions on. When I stated thhe facts about what I had experienced, the scheduler told me that they felt I was "negative" in my tone and they didn't like that. I stated that I was only explaining what I had experienced so they could make improvements and find better ways to do things as a company as to not alienate their shoppers with their lack of response and payment issues. The scheduler told me that I should have been more positive in my responses and they would not have deactivated me. So I said, was I supposed to lie and pretend that I did not have any bad experiences? I was irate at first, but now find it more laughable than anything. I am a regional coordinator for a large agency in my day job and when I received complaints about service or the experience the client has, I address the issue with the client in order to make sure that as a company we are able to fix the issues and improve the overall client experience. I have never heard of just deactivating someone because they are being truthful and offering their real life experiences with the company. It seems rather unethical and petty if you ask me. Just saying.

shopper64 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My account at Sentry was deactivated after I took
> the time to respond to a survey about Sentry's
> website. Dave didn't like my unprofessional tone.
> I was then retroactively docked a $7 shop fee for
> a job a did the month before and had ALREADY
> gotten a "Great job! Thanks for all your hard
> work. Payment approved" e-mail weeks earlier!
> Nah... Dave doesn't hold grudges. Glad he
> deactivated me because I would never shop for
> Sentry again! They're also one of the slowest
> paying MSCs in the industry.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2013 06:16AM by linzlay625.

Sentry Marketing Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> linzlay
>
> We decided against reactivating your account
> after you told our team member that our company
> was "unethical" and “shady”. Deactivating your
> account was not "retaliation", it was just
> business. Your excessive negative comments about
> our company brought your ability to be objective
> into question. As a shopper, it is your
> prerogative to accept shops for a company or not
> to do business with them. As a mystery shopping
> company, we have the same prerogative.
>
> I am unsure who informed you that a scheduler
> would contact you each month regarding open
> assignments because this is not an arrangement we
> have with any of our shoppers.
>
> During our conversation, I shared with you that I
> found the tone of your communication was
> accusatory, unnecessarily aggressive, and
> overall, was not consistent with the manner in
> which other shoppers communicate with our company.
> It is true that there were mistakes made with
> payment for your first two assignments, but after
> reviewing the situation, I believe that our team
> provide a prompt reply to your inquiries and
> professional handled the situation.
>
> I respectfully disagree with your assertion that
> we do not care about or respect our shoppers. I
> hold my team accountable for communicating in a
> pleasant, professional and patient tone and we
> expect shoppers to communicate in the same manner.
>
>
> David Agius, Owner
> The Sentry Marketing Group
> dave@sentrymarketing.com


That's an interesting position to take. I have never been aggressive with your company or any that I have worked with. With several months of nonpayment or incorrect payments, and then not being able to reach anyone or have them call me back, I told you that I was feeling frustrated with what was occuring. You agreed that mistakes were made but we did not have a conversation over anything else. Your scheduler flat out told me that I had always done well with my reports and also admitted that I had made numerous attempts to contact your company and was not responded to. Naturally, there was an excuse made as to why this is. She told me she would not reactivate my account due to the survey where I had detailed the experiences that I had. It was after that point where I said that I felt it was unethical that you would send a response, then deactivate someone for factually stating the experience that they have had with your company dropping the ball. My thoughts on this are that if you don't want the truth, then don't ask for it. I see from this forum that several others have had the same experience with your company not liking it when they bring up negative experiences or frustrations with your company. It seems like a childish way to deal with someone stating their honest experiences that you would just deactivate them, then not even tell them about it. At the very least, I would imagine that a phone call to the shopper to discuss the issues would be far more productive than simply deactivating them and not telling them that this has occured. Again, it goes to show the lack of customer service that your company exhibits. I am glad that I am not the only one that has had this experience and appreciate the forum that allows people who have had issues to warn others so that they are not in this same situaiton to get treated poorly for being honest and doing a good job. Also, issues with your company in no way reflect the job that a shopper can do. The client that a shopper is evaluating is an independent third party and nothing about Sentry would be reflected on the reports of the shoppers. That doesn't even make sense or a valid argument. The client has nothing to do with the issues of the shopper or company and it would never be in the best interest of the shopper to take out their beef with a mystery shopping company on the client.

I don't think it is childish to ask that shoppers communicate with our company in a professional manner. The vast majority of shoppers who interact with our company do so in an appropriate manner. This incudes the shopper surveys that we send out 2 -3 times per year. We’ve received an average of 2,500 responses to the last three shopper surveys that we’ve sent out. The vast majority of shoppers who responded managed to do so in a professional manner, even when criticizing our company.

Edited to add:

I had the chance to review the requests for assistance you submitted to us via our support ticketing system. All three were responded to within an hour of submission. You thank us for our "prompt response" on the first ticket. The notes on the second ticket, which was assigned to me, state "Corrected per phone call". The third ticket documents a response to your inquiry 11 minutes after the ticket was submitted.

I don't believe that our responses to your inquiries are indicative of an organization that lacks respects for their shoppers.




linzlay625 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sentry Marketing Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > linzlay
> >
> > We decided against reactivating your account
> > after you told our team member that our company
> > was "unethical" and “shady”. Deactivating
> your
> > account was not "retaliation", it was just
> > business. Your excessive negative comments
> about
> > our company brought your ability to be
> objective
> > into question. As a shopper, it is your
> > prerogative to accept shops for a company or
> not
> > to do business with them. As a mystery
> shopping
> > company, we have the same prerogative.
> >

> > have with any of our shoppers.
> >

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2013 01:13PM by Sentry Marketing.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

It's kind of like the overweight woman in Wal Mart wearing spandex. You don't wanna keep looking, but you just can't help yourself.

bgriffin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> HAHAHAHAHAHA
>
> It's kind of like the overweight woman in Wal Mart
> wearing spandex. You don't wanna keep looking,
> but you just can't help yourself.


I disagree - an overweight woman not wearing Spandex would be worse - what would hold everything in?

MMMM Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> bgriffin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > HAHAHAHAHAHA
> >
> > It's kind of like the overweight woman in Wal
> Mart
> > wearing spandex. You don't wanna keep looking,
> > but you just can't help yourself.
>
>
> I disagree - an overweight woman not wearing
> Spandex would be worse - what would hold
> everything in?

Here's your off topic answer.

[www.dumpaday.com]

....and all of this over a $4 shop!

It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

The piece you are leaving out of your comments is that you might have responded back to me within 11 minutes, but no one fixed the problem for several months. The first ticket also stated that you could not see that my shop was missing $3 on each of two shops, and this happened two months in a row. You closed the ticket telling me you could not even see the problem, when I logged on and could clearly see the deductions, which were made for no reason, and you admitted it was incorrect and I should not have been deducted.

The second time I submitted a ticket, the same thing happened where I was told the issue was corrected and the ticket was closed. When I got my checks, they were missing the money that you said you had corrected via the prior two tickets submitted. The third time I contacted the company was when you spoke to me and informed me that your former employee was at fault for not doing things correctly and that they system was not working. You also admitted that the tickets were closed before they were corrected properly and that I had submitted several tickets for the same issue. You were finally able to fix it after several months and more tickets and phone calls. So sure you might have closed my ticket within 11 minutes, but unfortunatley it took several more efforts and months to fix the actual problem. Just wanted to include that since you neglected to mention the whole story there. Thanks!
Sentry Marketing Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't think it is childish to ask that shoppers
> communicate with our company in a professional
> manner. The vast majority of shoppers who
> interact with our company do so in an appropriate
> manner. This incudes the shopper surveys that we
> send out 2 -3 times per year. We’ve received
> an average of 2,500 responses to the last three
> shopper surveys that we’ve sent out. The
> vast majority of shoppers who responded managed to
> do so in a professional manner, even when
> criticizing our company.
>
> Edited to add:
>
> I had the chance to review the requests for
> assistance you submitted to us via our support
> ticketing system. All three were responded to
> within an hour of submission. You thank us for
> our "prompt response" on the first ticket. The
> notes on the second ticket, which was assigned to
> me, state "Corrected per phone call". The third
> ticket documents a response to your inquiry 11
> minutes after the ticket was submitted.
>
> I don't believe that our responses to your
> inquiries are indicative of an organization that
> lacks respects for their shoppers.
>
>
>
>
> linzlay625 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Sentry Marketing Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > linzlay
> > >
> > > We decided against reactivating your account
> > > after you told our team member that our
> company
> > > was "unethical" and “shady”. Deactivating
> > your
> > > account was not "retaliation", it was just
> > > business. Your excessive negative comments
> > about
> > > our company brought your ability to be
> > objective
> > > into question. As a shopper, it is your
> > > prerogative to accept shops for a company or
> > not
> > > to do business with them. As a mystery
> > shopping
> > > company, we have the same prerogative.
> > >
>
> > > have with any of our shoppers.
> > >

The issue was resolved after 30 days, not "several months".