I saw a listing for an "XXXX Drive Thru" located a few miles from me. (The pay wasn't great, but I drive past that restaurant 2-3 times a week anyway).
Once I "confirmed acceptance" I was allowed to view the full details of the job.
I see that this job is NOT a "Drive Thru".
It requires a drive thru purchase with the usual data to be noted (timing responses etc.)
_PLUS_ requires you to park, go inside and make more notes inside the restaurant about prices, appearance etc.
>>> I cancelled this shop immediately.
Later that evening, I received a "approved & scheduled for this assignment" email from TS.
>>> I replied and cancelled the shop AGAIN.
Today I receive an email with a subdued threat from TS:

{"You have received this email because you are currently assigned to a project (listed below) for the XXXX Mystery Program. So far, you have NOT yet chosen a date for completion. Please click on ‘Choose Dates’ on the project link, the dates to choose between are Sat 11/02 – Sun 11/10.
****If you have NOT yet chosen a date by 8 AM (PST) Mon 11/04, one will be chosen for you. If that date goes past due and we do not hear from you, it will be removed as a negative drop."}
>>> I replied to their email and cancelled the shop for a THIRD TIME.

I have been mystery shopping for over 3 years with various companies. Market Force is my favorite as they: answer emails very quickly, really work with you if a job needs to be rescheduled, and always responds to my emails (even if I am cancelling!) with a sincere note of appreciation for notifying them.
The job requirements (& questionaaires) list exactly the information they need for your completed report.
I have only had a total of 4 jobs rejected by Market Force and every one was totally my own error. (Ordering the wrong item, or completing a Drive IN that was supposed to be a Drive THRU lol!)

TS on the other hand, will require (much!) more information than was revealed in the original job description. (Beware of the "Big Name Brand Printer" shopping scenario. The final report is about 7 pages longer than the questionaaire given for the job!)
TS also requires you to literally stay on your computer after you submit a report "in case they have any questions"; and they almost always do!
Example: You submit a completed report to TS on Monday evening. On Tuesday, you complete new jobs, come home and submit the new shop reports. Wednesday morning when you check your emails; you could find a snitty note from TS stating that they tried to contact you with a question, but you did not respond quickly enough and so TS will post negative points to your status. GGGRRRRR!

If you plan to work with TS; you will be scrambling constantly to keep up with everything they expect.



Moderator note: Hi Olim, and welcome to the forum! In the future, please do NOT name specific clients of an MSC. It violates the ICA agreement you agreed to when you signed up with them, and it also violates one of the very few rules of this forum. You can give generalizations, such as what I edited your post to; but not the specific client names. Thank you!

Yeah for some reason, it takes them awhile to cancel and you get atleast four or five e-mails about it before it gets cancelled. I signed up for their "sandwich" shops and had the same thing happen to me. Trendsource is one company I don't plan on doing any shops for ever. I prefer companies that answer within 24 hours in case I have a question or need some other kind of assistance.

Last month, I told them to deactivate me. I couldn't stand the pressure and didn't like getting bombarded with emails and 'ticking clocks' I saw on their website.

I'm too old for this "red wing casino"

^ lol

Wow. I've never experienced pressure, emails, or ticking clocks from Trendsource. In fact I get less emails from them than just about any MSC that has as many shops in my area as they do.

bgriffin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wow. I've never experienced pressure, emails, or
> ticking clocks from Trendsource. In fact I get
> less emails from them than just about any MSC that
> has as many shops in my area as they do.


I have never seen a ticking clock either.

I love their clients but hate dealing with them. They are so demanding for so little pay. I too have given up them. They stress me out!!

The ticking clock is actually a bomb. If the report is late the bomb explodes and blows up your computer. LOL.

Olim, it's not a big deal to walk inside, check the RR, check out the menu board and cleanliness.

Not sure how long you have worked for TS but I would not have cancelled the shop.

You could do the shop and if it's horrid, don't repeat the shop again.

Add: Olim: Also, it's not true on TS, that you have to accept the shop FIRST, because, if you click the left link, it opens up the shop details, such as what is required...

At that point, you don't "accept" the shop, especially if you don't want to walk in and check a small amount of items...

Plus it's so easy. I usually walk to the counter and say I just went through the drive-thru and forgot to ask for ketchup. That gives me a couple of minutes to make the observations inside without looking stupid. Then I hit the restroom and I'm done. Heads up btw, the items you have to get prices for have changed. I didn't realize it until I was inputting the shop. I made a note of the error in the shop, hopefully the don't reject it. That was 2 days ago and nothing back on it yet.

bgriffin that is genius! I wondered how I was gonna mange that!

Its just a shame that this company still constantly offers the ridiculously low fees and even if you offer to do it for a "little" pad, they wait til the day bef to even acknowledge that you asked and by THAT time I'm not willing to do it for that fee.....

I signed up with them, but then they told me that I needed an EIN to work for them, and that's a big no-go in the state of SC. If you get an EIN, the state will assume you have a full working business, and start sending you property tax bills for your "office equipment". My wife had to create an EIN for her former employer, and we are still fighting with the state over $800 in back taxes that they are saying she owes. I have told TS several times just to cancel my account, but they keep telling me just to do the EIN, which I refuse to do. If they are this much of a pain over signing up, I don't even want to think about working for them.

Thank you for providing the information. Where I live the EIN could cause the exact same issues with property taxes. Some people in states with different regulations have not been able to wrap their heads around it and keep insisting it is not a big deal for anyone. It pays to check individual states and municipalities before making the change.

Doesn't the scheduler have a phone number listed somewhere so you can actually CALL and cancel the shop?

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you for providing the information. Where I
> live the EIN could cause the exact same issues
> with property taxes. Some people in states with
> different regulations have not been able to wrap
> their heads around it and keep insisting it is not
> a big deal for anyone. It pays to check individual
> states and municipalities before making the
> change.


That's because when people asked what kind of issues no one would give an example. I'm *still* kind of confused anyway. You mean people with EINs just randomly get bills for things from their state government?

There isn't really a lot of need for me to go into detail about what happens in my municipality since I have never told anyone exactly where I live and unless you live here the regulations impacting me do not impact you. I also acknowledged it is not an issue for people in some states and cities. Hence the comment, "It pays to check individual states and municipalities before making the change."

Right, but for those of us who live in places it doesn't affect, people just stating "it causes tax problems for some people" doesn't really help us to understand what is different.

How much more specific does someone need to be than this comment from jonchance? And why does it matter so much if you are in a location that isn't affected?

"If you get an EIN, the state will assume you have a full working business, and start sending you property tax bills for your "office equipment". My wife had to create an EIN for her former employer, and we are still fighting with the state over $800 in back taxes that they are saying she owes."

I'm more interested in things like how and why they started sending the office equipment bill. I find it VERY hard to believe that getting an EIN triggered a property tax bill for random things. Oh, this person has an EIN, we should send them a bill for $286 for the office equipment we're assuming they have.

It simply matters to me because I'm a naturally curious person. And I want to understand things. So far NOBODY has given an actual example of how and why an EIN caused them a problem. You mentioned before that your municipality told you getting one would be more trouble. Could you share with us things they said might happen if you got one?

I live in California and the issue I've had with the EIN is direct deposit. I have to have paper checks or PayPal and they cannot have anything but my name on them. I could not find a bank that would open an account under the EIN unless I filed certain forms with the state. That, in turn, triggers an $800 tax bill because, heaven forbid, we can't have a business in California that isn't taxed to death.

Just curious, what is the $800 tax bill for? Just a random "you have a business so you get an $800 tax bill?"

When I called the county about the tax bill, they referred me to the state. The state said because my wife applied for and received an EIN, they automatically assumed that she had a business, and business equipment is considered "real property" and is taxed at a rate that, while not specifically stated by the person I talked to, comes out to about 20% of it's value. They said they assumed we had $5000 worth of office equipment including computers, desks, chairs, printers, etc. When I told them that we didn't, they said I would have to fill out their version of a return to list exactly what we did have. I explained to them that her company had originally wanted her to work as an IC, and required her to get an EIN, and then changed their mind so we never actually used the EIN, and they said I would still have to send out the tax forms saying that the business had closed. I told them that it never actually opened, and they said to explain all of that on the forms. I filled everything out like they told me to, and made the mistake of assuming that it was done. Two years later, we went to buy a car, and her credit popped up with a delinquent tax debt of $800. I contacted them again and they said that they never got the forms. I agreed to fill them out again, and asked if they could notify me once they received them and this was taken care of, and they told me they could not. After Almost three years and close to thirty phone calls, letters, and forms, they are still saying that she owes the money. There is no way I will EVER file for an EIN in this state again. And they claim to be business friendly here.

Thanks for the reply, that was exactly the kind of information I was looking for. So it was based on an assumption by the state of property owned, not anything that triggered it like purchased tied to an EIN?

BirdyC Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Doesn't the scheduler have a phone number listed
> somewhere so you can actually CALL and cancel the
> shop?


They sure do have a phone number
877-891-0088

I never had any problem with them. Love the scheduler that I work with. One the best MSC I am working for at the moment.

I also like TS. They do not bombard me with emails or calls like some other companies**, and their requests for clarification are almost always simple to respond to.

As a matter of fact, in almost every situation, I've had a 'thank you for your report, we have a question about.....' email from them within hours of submitting my report. I've done well over 100 shops for them, including the printer shop. I have never received a request for more info on a printer shop.

The requests for more info have been primarily about photos that they couldn't see for sure where something specific was, like a sign posted at customer service at a grocery store, etc. I just had to tell them exactly where to look in the photo to see the item, and they were happy.

**There is a scheduler with one of the companies I am registered with that does a separate email blast for EVERY LOCATION of an ice cream shop that they have....twice a day, and they have many, many locations. There are some days I get over 30 emails from this gal alone. It irritates me enough that I have not taken them, even when I could have helped her out.

No problems generally, with TS. I do not have an EIN, (and won't be getting one) though I registered and shopped for TS before the mention of EINs. They didn't ax me, nor I them. I can no longer self-assign, and can live with that. I still get phone calls, offering PADs. For shops I request on the site, they can linger, and linger. Their site shows the request date, and I keep track also. I will hold the spot open on my calendar, until and unless something else comes along. When it does - and it almost always does, I use the message link on their site requesting that my application be removed, explaining the amount of time since request, and that I have accepted other assignments. TS has replied to me more than once that it takes time to go through the requests. They suggest that I submit another issue, or phone, to expedite my request.

Even with attractive shops, that's just another hoop that I'm not willing to jump through. I don't need to, as there are other fish in the sea.

I do like their site, and some of their assignments. Payment, project and message history is stored for reference.