I recently did a shop for them, and was paid in fewer than 5 days! Have never been paid that fast by a MSC before. And I recently asked for a small bonus to do a local shop as the base pay didn't seem "quite" enough for the work entailed. I didn't know if they ever bonus this particular shop, but figured it couldn't hurt to try, and they agreed. Of course, I didn't ask for much, but the amount brought the shop fee up to the minimum I've decided I can work for, and it's very local to me, so not much drive time or gas cost.... I figure if I'm reasonable with my request, they might be agreeable to a bonus.

I'm working with a couple great schedulers there.

Thank you, GFK!

Glad you are having luck with them. My last experience with them was not good.

No real issues, but they can flood your inbox with desperate sounding emails. Sometimes the shops are not even in my state!

I did two wing shops for them Sunday for 15 reimbursement, 5 pay and 30 bonus. They paid me for them Wednesday. No complaints about gfk for me.

Their editors however, are a different story. Seems they like to give out 9's with no feedback.

audrialyn30 Wrote:
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> Glad you are having luck with them. My last
> experience with them was not good.

Yes, their holiday special and enticement to shop for them is pay turn around in 5 days. Tis the season, many MSCs do shorter turn around times to meet that end of year quota by Christmas.

They canceled my shop because the bonus was wrong. When I agreed to do it without the bonus, they signed me up for the wrong scenario. When I would agree to do the new scenario, they cancelled me. I complained and got it the original date back on my log but the date already has passed. I have yet to hear back from anyone. This was beyond frustrating.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2013 10:07PM by audrialyn30.

audrialyn30 Wrote:
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> They canceled my shop because the bonus was wrong.
> When I agreed to do it without the bonus, they
> signed me up for the wrong scenario. When I would
> agree to do the new scenario, they cancelled me. I
> complained and got it the original date back on my
> log but the date already has passed. I yet to hear
> back from anyone. This was beyond frustrating.


Sounds like they told you to GFK yourself!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2013 08:15PM by IMTrashman.

DanteInPA Wrote:
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> >
> Their editors however, are a different story.
> Seems they like to give out 9's with no feedback.
>

Dante, that's my biggest issue with them! I've gotten only one 10 from them, the rest all 9's, but without editorial comment. How can I improve or fix what I erred on if I don't know what it is? It's very frustrating....

It could be they save 10 for hero citations. As long as 9 is enough to get most decent shops in the future, and I get paid, it doesn't matter all that much to me.

Wait till you have a 130 question cell phone shop.

Good luck

I occasionally do their cell phone shops and have yet to see one with 130 questions. The report takes about 15 minutes. Maybe you are looking at the printable version that has all the possible questions. On the real report certain questions will trigger a follow up, like an explanation for a "no" answer.

GFK is great for requiring a dialog on a NO answer. They cannot accept NO.

Typically the MSC wants some additional information for all NO answers for a few reasons:

Since NO would give the associate a negative mark they need to validate that the required interaction did not occur.
They also like to understand what the associate said or did in place of the required interaction.

I know that this is sometime frustrating but if you think about it it makes sense.

Almost every company requires a comment on a no. Even for the questions that seem like they should be self explanatory. If you check no, you should be able to explain what you saw or did not confirm that no.

My most recent experiences with Gfk are also not positive. Two of the schedulers have been inflexible with the fees (i.e., no bonuses). And they have been very polite about that. But they do pay quickly. I'll give them that.

rme623 Wrote:
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> My most recent experiences with Gfk are also not
> positive. Two of the schedulers have been
> inflexible with the fees (i.e., no bonuses). And
> they have been very polite about that. But they do
> pay quickly. I'll give them that.


They pay quickly, and the schedulers reply to you and are polite. They're not obligated to give you a bonus, and many schedulers simply ignore e-mails asking for bonuses. (At least that's been my experience with some other companies.)

How is this "not positive"? Because you didn't get what you wanted, right? It sounds to me like they did everything "right" that they have a responsibility to do, and did it better than some other MSC's. Now, if they renege on a bonus or cancel a shop they bonused "by mistake," that's an entirely different matter. And some shoppers here have reported that they have done that. That is definitely not a "positive" experience!

I agree that there are many shops they have that "should" be bonused for the amount of work involved, and depending on the scheduler, some do have bonuses added. And I agree that their editors just don't give enough (or any!) feedback.

But a refusal to give a bonus seems an unreasonable standard on which to rate your experience with them as negative, or "not positive." Just don't do the shops if they're not worth it without a bonus. It sounds from your other post that you might be "infamous" for asking for bonuses; do you ask for them on every shop? Not saying you do; just wondering....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2013 03:07PM by BirdyC.

My experience with Gfk as a company is positive - pay quickly, relatively easy reports, etc. My beef with them was a terrible scheduler who seemed to have all the work in my area. I deactivated myself once and for all because I just couldn't take working with her any longer.

chigirl777 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My experience with Gfk as a company is positive -
> pay quickly, relatively easy reports, etc. My
> beef with them was a terrible scheduler who seemed
> to have all the work in my area. I deactivated
> myself once and for all because I just couldn't
> take working with her any longer.


chigirl, this seems to be one of the biggest things I'm learning so far as a relative newbie to this business.... It sounds like the schedulers can either make or break a shopper's experience with a particular MSC. Some are very responsive and professional, others apparently not so much!

I think editors can make a difference, too, but if the upfront scheduling experience is not good to begin with, even the best of editors can't fix that. A good scheduler and bad editor can be problematic, too, of course. But it seems that schedulers, as the "gateway," can be a bigger issue.

My only complaint with GFK is that I signed up with them months ago and all they have to offer in Phoenix is one fast food type shop it seems and the locations are on the other side of the urban sprawl nightmare that is Phoenix, AZ. I'd love to give this MSC a try but so far nothing has seemed all that doable.