i saw a post on the newsletter today about Service Scouts. I had a pretty negative experience with them. I went to a 4 hour event. it was a hockey game and we were being "trained" on what we needed to document for an actual hockey game shop. so, we did what they told us and then we were supposed to go home and complete the form. I did that, but it was gruesome. they had about 100 football games that same fall Sunday and it took forever to navigate the web site, too much traffic. I told them right then that i didn't think I would be able to continue if that was the 'norm" for them. they assured me that it was just a fluke and that it would be fixed.
The next time I requested a dinner shop. i found out that it would take 6 weeks for reimbursement. i just couldn't do it, couldn't wait 6 weeks for my $100- $150 back. It was december. that was my holiday shopping money. I actually tried to do the shop but when i went on the designated date and time, there was an hour wait for a table, $15 that i had already paid for parking. etc. It just ended up being a huge hassle for nothing. i don't do shops just for reimbursement, i do them to actually get paid. if you can afford the $100 meal and to wait for the reimbursement, go for it. i will stick to a $20 meal that actually pays me something for my time and effort.
Service Scouts was a bad deal for me, definitely.

From what I've seen, though, no matter what the reimbursement, you'll be stuck waiting 4-6 weeks. The only exception I've seen has been for midrange hotels (I haven't seen any high end hotels yet, and budget hotels also have the waiting period), and those reimburse within the week, IF you pay it all on one credit account.

Good afternoon. After researching this and conferring with other coordinators with Service Scouts, I would be interested in receiving a response from the original poster. Here are my questions:

1. What city were you shopping in?

2. Can you please provide me with the date of the shop?

3. Who is the coordinator that you have been communicating with?


I will attempt to help you, however, I am unable to without this information. As for the dinner shop, the dinner shops and the other shops are all paid on the same pay schedule. This pay schedule is clearly noted within the shopper agreement, which you are required to agree to upon joining Service Scouts.

Regarding your comment about 100 football shops, this does not make sense. First we have not had "like 100 football shops that same weekend," Secondly, it is entirely possible that you were attempting to complete the shop during the time when the servers

I look forward to your response, Alinosi, as I would truly like to help you through this.

Tracy Keller
Quality Assurance Coordinator
www.servicescouts.com

I applied to be a shopper with Service Scouts and my application got denied. LOL. Oh well.

Tracy -
It was very kind and gracious of you to offer help. However, I think the OP may simply have faced more work than the OP realized when going into the sporting event shop. The reports are, indeed, grueling for the professional sporting events, and the paperwork is not arranged in the easiest to follow manner in regards to completing the many, many interactions with multiple comments sections and photo that each interaction requires.
(Suggestion to Service Scouts: Provide the reporting paperwork in an assignment-specific manner so that if follows the flow of the shop, with the shopper-specific special scenarios integrated into the flow [specific food purchases, assignment specific individual interactions, section/services/vendor visits] rather than appended and therefor out of order, with check boxes for the shopper to mark that each item as it is accomplished. Also, require the pre-visit contact material to be submitted pre-visit so that the scheduler will know that the shopper is on track.)
Viewed from the perspective of "pay," these don't add much to your weekly earnings. However, for those who consider the value of the tickets and the modest reimbursements for required purchases, these assignments are the equivalent of many days of wages at a reasonable hourly rate.
These events are not your typical shops. Commit to a full and focused workday of reporting afterwards, but count on an experience that you'd normally save up for months in order to afford.
All that said, I've got to say that from the two professional sport events that I did, the support was awesome. Many phone calls immediately answered as I tried to make sense out of the paperwork. Several phone calls during the events themselves, literally calling from the sidewalk and from the stands, again answered immediately with guidance for successful completion of the assignment. Best support ever.
And I still missed one interaction for each event. My rating was rightly dinged, but I still was paid in full and still invited to complete future assignments.
Can't speak to the fine dining, but starting a shop and bailing out because of a long wait isn't cool.

Hrm, am I signed up for this company? They sound like they have cool shops I wiuld enjoy.

bg - Very cool shops. You'd definitely enjoy. Having a partner along helps A LOT! But the team effort is fun, and you get two tickets. Doesn't put much cash in your account, and between the event and the uber-report you pretty much lose two productive days of shopping, but it offers an experience you can treasure and share.
And bar-none the best support ever.

Yep, just got a message tonight saying the same thing. I have never been denied before! I was shocked. oh well shruggg

elcarev68 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tracy -
> It was very kind and gracious of you to offer
> help. However, I think the OP may simply have
> faced more work than the OP realized when going
> into the sporting event shop. The reports are,
> indeed, grueling for the professional sporting
> events, and the paperwork is not arranged in the
> easiest to follow manner in regards to completing
> the many, many interactions with multiple comments
> sections and photo that each interaction requires.
>
> (Suggestion to Service Scouts: Provide the
> reporting paperwork in an assignment-specific
> manner so that if follows the flow of the shop,
> with the shopper-specific special scenarios
> integrated into the flow rather than appended and
> therefor out of order, with check boxes for the
> shopper to mark that each item as it is
> accomplished. Also, require the pre-visit contact
> material to be submitted pre-visit so that the
> scheduler will know that the shopper is on
> track.)
> Viewed from the perspective of "pay," these don't
> add much to your weekly earnings. However, for
> those who consider the value of the tickets and
> the modest reimbursements for required purchases,
> these assignments are the equivalent of many days
> of wages at a reasonable hourly rate.
> These events are not your typical shops. Commit
> to a full and focused workday of reporting
> afterwards, but count on an experience that you'd
> normally save up for months in order to afford.
> All that said, I've got to say that from the two
> professional sport events that I did, the support
> was awesome. Many phone calls immediately
> answered as I tried to make sense out of the
> paperwork. Several phone calls during the events
> themselves, literally calling from the sidewalk
> and from the stands, again answered immediately
> with guidance for successful completion of the
> assignment. Best support ever.
> And I still missed one interaction for each event.
> My rating was rightly dinged, but I still was
> paid in full and still invited to complete future
> assignments.
> Can't speak to the fine dining, but starting a
> shop and bailing out because of a long wait isn't
> cool.

Ditto. The report drives me crazy. I did one event and decided never again, until the report format is more organized. It was such a mess, it took more time than necessary to figure out where to write each section. I also did not know I needed to locate the correct forms myself instead of having it there for me to fill out.

I have done one shop for Service Scouts, and I believe Tracy was my scheduler. This was several years ago. I felt she gave me the help I needed and the company paid when they said they would. The problems I had with the shop I did was that one had to stay to the bitter end no matter what, and we ended up driving home in a blizzard. Secondly, I was led to believe I would be sitting in a pretty good section before the shop. Yet when I arrived at the venue, I was given upper deck seats. Upper deck seats in December in the Northeast is not much fun. I said thanks but no thanks to future offers. It's a moot point now anyways.

Regarding being denied- shoppers are denied for a plethora of reasons. The most common reason is failure to provide a writing sample. Other reasons would be (but not limited to) not providing a valid social security number, putting n/a in the reference areas, or, providing both MSP and client information for past history.

I strongly suggest that if you were denied, you email us to ask why. Or, better yet, provide honest and complete information in your application. MS- as I do not know who you are, I cannot provide you with the reason for the denial. However, if you email me separately, I can surely investigate the matter. I can be reached at: Tracy@servicescouts.com.

You actually have a fair amount of denied applicant shoppers out there who did follow your rules...
but when hearing the minimum of six weeks for large cash outlays I doubt you will have a huge sign up over night.
It is also interesting that you Tracy take zero responsibility for any issues.... It is OUR fault consistently?
Thanks but no thanks....


tracy@servicescouts.com Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Regarding being denied- shoppers are denied for a
> plethora of reasons. The most common reason is
> failure to provide a writing sample. Other
> reasons would be (but not limited to) not
> providing a valid social security number, putting
> n/a in the reference areas, or, providing both MSP
> and client information for past history.
>
> I strongly suggest that if you were denied, you
> email us to ask why. Or, better yet, provide
> honest and complete information in your
> application. MS- as I do not know who you are, I
> cannot provide you with the reason for the denial.
> However, if you email me separately, I can surely
> investigate the matter. I can be reached at:
> Tracy@servicescouts.com.

consider yourself lucky. I had bad experience with them. not worth the time.

I completed one hockey shop for them last year. I did not find the report confusing or overly long for the $100 I saved on tickets. The seats they gave were kind of crappy, but we still had fun. Arrive a little early and you can get almost all the interactions out of the way before the game even starts. I received a 9.2 rating and I rushed my work (not proud of this but had a kids birthday the next day.) I have since been assigned a few more for this year and I am hoping they go as well. Lisa was my scheduler and contact and she was very easy to get a hold of when I had a question. I think if you have completed a more complex shop in the past, this is not so hard to do. If you are jumping from fast food to this, you might have a problem.

alinosi Wrote:
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> consider yourself lucky. I had bad experience with
> them. not worth the time.


Ditto.

Bookmarked for tonight. Shops so far sound interesting! Hope Service Scouts have clients in my area!