ath deactivated me because I was unable to provide clarification of a bank shop. I did the shop and reported everything correctly, but ath insists that I didn't do the shop. They said that I reported the time incorrectly. I was paid for the shop...why did they pay me?

When you asked them why they paid you, what did they say? What kind of clarification did they want that you could not provide? Did you actually report the time incorrectly, and if you did how far off was the time? Usually we get literature from a bank, such as a business card from the banker we spoke to. Were you able to provide the banker's business card?

I didn't get an answer about why they paid me. They wanted to know if I made a mistake about the time. As far as I knew, I was accurate, but I may have been off by 30 mins. or so. I did supply the banker's business card. More than anything, having worked with them for 2 years or so...I'm hurt that they would think I lied about doing the shop.

The shop in question took place on 3/27/2014





email from Matt on 4/8/2014:
I just want to follow-up with you on my previous message. You are currently deactivated in our system and will not be able to mystery shop with us until I hear from you. If we cannot connect, we will be forced to take steps to prevent you from mystery shopping with other companies, as well, due to falsification concerns.

Please get back to me by noon EST today.


my reply 4/8/2014
I'm sorry, but I don't recall a previous email from you. However, my contact numbers are xxx-xxx-xxxx or xxx-xxx-xxxx.


Matt's Reply
Cathy,
Are you a customer of <bank>? How long did you meet with Nadia?


my reply:
Yes,,,I don't remember, but I think it was approx. 15 - 20 mins.


Matt's reply:
ASAP, would you mind letting me know what you wore on this shop, or if willing, a description of yourself? I completely understand if you don't want to provide this information but I may not have another way to verify the shop without it.

Just to confirm, as well, you met in an office? No chance it was a time outside of 1230-130 PM? This banker never goes to an office during that time period.


My reply:
I'm not certain of the exact time of day except that it was after 11:00 or so.

I was wearing a black coat, probably wearing jeans. I had a small black suit case on wheels with me. I recently had my hair colored and style and I can't even tell you if my hair was long and mousy brown or chin length with blonde highlights. I'm 5'9" tall.

I know you are trying to help me, but I don't know what else I can tell you.

Perhaps I can go back and do the shop again within the next several days when I will be in that neighborhood again.



Mod note: It's really not a good idea to post your phone number on a public forum!
Also, since you're openly discussing the MSC by name, please do not disclose the name of the client. Thanks!

"I had a small black suit case on wheels with me." I'm confused, was the bank in an airport?

(heart)

No. I have a merchandising job across the street from that particular bank. I don't have a car and I use public transportation...it's much easier to move my merchandising equipment in a small suit case on wheels instead of carrying it...was on my way to my merchandising job and I stopped at the bank for the mystery shop.

To the OP ~ I think you need to remove your contact phone numbers from your posts. You even included your first name and now a description of yourself. Not the safest thing to do on an Internet forum. Especially with all the trolls lurking in the shadows lately.

Don't you normally write down the time in/time out on the survey form or somewhere?

(heart)

have the suitcase will certainly make you memorable.

C - It's really important to clear this up if possible. Perhaps you can check back on the date you had your hair lightened and then you can let Ath know your exact description during the shop. I think the fact that you don't have an exact time nailed down is what is really hurting you. Also, and I don't mean to criticize you here, but Ath is going to think you're vague about your description. Except for a black coat (which is really basic) from what you wrote you haven't told them much except you had a little wheeled suitcase.

Maybe they just need a better description. If they asked me to describe myself, I would give them age, weight, height, hair color and length, eye color, and any other details I could come up with right down to my big feet, the spots on my face, and hands with fingers that look they're fighting for space. Maybe giving them more detail will help.

Apparently you reported a conference with this banker during a time period the banker doesn't go into the offices. It looks like this particular banker has some definite assignment between 12:30 and 1:30 when the bank has a lot of lunch time traffic. It also looks like this banker doesn't remember you, which would be unusual considering the wheeled suitcase. It sounds like you didn't record your time and then you estimated it, which is not good. Being off five minutes or so might slide, but being off a half hour or more is making this really difficult for you. I'm sorry this happened, but I have to agree with Ath that unless you can come up with some proof you were there, it sounds like you were not there.

This is unfortunate for you, but it certainly serves as a heads up to the rest of us to record accurate times and have all the details down. I hope you can work this out with Ath; please keep us up to date on how this plays out for you.

Cmastrianno Wrote:
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> No. I have a merchandising job across the street
> from that particular bank. I don't have a car and
> I use public transportation...it's much easier to
> move my merchandising equipment in a small suit
> case on wheels instead of carrying it...was on my
> way to my merchandising job and I stopped at the
> bank for the mystery shop.

Is there any way you can check your time in for the merchandising job? Bank records for when you had your hair done. It's really important to get this straightened out, much more important than the money they paid you. Is there anything you usually wear on merchandising assignments?

I know there are some ATH shops that ask for a deposit check at the ATM as an additional proof of visit. I've known the times on ATM's to be wrong and wondering if this might be part of the problem here...if the OP had to get the ATM, did they put a time significantly different from the ATM time and not notice the difference?

Definitely go with a better description. If you're not sure what your hair looked like at the time of the shop, here's how you handle that:

"I just got my hair colored and I don't remember if it was before or after the shop, I'm afraid. So, you'll be looking for someone with either long blonde hair in a ponytail, or short red hair that can't be fastened up."


Good notes are key and if you've lost your notes, this will help. In future, consider adding something to your person that's not notable to people you're shopping but will show up nicely on camera. When I do movie alcohol shops I have two fandom shirts I switch between. They look like typical geek wear (and they are), so employees have never twigged to the fact that the entire purpose of my wearing them is that the bright colors make me easy to spot on camera, if needed. For bank shops that's obviously not appropriate, but you could consider something like a big red bracelet or a distinctive clip in your hair. Then, if they need to find you, you can say "My hair was red and up in one of those silver crisscross wrap combs, and I had my sunglasses on top of my head."

...should have been picked up by the bank's cameras...thank you all for your helpful advice and suggestions. Is deactivation really necessary in this situation, especially after I was paid?

the banks cameras cant pick you up if you don't know what
time you were there. It is not their responsibility to spend
time searching a day's worth of footage looking for it.

Sorry C, but if you can't furnish proof they are right to deactivate you. Whether or not they paid you before they realized the problem is not pertinent. The bank is apparently saying you weren't there and when the MSC contacted you, you apparently did not furnish the proof they needed. This is a learning experience for all of us, a warning to be careful about our documentation and the details of our reports.

Yes, you should have been picked up by the bank's cameras, and we have to ask ourselves why the bank can't verify your presence during your reported time frame. If the time frame is off, you shot yourself in your own foot, because the details you reported were not true. Yes, C, Ath is right to deactivate you because you gave them a false report, even if it was only in reporting an inaccurate time.

If it helps, I always record the time arrived and my mileage before I even leave my car. I may add a minute to the time to include the time it takes me to walk to the front door and enter the building/store/etc. If I am at a mall parking lot or someplace where I will be walking for awhile to arrive at the actual location, I will send myself a quick text right before entering the establishment. The time stamp is automatically recorded and I can pull up the text message as proof if needed. Yes, I know that some people could lie and send themselves the text anyway but with so much video footage out there, why risk it?

I also record what time I finished the shop/left the establishment. Many reports do ask for "time completed" or "actual time spent performing this shop."

Cmastrianno Wrote:
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> ...should have been picked up by the bank's
> cameras...thank you all for your helpful advice
> and suggestions. Is deactivation really necessary
> in this situation, especially after I was paid?

Well, I think that their concern is, whether you were there at all, or whether you submitted a completely fictional report. Looking at it from that angle, the fact that they've already paid you does not make things better. It makes things worse, to the extent that anything could make things worse. You need to show the utmost cooperation in working things out. Do you keep an appointment book, where you might have recorded the hair appointment?

I know it's hard, after the passage of time, but try to brainstorm anything that could help pin things down. Look at your phone record for the day. If you made any phone calls, they would have been before or after the bank shop, so that might help narrow down the window.

And, whatever you do, don't remind them that they've already paid you! (Unless you're going to offer them a refund, of courrse.) Seriously, there was a forum thread recently asking why MSCs take so long to pay. This thread supplies a very good reason for them to wait as long as possible before paying.

Did you go to the bank straight from the bus stop (if that's the public transportation you used)? Checking the route schedule may help. Public transit is pretty regular.

Also, MSCs can deactivate whomever they want, for whatever reason - or no reason at all. I certainly wouldn't want someone working with me of whom I was suspicious. I just hope that before they notify other MSCs that an IC is falsifying reports that they are 100% the discrepancy was intentional and not just a major goof.

Hey, the merchandising job is right across the street, you said? Do you sign in for that? If so, can you check their records? That is, assuming that you went straight from the bank to the merchandising, and didn't go somewhere for lunch. Do you remember what you did?

Here's another possibility. If you had multiple shops on the same day, you should be able to go back to your spreadsheet, find the job notes on the other jobs, and ballpark your arrival at the bank from the other jobs. Estimating when you did a job and writing down a random time is not a good way to go, as this proves. Those in and out times are important to the client and the MSC -- it's one way they check up on us, and it works. I'm with the other posters that your merchandising job sign in and sign out ought to tell you when you arrived or left the bank.

It is CRITICAL that you know the times!

I have done over 100+ Ath Power bank shops and they DO want to know the time it took to get assisted, how long the interaction lasted, ect.

How can you be "off 30 minutes or so?"

The employees are rewarded or reprimanded by what you report!

It is 'insignificant" that you were paid....... You may or may not have to pay it back.

But that is the least of your troubles.

The client is questioning your ENTIRE report because you gave fabricated/false/guessed times....

When you say you are not sure the exact time of the day except for after 11:00, that gives a whole lot of wiggle room. Essentially you are saying someone should check the cameras for 6 hours (assuming a 5:00 closing time). I can't think of many shops that don't have you record the time. If you can't be accurate on something that is a standard question, that makes everything in the report suspect. Even though you have a history with them, that does not free you from the guidelines. There may be concerns about the accuracy on you other reports.

You should never be off by more than a minute, and even that has its risks. Way back when I was first starting I got a letter from QC because my walk-in time was after my receipt time. (Using a wristwatch instead of a digital clock was to blame.) If they can get upset over 45 seconds, imagine what 30+ minutes looks like. At least try to come up with a time window, eg after eleven but before two.

Cmastrianno Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I didn't get an answer about why they paid me.
> They wanted to know if I made a mistake about the
> time. As far as I knew, I was accurate, but I may
> have been off by 30 mins. or so.

Almost every shop I have done has required an exact time in and time out to the nearest minute. You should be able to tell the guy at the MSC "I entered at 11:17 am and left at 11:41 am." Not just "after 11:00 am or so."

If I were in Matt's position, I'd be doubting the integrity of the shop as well based on what I've seen. If the MSC has to pick between keeping the client and keeping a shopper who may have submitted a falsified report, they will pick keeping the client. This particular MSC has implied they have no issue informing other MSCs you may be falsifying shops--this is Very Bad.

In the future, if your appearance changes radically from day to day or week to week, keep a record. Also write down what you were wearing when doing each shop and/or take a picture.

I would also make sure your recordkeeping for your merchandising jobs is up to speed, as the two fields are closely related and there's a small chance (small but definitely non-zero) that someone at a merchandising company might hear about this as well.

It sounds like your merchandising job was pretty regular, don't you have a time set for that. You know, especially if you need a suitcase to carry your supplies. Plus it doesn't sound like the merchandising job was a shop.

You may take public transport to jobs and shops, but don't you have a cell phone or a wristwatch? How did you know when you got to the bank? You may have left your house after 10, it was a 35 minute bus ride and you arrive or you got off the bus after 11. But you don't know when you arrived at the bank. If you met with you said "target" could you have gone later?

What time is your merchandising job? Is it everyday? and to color my hair before my regular job, I would know.

Another suggestion for the future:Always record the time in and the time out even if the form doesn't require both. There are some reports that only want the time in, however, by having both times you can always answer the question of how long you were in the establishment. Also, if you are in a one party consent state you can record the shop. The recorders have time stamps and this is another way for you prove you were there at a certain time. Remember that no two clocks will ever be exactly the same, however, they should only be off by a minute or two and not 30 minutes. By saying that you are not certain of the exact time that you were at the bank puts the whole report in question. How do they know if you are certain of anything that was entered on the report. I don't want to sound like I am piling on with the criticisms but I just wanted to put myself in the position of the MSC and voice some of their potential concerns.

Cmastrianno, I agree with everyone on here that said you MUST have the exact time you entered the location and the EXACT time you left. As someone mentioned above, these reports can make the difference between someone getting a bonus or not, or even keeping their jobs or not. When you are off by a minute, that could be arguable. However, if you can't pinpoint the time you were there and give a range of 30 minutes, that is a very basic mistake to make. I once managed a department in an upscale clothing store, and my Store Manager called me into her office. She showed me a shop (this was back in 1999) in which one of my associates scored a zero out of ten. She gave a time and day she was there, however on that day I was on the floor for most of the day by myself. I had it out with my manager for being nasty with me about the report because she told me that I had to fire him for getting a zero on the shop. A couple weeks later she was in the department (I knew this woman because she was a repeat shopper), approached her, and threw her out of the men's area.

I was also once told by a scheduler for a major bank shop that one time someone picked up 50 to 60 of these compliance shops in one route. When they looked at these reports, several people lost their jobs because of non-compliance issues. When one of the reports was contested, it was discovered that this shopper used the same exact materials for each of the shops he/she picked up, and revealed that this shopper never actually went to the locations to do the shops where these people were subsequently fired.

So being accurate is extremely important in all shops. Keep in mind also that you are an independent contractor, so theoretically you work for yourself. If you cause someone to be fired or lose a bonus, and they find out who you are

sethd85 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I was also once told by a scheduler for a major
> bank shop that one time someone picked up 50 to 60
> of these compliance shops in one route. When they
> looked at these reports, several people lost their
> jobs because of non-compliance issues. When one of
> the reports was contested, it was discovered that
> this shopper used the same exact materials for
> each of the shops he/she picked up, and revealed
> that this shopper never actually went to the
> locations to do the shops where these people were
> subsequently fired.
>
>

How despicable! How can they sleep at night knowing someone lost a job based on their misrepresentation?

That IS despicable! I feel bad enough when I have to report something bad but honest, that really
happened (like the FF employee who took her cellphone out of her pocket, sent a text, then went
back to preparing my order without washing her hands or changing gloves...ick!).

I even hate having to report an employee wasn't wearing a name tag, or the right color of shirt or pants!

And I sweat bullets every time my digital watch doesn't agree with the time-stamps on the receipts.
It's never off by more than a minute or two, but still.....

I cannot imagine reporting a shop I never performed. That so-called shopper should be banned from
the industry!

cease

ath sent me on a bonused assignment, their regular fees being far too low for the tedious report, to a bank branch that was permanently closed, but with a new address in the window. I visited that location and obtained a business card, only to have them doubt the visit. To be paid, I both described the teller and retraced the exact directions to the new branch, including the inner lay-out They countered by acknowledging I may have been in the new branch, but the banker wasn't in that day; I mailed a detailed description, including his Southern drawl, and was finally paid. It was my last shop for ath, as even their bonuses weren't worth the aggravation.