Just another take.

I am not fond of naming schedulers as spam in an open forum because I believe it is a matter of personal preference what is considered spam. That being said, I have several schedulers and companies singled out for practices that I consider overbearing. They get filtered out of my inbox to another folder I rarely look at. Forty emails in one day (one for each shop in my area) from one certainly got my attention. An email to her superior resulted in the email volume going down for a while then it went back up as it seemed to me that scheduler had no other way of combining multiple offers into one email. I then concluded it was the company as well that was at fault and I decided to filter out all emails from her and her company. The result was I did not get notice of these shops that were on an irregular schedule. I stopped doing them, not because I did not want to do them, but because I did not check their job board often enough. However, the overbearing amount of emails was not worth the effort to go through when I had many other options. Then they lost the account not to much after that.

Other issues beyond overwhelming volume include misleading titles such as "$14 bonus for xyz shop!" How is that misleading you may ask? When I know xyz shop starts at $12 (not worth it) and a $14 bonus makes it $26 (worth it) and after going to the website I discovered the total fee was $14 ($12 original fee + $2 bonus - still not worth it). For me when the shop was not worth it at $14 I decided that scheduler needs to be ignored for wasting my time by misleading me.

Joan's comment about databases is interesting and enlightening. Thank you for the insight. A reliable, veteran shopper like myself gets perhaps 60 to 100 emails a day for mystery shopping alone. I may want to do the shops contained in duplicate or misleading emails, but find my time more valuable. My reaction is to filter out many of those emails to leave the most relevant ones in my inbox.

Schedulers can learn that the better, more experienced shoppers have many options available to them. The bottom line is there are plenty of schedulers and companies that do not send emails that are called spam in this thread. I like many other shoppers will work for those schedulers and companies first. The others will find the result of their spam will be to be necessarily more reliant on the newbies, the occasional average or sub-par shopper, and the flakes.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2014 03:43PM by vlade5394.

I truly believe Joan has no idea what kind of emails I am talking about. Not only do I receive numerous emails that basically don't say much, there are long lists of locations contained in said emails that I have stopped scrolling down to read a long time ago.
I have no one's emails set to go to spam but I do over use my delete button.
And I find Joan's overall attitude completely different than others I have recently dealt with. Companies like Ardent, Customer Service experts, and A Closer Look have schedulers whose attitude is ," How can we help you?"

I think the important take-away for Joan is, if you're going to rant, don't rant to the people you're ranting about.

**Team Top Gun** Special recognition spam award.
One email minimum for EACH location shopped in my state, daily. As desperation increases, along with the TTG email, individual schedulers also sent an email per location.

This to me is like signing up with a shopping company only to find there is no work in your area. The advice I have always received on this forum is to just keep signing up which I have done. Coyle is one that comes to mind. No work then boom there is work. The scheduler did come across a bit harsh, but has explained in the next message why. How hard is it to hit a delete button so their not reported as spam? I don't even open Bare emails. Automatic delete.

Inside Evaluators Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Delwilliams Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I don't send them to spam,because they could
> get
> > their account closed down if too many classify
> as
> > that. I filter them. Saves them, and me.
>
>
> Thank you!
> It's hard enough to get invite emails to go
> through these days w/o having shoppers mark us as
> spam.
>
> Shoppers have no idea how we have to scrutinize
> what's put in an email's body, subject line, and
> phrasing in order to keep it from bouncing back in
> the first place. You want all the details in the
> subject line? Instant spam red flag for almost
> all ISPs.
>
> If you don't want email invites from your MSPs, go
> into your profile settings and set it for no
> emails.
>
> And for those of you that decide to continue
> marking our emails as spam instead of hitting
> delete, I sincerely hope there's a $100 shop with
> a $100 bonus that's located 10 minutes from your
> house sitting in your spam folder right now...that
> you will never, ever know about.
>
> ok...I'm done with my end of month vent.

My spam goes to a spam folder but I open it every few hours or so to make sure that I haven't missed an opportunity.

This. She was just being sarcastic and it certainly made me laugh. Seemed like an apt response to so many saying they just *automatically* send stuff to spam... which *does* seem a bit ridiculous and possibly over-reactionary to me, for all of the reasons others have already said. You just *might* miss something fantastic because you can't be bothered with the additional second or so (depending on how quick you are with your clicker) it takes to delete, rather than automatically filter to spam.

She *could* have added a winky or smiley or something to make her intent more clear. And she *should* have said, "And for those of you who decide to... " Heh.

People seriously need to not be so offended over stuff.


jwolpert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just saw this as sarcasm and found it kind of
> funny. If you think about it what she said is
> true. By automatically sending it to spam the
> shopper may be missing out on a good opportunity.
> I hate when schedulers send multiple emails. I
> also get emails for shops on the other side of the
> country. I never send any of them to spam.
> Deleting just takes a few seconds and guarantees
> that I won't miss anything I might want to take.
>
>
> bgriffin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> > However, I
> > personally found your statement that you hoped
> > people who marked schedulers' email as spam had
> > $100 bonuses sitting in their spam that they never
> > saw to be horribly unprofessional and insulting.

ICCDS, Ace, Ritter and and NSS have some outright illiterates up and down the system. I never make plans with them, since the word "premeditated" would get thrown around in court.

elcarev68 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Am about to set Stericycle as SPAM. I've
> tolerated everything else from everyone else so
> far.


Probably tacky to quote myself, but pass the ketchup please... I need to eat my earlier words.

MDavisnowell planted the niggling doubt that kept me from following through.
Delwilliams' words convicted me.
Joan's perspective sentenced me.
Hoju's fourth post made coffee shoot out my nose.
Steri's latest emails, which would have been blocked had I followed through, tripled my earnings for the week.

Now, will someone please pass the ketchup. Oh, and a towel for all this coffee.

Here's your towel, and you're welcome.

I'm joining you in tacky town since I did the same thing on another thread

MD - Thanks.
Lisa - Tacky town's OK to visit, but the little boxes on the hillside all look just the same. (Curse you, Lisa, I haven't had that song stuck in my head for years.)

ShopperFun99 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jenna Lemi, Intelli-shop, new, rude scheduler !


OMG, she is horrendous! She had the audacity to remove a bonus after I accepted a shop, then threatened to ban me for not accepting her bait and switch tactic!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2014 05:31PM by jrwb6e.

Emails can be overwhelming and I hope I'm not thrown in to your spam folders or deleted if I do email you with a shop. Just simply let me know you do not want this kind of shop and I can remove the client from your account as can any shopper registered with Sinclair. We give you complete control of what shops and locations you want to receive notices for. However, you must keep your profile up to date with location zip codes and our system allows you to enter a radius of each zip code. Just know that overlapping zip codes may cause you to receive more emails then normal for the same locations.

I never want anyone to miss a shop that offers high pay of a bonus...so PLEASE, don't spam me ;o) or delete me. My goal is to help you earn and become the best possible shoppers for Sinclair.

No matter how irritating the numerous emails might get at times, as a general rule, I won't filter or spamify anyone who is offering me money, unless that offer is coming from Nigeria and involves Western Union. I like keeping my options open and knowing what jobs are out there, even if I'm not feeling particularly interested in partaking in the fun and easy gift shops in a mall near me for the fee of seven dollars and reimbursement for a ____-shaped lollipop.

My final words to the offensive schedulers who flood my email with the same exact shop 10+ times a day are this:

The more you send your repeated emails about the same, pitiful, low paying shop, the more bonus I will ask for if/when you ask me to do this shop out of desperation.

Research Services Group is sending more spam than any other MSC currently, including Alyson Whiten with 7 emails about the same shop in the last 3 minutes, and Darius Jackson with 17 total emails in the last 12 hours about the same shops Alyson Whiten is sending out.

Strategic Reflections seems to think repeat repeat is ok..... and Jenna Lemi, Intelli-shop...oh JENNA LEMI are you listening?

And what about the automated phone calls? Only a chosen few have my cell phone and the others go to a special number that I check every 10 days. Every time it does not fail to receive at least five or more calls. Worse than pre-election period.

You mentioning automated calls reminded me of emails and calls I absolutely cannot stand. Either one that just says, "There are new shops in your area. Log into the website to find out more." Well no s--t Sherlock, you have a website and you post jobs there?!

Followed closely by calls with no message, then messages with names/phone numbers said so quickly you have to listen to the damn thing five times just to catch the number.

Got a voicemail message from Bridget on the Georgia side of MF. Returned the call and it said that the voicemail of the number I was calling had not been set up.
Oh well.

@elcarev68-these are good MF phone calls. I always answer calls from GA, AL, and KY.

I can't imagine the stress and hair pulling the schedulers must go through every day. If I get numerous emails from a scheduler with a particular company about the same type of job but different locations, I just think they are having a hell of a time getting them all filled and are getting desperate. I imagine that if they don't get those jobs filled, they are going to be in trouble with their bosses. It's really easy to just delete all the emails for the same job but at different locations because Joan Gingras is right, that perfect job might be in the middle of all those emails and I would be really pissed off at myself for missing out on it. They could also get a new client with great shops that I would like to know about.

That would be a valid point; except for:

1) It is only June 5th; too early in the month to be desperate.
2) No bonus is attached to these shops.
3) These are the "usual suspects"; they blow up emails every month, regardless of the time of month.
4) Paying $15 a shop hardly says desperation, unless it is a phone shop.

niclinblue Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can't imagine the stress and hair pulling the
> schedulers must go through every day. If I get
> numerous emails from a scheduler with a particular
> company about the same type of job but different
> locations, I just think they are having a hell of
> a time getting them all filled and are getting
> desperate. I imagine that if they don't get those
> jobs filled, they are going to be in trouble with
> their bosses. It's really easy to just delete all
> the emails for the same job but at different
> locations because Joan Gingras is right, that
> perfect job might be in the middle of all those
> emails and I would be really pissed off at myself
> for missing out on it. They could also get a new
> client with great shops that I would like to know
> about.

Delwilliams Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't send them to spam,because they could get
> their account closed down if too many classify as
> that. I filter them. Saves them, and me.


This is really important. Sending emails to spam may cause emails from that domain not to be delivered to anyone in the future.

You signed up for the emails. Just because you now decided that you don't want them, or you don't want some of them, doesn't make them spam.

Email systems are not sophisticated enough to send emails for shops within 15 miles for one shopper, 35 miles for another, etc. They send thousands of emails every day, looking for shops.

If the emails bother you, turn them off or filter them.

Hey Guys! I want to throw in my two cents from my work at IntelliShop.

I worked for a while on "Team Top Gun," and they have a BUTTLOAD (that's a technical term) of shops that they have to get filled every month. They blast emails every day because that's all they can do, and even though you just immediately delete the emails and get frustrated with us, on our end, it does work and it does get shops filled.

You guys are also independent contractors, if you do a shop, or if you don't do a shop, it normally doesn't hurt you too badly. However, as schedulers, this is our job, this is OUR livelihood, so if the shop doesn't get successfully completed, submitted and finalized, then it's us getting into trouble.

There are times that if I'm desperate I will call shoppers who have done the same locations in the past. I'm usually offering outrageous fees to get them done and probably 7 out of every 10 calls I make, the number is disconnected, the voicemail box is full/they don't have it set up. So if you want to be called for those urgent, high-paying shops, you need to make sure that your phone number you have registered with us WORKS and I can actually get through to you! I do not do this often because it is very time consuming and incredibly inefficient, but it does happen at least a couple of times a month.

All of us at IntelliShop work VERY hard to not spam you. We are always looking for new, more efficient ways to alert you guys to shops. We create fancy excel documents to send a personalized email out to everyone, so if you receive 10 different emails, that means that you have 10 different shops you can pick up. Do them all and you can make some fat cash in just one day.

Lastly, I would like to address DanteInOH's comment about waiting until the end of the month. Not all of our clients are shopped on a "monthly" basis. Some of them end on the second Tuesday of the month or the third Thursday, etc. So do not assume that those high paying shops that you see now will only get higher--because we might be at the end of the period and once the period ends, we lose our bonus money.

Sara, I'm sure you're lovely but your company is GROSSLY undervaluing what we do. If Monterray can start off all their shops at $30 and fill almost all of them at that rate, then sure as hell you can. Spam me all you want when you're paying a reasonable amount. Leave me the hell alone when you're not even willing to pay minimum wage.

By outrageous, she means $24 for a narrative heavy car dealership shop that you have to drive 50 miles each way and the editors will probably crap on and give you a 6/10 despite a perfect report... LoL

Sorry, figured I'd throw a little "Intelli-Humor" out there.

IntelliSara Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There are times that if I'm desperate I will call
> shoppers who have done the same locations in the
> past. I'm usually offering outrageous fees to get
> them done

I started working with data bases back in the early 80's. They have become more complex and sophisticated. But one thing they all have in common are QUERIES What I don't understand is, why there isn't a way to query and merge lists, and to eliminate addresses that have been sent the same message before. I have been able to do that years ago, when you still had to code most data. Why can't Sassie or ArchDevon or whoever, include such a function in their DB?

DanteInOH Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> By outrageous, she means $24 for a narrative heavy
> car dealership shop that you have to drive 50
> miles each way and the editors will probably crap
> on and give you a 6/10 despite a perfect report...
> LoL
>
> Sorry, figured I'd throw a little "Intelli-Humor"
> out there.
>

Woah there, big guy. Slow down. First they go to $20, then (eventually) $24.

However, I will admit, Intelli-shop is pretty good about tacking a bonus on a shop when the deadline is approaching. I have seen some of the dealership shops reach $85.