Exactly...Stand your ground.

To be honest, my first shop took an hour. Couldn't find the grocery employees, thought I had to have a bagger, etc. Now that I have a few under my belt, I get them done in 1/2 hour, with exception: where I'm at now the service deli is ALWAYS busy! I mean always. If I'm lucky, I'll wait until the last and be the 5th customer in line with two people helping. Today I was the 3rd and it took 10 minutes.

Generally, read carefully, follow the spirit of the guidelines and you can find ways to fulfill both what TS wants and stay within 1/2 hour.

I had a similar issue last month with a different shop. You can accept a shop, but it is still open until you confirm. It really irked me, because it was a shop I was excited about. Just one of their quirks,,,,

Reading this thread now it makes sense that TS called me a couple of days ago completely out of the blue. I signed up with them about 5 years ago, did 2-3 shops and then never went on their site again. It was mainly due to the fact that I could not get my scans of receipts to meet their qualifications. So now they were calling to ask me to do a grocery shop. It is the last week of the month and I have not spoken to them for 5 years. Just out of curiosity I asked about the job. They told me about all the interactions, counting the baggers and customers etc, etc and then the fee of $5. I almost laughed when the list of requirements she told me about took more than $5 of my time to explain to me. I told her I can earn a whole lot more than $5 at my regular job. She was very sweet and understanding but never even offered a higher fee..the end of the month, a holiday coming up even. I would not have taken the job even with a bonus as high as a dollar!

I have completed a few of the urgent grocery shops without a bonus. This morning a scheduler called me and asked if I would do one for a $36 bonus. He told me that the report had to be in earlier than midnight, so I told him that I could have it in by 7:00 pm. At about 3:00 this afternoon, I received a call from another individual from Trendsource who asked if I had gotten around to shopping the location that was assigned to me. I told her that I was getting ready to go do it. Then she told me that they no longer needed me to go because someone else already reported for that location. That is so unfair, especially when I helped them out in the past, with no bonus.

FYI, I've done many of MSI / Trensource's grocery store assignments and I spoke with one of their schedulers before over the phone. She explained that if you're having issues finding the three grocery employees in the aisles, just be sure to make a couple rounds and specifically explain it in your report. I've had issues when the aisles were absolutely empty. So there's nothing wrong with incomplete information, AS LONG AS you make an reasonable attempt to find these employees. The same goes for the produce, deli and meat employees. Fortunately, those have clearly instructions on what to do if the employees at those area are AWOL.

edie1264 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have completed a few of the urgent grocery shops
> without a bonus. This morning a scheduler called
> me and asked if I would do one for a $36 bonus.
> He told me that the report had to be in earlier
> than midnight, so I told him that I could have it
> in by 7:00 pm. At about 3:00 this afternoon, I
> received a call from another individual from
> Trendsource who asked if I had gotten around to
> shopping the location that was assigned to me. I
> told her that I was getting ready to go do it.
> Then she told me that they no longer needed me to
> go because someone else already reported for that
> location. That is so unfair, especially when I
> helped them out in the past, with no bonus.

I an a newbie here, but I did not get off the phone with the scheduler until I was on the website and the bonus was shown in the assignment we agreed on and assigned to me. This was a different top 5 MSC with a Not English as a first language scheduler from most likely Honduras. I made my hardcopy of it right then. I may not be reachable if they call back to cancel the shop, as I'm doing the job and my cell phone is turned off per the shop instructions

I really like TrendSource. That is one of my favorite companies to shop for.

jroby1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I had a similar issue last month with a different
> shop. You can accept a shop, but it is still open
> until you confirm. It really irked me, because it
> was a shop I was excited about. Just one of their
> quirks,,,,

I FINALLY was able to get a BV after talking to a scheduler, which would re-establish my PN status. Well, I don't remember ever having to click the e-mail link to confirm when it's been assigned. The only time I've ever done that in the past was when it was offered to the back-ups after the original shopper dropped it. When I went to call the contact a short while later, the job was gone! Apparently, they sent the e-mail to other shoppers, too.

If they send an email you must confirm the assignment and it's first one to confirm gets the assignment. On the other hand, once you are able to self-assign (and if you are not asking for PAD) you can go to the website and request the project which will then say it has been assigned to you.

I don't like the fact that they send the confirming email to several shoppers but that's their policy.

They called me and offered a pretty good compensation. I was considering it, since I had completed a couple of different types of grocery shops with them in the past. I gave a counter offer and she was considering it, then said OK, began telling me more about it and realized this was NOT the typical grocery shop. This particular one required many, many interactions, which takes FOREVER!

I laughed and said, wo-o-oow nelly! This is NOT the grocery shop I thought! . I told her I had completed the multiple interactions of like 5-7 people I think, I swore to myself I would never do it again for such a low fee!. Lol. She offered even more, I politely apologized and declined, feeling bad I could not help out, but I was not driving 1 hr one way, no matter the pay for this type of shop, once I figured it out!. She took it well and was professional about it. Bless her heart;(.

In response to a shopper questioning WHY it took longer than their time of 32-36 minutes, well I have to say if you can do it that fast, well your a ROCKSTAR! Not me however, I go for quality and detail. So much so, I ACTUALLY had them TELL ME to feel free to leave out details lol

I laughed and laughed. I trimmed it since then. I was still learning back then people, do not judge me

For new shoppers, If this is a REGULAR mystery shop, then it is MuCH faster to complete, without all those interactions! Another shopper, also mentioned that if the associates are not in the areas when they were shopping, that they just do not get evaluated? I had a shop refused because of something much like this! I could not win! They did not have enough staff to even MEET the number of interactions required lol. Yet I had to FiND more? lol. Maybe it was a fluke or the wrong advice given to me, I don't know.

I was told I HAD to find personnel even if it meant going up to the service desk, cashiers or basically any warm body was the jest of it. That means associates could be evaluated twice, but I cannot remember if that was also an issue or not. Seems like it was on another report, but cannot be sure it was two different shops and both contraindicated the advice given on the one prior to that, which made me question if I got the right info to start with. I only mention this to give the "other side of the story" a thought before making an educated decision for yourself. There are things to consider when taking any kind of advice given. Just be careful and document well. Keep good notes and if you can record shops go for it! That has got me out of a lot of issues when questions were raised on facts pertaining to the shops, I had my proof and they were SHOCKED. It felt good to be right though hehe he

I used to do these shops a few years ago and was so excited when MSI got them back. I don't mind the extra grocery area interactions, most of my grocery stores have 0-1 employee in the grocery area so it's not really extra work. I like the changes especially not having to buy an item from the deli or a large under-cart item now.

I have a routine that allows me to get these done quickly and efficiently. I have no trouble doing them in 25-35 mins. They only want a few sentences to give them a feel for how it went so I don't write a book when I'm reporting and never have any issues. There are so many shops in my area that I only do the ones that are on the way home from work or nearby home for their regular fee. Then I wait until they offer the bonus money before I do more. I try to do 2 on the same day nearby each other to make the bonus better and it works out for me. These are definitely not for anyone who has to drive more than a few miles to get to them unless they are paying big money which they usually do if I want to drive 20 miles out of my way.

I'm a big couponer so it's a fun game to see how much I can get for $9.

SpecialNsgCare4urLuv1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For new shoppers, If this is a REGULAR mystery
> shop, then it is MuCH faster to complete, without
> all those interactions! Another shopper, also
> mentioned that if the associates are not in the
> areas when they were shopping, that they just do
> not get evaluated? I had a shop refused because
> of something much like this! I could not win!
> They did not have enough staff to even MEET the
> number of interactions required lol. Yet I had
> to FiND more? lol. Maybe it was a fluke or the
> wrong advice given to me, I don't know.
>
> I was told I HAD to find personnel even if it
> meant going up to the service desk, cashiers or
> basically any warm body was the jest of it. That
> means associates could be evaluated twice, but I
> cannot remember if that was also an issue or not.
> Seems like it was on another report, but cannot be
> sure it was two different shops and both
> contraindicated the advice given on the one prior
> to that, which made me question if I got the right
> info to start with. I only mention this to give
> the "other side of the story" a thought before
> making an educated decision for yourself. There
> are things to consider when taking any kind of
> advice given. Just be careful and document well.
> Keep good notes and if you can record shops go for
> it! That has got me out of a lot of issues when
> questions were raised on facts pertaining to the
> shops, I had my proof and they were SHOCKED. It
> felt good to be right though hehe he


I can only vouch for the three (3) associate interactions in the grocery aisles, where you can proceed with as little as zero interactions as long as you made your effort (TrendSource rep told me two full rounds around the grocery store is enough).

The focused department interactions, I've actually never had come across an issue when I could not interact with ANY associate in those departments; there was always someone there, from my experiences.

Tarantado Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SpecialNsgCare4urLuv1 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > For new shoppers, If this is a REGULAR mystery
> > shop, then it is MuCH faster to complete,
> without
> > all those interactions! Another shopper, also
> > mentioned that if the associates are not in the
> > areas when they were shopping, that they just
> do
> > not get evaluated? I had a shop refused
> because
> > of something much like this! I could not win!
> > They did not have enough staff to even MEET the
> > number of interactions required lol. Yet I
> had
> > to FiND more? lol. Maybe it was a fluke or
> the
> > wrong advice given to me, I don't know.
> >
> > I was told I HAD to find personnel even if it
> > meant going up to the service desk, cashiers or
> > basically any warm body was the jest of it.
> That
> > means associates could be evaluated twice, but
> I
> > cannot remember if that was also an issue or
> not.
> > Seems like it was on another report, but cannot
> be
> > sure it was two different shops and both
> > contraindicated the advice given on the one
> prior
> > to that, which made me question if I got the
> right
> > info to start with. I only mention this to
> give
> > the "other side of the story" a thought before
> > making an educated decision for yourself.
> There
> > are things to consider when taking any kind of
> > advice given. Just be careful and document
> well.
> > Keep good notes and if you can record shops go
> for
> > it! That has got me out of a lot of issues
> when
> > questions were raised on facts pertaining to
> the
> > shops, I had my proof and they were SHOCKED.
> It
> > felt good to be right though hehe he
>
>
> I can only vouch for the three (3) associate
> interactions in the grocery aisles, where you can
> proceed with as little as zero interactions as
> long as you made your effort (TrendSource rep told
> me two full rounds around the grocery store is
> enough).
>
> The focused department interactions, I've actually
> never had come across an issue when I could not
> interact with ANY associate in those departments;
> there was always someone there, from my
> experiences.

I agree with the 3 plus Focus...checking now and in the past month I have done 17 of those (and probably similar numbers each month in the past year) and have never had one rejected. I have had many instances where no one was in produce and I report it as such, I have had a couple of instances of no one in meat with no problem. I have always found someone in the deli. Many times there is no one in many of the departments, grocery aisles, no bagger or they move lanes and I report it how it happened. It's a 32-36 minute shop and out. I just wish they would add it to the app so I could do the numbers that way and maybe even names and then do the rest out in the car or at home.

Liz

I have done about 22 of these in the past few months and found them relatively easy if you follow the guidelines. Maximum time is about 30 minutes and about 15-20 to report. No big deal here.

On a different grocery shop, I was required to evaluate a floor clerk. I made four passes through the store and couldn't find one, gave up, and when I had to report, there was no option for "I couldn't find one." So I reported that I was help by a person named "Invisible Man" and randomly picked a height, hair color, and race who did not greet me, lead me to the item, or wish me a good day at the end of the transaction. They accepted the shop but I find it a pain in the butt when they don't give you an N/A option.

I always wondered how that information worked into their statistics as to whether the store passed or not.

dspeakes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> On a different grocery shop, I was required to
> evaluate a floor clerk. I made four passes
> through the store and couldn't find one, gave up,
> and when I had to report, there was no option for
> "I couldn't find one." So I reported that I was
> help by a person named "Invisible Man" and
> randomly picked a height, hair color, and race who
> did not greet me, lead me to the item, or wish me
> a good day at the end of the transaction. They
> accepted the shop but I find it a pain in the butt
> when they don't give you an N/A option.
>
> I always wondered how that information worked into
> their statistics as to whether the store passed or
> not.

Now that is creative and funny luv it!
Thanks for the chuckle