Nobody is giving KSS a hard time about having one scheduler, Seattle. And nobody is saying they don't want to play by the rules; in fact, they are saying the opposite. What people are saying is that if a scheduler is going to be incommunicado for 4 days, there should be someone else available to answer time-sensitive issues. For example, if you are conducting your shop and something arises that the guidelines say to "contact your scheduler immediately" and he or she isn't available, there needs to be someone else who can answer your question. Following the guidelines is part of "playing by the rules" of the MSC.

Ryan is exactly why I came here today. I stopped working with KSS about a year ago or so when I noticed they stopped having assignments of their own and are just outsourced schedulers for companies that I have been working with for just as long if not longer. There is enough going on with mystery shops, I don't need the headache of going from one website to the next trying to figure out what company I am submitting my report to. For me personally, KSS is counterproductive.

That being said, after the e-mail I received today and the posts I've read here, it's obvious that either Ryan has been missing quite a few days or KSS's system is failing them. I submitted, or at least thought I submitted a report, about a week ago. He barely sent me an e-mail today, saying that the report is past due and incomplete. Errors happen, the report was in fact complete, but for whatever reason the submit button wasn't clicked. Most companies stress that reports must be in by the start of the next business day or sooner. So the fact that this is the first that he has bothered to bring it to my attention, I think it was extremely rude of him to go so far as to threaten citation among other things. And to top it off he couldn't even bother to represent the correct company. This just goes to prove what I said above, about counter productivity. I scheduled the assignment through the company that is paying me, not through KSS. He named the client and KSS, but left out the name of the Sassie company that I contracted with. Nor did he bother to provide a link to the website.

Thankfully, first off, I often save the **ACCEPTED** e-mails for several weeks, and secondly, I have only done one other shop in the past week and was able to easily recall which company I was working with.

Thank you for posting. This is just part of the ongoing problems with Kern, I would like to see resolved.

Cookie-o Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have had very negative experiences with both
> Ryan and Lorrie. IMHO, this is a disorganized and
> unreliable MSP. There are lots of better ones
> listed on the MSPA website.

That's hysterical.

KSS is not an MSP. They schedule assignments for MSPs.


110mama Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ryan is exactly why I came here today. I stopped
> working with KSS about a year ago or so when I
> noticed they stopped having assignments of their
> own and are just outsourced schedulers for
> companies that I have been working with for just
> as long if not longer. There is enough going on
> with mystery shops, I don't need the headache of
> going from one website to the next trying to
> figure out what company I am submitting my report
> to. For me personally, KSS is counterproductive.
>
> That being said, after the e-mail I received today
> and the posts I've read here, it's obvious that
> either Ryan has been missing quite a few days or
> KSS's system is failing them. I submitted, or at
> least thought I submitted a report, about a week
> ago. He barely sent me an e-mail today, saying
> that the report is past due and incomplete. Errors
> happen, the report was in fact complete, but for
> whatever reason the submit button wasn't clicked.
> Most companies stress that reports must be in by
> the start of the next business day or sooner. So
> the fact that this is the first that he has
> bothered to bring it to my attention, I think it
> was extremely rude of him to go so far as to
> threaten citation among other things. And to top
> it off he couldn't even bother to represent the
> correct company. This just goes to prove what I
> said above, about counter productivity. I
> scheduled the assignment through the company that
> is paying me, not through KSS. He named the client
> and KSS, but left out the name of the Sassie
> company that I contracted with. Nor did he bother
> to provide a link to the website.
>
> Thankfully, first off, I often save the
> **ACCEPTED** e-mails for several weeks, and
> secondly, I have only done one other shop in the
> past week and was able to easily recall which
> company I was working with.

Yeah, it's been awhile since KSS had their own assignments .... As in NEVER.
So it's the scheduler's fault that you left the report in incomplete status for a week?
Brilliant.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/2014 09:05PM by SoCalMama.

110mama
Go the the company's (MSP) site, click on your profile and remove KSS as your referral. Doing that should insure that you do not hear from KSS on a job that they did not schedule for you. There is no way that KSS is scheduling 1,000,000 jobs on their own. If you self assign a job with an MSC and have KSS as your referral in your profile then KSS gets credit for assigning that shop. You could continue to maintain your status with KSS and be notified of shops, just apply directly with the MSC and cut KSS out of the equation.

That is part of the KSS game, lure shoppers into signing up on various MSC boards (with the pretense of being assigned a shop) and say you were referred by KSS. They (KSS) get credit for that shop even if they did not assign the shop.

ShoppingBee, hmmm, your posts make me think you are quite probably a disgruntled past employee of KSS. I base this on the questions for which you are demanding answers (your insistence that KSS provide a breakdown of the $1M jobs, for example) as well as the obvious inside knowledge you exhibit with your latest post.

I mean, as a shopper, it's not important to me if Lorri clarifies how she arrives at the $1M figure, so why is it so all important to you?

I think I get it.

(heart)

ShoppingBee has made an accurate post. It further demonstrates how Kern does business. I doubt she is a past employee..

Boy. This thread is a crazy read.

Fershur.

A shopper/member questioning a scheduler or company is what we do, when so inclined. Backhanded aspersions should not be leveled, without substantantiation, should they?

I have a few questions about the responses, and lack thereof, from the scheduling company. Would be futile to question them further. However, we stated communication challenges we have to deal with, despite our best efforts. May be wishful thinking, but hopefully KSS heard us and takes corrective measures.

stilllearning,
I do not use KSS, but I do know that what shoppingbee has posted does not require "inside" knowledge that would only be known to a current or former employee. Many shoppers, especially those who have networked with MSC owners and schedulers at conferences, would know the details that you cite as yoru evidence.

I think that you owe ShoppingBee an apology for your accusation that she has an ax to grind as a "disgruntled" former employee.

Other than my issue with the aspersions cast on shoppingbee's post, I have no comment on the main topic, since I have almost no experience with using scheduling companies other than those that specialize in video.