Anyone perform shops for this company? Did two back in May, good reviews. Started shops again, passed certification, but couldn't get the shops. Get emails time and time again saying that they tried to call me, but no record of calls and the scheduler has no phone number.

Email saying they are desperate to finish shops, good I can do 4 today. After 24 hours, no response. Tried to change profile yesterday hoping that the shops would show on my available, no dice.

So, watch, bet I get 4 shops assigned tomorrow or Friday.

All of their emails start with "we tried to call you" or something like that. One time I called them on that, telling them I had been home all day with the phone in arm's reach, and they admitted to me that they don't actually call, but that it's part of the form and is automatically generated when they send out an email. It's a pretty scummy thing and it makes me reflect rather negatively on the company: that every email they send out contains a bold faced lie.

I've only done one shop for them. So far, so good. And yes, I've received the same message about them not being able to reach me. A good relationship doesn't start with a lie. Just saying.

Never had any problems but all contact has been through email. I do maybe a half dozen shops a year with them.

I had a good relationship with this company. I was even recruited twice to do exclusively the high-end shops and I declined. But one scheduler would give me the shops the minute I asked a teeny weeny info on them. When it involved 4 high-end shops with huge cash outlay, I was very annoyed and told her I would let it go at that time but not to do it again.

Then she advised after I had done some work done on a shop that she made a mistake and it was supposed to be done next month. My mistake was doing it the next month. It was too disorganized and premature that the company they were evaluating was not prepared. And who suffers when a shop is disorganized but the shopper. I asked to be removed from their D/base and I am off.

I performed a shop for them earlier this month and have since removed myself from their database -- terrible company. I've performed 45-55 shops for other companies so far this year, so would consider myself an experienced shopper -- many being high end retail/restaurant or similar cell phone shops.

After passing several certification tests on their site, no available shops show up on the homepage for me (for weeks). Periodically I would receive an email from them with available shops, so finally I was able to accept one. I accepted one regarding <cell phones> and completed the report within the allotted time frame.

Over a week after submitting the report, I get an email saying my shop was insufficient/rejected because I told the <cell phone> associate that the phone I was looking to replace was a Blackberry instead of an HTC One. Yes she was correct -- I did not 100% follow the provided guidelines. This was my first shop with them and I had mistaken the guidelines regarding this shop from another cell phone shop I had completed for another company previously. But if they are going to cancel my shop for missing such a minor detail like this, I want nothing to do with their company. Seems like an easy way to not pay your shoppers for an otherwise great report. Don't waste your time with this company, there are plenty of better ones out there.



Mod note: Hi! And welcome, FLG8ORS. Please remember in your future posts not to reveal the clients of MSCs. Thanks!

FLG8ORS Wrote:
> Over a week after submitting the report, I get an
> email saying my shop was insufficient/rejected
> because I told the <cell phone> associate that the
> phone I was looking to replace was a Blackberry
> instead of an HTC One. Yes she was correct -- I
> did not 100% follow the provided guidelines. This
> was my first shop with them and I had mistaken the
> guidelines regarding this shop from another cell
> phone shop I had completed for another company
> previously. But if they are going to cancel my
> shop for missing such a minor detail like this, I
> want nothing to do with their company.


That detail is not minor by any means. It shifts the sales person's recommendations.

Hi, FLG0RS, welcome to the forum. That's a disappointment, and I'm sorry to hear you won't be paid for an assignment. As independent contractors, we have to accept that there is a possibility of not getting paid for any shop that we complete if we do not follow the guidelines 100%. Actually, I think erroneously substituting a Blackberry for an HTC, when it was specifically directed in the guidelines, is not a minor detail. I would call it missing an integral part of the shop requirements. Regardless of how great the report was, if the shop was done incorrectly, it has no value and the company had to assign another shopper to re-do it. The company will have to pay that shopper, and that is the reason you will not be paid. JMHO.

One note about available shops on ISC's website: jobs are assigned by e-mail. They do not maintain a job board. While you report your assignments online, their jobs are not listed online. Taking the certifications make a shopper eligible for shops, but all shops are announced by e-mail. You e-mail the scheduler back and shops are assigned.

I encourage you to stick with them. They are a good company. I don't do much work for them, but I've had no difficulties at all and I've found their scheduler for this area easy to work with. Better luck with future shops.

Hi FLORGS - you may also want to consider editing your post and removing the client's name from your comments. Both the MSC and client are mentioned in your post.

The client would want to know how, across the board, the salespeople are responding when a customer wants to upgrade from a certain type of phone. Saying you own a Blackberry could result in a different recommendation.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2014 09:29PM by shoppinginontario.

Thank you for the feedback. I received an assignment when I emailed the scheduler. Odd thing is that when I was in the Cincinnati area and changed my data to reflect that, I had 7-8 Indianapolis checks available and only one Cincinnati. Now that i am back in Indy, there were no checks available, including the one that they bonused me.

I have performed two similar shops earlier this year and liked doing them. They specifically state to spend only 15 minutes on the interaction. It was not a difficult shop to do.

hey

I am from Fiji, just got a mail from some one from this company, being asked to perform a shop check for them.

The scheduler didnt have any phone number on the email, and it sounded a bit fishy to me....

I perform at least 50-100 shops per year for companies, but this one......I really am having doubts.