I just got deactivated today from Confero... mostly my fault although I feel the scheduler was being a bit harsh.

Do you ever think about what certain companies would do without you?

I filled one of their hardest to fill shops every month...

I guess someone's job just got a bit harder.

Can you share what happened? Was this a continual, on-going problem or was it a one time event?

I have contracted with Confero for years and I like the company. Just wondering if it's a company issue or a scheduler issue...

Had options of doing a shop yesterday, today, or tomorrow. I chose today. I emailed the scheduler and asked to do it tomorrow instead (something came up).

She told me that if I did not have it submitted by 4 p.m. eastern tomorrow then I would be deactivated.

I told her that she might as well deactivate me tonight and take the extra time to get someone else to do the shop (maybe that was nicer than I should have been considering she deactivated me right away).

oh my

I don't understand this at all. I understand you couldn't do the shop today and you wanted to do it tomorrow, right? And they gave you until 4:00 p.m. tomorrow to get the report in, right? So why did they deactivate you today if you had until tomorrow to get the report in? We don't have all the information here.

Sorry you had this problem. You will find another company and they will find another shopper. And on it goes.

It seems pretty clear to me. Shop was assigned and could be done Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. She told them Saturday, but then something came up and she asked to move it to Sunday, which was an option when the shop was assigned. Instead of asking if she could get the report in by 4pm or telling her the client needed it by then the scheduler gave an ultimatum that if the report was not done by 4pm the OP would be deactivated. The OP then got kind of pissy about the attitude and told the scheduler to go ahead and deactivate her now, which the scheduler did.

Sorry...I was going to add to this. It would have been physically impossible to complete the shop tomorrow and have it submitted by 4 p.m. Eastern time... due to the location hours of operation, time at actual shop location, travel time home, and filling out the report.

Basically she was saying I needed to do it tonight and by the time she told me this, there was no time to do it anyways.

Also I would not have been as nice as you were in my first reply. But I really don't put up with @#$%&.

Bgriffin,
Although it might have come off as pissy, that was not really my intention. I was actually trying to be helpful by telling her right away instead of having her wait until tomorrow afternoon to see that it was not done.

I never had issues with this scheduler before. Bad day perhaps...

Had you ever missed a shop before, cancelled or rescheduled a shop?

I'm wondering if you just had a hot-headed scheduler/ or if you were threatened with deactivation, because this has happened before and the scheduler got upset?

If you never had any lates, reschedules or cancellations, then the scheduler could just have a short-fuse?

Okay, thanks for the clarification. Now I get it. The 4:00 PM deadline was not possible for you. Now it all makes sense. Too bad they didn't want to handle that differently.

I would have meant for it to come across as pissy. The last (and only time) I got an ultimatum like that from a scheduler I told her exactly what I didn't like about her attitude and told her she could deactivate me if she'd like and I'd be glad to forward our entire email conversation to her boss.

I have never cancelled a shop before. Rescheduled? Of course... but I always came through on the shops and always helped out with the one location that was on the board until the end of the month.

I had never been warned or threatened before. Guess I did not know I was on thin ice.

Sometimes, reschedules, (while not as bad as cancels) can be too many (hard to say but for some schedulers, 2 can be too-many---who knows?)

I'm just thinking: I have never been told by any of my 250 MSC's that I will be deactivated or the threat of deactivation. (that seems serious to me and upsetting if I were to hear that)

Did something tick that scheduler off to threaten deactivation, if you did not submit by tomorrow at 4? Was this a tight deadline shop? Maybe it pissed her off that it was so close, that it might not get done?

I noticed a different scheduler has the same shops for next month...

Maybe she is bitter?

I've had only one issue with Confero some time ago; still not resolved. I did enjoy my work with them and everything seemed to work fine so long as communication was used.
Though still showing as active, I have not been able to get assignments since this issue.

I believe it has to do with them claiming I never returned some unused prizes back. I did, but silly me, instead of returning in 2 separate overnight envelopes, I thought I would save them money and returned in one. I figured aty some point someone must have noticed that all the unused numbers were floating around the office.

But, still no word. Even sent a note to Lori Kern with no response (they scheduled the shops).

Never had an issue with KSS (always great to work with - always) and none before this with Confero. Just one of those things and you have to move on.

Yeah...they only had one shop I enjoyed doing...and in 9 months I will be too old to complete it anyways ;-)

@BillBryaninCarthage wrote:

Didn't know a scheduler at any MSC has the authority to deactivate a shopper.

Now you know. It depends on the particular company, but many companies allow a scheduler (or an editor or other MSC employee) to deactivate a shopper.

You find out when they deactivate you. We don't have a list. We just know that sometimes it happens.

You need to think of your scheduler as being like your direct supervisor if you were employed. They decide who gets the jobs, so why wouldn't they be able to deactivate you? It probably depends on if the scheduling task is shared among a team, or if one person controls the whole territory.

They need their business to run smoothly. If a scheduler is having problems with a shopper, it's easier (they think) to find another shopper. Sometimes they're wrong.

I had a scheduler decline to pay me $5 for a failed shop (oil change shop; they were out of oil) and said I could redo it for the same fee. When I told her I wouldn't do it unless she paid me for the travel for the first attempt she replied, "There are plenty of other shoppers who will do it." At the end of the month, I loaned a friend of mine $40 to front the expense so she could do the shop. So indirectly, she still didn't get the shop done without me. They can be so arrogant sometimes. I think most of us know our market better than the scheduler. I knew there was nobody else in this small town to do that shop.

After she struggles to get that shop done by someone else, she'll regret being such a @#$%& about it. But you'll have moved on to something else. If she swallows crow and calls you about it next month, tell her the price just doubled.

Great answer, dspeakes. Bill, every company is different. You learn about the companies as you get more experienced. None of us have a list of which companies do what and how they do it and who does it.

I just finish reading this thread, and then I get an email from a scheduler for a Confero shop that starts like this:

"**VERY IMPORTANT** Before applying for these shops you must understand that failure to complete an assignment on time will result in immediate deactivation of your shopper account there are no cancellations or reschedules permitted and the only exception is documented proof the theater is closed or sold out. DO NOT APPLY FOR A SHOP IF YOU ARE NOT 100% CERTAIN YOU CAN COMPLETE AND SUBMIT THE SHOP FORM BY 5PM OF THE DATE ON THE MOVIE TICKET."


If this was the same shop you did, TanyaBai, you are probably not the only one getting deactivated.

Bill, depending on the MSC that scheduler could also be the editor, the accounts payable department and the owner.

Great attitude bgriffin bgriffin bgriffin
That will surely get you far more shops!

@bgriffin wrote:

I would have meant for it to come across as pissy. The last (and only time) I got an ultimatum like that from a scheduler I told her exactly what I didn't like about her attitude and told her she could deactivate me if she'd like and I'd be glad to forward our entire email conversation to her boss.

HAHAHAHA! The irony of the most negative person on the forum scolding me for my attitude is not lost on me.

Dspeaks, unfortunately there is a new scheduler for the shops next month... so I won't have the benefit of seeing her struggle to fill it.

@bgriffin wrote:

HAHAHAHA! The irony of the most negative person on the forum scolding me for my attitude is not lost on me.

Always winning the "ladies" over, bgriffin.

@CANADAMOMMY wrote:

Great attitude bgriffin bgriffin bgriffin
That will surely get you far more shops!

@bgriffin wrote:

I would have meant for it to come across as pissy. The last (and only time) I got an ultimatum like that from a scheduler I told her exactly what I didn't like about her attitude and told her she could deactivate me if she'd like and I'd be glad to forward our entire email conversation to her boss.

Methinks she is just saying what many here are thinking.