Bigbrownpoopyturd WOW, how do you find time to do that many shops and reports, plus proofread, then edit other Shoppers' reports....things that make one say ...hmmmmmm!?! Something is not meeting the smell test.

I don't know what it is like on your end, but it seems like the other posters who are upset specifically with IntelliShop, are those who are seasoned Shoppers who consistently get 9 out of 10 and even 10's with other MSCs and have so for years. So I am not sure if the ones who have complained are the ...I QUOTE YOUR STATEMENT..."..a lot of shoppers out there don't. They submit crap that reads like they dictated on their phone with talk-to-text and never proofread it. They submit narratives riddled with biased statements. They mark negative responses and don't explain why..."

It is probably unlikely that those who are slackers even care to post very often on this forum. We see a couple of major rants from time to time. But usually they rarely give the details, or what they do list it becomes clear that they did goof.

I mostly see some very legitimate gripes and have had a couple of my own. I have a pretty clear set of standards I ascribe to and see that there is some funny business going on over there. When one reads the cumulative history of certain MSCs it really reveals much of what is going on. Some companies have actually worked through their kinks and come out of the dregs. Others went bankcrupt or merged and left many Shoppers holding empty bags. We all can stand some improvement and time will tell all. But one practice that IntelliShop does is to whack Shoppers a point off merely because a Editor/Proofreader had to have a Shopper Contact for clarification, which is utterly absurd! Communication is a key ingredient in this industry, it is the first I have heard of this and know no other MSC penalizing this way. Then even if the Editor/Proofreader has been found to be in error, as in the answer is already in the paragraph but they neglected to read the whole 2-3 paragraphs or in the case of recorded shops, still other points come off. No discussion, no explanation...even when it is your guys' fault. It just becomes a ridiculous excuse for the Editor/Proofreader to claim foul for redundancy sake!

I would say more than A LOT of us take our assignments very seriously and IntelliShop would attract more bees with nectar than they will with vinegar! But if you are getting a lot of newbie or devil-may-care Shoppers perhaps you are offering too little compensation for shops and attracting wasps. Your firm will drive away all the good worker bees if you do not give adequate nuture and praise. They need to cull the inept Editors/Proofreaders who are too anal, those who do not read or lack comprehension of the English language or do not communicate to the bees what it is they are doing wrong. Most of the time Editor/Proofreaders claim spelling and/or grammar although several of us avail spellchecker programs and wonder what you found. But nothing is forthcoming and it has been used as an excuse not to be paid more often than not. THAT IS ANOTHER ANOMOLY THAT ROGUE MSCs PULL. It starts happening just before that firm is about to tank!

I hope that doesn't happen to your firm, but really someone from headquarters needs to look over how many excellent Shoppers have been chased away by Editor/Proofreaders mistakes. Some small towns and burbs only have 2 maybe 3 Shoppers to cover hundreds of miles. Some only have 1 Shopper...not every town is like major metropolises with dozens of Shoppers. MSCs are foolish if they do not do market research on how to cultivate and KEEP Shoppers. This work is not for people who do not have tenacity! Most of us realize our writing is not perfect. But after all the hoops we have to do, a little polish needed on the final report should not be the end all to be all on a job that typically nets us less than 20 bucks! Even if we are getting paid a reasonable, bonused or hefty travel sum...why should we be so heavily penalized...if we followed all the other guidelines but mispell a word or have a run on sentence...it is bad business practice not to pay us! The personality it takes to do this work does not mean that the majority of us are scholars with perfect spelling or grammar. Even the proofreading programs are fraught with errors and grammar programs rarely do the task. That is why there is a budget for Editors/Proofreaders, but not so they can bludgeon us!

We need a few Corporate Bean Counters to point out to the Editors/Proofreaders that basically that is their job to get the gist of it and then make it look all pretty in a nice package. Otherwise, your firm is going to pay for bonused shops, major delays and lose regular, very good Shoppers who are upset that they can no longer self-assign because your 7 or 8 dropped their 9 or 10 average in the toilet. And it seems like much of IntelliShop's "mistakes" relate to frivolous comprehension plus the automatic 1 point off for contacting a Shopper! Turnover for your labor force is one of the biggest expenses. Recruiting costs time which equals money. Most MSCs know who their most valuable players are and don't sweat the small stuff. They keep the MVP Shoppers and teach their Schedulers and Editors/Proofreaders how to communicate and WORK WITH the Shoppers. Good companies don't keep power tripping employees and instead cherish the folks who are the grunts out in the fray doing the field work.

Wow, it feels so good to rant. You can correct my spelling and grammar all you want. No one is perfect! But I will be damned if I continue working for a firm that uses grammar and/or spelling to avoid paying me!

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/2015 05:20PM by curiousone.

I have decided the editors must be paid on each negative comment and point reduction with a mystery shopper they can possibly find and enforce, with little common sense put to use. Somewhere the company needs to have a good positive people skills program implemented - more than likely starting with the CEOs of the company. The attitude usually starts at the top of any company, positive or negative. My thought process is don't do business with that type of company that have negative standards and principals. There are too many good mystery shopping companies out there that appreciate their shoppers and are willing to help them. An editor is an editor, that is what they do, finalize and help make the report look the best without brow beating the shopper. I have left them and come back in hopes they have improved, as of yet have not seen it happen. I can only visualize the administration is somehow beating up it's editors with negativity and the shoppers are the next in line. Good positive leadership usually leads to positive and happy employees. I see the editors as very unhappy people or totally on an ego trip.

@Ramsey wrote:

I have decided the editors must be paid on each negative comment and point reduction with a mystery shopper they can possibly find and enforce, with little common sense put to use. Somewhere the company needs to have a good positive people skills program implemented - more than likely starting with the CEOs of the company. The attitude usually starts at the top of any company, positive or negative. My thought process is don't do business with that type of company that have negative standards and principals. There are too many good mystery shopping companies out there that appreciate their shoppers and are willing to help them. An editor is an editor, that is what they do, finalize and help make the report look the best without brow beating the shopper. I have left them and come back in hopes they have improved, as of yet have not seen it happen. I can only visualize the administration is somehow beating up it's editors with negativity and the shoppers are the next in line. Good positive leadership usually leads to positive and happy employees. I see the editors as very unhappy people or totally on an ego trip.

verrry well-said. I'm continually at odds with many of the editors of the MSC's that I do biz with and I'm not willing to not call them out and ask (and sometimes demand) answers to why they downgrade my efforts. Sometimes I'm the one that hasn't followed the format or my pics are a tad fuzzy, etc and i can deal with/understand my transgression(s) and make them a "learning experience" but others (especially with no explanation) is frustrating and annoying regardless of the fact that the score doesn't matter as long as i get my $$$. I applaud those MSCs who don't bother with assigning scores or those few companies who do assign scores and post definitive reasons as to why (such as Bare, Int'l...one of the absolute best in that regard) but I do call out specifically GFK and Intellishop whose editors are arbitrary, capricious and seemingly assign scores without comment or give generic "boilerplate" comments as to why those scores were assigned. i feel that some editors for those companies need to justify their existence by being needlessly arbitrary.

Nowadays, I really appreciate Intellishop for having the schedulers I've had to work with. The past weeks had been so difficult for me and although I had rescheduled some shops, there were shops that I could not. I had to go to different hospitals for my friend who was dying and somehow two shops with Intellishop fell on the last night she was alive and the other, on her wake. I tried to do them but because of very specific timing, missed them. I asked the schedulers to allow me to redo them without pay.

I did not have this type of record, and I was really devastated. Intellishop was not in any way my go to MSC but while grieving, I was also fighting depression for having failed the tasks. And they gave a second chance! They said, if you do it correctly, you will be paid. I have completed one and please wish me luck on the second one.

I received 9/10 on two reports from the same company for the same type of assignment. The wording in both evaluations was exactly the same--it mentioned a point deduction for minor sentence structure and punctuation errors. My husband and I (both retired teachers) went through my reports and could not find any errors. I did find one sentence that might be considered clumsy in one report. If they give me more jobs, and if I get the same evaluation with the exact same wording again, I might be tempted to request an explanation. Having been a teacher, I know that some teachers/administrators don't like to give the highest mark possible on assignments, but I have never understood that way of thinking. As someone said earlier in this thread or another, as long as they pay me...

Several Intellishop editors have posted here over the past year or so. According to them, the majority of Intellishop editors are college students who work part time for minimum wage. These are not experienced editors or ex school teachers or workers with a long professional history. These are teenagers or early-20s entry-level workers. They get no training and little direction. Why is it hard to understand that they are confused and inconsistent?

I used to be so bothered by a point lost because I was contacted on information already on the report or a general grammar, spelling etc., claimed infraction which their spell checker must have missed, so I took a break from this MSC. Then when I came back, it did not feel that bad to occasionally get a 9 among the 10s. If you read the comments of many experienced shoppers in this forum about the editors, majority feel there are bigger fish to fry.

Get used to it or just take a breather from Intellishop or any MSC which aggravates you. There are actually a lot of MSC's around, and some of them are a treasure. My dying friend told me not to get angry because if I do, I will be the one to suffer. So before I do any shop, I add a lot of patience in my pocket. Sometimes they are not enough, but that is life.

They did me the same way about 2 yrs. ago and I have tnot shopped for them again. The scheduler accused me of lying.

Be sure you save their e-mails so you have proof of the bonus they are offering. That was my mistake. Somehow I lost it and then the scheduler called me a liar. I don't shop for them anymore.

I have logged 162 shops with Intellishop and most of my shops were as favors (and bonus). I never get feedback which irps me because I don't have a clue what my grade was or if it was even accepted! If anyone knows how to find out, please tell me.
They gave me a huge video route shop this month and to help compensate my costs for the route, I accepted an ungodly amount of reward shops. These shops were initially due on the 11th. They have now stretched my due date to the 24th. Why you ask? BECAUSE THEY HAVEN'T SENT THESE BLASTED GIFT CARDS!!! I had to send a deposit of $55 because of the value of the cards. I have 37 of them and no narritives on any. Just 7 questions (I'm no fool, I would never accept 37 shops in one month if I had narratives to write)! I can't get an answer out of them on the ETA of the cards. You would think with the amount assigned to me they would put me on a higher priority vs. someone who has only one circut (6 shops per circuit). I have a horrendously busy month and their slacking is really throwing off my schedule. I just sent them another request and informed them that if I didn't get them by Tuesday, the circuits were gonna get cancelled by me one group at a time. I have other companies I shop for. This is just inconsiderate towards my time and other schedulers I have committed to that are apart of my routes this month. I have $1400 worth of work with them this month with them and I don't want to lose any, but I also don't want to tick off my other schedulers who are our bread and butter.
They have always communicated with me and paid quickly. I have always been paid for all my shops. In the past months I have had to wait 35-40 days to get paid by some shops, longer for others and a skipped payment all together. I won't do anymore $17 car shops or any car shops unless it has a substantial bonus, video or a begging scheduler. I love their $40 service shops for my car! Gotta change the oil anyway, why not free? Maybe someone new and clueless is all I can think of.
---Very disappointed

@kristicantrell, I am not sure why you wouldn't be graded. When you log in and go to your shop log, your completed shops are below your scheduled shops. Maybe since you schedule so many at a time, you have never scrolled down to see them. There is a column to the right which is marked shop rating. It should be filled in. I have only had one shop that wasn't rated.

@Roxie wrote:

@kristicantrell, I am not sure why you wouldn't be graded. When you log in and go to your shop log, your completed shops are below your scheduled shops. Maybe since you schedule so many at a time, you have never scrolled down to see them. There is a column to the right which is marked shop rating. It should be filled in. I have only had one shop that wasn't rated.

This isn't always the case. There are times were I complete as many as 20-30 assignments for them in a weekend. During those times, I sometimes see ~80% of them graded with comments, ~10% with a grade and no comments and ~10% with neither a grade or comment.

Reading all this makes me nervous about this company! I very recently joined with them, but have accepted three shops for them this week, and there's three more on the board I'm considering accepting. At least I know to ensure I have really good and detailed reports (not like I wouldn't otherwise)!

@mkkp wrote:

Reading all this makes me nervous about this company! I very recently joined with them, but have accepted three shops for them this week, and there's three more on the board I'm considering accepting. At least I know to ensure I have really good and detailed reports (not like I wouldn't otherwise)!

They're a reputable company. Like most MSC's, you build your relationship with them and they will reward you. Also, like every MSC, they have their styles and preferences. Would you describe them as 'really good and detailed?' That's all subjective. But when you do match the style they want and find the 'right' shopper they need for their project, they'll reward you greatly.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2015 04:42PM by Tarantado.

There are some shops which are not graded. They are just paid. So, no news is good news.

They have low-paying shops, generally speaking. Recently, I got an email from them after 8:00 pm, offering a hero-citation for a "today only" shop, on a shop paying less than $10. Ridiculous. We've talked about the worthlessness of hero citations, no?

I am more into an MSC if it rewards its good shopper with respect and reasonable compensation, than a hero citation.

@risinghorizon wrote:

I am more into an MSC if it rewards its good shopper with respect and reasonable compensation, than a hero citation.

They do, just like most other MSC's.

Just like most MSC's? Really, most MSC's?

All MSCs I work with reward me with respect and reasonable compensation. I reward them with dependability and integrity.

@risinghorizon wrote:

Just like most MSC's? Really, most MSC's?

Many schedulers / MSC's all have their highly, preferred shoppers they'll waive shop rotation requirements, provide upfront bonuses, award exclusive assignments to, etc.

I have always liked intellishop. However, I just received an email saying a shop was denied because I brought a child with me. Ummmmmmm....... I do not have any children. I am awaiting a reply from them. I have no idea where they found my ficticious child.

I have never more frustrated with a company than this and I should have listened to the advice on this company provided here. I have been waiting for more than 30 days on large route shops for delivery of materials necessary to do this particular job. It is now the 20th of July, more than 200 shops due by the 31st. Each week since assignment, I have emailed the scheduler to find when my materials were shipped so I can begin doing these shops. I keep hearing that they are behind in packaging and I should be receiving my materials any day now.

Fast forward to today when I received a response from weekly email. I have now been told that I must send a $40 deposit via Paypal to a different scheduler for the company. Once that is processed, the company will then ship all the materials I need to complete these shops. I have been blatantly lied to for the last four weeks and have now told that scheduler she has a new problem, a whole lot of routes that now need to be filled. I will not pay $40 to this company after they have fallen short of their weekly promises!

Wow, the $40 deposit is new. But the delays are nothing new. The same delays happened last year in sending out the materials needed to complete the shop. I ended up having to cancel the shops because of a planned vacation. The scheduler then gave me a citation times 10

I have to say that I disagree with most of the shoppers on the forum about intellishop. They are my favorite shopping company. I do agree that their level of expected detail can be a bit much sometimes, but I have completed 45 shops for them and I still have a 9 rating so it is not that big a deal. Even if a shop gets sent back for more info... you still retain your bonus pay, and they have great bonuses. Just know when you accept a shop from them that you are going to have to take notes in your car and be overly specific in your reports.

I am scheduled for a timeshare visit in August where we stay for two nights and attend a sales presentation. Haven't done one of these yet and hope all will go well. Think I better take two recorders for the presentation. Anyone else completed one of these shops?

I have done a ton of them for the prior MSC. I always took both the recorded that the MSC insisted on sending as well as my own, just in case of equipment failure. Recorders that have been drop kicked over the garden wall by delivery drivers too many times make me nervous! Frankly, I don't think that shoppers who have not invested in and used their own digital voice recorders should just be supplied with the equipment for these shops. If a shopper is so new to the business that she/he has not invested a pittance in a DVR, this probably is not the shop for them. Glad to see you have the right equipment!

@Tarantado wrote:

@risinghorizon wrote:

I am more into an MSC if it rewards its good shopper with respect and reasonable compensation, than a hero citation.

They do, just like most other MSC's.

I'm sorry but an MSC that actually respects it's shoppers will at least reply to their emails. Dumbishop refuses to reply to 2/3 of theirs.

@bgriffin wrote:

I'm sorry but an MSC that actually respects it's shoppers will at least reply to their emails. Dumbishop refuses to reply to 2/3 of theirs.

Sorry to hear your experiences with them. While I do not receive replies from any of their editors, the schedulers I work with have been amazing and responsive. I've built a great relationship with them and plan to continue working for them.

I did the timeshare and it is really easy. Unlike the other msc, I have to use my own recorder. I did not have a second recording. The scheduler answered my emails promptly while I was on property. I was paid in 30 days for the fees and meals and I received a score of 10.