I've searched, but can't find where I read that MF does not like negative reports and will find a reason to reject one and/or deactivate the offending shopper.

I just had my first shop with them where the salesperson truly tanked.

It was a cell phone cancellation shop where I had to inquire about the process of cancelling my service, then evaluate all the things they offered in order to keep me as a client. I really did want to sign a new contract and upgrade to the newest smart phone and I wanted to hear all about my options.

I walked in, started my timing and said my "line": "I just want to know about the process for cancelling my cell service."

He told me to just call customer service. Period.

We stared at each other awkwardly for a minute but I couldn't leave without at least his name and just wanted me out of there. We both won when I got his name and he got me out of there without having to work at selling me on anything. We both lost when I didn't get the info I truly wanted and he gets the report. The store really lost because I eventually went elsewhere and bought my new Android Turbo.

I submitted my report with mostly "no" answers and waited.

The status was recently changed to "approved" and I have not been deactivated.

depends on the client...some clients want positive reports as they use them
mainly to make their shareholders happy and not for any real improvement

What about the cell phone shop I did last year where I was told to go to Walmart. The phones were cheaper there.

I reported it and got paid. Not M.F., but Bare.

Sorry I hijacked this thread, but just saying.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2015 11:43AM by Canuck.

My only one experience with such a matter was with a "drive-in" shop site that didn't like their lousy time and claimed "timing error" on me. I don't shop that site these days--I've moved farther from that one--and I've luckily had no issues with the lousy times at other sites.

I've got a gal pal that has shopped the arches and supposedly got busted once, but they had a poor shop, and I can see why the above point about the shareholders being appeased would figure into that.

MF definitely isn't the biggest offender from my experience. GFK seemed to make a habit of that with their wing shops--both from my experience and reading elsewhere--and they're circling the drain because of it. You know, that "biting the hand that feeds you" thingy...

I have turned in horrible reports for some of their clients, one the famous fast food shop that so many people say they reject bad shops for. Forgot the receipt, they had an extremely legit reason to reject the shop (12 minutes in the drive thru), and i was paid.

I have also turned in some reports detailing pretty horrible service for three of their fast food clients, for a cell provider, a fast casual, and a retail clothing store. I've always been paid, except for a fast food where I shopped the wrong location (try as I might, I can't find anybody to blame for that one except myself).

Same here. Never had a problem with a negative report for this company. Not saying it doesn't happen, just saying it hasn't happened to me.

This has been discussed ad nauseam here. IMHO, 95% of the complaints hre are fake. Either it never happened, or the shopper did something wrong and refuses to take ownership.

I think half of my shops for MF end up with negatives, and I have yet to not get paid unless I did something wrong. The first shop I did not get paid on was a positive shop, the second one was one of my worst reports. Both times I did something wrong.

And I get called almost daily when there are shops in my area that they are behind on.

12 minutes BGriffin? That IS bad!

Yep. And I forgot to get the receipt. And it was bonused to like $55 or $65. Many reasons for them to reject it. They paid.

I totally blew my first shop for them and they kept me on, working alongside Maritz and BestMark to turn me into a shopper. Later on I ordered the wrong thing on a $50 bonused out of town shop and they paid me anyway. Most of my FF reports have been very positive but I turned in one that was the shop from hell. Unbelievable. Sailed right through without a challenge. You'll never convince me they are not a straight up company. Yes, I believe most of these rants and raves originate from one or two chip on the shoulder sources. We should get our laugh of the day and then ignore them. They're useless.

@MDavisnowell wrote:

We should get our laugh of the day and then ignore them. They're useless.

Are you referring to the OP? The OP's post interested me, so it wasn't useless to me. Also, I think there should be no "we" at this forum. I like the exchange of ideas and information provided by individuals.

@jilummer wrote:

@MDavisnowell wrote:

We should get our laugh of the day and then ignore them. They're useless.

Are you referring to the OP? The OP's post interested me, so it wasn't useless to me. Also, I think there should be no "we" at this forum. I like the exchange of ideas and information provided by individuals.

No, Mary was not referring to the OP, who wrote that, although she had filed a negative report, she was paid. I thought the OP's post was interesting, too. I am sure Mary was referring to the many rants and raves we see on the forum from posters who tell us that they were not paid for a completed shop for no other reason than having written a negative report.

I do a lot of hedgehogs and the places that "have the meats" with Marketforce. Most of the time, both of these places do a reasonably good job. However, it is 50/50 on whether or not I will have a good experience at the Arches. Because of the propensity for bad reports at the Arches, I avoid them. (This is just one of many reasons I avoid the arches)

@techman01 wrote:

depends on the client...some clients want positive reports as they use them
mainly to make their shareholders happy and not for any real improvement

In that case they're stupidly wasting money on nothing. They should just give their shareholders fake reports if it means that much to them.

If clients want to hide their heads in the sand and convince themselves everything is fine, I can see rationalizing the expense of mystery shopping to themselves. It's like any other kind of irrational self-justifying behavior.

No, I was not referring to the OP. I was referring to the preceding discussion concerning negative reports and to the many posts on the forum about MForce not paying for negative reports and not paying for flawlessly executed shops. I do not believe that to be true. I believe that the company pays for all reports it can use, and recently we've seen a post where a case was taken to the BBB and they even paid for a shop that was not performed according to guidelines. They had initially approved the shop for payment and then it was rejected by the client. According to the thread, because they had failed to catch the shop error initially they paid the shopper anyway.

An example of the problem we have with credibility on the forum is the recent thread in which two relatively new posters flamed the company from their location at the bottom of the sea. That thread has as much credibility as a philosophical posting by SpongeBob Squarepants. We often get these out of the blue postings from "new" posters slamming the company and it seems apparent to me that lots of them are multiple identities of the same few attackers.

I do not understand your assertion there should be no "we". I sincerely hope you will come to feel part of the group and to refer to all of us (which includes you) as "we".

@jilummer wrote:

@MDavisnowell wrote:

We should get our laugh of the day and then ignore them. They're useless.

Are you referring to the OP? The OP's post interested me, so it wasn't useless to me. Also, I think there should be no "we" at this forum. I like the exchange of ideas and information provided by individuals.

I have shopped for said MSC for many years, very few "issues". I am pleased working for them. I had a 10 min at a DT for those arches place. It really was that long, not unusual for 10 vehicles.

I have begun receiving clarification emails on arches shops. Been shopping since January this year. Been doing the arches shops a few times or more a month. Mine are all being approved.. and it seems about 2 weeks later I get the 'the client wants clarification' emails that try to blame me for whatever not 100% perfect thing I wrote about. It only started happening about a month ago, and nothing I have done has changed. I received one such email last night for a shop approved 2 weeks ago.

@jilummer wrote:

@MDavisnowell wrote:

We should get our laugh of the day and then ignore them. They're useless.

Are you referring to the OP? The OP's post interested me, so it wasn't useless to me. Also, I think there should be no "we" at this forum. I like the exchange of ideas and information provided by individuals.

jilummer, you have not been a forum member long enough to experience the multiple personality T who created fake forum personas just to go on psycho rampages about MF. Fun times!

I think the major issue with Market force is that they dump longstanding loyal shoppers( for the FF shops) for no apparent reason.. They won't give an explanation. It's so strange. We can only assume it is because of negative reports. If anyone has a better explanation, I would love to hear it. Another shopper posted that they had been given the axe after 5 years of shopping with them. I had about the same amount of time there and they would call me several times a day to fill shops.. They still call me to do the FF shops if they are in a bind, even though I cannot self assign or even see them on my board. It just doesn't make sense. Maybe I was negotiating too high of a bonus? After the first few months, You realize that there is almost no limit to the amount of bonus that you can request on their last minute shops.. I had done two shops in a day for almost $300.00. Of course, these were located two hours away, so I made sure it paid for my time as well as expenses.. They didn't blink an eye to pay out that much though.

I don't believe that they deactivate for reports that the clients don't like. I've given negative reports for several different clients and they are still calling me. Of course I've also given glowing reports. You just never know how the shop is going to go down.
Not saying they don't deactivate, I'm saying I don't believe they do it because of negative reports.

One FF place consistently takes 8 minutes to serve my meal. I've never been questioned about that and so far not deactivated either. I report what happens; I don't think it will get me deactivated.