Hello,

I self-assigned a parking shop which required to park for over 2 hours. When I assigned myself the shop through Isecretshop (the shop is with NWPLC), there was nothing in the guidelines mentioning how to pay for parking (cash or credit card). I specifically checked this matter as I had done a mistake a few months ago and paid with credit card instead of cash. This shop guidelines had no mention of method of payment,

The shop was declined because I paid with credit card. I forwarded the guidelines to the scheduler asking him to point out where it was written that I should have paid cash, but the scheduler is not answering anymore.

I'm fine with a shop being declined when I do a mistake. It happens to all shoppers and no one is perfect, of course. But rejecting a shop and not answering a shopper's question is not professional. Editors and schedulers ask us questions and we're happy to deliver our reports on time. If we're late submitting a report, it can be rejected. But we don't get an answer when our shops are rejected?

Anyone had similar experiences with NWPLC?

Who is the scheduler you are dealing with, and how long has it been since you have not received a reply.?

I would contact the owner of the company, Doug, for a resolution.

I was going to make the same suggestion. They have a phone number and Doug tends to answer the phone, so I would call him. He does not tend to respond to email, though, but call him!

The more I read about the i Secret Shop platform and app, the less I want to have anything to do with it! The rant below is about how messed up iSS truncated "guidelines" are from their app and site. Right now I am chasing down the full guidelines BEFORE I accept a shop. Seems like iSS platform is messed up and says to go to MSC for guidelines as the brief is garbled. However, one or two MSCs are less than forthright in giving Shoppers a look at the true guidelines BEFORE agreeing. It sounds like the OP at least got a look at the guidelines from the MSC before starting. I think it is getting to be a huge problem when important facts are left off the guidelines and hope that MSPA has a statement about ethics for the MSCs who are willfully or even unintentionally doing this.

It is absurd...do they want the shop done right or not? Do they want a qualified person to do it? Who puts in a request or self-assigns not knowing what they are getting into? I know from experience, usually I regret taking such a gamble and that shop ends up on 10 foot pole. What happened to ethics and good business practices? Full disclosure?

I am culling my list of companies with whom I have to chase down the guidelines! Isn't it enough to have to wait so very long for payment for usually underpaid compensation? And now they want to add insult to injury by withholding the guidelines unless we agree to do the shop first? No thanks, Nancy Pelosi...I want to read it first!

I feel bad for the OP about the possibility of not getting paid. Personally I tend to pay cash if the guide doesn't spell it out. But some MSC do not mind cards. But really...shouldn't the MSC bear the burden of communicating this? How many hundreds of Shoppers have been shafted by this? Wouldn't an ethical MSC fix their guide after just a few Shoppers brought this to their attention?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2015 06:31PM by curiousone.

Well, Doug answered my email and said that those were the guidelines. I'm stuck in a situation where I have guidelines, that I have forwarded to Doug, where there is no mention of how to pay. And my shop is being rejected for not following the guidelines. The situation is a bit ridiculous, and Doug does not want to tell me where in the guidelines it is stated that I should pay in cash. If anyone here would like to have a look at the guidelines I received, I can send them over - just checking that I'm not going mad.

I won't get paid, and it was not an expensive out-of-pocket fee so that's fine, but for the sake of future shoppers who might run into the same situation... I go out on Casino shops where I have 15 pages of guidelines and very strict requirements about when to use cash or not, so it's not something that I overlook when I read the guidelines.

@curiousone : if that's the issue, then both Isecretshop platform and Doug should look into it. I sure have a bad image of NWLPC and I will certainly not shop with them anymore at all... maybe they don't care, but it's frustrating when there is clearly an issue with the guidelines..,

Well, did the guidelines you have come from ISS or from NWLPC? Your issue may be with ISS

....and if so, did you have access to the guidelines on the NWLPC site?

The thing with ISS is that everything is on their website : guidelines and reporting. So I never got to visit the NWLPC site (or the other sites from the other companies that are on ISS). My issue might very well be with ISS, but I wish Doug would just take a look at the guidelines I received before telling me I didn't follow them...

Well...I will say that Doug may not be the most understanding person on earth, but I have always found him to be a fair and honest business person.

My guess from what you are posting is that the guidelines were not accurately transferred to the ISS site, and you should contact ISS for reimbursement. Perhaps contact Doug first for a copy of the accurate guidelines and forward them to ISS in your defense.

I personally don't use ISS and curiousone may have some good points about them.

I would also add that you may want to change the title of the thread to accurately reflect the acronym for the MSC (NWLPC ).

Reporting the company name incorrectly doesn't leave the best impression of your ability to report shop data correctly....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2015 10:35PM by SteveSoCal.

I still recommend a phone call. Sometimes talking to a person is easier than emailing. If you want to send me the guidelines, I'll take a look to see if maybe there was anything you missed from my point of view.

@SteveSoCal : Haha - no it doesn't, but the thing with ISS is that it feels like you're doing a shop for ISS rather than another company. Especially since the scheduling AND the reporting are on the same platform. Since all goes through their portal, I never memorize the company's name since it doesn't matter.

@Orrymain : that would be really nice, where can I send them to?

I just signed up for a shop on isecretshop for NWLPC last night.

@SteveSoCal Is there a job portal on the NWLPC site that you use to get the guidelines? I thought everything was handled via isecretshop.

I see their jobs from: [shoppers.nwlpc.com]

The parking assignments in CA have an instruction that specifically says, "All parking fees MUST be paid in cash. No credit or debits cards or checks."

The guidelines for shops are in the descriptions of each shop a MSP posts. ISS has nothing to do with how a specific company on the ISS platform posts. In the case of parking shops the instructions are very clear that these are cash only shops, not only in the description of the shop before a shopper accepts a shop but also in the attachment of the specific guidelines. Once a shopper accepts a shop the shopper receives an email confirmation along with a PDF of the description of the shop, the PDF attachment of the specific guidelines and a copy of the form to review prior to the shop. NWLPC is very sensitive to the specifics of the parking shops due to the time the shopper has to stay and the compensation the shopper has agreed to plus the out of pocket reimbursements. It is rarely NWLPC has to deny payment and we don't like it because we have to repost the shop to try to get it completed within a certain time period. We do hundreds of parking shops throughout the US monthly and we are clear that these are cash shops unless otherwise directed. This particular client is strictly cash. I am sorry this particular shopper has an issue.

Doug, have you reviewed the pdf sent to charlhenri? Might there have been a mistake and her instructions omitted the cash payment instruction? If not, were you able to highlight the location of the instructions for her?

Well, Doug and ISS insist that there is very clear indication of paying with CASH. A couple of members on this forum have read this guidelines (unlike Doug, they did not refuse to do so) and agree with me.

I am truly disappointed at this behavior from both NWLPC and ISS. That's an unethical way of doing business.

Yes, Mr Doug Rector - you never answered my emails. On the first page of the guidelines I received, there is no mention of paying with cash. Could you highlight to me where it is written that I have to pay with cash?

LINK REMOVED

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2015 03:39PM by charlhenri.

I have shared a copy of the guidelines I received when self-assigning the shop. Can someone point out please to where it is written that I should pay with cash?

Is it not a violation of this forum to link the MPS and the client? I do not know if it is ok with the forum owners for you to post a link to specific information from one of your shops here or not.

That is a shop overview and not the guidelines you receive when you are assigned a shop.

Again iSecret Shop is a job board like Sassie, the MPS post their jobs on iSS, iSS has nothing to do with how the shops are set up.

It might not be okay, but when someone accuses me of lying, I'll do it! do not worry, I won't be working with NWLPC again, that's for sure. And yes, this is a shop overview. I do have an email from Doug saying that this is where the information was (that's the only email he answered).

charlhenri, is the link you posted a copy of the PDF instruction set that you were sent in the email when you signed up for the shop?...and did you receive any other PDFs?

If so, it seems like perhaps Doug should revisit this issue to, at a minimum, clarify for us shoppers that ISS are sending out correct instructions. The instruction sets on the NWLPC site are quite different from that....

That's my whole point! I DID NOT receive any other PDFs, and while the shop had not been reported, this is exactly what was available on the ISS website. I don't even want to be reimbursed or paid for that shop, but I want to be taken seriously when I say there was no mention of the method of payment, that's it! Out of respect for my work!

Mistakes happen, all the time. I've made mistakes in some of my shops, and that's fine. I just want to be treated like a respectable shopper, if I inform Doug that there is an issue with the guidelines, just look at it instead of dismissing me.

Understood. I would say that the link you posted is most likely in violation of forum guidelines, however.

Since a number of us have seen it, perhaps you could take it down and we could persuade Doug as a group to revisit what shoppers on ISS are seeing. I understand that you may not want to work for NWLPC again, but if you are going to bring the issue to this forum, please be respectful of the posting guidelines when asking for support from the forum members.

I'm happy to remove it, and I know that it is a forum violation - but that was the only way to get my point across! Doug is stubborn and doesn't want to consider the possibility that there is an issue with what shoppers are seeing and I received the same bunt answer from ISS, saying "it's written in the guidelines". So I had to show that I was not lying!

Well, I can attest the the fact that what charlhenri had posted absolutely did NOT have instructions to pay cash in it. I can't say if the cash payment was mentioned in the ISS shop title or if there were other attachments generated, but charlhenri seems to be pretty forthcoming with details, so I think Doug should at a minimum revisit this issue for clarification.

That said, I understand that charlhenri is a probably a new shopper with NWLPC and may not be aware of the types of shops they generally offer, but the Loss Prevention component would have me assuming that I needed to pay cash. It's pretty hard for employees to steal when you are paying with a credit card.

I have looked into this issue further. I have no problem with shoppers venting on this forum. In this case the shop description did not say you must pay in cash BUT the PDF attachment did. Again, when a shop is assigned shoppers receive an email with confirmation of the shop, a copy of the form that includes the shop description AND the PDF of the detailed guidelines. We have corrected this so it is made clear in the description you MUST pay with cash.
I am also letting the others who responds to shoppers using my email to let me know if this type of issue come up again to let me know. Due to the number of emails I receive at times I am not the one actually reading or responding but I take responsibility of that.
As a compromise we will not pay the shopper for the shop since it was in the PDF attachment but we will debit his PayPal within 12 hours for the parking fee.

Doug, I just sent you an email with a generous offer; If you can show me a copy of the shop details PDF for this shop (as provided to the shopper) that contain instructions to pay in cash, I will personally re-shop this location for you...for free!

The OP posted the instructions after your first response this morning and then removed them as my request, but they specifically did NOT contain instructions to pay cash.

ETA: I emailed with Doug and he has the shop covered. He also provided a copy of the separate PDF instructions that have the very statement about paying in cash that I posted above. The only point of contention is if the instructions PDF was provided from ISS. I think it's generous of him to reimburse the parking fees if so, but do agree the required cash payment should be mentioned on ALL forms associated with the shop.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2015 05:22PM by SteveSoCal.

It does not surprise me one bit that Doug paid the parking fees.

I have worked for him since 2002.

I did a shop for him in 2005. I went to park the car, and my husband walked in to get a table for us with the two kids, who were four and six years old at the time. The hostess told my husband that it was a one hour wait for table and proceeded to drop the F bomb twice.

He met me at the door and informed me that we would not be staying. We changed our plans and went to souplantation that night instead.

Doug not only apologized for what happened. he also paid for our dinner.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2015 05:37PM by SoCalMama.

"The only point of contention is if the instructions PDF was provided from ISS"

Yes when you are assigned a shop on the iSecret Shop platform the system immediately emails you all information you need for the assignment, a copy of the report, and any attachments/guidelines for that shop. Sometimes they land in a junk or other folder but they are always sent.

Well this was scary and a warning for all of us. I would think that any MSC becoming aware of this issue would contact ISS themselves to get to the bottom of it. Like I said, scary, because it really could happen to any of us.

By the way, I have never been able to log in to the NWLPC website direct. Every link I found has taken me to ISS. I recall trying to sign up separately to them but couldn't because it took me to ISS. I would love to see/apply for the shops directly on their website. How did you do that, Steve?