My reports are edited w/in minutes many times. A long time for edit is over 4 hours.

Many MSCs do not work weekends or during the wee hours from midnight to 8 or 9 am, so why the rush? I have seen some completed shops not get reviewed for a couple of weeks! Just did a shop on 7/6 & this one MSC sends me an email late one Saturday night weeks later, for clarification. And then they have the nerve, not allowing me 48 (business day) hours to respond!

Then a duplicate request on Sunday and threaten rejection if I do not fix it by 10 am East Coast time Monday morning! After they took weeks to even consider it even needing a clarification, it's blatant.

I let them know I just saw the first email right then Monday morning. I posted back my work week as M-F and Saturdays by prior appointment. So therefore 48 hours starts on my work day Monday (making Wednesday the deadline). And that the same business day rules that most MSCs in the industry follow shall apply regarding response times (with some exceptions for truly urgent shops). I let them know that I do not always check my emails on weekends especially if 48 hours has passed. I reminded them that they are contacting me nearly 3 weeks after the shop was completed...contacting me on a weekend, etc.

Get real, we are not on stand by! They do not pay enough for that premium shift differential! We deserve a rest! We are Independent Contractors and can cull out companies who go rogue. (I know...the smarmy posters will jump all over this, go ahead..."it's the perogative of choosing who to not do shops for"...and let's not forget..."goody, more bonused shops for me"...smh. Smarty pants!

What if folks go on vacation? I usually wait the 48 hours from my last shop completed and maybe check email one more day after my last shop to see if it shows a clarification needed or marked complete in the log. Then I try to relax and put the electronics away! (I said - try..). But this crud is getting ridiculous! 8 hour turn arounds? I don't think so, stifles routes and dinner shopping...I want money and a life so I will be looking elsewhere if this 8 hour demand is enforced. They pay so low any way. They will have to bonus it and extend my turn around to 24 hours if they want me to do it. I am their only Shopper in many of these rural routes. Good luck! Call me when it sits there for weeks!

Yes, I know we are supposed to retain stuff for 180 days. But if MSCs have the business day rules, so do Shoppers. When I wake up at 7 or 8 am PST on Monday morning and see that Sat/Sunday email, it is ALREADY PAST the clarification due time (10 am CT or ET really? LMAO haven't had my coffee yet!) as I am 2-3 hours difference than Central or Eastern Time zones! Duh! So. Back. OFF! You know what I mean.....hurry up and wait is not okay to pull on us!

I have no problem with this. I have reported jobs within 20 minutes of finishing (live near some of their shops) and try to structure my day where I can get reports in quickly. They are trying to tell you that clients want their reports "faster" ....not after your soccer practice, baseball, dinner and naps. They want their reports as soon as possible. If you read deeper, it says faster inputs bring faster shops back on the board.

Mert mentioned "Fine Dining".
Does MF even have those? Most of the food ones I've seen for them involve the sort of places where things on buns and french fries are big items on the menus.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2015 10:04PM by dkpskipper.

@curiousone wrote:

I reminded them that they are contacting me nearly 3 weeks after the shop was completed...contacting me on a weekend, etc.

MSC was probably contacted by client w/questions on your report. If you want to get paid you do have to fix the problem or answer according to guidelines.

Oh, already did that and the clarification was a "my bad"n still got paid....but that is not the point! Other posters know what I am talking about! It's about realizing on some level they cannot treat us as mere employees...because they don't even pay workmen's (& women's) wages! So they are not calling the shots on my 48 hour business day window! Take your 8 hrs & you know where you can put it.

Certain MSCs want to try to control every waking hour and jump the line with pressure tactics...soon you will be on mine & everyone else with dignity for freedom's DNS (Do not give a shop's) list...which is similar to the ten foot pole! They are not exactly TPP or WTO but I aim to keep it that way...no slave labore here! No way, no how! Hand signal! Wink!

I feel that our time is not respected when jobs that have been applied for are not assigned until the day they are due. I feel that is another example of how some companies disrespect us. I deleted an application this morning at 10:30 for a job that had to be done today. I had another assignment at lunch time and did not want to risk finding out I had the job at the point where I only had an hour to assimilate the guidelines and get to the mall. I know this is a bit off topic from the main discussion here, but it goes along with the big idea of a MSC and its treatment of shoppers. Luckily they aren't all like that.

I don't understand what big deal is. You accept their terms & work for them or you don't. It is called independent contractor.

Was wondering when we'd get a smarmy word in edgewise!

@MSNinja wrote:

I don't understand what big deal is. You accept their terms & work for them or you don't. It is called independent contractor.

Lots of people on this thread have given specific examples of what the big deal is for them. What, specifically, do you not understand?

Probably at least 95% of the shops I have reported for Market Force have been submitted within 8 hours. However, I don't need the extra stress of a shorter deadline for those times when I am out for several hours either performing a route or enjoying a social evening.

Does the quality control department at Market Force work nights and graveyard shifts? I doubt it. So the reports submitted are likely to sit for several hours (or even days) anyway. So why put pressure on the shoppers to tighten the deadline?

And since we can track the assignment status with the new MF website, I have noticed reports not getting reviewed quickly. Right now I have a report from two days ago and one submitted yesterday that is still in QC. It is extremely frustrating to work late to meet deadlines and then the MSC doesn't process the reports in a reasonable time period. I currently have a report that had been sitting unreviewed with another MSC for over two weeks now. When they finally get to it, I am sure if clarifications were needed, they will want a response in a few hours.....and of course, I am supposed to remember details several weeks later after I have performed multiple shops since then.

Expectations from MSCs that are not realistic in the real world add to the feelings of being unappreciated, overworked, and underpaid for what we are expected to do.

@JoR wrote:

Does the quality control department at Market Force work nights and graveyard shifts? I doubt it.

Yes, they do. Not everyone works an 8 to 5 job. MF, among other MSCs outsource a lot of their work to other countries which means different time zones. I have submitted MF reports at 2 AM and by 2:15 AM, they have already gone through QC

@JoR wrote:

When they finally get to it, I am sure if clarifications were needed, they will want a response in a few hours.....and of course, I am supposed to remember details several weeks later after I have performed multiple shops since then.

Yes, you are. That is why almost every MSC has a timeline written in their ICA and/or guidelines telling shoppers to keep their notes, reports, receipts, photos for X amount of days. Sometimes the delayed clarification or question is coming from the client, not the MSC. I have pdf files of all completed reports on my computer. I have file folders with hard copy notes and receipts. Photos are also saved on my computer in their own little file folder to easy access. And I have electronic back-up copies of everything. This will help if/when you get an IRS audit.

It will be even harder to make money as a shopper with shorter reporting times... I, like many shoppers, are on the road a lot, and if I have to "get home" to insure a report is in within eight hours, it means I won't be shopping other MSC's deadline shops...or the alternative, I won't shop anything for Marketforce before 2 pm, that eliminates a number of their potential shops because the window for shopping is really narrow after 2 pm.

I took a breakfast shop this morning thinking I could make the eight hour deadline but I missed it by a long shot. There are too many unpredictable events in an all day work schedule to know what's going to be happening late in the day. I checked out my android tablet and can't get their website to show the whole page so have no navigation panel on the left. Useless. I would have to carry a laptop and I could but I don't think it's worthwhile unless it's a heavily bonused shop. So at least for now I won't be picking up any of their shops if I'm going to be out all day. Took me over 35 minutes to input that breakfast shop in Chrome. And they may not process it because it's late. I need ice cream.

I just submitted two back-to-back MF reports. Both reports were already finalized by the time I submitted the CPI and uploaded both receipts. It is nice to know that they are actually processing the reports quickly since they are shortening our deadlines.

@MDavisnowell wrote:

I checked out my android tablet and can't get their website to show the whole page so have no navigation panel on the left. Useless. I would have to carry a laptop and I could but I don't think it's worthwhile unless it's a heavily bonused shop. So at least for now I won't be picking up any of their shops if I'm going to be out all day. Took me over 35 minutes to input that breakfast shop in Chrome. And they may not process it because it's late. I need ice cream.

Mine does that too and I can pinch the screen to make it smaller and it works fine. Granted, it is a pain to have to do it every few screens but ultimately it's worth it for me. Yours may be different though. I did try running my photos through Dropbox again and apparently it's my home internet because they uploaded quickly on wifi when I was out and about. The only issue I really have know, other than some minor Android annoyances, is that the MF website still runs kinda slow regardless of the wifi I'm using.

Thanks but I tried pinching down the screen. Didn't work on mine, couldn't move it over.

Mary,
When I switch over to Marketforce on my mobile phone, the format changes. The usual menu on the left of the screen disappears, never to be seen. However, a new icon appears on the home page of Marketforce. In the upper right corner a small button with three horizontal stripes shows up....that's where they hide the menu! Maybe you could see if that's the case for you too.

Thanks, I'll check.