I say what's good for the goose is good for the gander!

48 hour turn arounds! Business days not SAT & SUN!

....I know I'm dreaming but stick with 24hrs!...8 hours you are kidding? Right! Up the patooty!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2015 12:14AM by curiousone.

I generally submit reports within eight hours and am fine with that deadline, provided that said deadline is explicitly stated in the CPI and shop guidelines (visible before the contractor accepts the shop). The part that bothers me is the apparent potential for a deadline shop to arbitrarily be canceled sooner. I want to know exactly how long I have to get a shop submitted, whether that reporting deadline is 24 hours or two hours. As long as MFI is willing to clearly state their deadlines, I can then decide whether I can accommodate MFI and their clients' wishes. I'm not willing to run the risk of having a shop for which I drove several hours canceled because MFI arbitrarily changed the reporting deadline, though, so this new change will likely change my willingness to cover certain routes for them.

From the Help Desk msg mentioned up thread here, it sounds like MF has a service level agreement (SLA) with client for 8 hours from when shop is done. They could have included shopper input or more simply, probably looked at reports that spit out those statistics.

I have an upcoming MF shop this week. It was assigned to me weeks ago before the new policy notice. I just checked my CPI to check for the reporting deadline changes and it is exactly the same as it was weeks ago.

"Your results should be reported online as soon as possible, but no later than eight (8) to twelve (12) hours after your shop is completed."

I always get the results in within 12 hours for this client, sometimes sooner but many times closer to the 12-hour mark because I work a FT job also. I can get away with checking email for a moment while at work but not submitting reports.

I have good news on my request to have my rejected shop reviewed. A supervisor looked into the issue and was able to resolve things on their end...So, I am getting paid my bonused fee and reimbursed the huge amount of interest due on my payday loan. Whew. Thanks Market Force. You are back on my short list of companies I like to deal with. Evidently the new shorter times for shops to be due and some of the changes in regulations have not yet taken effect for all the shops. Mine was still under the previous rules.

I have not noticed changes in the shops I do for them most frequently, though thanks for the heads up because it is something to be watched. MF reports are so fast to complete that the real hang up is the speed of their website, but I don't foresee any real problems with shorter deadlines. Sinclair has a 5 hr deadline that I do watch pretty closely, because some of their shops take more than a few minutes.

I haven't come across any shops yet that are firm on the 8-hour timeframe. My CPIs still say "8-12 hours after completion" which is fine for me. Not sure why its a big deal. We are all Independent Contractors and you decided whether or not you can deal with their guidelines or not. If not, move on. For me, I have had no issues with MF in the mystery shopping or theater divisions, where I work both. The bulk of my shops are through them, their reports are clear and to the point. I have companies I work for that have 12 or 24 hour report turnarounds but want a dissertation. To me, that is worse lol. But at the end of the day, treat what you do like you would your own business. Just how you would choose what contracts to take or not, you can also choose what MS companies to work with or what shops to take, as well.

MysVal, I see you have no problem and there seems to be several people who have no problem with the new deadlines. More power to you. I think we are all aware that we are Independent and can pick and choose. I do not think those people who are stating issues they have with this new rule for MF are doing so and thinking they have to keep on working for Market Force no matter what. Some are venting, some are disappointed, some are mad and there are many other reactions. Please do not take what I am saying personally but whenever one of these types of issues comes up there always seems to be someone who says it is not a big deal and they cannot figure out why it is a big deal for others because they can just quit. This is a big deal for me and the big deal is not because I do not know that I can choose not to work for Market Force. The big deal is that now I have to choose whether I can work (not whether I want to work) for MF. I like some of the jobs and others are probably in the same position. They like working for MF and with the new rules it is cutting out one source they have depended on. For me, I do the payday loan shops when the bonus gets to where I am willing to do them. Now if I accept a shop like that I will have to figure out some workaround because I do not have a scanner at work and I will not be home from work until after the new deadline (perhaps as I do not yet know the new deadline). The other part of the big deal is that the new statement of the deadline is for this job it is xxx hours or it can be removed earlier if we need to. So the shopper has no guarantee when the deadline is. They can choose to close the shop after 5 hours based on how it is now worded. Yes, I know I can buy my own scanner and bring it to work with me, I know I can go down the street and pay for a scan somewhere, I know all the other things I can do instead. The point is that we all have to decide whether these other things are worth the shop and if we decide not it is a sad parting with MF because they were one of our companies.
I just had a shop rejected on Friday and it was all due to the new rule. I gnashed my teeth all weekend waiting for Monday to see if I could have the reject turned around. The weekend Help Desk person was telling me there was no way to turn it around as it was already trashed and could not be recovered or fixed anymore. My shop info was gone never to be seen again. But on Monday I was able to contact a supervisor. It turns out that the new rules are not yet in place. I was given incorrect or incomplete information by the help desk when I asked the day before my job what the deadline was and for clarification of what 8-12 hours meant. I was told it meant 8 or 12 hours or even earlier if they decided it did. Hopefully the rules will be more firm once they start but the help desk was jumping the gun on my job. I for one, would hate to lose this particular job because I like doing it for the fee. But I do not want to have to run back home right after or buy a whole bunch of new equipment to carry around with me just to do this job. So hopefully those who cannot see why some of us think this is a big deal can empathize with those of us who have a different style than you do. Not knowing we are independent is not the issue at all.

I agree with Sandy, for many of us this is definitely an issue. If I want to continue to work with Market Force I have to make changes. BUT I don't see myself taking a shop without a guaranteed deadline. Ever. So I guess I'm gone because that's about to happen, according to them.

@Flash wrote:

I have not noticed changes in the shops I do for them most frequently, though thanks for the heads up because it is something to be watched. MF reports are so fast to complete that the real hang up is the speed of their website, but I don't foresee any real problems with shorter deadlines. Sinclair has a 5 hr deadline that I do watch pretty closely, because some of their shops take more than a few minutes.

Their banks used to be 6 hours....I guess they backed it up to 5 hours to report?

If you are asking about Sinclair, I haven't done their banks in a while because I think I'm almost on a first name basis with everybody in the place. The shops I do I'm pretty sure are 5 for 'best scores' and I think you have a wider window than that before they throw you off the shop. I just get it done and over with.

Sandyf Private message pm me. I have some thing that may help you.

Sandyf, nothing personal taken over here. Thanks for your insight and opinion. I hope no one interprets my post as me waving my finger at anyone here, but I speak my mind. And my post was talking about my opinion in regards to *myself* not in response to anyone else's post in how you run your business. I don't play those games nor do I play well with keyboard tough guys and I don't play one either. So if my post came off like that, my apologies. I don't take things personally from people I don't know personally. I am just stating my opinion as everyone else has as well. I have enough things to get grey hair over in my life and if I know I can't complete the report within their time frame, I just don't do it.

@MysVal wrote:

Sandyf, nothing personal taken over here. Thanks for your insight and opinion. I hope no one interprets my post as me waving my finger at anyone here, but I speak my mind. And my post was talking about my opinion in regards to *myself* not in response to anyone else's post in how you run your business. I don't play those games nor do I play well with keyboard tough guys and I don't play one either. So if my post came off like that, my apologies. I don't take things personally from people I don't know personally. I am just stating my opinion as everyone else has as well. I have enough things to get grey hair over in my life and if I know I can't complete the report within their time frame, I just don't do it.

Hey MysVal, You just ended up being the "lucky" person who wrote about the fact that we are Independent Contractors and we do not have to take the job as if that is a great solution. Or at least that is how I read it every time someone says it. I have just seen that phrase so many times when others are grouching about something or other that it was finally time for me to say something. I am glad you did not take it personally. You were just the handy scape goat when I saw it one too many times and felt it was time for me to speak my piece and defend those that come here to get ideas or vent or express their sorrow, fears, concerns or whatever. Thanks for being understanding. You gave me the opportunity to get my feeling out the umpteenth time I have seen someone say that as if it is the be all and end all. And I guarantee some of the posters that say that really do mean it for others and not just themselves.

You might not be able to get ahold of someone via phone over a weekend, but often when I send an email via helpdesk on a weekend I still get a reply. I suppose it's hit and miss whether or not someone will get to you on a weekend or not, but it's worth a shot.

@Twinniecarol wrote:

I had a Market Force shop recently and i broke down on the way to it. It was a Saturday and nobody was available to ask for help or advice until the Monday. The job was removed from me on the Sunday and points taken off me. They quote 2 working days for a reply to an email so it is more than difficult to get help at a weekend.
It was all sorted on the Monday but not until I rang and spoke to somebody. Filing a report within 8 hours of a job can only work if the support is there for it.

Market Force does not do this on their own or through some sort of vindictive vendetta against its shoppers. There is considerable pressure from their clients on how shops are done, and there is considerable concern about how certain details may be forgotten, enhanced, or modified after a considerable time period lapses from the time of the shop.

I wish they had more clients by me. I like working for them, just wish you could reach someone quicker most of the time if you need help. I haven't seen this on the website yet...I'll keep looking.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2015 07:51PM by laspgh.

I just accepted a grocery shop to be done on Monday, August 31, 2015, and the report is due 12 hours after the shop has been completed. This is my first shop for them. They first called me on the phone to see if I would accept the shop which I accepted. They then sent me the needed information in an email.

I take pictures of receipts and other paperwork with my cell phone all the time and have not had any problem with them accepting them.

I was unaware of the new deadline...glad I saw this post in the newsletter. I live out in the middle of no where And usually travel 150 round trip miles to complete shops.....with that in mind I usually plan a route of at least 5 shops....when I am done travel back home I usually need to unwind eat dinner then start on reports. If I complete a MF shop as my first or second shop it is nearly impossible to get it in under 8 hours. And when I am traveling 150 miles you best believe I do some shopping of my own while I am out. Lol and what if there is a road closure as was the case when I was doing a shop the other day for another company I had to back track and drive an extra 60 plus miles....when you live in backwoods Texas that is life......not sure MF is really taking it all into perspective......

@EUROTEX wrote:

Market Force does not do this on their own or through some sort of vindictive vendetta against its shoppers. There is considerable pressure from their clients on how shops are done, and there is considerable concern about how certain details may be forgotten, enhanced, or modified after a considerable time period lapses from the time of the shop.

Which details are getting lost after 8 hours, but before 12 hours have passed? 12 hours is already a pretty tight time frame, but 8 hours is unreasonable. For the late evening shops, do they have editors ready to send the report to the client at 2am? The clients of every other company seem fine with 12-24 hours...why would MF's clients mysteriously be so much more stringent?

As has always been apparent, MF does not care about losing shoppers. There doesn't seem to be any interest in building a positive working relationship with shoppers (Hence the random deactivations). Crossing MF off my list, for sure.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2015 08:54PM by baconbits.

My latest shop for MF has the 8hr deadline on it (no range -- just 8 hours). Most of the time, that's fine with me. Like others, though, it could put a wrinkle when doing a full day of shops. However, I always make a list and write down what the deadline is for the shops so that when I get home, I start with the ones that have the shortest reporting times. On rare occasions, prior to the shops, I've emailed a scheduler about my schedule and I have thus far been told that it's okay if I'm a little late. That's rare, though, that I make that request and the times I've done it, it's usually been when I'm doing multiple shops for the same MSC. Back to MF, I guess I really don't have a problem with it. It's like doing a food shop with no fee. You have to decide if the free food is worth the time and effort of the shop and its duties.

Is the 4 hours we lost pads the schedulers turnaround to the client?

I started out with the MSC and another low paying one because I did not know about others. I have been shopping since we had to snail mail the reports in and it took some time to find other companies. Once I found them and found there were shops that paid well with more reasonable requirements, I stopped working for the low paying ones with the less than desirable conditions. I have asked this company to add me back from time to time (they deactivate when you don't work for a while) and occasionally I have accepted heavily bonused shops but they are really too much trouble for too little money.

I don't believe that they don't use the reports, cancelled or not, they have a report they don't have to pay you for and they don't have to pay someone else to do the shop, it's a win/win for them.

Hey Crickett,
I love M.F. hope all comes out good for you. I to have shopped for them for years and they seem to be understanding about different problems. Good luck.
Diana B.

A lot of us still do not have tablets and laptops so we wait until we get home to fill out the reports. I do a lot of shops for MF and I have not had any problems lately. At first I had some problems, but I have not had any lately. One thing I find is that they have outsourced a lot of their help desk and other work. Sometimes the ones who are answering the phones during off hours just do not understand. All they know is exactly the guidelines they read and they are not flexible with this.

Well, that "handful" of shoppers might be those like me who travel, or are willing to do shops that nobody wants to do.

This new policy has to have an effect on the scheduling. If there are no shoppers available, a lot of shops won't be completed. If a company is in the business of mystery shopping, This doesn't make sense to me.

I sent an e-mail to the Help Desk voicing my concerns. Maybe if more shoppers do the same, maybe MF will change this policy. )

I am thinking that when the new rules start the deadlines will not all be the same. So some jobs might go from for example 6 hours to 4 hours and others might not require a change from what they were. They probably have a different contract for each job. They may be able to get enough jobs done with shorter times but if not they can always re evaluate and change back to how it was before.
I also suspect that since MF uses just about anyone who signs on and many of them are newer shoppers they get a lot of jobs being filed late or wrong. They may be tightening up their times so that for the shopper who is always late (and has not yet been fired or caught) they will have some more leeway before they need to do their turnaround. And they are restating their terms that these jobs will not be accepted whereas it is possible they have been allowing some late jobs to slip through. I see this type of thing in my regular office job. After a few people break the rules they tighten them for everyone.
For those huge clients that have a fast food outlet on every corner of America and which have bfast, lunch and dinner shops for each they need to make sure they have a fast turnaround so they do not have a backlog of shops still not completed for one period of the day that get held over. It is great to be able to close out a time period when you are responsible for these types of deadlines and not have 116 shops still pending from lunch when the dinner shops start to hit the editors.

I know what you mean about the slow website. I'm reading here while I wait for the pages to load. I hope it doesn't take the whole eight hours just to put in the report!!