I've done less than 10 shops for this company. They do primarily entertainment type shops in my area. My issue is that they require a lot of data and narrative, then request additional information that is not asked for in my opinion in their edits. I've spent on occasion as much time editing as writing the original report and quite frankly spend less time making more money working with other MSC's who have more concise shop guidelines and do not pick at their reports, plus generally am rated with a 9 or 10 rating on my reports. (don't say it to brag, just to establish that other MSC's don't have a problem).

I would just like to know my associate's experience and feeling about this company.

This is one of those msps with event shops that the pay is tickets to an event once in a while a fee albeit low. Their narratives are long and the shops are not worth it in my opinion.

I take these shops as a true challenge. They are narrative heavy and do require many interactions but when the tickets are good, they are so good! I've seen shops bonused lately, not huge but still better than $0. I sit with them and edit on my own but seem to always have them returned because your paragraph needs to hit so much every time but toggling is not easy on their system.

Also, I'm a 9 or 10 with pretty much every company but this one. I was told that a 7 or 8 is still considered good so don't beat yourself up over it!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2015 03:19PM by ShopSouthTexas.

I like these folks but the thing is the closest events they have are a 2 hour drive for me...because of this I've only done one shop so far for them. I was hoping to do one of their other sporting venues in the same town this past summer, but nothing really worked out for me. Hopefully next year I'll do at least one game of the two sports in the one town and next summer do a shop in another city further away (that they added this past summer). And now I found out recently they shop another team a bit closer to home...so I have my choice of cities to visit and get free sporting event tickets....yea the forms can be a bear to fill out but its worth it if its a team I like to watch.

And I hope they can expand their concert shops to this area....if its an artist I like I'd jump on it in a minute

Might I add these folks are great to work with...they called me to give me a heads up on what to expect with the shop...what to look for and so on...and they are very encouraging too.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2015 02:30PM by petrohd.

Their reports are long. But, I've found the editing issue really depends on the scheduler/editor involved. I did a bunch of work for them one year with almost no edits needed. However, with another scheduler/editor, I have loads of edits each time. I won't work with this person, because, besides the edits, she has asked for information that wasn't asked for initially, she doesn't listen (read) well and she is a bit rude. If the scheduler in my area changes again, I may do work for them again.

I haven't had any issue with editors, but requiring food observations and not reimbursing for the food is chintzy. Also, ask where your seats are before accepting the assignment. Sitting in $16 seats is in no way worth it, but $150 tickets certainly are.

@PasswordNotFound wrote:

I haven't had any issue with editors, but requiring food observations and not reimbursing for the food is chintzy. Also, ask where your seats are before accepting the assignment. Sitting in $16 seats is in no way worth it, but $150 tickets certainly are.

As far as I know, they even don't know your seats until you get them at will call. Have they been able to tell you your seats in advance?

@PasswordNotFound wrote:

requiring food observations and not reimbursing for the food is chintzy.

Oh. I didn't know this about them. I've never done a shop for them before but I can't imagine having a totally non-reimbursed required purchase on a reimbursement only shop.

They do know about the seats, at least for the baseball games, in advance. I was told by one scheduler that she had two sets, and that if I helped with xyz, she would give me the good pair.

The basketball game I did this year the seats were great....and yes you do get paid for food.....basically you get reimbursed for everything.

They don't always reimburse for food. The two venues I shopped did not have food reimbursed. Tickets (good or bad) were reimbursed, as was parking. Two required food purchases with no reimbursement.

I've done a quite a bit of these shops in a few states for Service Scouts, and can honestly say that the seats that the scheduler gets for you (thank you, Tracey K.) are outstanding. They reimburse you for parking ($10-15), yet not food. Unless you are doing a restaurant at the sporting venue along with the sporting event, food isn't generally reimbursed. However, you usually have to purchase once for a food interaction. I think the most I've ever spend was $10-11, yet stood in line and witnessed food interactions at two other kiosks.

Narratives are pretty heavy. With the type of software Service Scouts uses, expect about 60-80 minutes of reporting, easily. I usually take notes on my phone either by voice activation, texting myself, or on a note application. Pictures help, yet aren't necessary, unless stated in the guidelines.

Again, you don't make any money, yet if you wanted to see a professional or amateur game in person with excellent seats, Service Scouts is really good with their shops. I just missed an epic NBA Finals game due to not going to enough of this particular team's games during the regular season. The person that went in place of me watched the game for the price of doing a full mystery shop.

I gave up. 3 NBA games and all three in the upper tier, while people I referred to them where in VIP seats. I picked up an NFL game while I routed for another company, again 3rd tier goal line seats.

On the NBA tickets, they didn't have them, they were will call, so luck of the draw? On the NFL, they email them to you a day ahead of time, so I know they knew the seats. Here is the thing, they made me enter from a specific gate, on the opposite side of the venue from my seats, in the rain.

This is the first company I have ever had the owner text me in the middle of entering my report and tell me to do something different. It freaked me out that they were live editing my report.

The staff was great, and the owner even flew out and trained us before and during an NBA game.

The bottom line is, the dialogs are very heavy and they are not always intuitive. There is no guarantee you will get even reasonable seats. And I would just rather work shops I understand and get paid for than go to 15 NBA games, write 2 hours of reports and corrections on each, waiting for the chance to get into something fun like a concert. In 30 hours I could have made $1000 and gotten season tickets to an NFL team.

@petrohd wrote:

The basketball game I did this year the seats were great....and yes you do get paid for food.....basically you get reimbursed for everything.

I've done their concerts instead of sporting events. They do not reimburse for food, just parking and two free tickets.

Did one football game shop in September. Home team lost 59-10 or thereabouts, so many observations were tough with a sparse crowd leaving when it was something like 42-0 at halftime.

Anyway, that result was a bummer and I kept getting edit requests for more info really late at night. That's not going to cut it if I'm getting texts for edits on the drive to work, too. So, I pretty much told them they have all I'm giving them and that's that since it seems like nobody was on the same page as far as what I was to be watching for and what really was going on.

One and done...but the emails for hockey games in San Antonio ceased.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2016 12:07AM by AlfredB1979.

Good morning dwamhoff- I hope that after our phone conversation the other day that you understand better what was going on with your reports. Please do not hesitate to contact me again if you have further questions. I also invite you to respond to this group to share what you and I discussed, as well as what the resolution was. I would hate for the other shoppers out there to think that the association with Service Scouts went unresolved.

On another note- I have personally spoken to this person (and as his first name is not in his profile, I am going to maintain his anonymity by not calling him by it) in the last two weeks about his reports. If any one of you have a problem with your shops with Service Scouts, please do not hesitate to contact me via email.

Tracy
Tracy@ServiceScouts.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2016 05:23PM by tracy@servicescouts.com.

@PasswordNotFound wrote:

I haven't had any issue with editors, but requiring food observations and not reimbursing for the food is chintzy. Also, ask where your seats are before accepting the assignment. Sitting in $16 seats is in no way worth it, but $150 tickets certainly are.

FYI- We do not always know where the seats are. It is client dependent and only if we receive your tickets to send to you electronically. So, please do not assume that if we do not tell you that the seats are less than desirable. This is in no way or form the case.

For the matter of food and beverages- this is also client specific. Many of our clients now do reimburse up to a certain amount for food and beverages. Plus- if done correctly- you can get through an event with us with no more than $10 out of pocket- yet you receive an experience that had you paid for it on your own would have been over $100.

PasswordNotFound- please email me- I want to know what event you were at that gave you $16 seats- also was it two $16 seats, or four $16 seats?

When you do shops for Service Scouts, please also keep in mind that shoppers are moved around on a rotating basis, so sometimes you will have the best seats in the house, and other times you won't. It all balances out in the end. Those shoppers who shop for us the most, and do the best work, are provided first opportunity at the best shops- another thing to keep in mind. It is a partnership and I have the memory of an elephant. Those who shop for me regularly can tell you that I do my best to accommodate for those less than desirable events.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Tracy@ServiceScouts.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2016 05:54PM by tracy@servicescouts.com.

@AlfredB1979 wrote:

Did one football game shop in September. Home team lost 59-10 or thereabouts, so many observations were tough with a sparse crowd leaving when it was something like 42-0 at halftime.

Anyway, that result was a bummer and I kept getting edit requests for more info really late at night. That's not going to cut it if I'm getting texts for edits on the drive to work, too. So, I pretty much told them they have all I'm giving them and that's that since it seems like nobody was on the same page as far as what I was to be watching for and what really was going on.

One and done...but the emails for hockey games in San Antonio ceased.

Actually Alfred, your shop was not in September, it was in October. Also, your report was missing vital information, hence the shop was sent back to you. I do not recall texting you in the middle of the night, but I do remember sending the report back for edits. The information requested was not above and beyond the requirements. The information was to get your shop up to the requirements.

Thank you for your note.

Tracy@ServiceScouts.com

Several people stated that their reports are long. That seems to be the case with most of these companies. Only a hand full of them I know of have reasonable reports to fill out. The question is how much do they pay?? I wouldn't fill out another one of these ridiculously long ass reports for anything less than $30. I had to fill out a report that took me nearly 2 hours to complete and the onsite visit took about 45 minutes and required taking a test drive. It only paid $17. To me that's just not even close to worth it. I got robbed.

Even if you are provided tickets to the event, access and ability to complete the interactions before the event begins and those said tickets are of a value of over $150 (sometimes, depending on the event $1500 each)?

You adding any more states? I am in the Northeast and all I get is phone shops (I know you have to start somewhere).

I've got to say that the two or three shops that I've done with Service Scouts were among the hardest that I've ever completed. I put in at least three hours of writing and probably the same amount of time through a couple rounds of editing for each assignment.
That said, these shops provided me with amazing opportunities to build memories of a lifetime with people I care about. I would have never been able to afford the events that I attended for just myself, let alone to share the experiences as gifts to others for whom these events were bucket-list caliber.
My success in completing the shops and reports were primarily due to Tracy's personal commitment to my success. She was patient in answering questions as I pored over the long list of interactions, constructive in her criticism, and she made sure that she was by her phone throughout the events to field multiple calls from me during the actual execution of the assignments. Best shopper-support I've ever received, bar none!

I agree with others that say the reports are very long. Your first report will take in excess of 3 hours to do. Also they have lost a number of editors in the last few months. This is a problem as the new editors tend to send shops back to shoppers a lot. I have shopped the same type of shop near me for a couple of years. Some schedulers send the reports right through, others send it back for the smallest thing, mostly due to them not understanding the instructions that the shopper is to follow.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2016 11:55PM by BYUBoy.

Perhaps it was not Tracy you were dealing with since you keep referring to a man in your post.

@BYUBoy wrote:

Tracy is good to get a hold of you as long as you are on his good list, just don't cross him or you will get silence, or worse you wont get paid.

Hi there!

What state are you in? I will be able to give you more information once I know- we are growing quickly, so there may be more shops coming as soon as next week. Thanks for the post!

Tracy

Thank you very much. I appreciate your support. I hope to work with you again soon!

Tracy

@elcarev68 wrote:

I've got to say that the two or three shops that I've done with Service Scouts were among the hardest that I've ever completed. I put in at least three hours of writing and probably the same amount of time through a couple rounds of editing for each assignment.
That said, these shops provided me with amazing opportunities to build memories of a lifetime with people I care about. I would have never been able to afford the events that I attended for just myself, let alone to share the experiences as gifts to others for whom these events were bucket-list caliber.
My success in completing the shops and reports were primarily due to Tracy's personal commitment to my success. She was patient in answering questions as I pored over the long list of interactions, constructive in her criticism, and she made sure that she was by her phone throughout the events to field multiple calls from me during the actual execution of the assignments. Best shopper-support I've ever received, bar none!