the envelope please (don't know how to play/make a drum roll)...

5. SENTRY (there are a few sentry-type MSCs but the MSC "sentry" was mentioned many times

4. MARITZ aka MARITZCX

3. MARKETFORCE

2. INTELLISHOP

and the winner for "Candidate for the WORST MSC BEGGING FOR SHOPPERS for year 2015" is...

TRENDSOURCE (many, many comments)

NOTES FROM THE TALLY-ER (if such a word exists and if not deduct several points)...while the vote difference between #'s 1 & 2 was not terribly great congrats (in a perverse way) to TRENDSOURCE for "winning" this contest.

i received 262 responses (and they are still rolling in) from this site and my personal email with MSC names and/or general scenarios (without naming the MSC) and they are figured into the tally numbers. I even tallied those responses from chronic whiners but i did not tally MSCs or scenarios whereby the respondent obviously did not follow the guidelines/instructions from the MSC which negated his/her shop as those transgressions were not the fault of the MSC. there were other issues dealing with the schedulers for the MSCs and i did tally those as the schedulers are representatives of the MSC and i figured that the MSC should be impacted if their scheduler is crappy.

i even had several comments sent to my personal email from schedulers who wanted their vote counted for the MSC that they schedule for.

respondents who posted a few times using the same screen name were only counted once.

here is a short list of "honorable mentions" which came very close to being on the list (in random order)......

Bank shops that require a scenario of having an income of $70,000 (no MSC named)

Tanning shops that are pimped to us as "healthy" (no MSC named)

CIRRUS MARKETING

GFK

HERO CITATIONS from ANY MSC

Western Union shops (no MSC named)


ANOTHER NOTE: comments are always welcomed but...please don't violate this forums' rules, specifically any comment which mentions/links an MSC with the name(s) of their client or visa-versa.

This endeavor was more labor-intensive than was imagined and thanks to all who contributed to it.

I vote Market Force one of the BEST.

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

I vote Market Force one of the BEST.

sorry but marketforce received many, many votes to put them on the worst list. the main complaints seemed to be the low pay along with a maddeningly slow process in which to send the reports.

@parkcitybrian wrote:

sorry but marketforce received many, many votes to put them on the worst list. the main complaints seemed to be the low pay along with a maddeningly slow process in which to send the reports.

I would agree there site is slow for reporting but I wouldn't include the people complaining about the low pay. That should have nothing to do with how Market Force operates. If you don't like the pay, don't sign up for the job. I have never signed up for the $6 food shop because it's not enough for me, but I wouldn't say that was a reason they were a bad MSC.

But I appreciate the time you put into this
Just my 2 cents

Thanks for the effort. One thing to consider, though not very easy to do. Votes for something like this could potentially be adjusted based on the percentage of shoppers the company has. In this case, look at how many forum members are registered with each company. The percentages would then separate the results further, might even flip a few in the rankings.

Thank you for your hard work and effort in making the list. I appreciate your objectivity too.

@parkcitybrian wrote:

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

I vote Market Force one of the BEST.

sorry but marketforce received many, many votes to put them on the worst list. the main complaints seemed to be the low pay along with a maddeningly slow process in which to send the reports.

In 2015 I did 17 shops for MF for total fees and reimbursements of $993.58, or $58.45 per shop. There was 1 oil change shop and no other reimbursement would have been much over $10. I have never had slowness issues with reporting MF.

@parkcitybrian wrote:

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

I vote Market Force one of the BEST.

sorry but marketforce received many, many votes to put them on the worst list. the main complaints seemed to be the low pay along with a maddeningly slow process in which to send the reports.

I LOVE Market Force. I have been with them many years, get paid each month direct deposit and their reports are easy.

My highest net fees for the past two years came from MarketForce. No muss, some fuss. I guess I should have used a louder voice, and maybe they would not have made the worst list.

It's likely that due to their size and number of shoppers, if a poll were taken MF would make the best list as well. Not sure what can really be taken from this "poll".

There are a few things I can take from this poll.

I've done plenty of shops for Market Force and Maritz without any problems. I agree the Western Union shops are horrible and I'm not interested in a "hero citation".

I'm thoroughly confused by the poll anyway. The subject line of the original thread was asking about which MSCs send the worst "begging" emails. When did it morph into just the worst MSCs?

I very much agree with Sentry being in the top 5. I'd rank them even higher than #5, but to be fair I don't have experience with more than one of the other msc's in the top 5.

in my opinion this is pretty accurate (maybe - Maritz) other four RIGHT ON the money

@parkcitybrian wrote:

the envelope please (don't know how to play/make a drum roll)...

5. SENTRY (there are a few sentry-type MSCs but the MSC "sentry" was mentioned many times

4. MARITZ aka MARITZCX

3. MARKETFORCE

2. INTELLISHOP

and the winner for "Candidate for the WORST MSC BEGGING FOR SHOPPERS for year 2015" is...

TRENDSOURCE (many, many comments)

Thanks for starting and sticking with this, it was an interesting thread and I enjoyed hearing most everything people had to say and to see how it fit with my thoughts.

doesn't surprise me that trend source took it. I don't even bother opening their emails because I know it's gonna be something that'll require me to work like a dog for like $7-9 tops.

You would assume bigger companies would get more complaints than smaller companies. We have 4 big companies and one small one. It is very telling that a small company placed 5. Although it has fewer shoppers and clients than the bigger companies, it seems to get as many complaints as the big companies. And a lot more much bigger companies didn't even place.

Yes, bgriffin is right. There are a few things I can take from this poll.

I'm just guessing but I don't think I meant it the way you took it.
Or I could be wrong, lol.

@bgriffin wrote:

I'm just guessing but I don't think I meant it the way you took it.
Or I could be wrong, lol.

Nancy Negatively is alive & kicking, i see (somehow some things never change?)

You're arriving at this conclusion without seeing the raw data? Not exactly a scientific poll. Given the amount of vitriol directed toward Sentry on this forum, it's no surprise that we were included in the top five.

I also agree with something bgriffin posted (http://www.mysteryshopforum.com/read/6/482968/page=3) about the tone of this post and others like it. I think this point is especially true:

"Personally, if I were a scheduler, threads like this would make me reluctant to work with the participants. And you can pretend all you want that you are anonymous and no schedulers read what you say anyway but I guarantee you that is absolutely not true."

@Sentry Marketing wrote:

You're arriving at this conclusion without seeing the raw data? Not exactly a scientific poll. Given the amount of vitriol directed toward Sentry on this forum, it's no surprise that we were included in the top five.

I also agree with something bgriffin posted (http://www.mysteryshopforum.com/read/6/482968/page=3) about the tone of this post and others like it. I think this point is especially true:

"Personally, if I were a scheduler, threads like this would make me reluctant to work with the participants. And you can pretend all you want that you are anonymous and no schedulers read what you say anyway but I guarantee you that is absolutely not true."

oooh, a threat from an MSC who is on the worst MSC list. maybe, just maybe this might be a blessing, perchance?

What threat? I was quoting bgriffin who happens to be a shopper and member of this forum.

@parkcitybrian wrote:

@bgriffin wrote:

I'm just guessing but I don't think I meant it the way you took it.
Or I could be wrong, lol.

Nancy Negatively is alive & kicking, i see (somehow some things never change?)

Wait. You started a thread/poll about which MSCs are the worst and *I'M* Nancy Negatively [sp]?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

@Sentry Marketing wrote:

What threat? I was quoting bgriffin who happens to be a shopper and member of this forum.

don't shoot the messenger (me). i'm just reporting the result of my verrry, verrry unscientific poll/survey. there were many, many negative comments both on this forum and/or the other forums as well as comments made to my personal email account about sentry. and, in full disclosure, there were a few positive comments, too.

but...it's kinda/sorta obvious that you haven't been schooled in crisis management because if you were/are you might realize that you cannot win in the forum of public opinion. you made an obvious veiled threat about not offering assignments to those who have commented in a negative way to the practices/fee structure,unprofessional schedulers, etc.

you can do one of the following...keep fanning the flames about sentry or you can try to get your house in order so that sentry doesn't appear on the 2016 list of worst mscs to be involved with. pick your poison.

i rest my case.

I'm so glad you're resting it. As we say in the South, thank you so much.

@parkcitybrian wrote:

Bank shops that require a scenario of having an income of $70,000 (no MSC named)

I don't know how this one qualifies as a mention... There are legitimate reasons for specific levels of income in bank shops and many other shops. I agree on the other ones, they're horrible scenarios (though I made better money on a Western Union that required a Spanish speaker).

@jnoyolapicazzo wrote:

@parkcitybrian wrote:

Bank shops that require a scenario of having an income of $70,000 (no MSC named)

I don't know how this one qualifies as a mention... There are legitimate reasons for specific levels of income in bank shops and many other shops. I agree on the other ones, they're horrible scenarios (though I made better money on a Western Union that required a Spanish speaker).

Thanks to everyone for the 318 (yep, 318) nominations, not 318 different MSCs but total replies (probably some duplicates and "ballot stuffing) for the "WORST MSC BEGGING FOR SHOPPERS for year 2015" although the topic seemed to veer off on a couple of occasions. I received quite a few nominations on my personal email address from schedulers for the MSC's that they schedule for. I never, ever betray a confidence and I would never "rat them out...pinky swear.

I also appreciate all of the responses even the snarky/sarcastic barbs that were hurled in my direction.

Someone famous (don't know who) once said, "if you can't stand the heat abandon the kitchen (or something akin to that).

Anyway, even after tallying the late submissions the results remain the same (scroll down for the results of my verrrry unscientific contest.

I'm no longer accepting submissions but feel free to contribute if you feel the need.

And...on a positive note I am starting a new topic for "Best Scheduler for 2015.

It will be "up and running" verrrrrry shortly and it will be another unscientifically tabulated contest but this time the winners will be verrrry unlike the winners of the previous "contest" because in that one the "winners" were the losers.

RESULTS...

the envelope please (don't know how to play/make a drum roll)...

5. SENTRY (there are a few sentry-type MSCs but the MSC "sentry" was mentioned many times

4. MARITZ aka MARITZCX

3. MARKETFORCE

2. INTELLISHOP

and the winner for "Candidate for the WORST MSC BEGGING FOR SHOPPERS for year 2015" is...

1. TRENDSOURCE


NOTES FROM THE TALLY-ER (if such a word exists and if not deduct several points)...while the vote difference between #'s 1 & 2 was not terribly great congrats (in a perverse way) to TRENDSOURCE for "winning" this contest.