Anyone work for this company ? Do they pay on time and how are the reports?

Thanks everyone ....

They pay on time, but you have to invoice them for all shops at the end of the month, which I find a bit of a pain.

They have some reports I wouldn't touch and others which are OK. Overall, I feel the pay rate offered for the work they require is low.

Agreed on both. :-)

Thanks for the feedback !!!

The job they offered me pays $50, purchase a piece of funiture and return and evaluate the sales and return interaction.They say the report is very detailed,so I have a feeling it would be a pretty time consuming report.

Yes, I'm pretty sure I know the shop you mean. I have not done it as there are no client locations near me. The reports of many hours on site unable to get the number of employees required, names that turned out to be 'inaccurate', etc. leading to shop rejection certainly makes this shop unappealing unless you are very familiar with the store and staffing near you.

txguitar, if its a swedish store, it would take $250 for me to do it, and I LOVE that store. :-)

The furniture store is the one I wouldn't touch.

If you are considering it none the less, I would suggest waiting a bit, since they start offering decent bonuses near the end of the month sometimes.

I agree with dee that it should pay much more. I love the store as well (our entire house was furnished there) but the shop seems like a nightmare!

txguitar, I get e-mails on that shop every month or so. LOVE the store and I shop there, but no way am I doing the shop. The $ don't compensate for the time and effort.........

Thanks again everyone for the feedback...

I think I'll pass on this one unless they come up with a extremely good bonus (which I doubt)seems like their jobs get taken pretty fast in my area.

Oh the furniture store still makes me shudder in horror... done one - heavily bonused. My husband still hasn't forgiven me for "ruining his Saturday"... yea it is a GREAT store, but the shop almost ruined me forever on going back.

I MIGHT consider it if it was heavily bonused, but few things are bonused very much here in the Austin area. Other parts of Texas, yes, but not in Austin. And I have never seen this furniture shop bonused here, so somebody must be doing it.

AustinMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I MIGHT consider it if it was heavily bonused, but
> few things are bonused very much here in the
> Austin area. Other parts of Texas, yes, but not
> in Austin. And I have never seen this furniture
> shop bonused here, so somebody must be doing it.


Someone who hasn't learned any better yet, or REALLY likes long shops. :-)

I suspect that, like anything else, there are better and worse locations to do it and, like anything else, once you get the hang of it you can probably accomplish it rather expeditiously. But I would certainly do a dry run visit to the store before accepting the shop to see how well populated with staff it was and whether the attitudes were to be up front and helpful or make themselves scarce.

The issues I've heard shoppers complaining about seem to have been primarily associate-related. Unreadable nametags or unrecognizable names, not being assisted, or even being able to find an associate. Their starting fee here is $55 and a $25 bonus is not uncommon. The last time I read the guidelines they advised the shop was for highly experienced shoppers. I would say it's not a shop to cut your teeth on.

That sounds like a fair enough assessment. I am constantly surprised by the variablity of shops from market to market and from store to store. For example, one KMart in my area has reasonable staffing and a 5 associate shop is pretty simple while at another location you won't find 5 unless you hit a shift change. One Best Buy you will be assisted within 5-10 minutes without needing to send out a search party while in another, you could wait until closing time without assistance.

My problem with it was not associate related - I did not have to wait for any associates except for the return, everyone was wearing their nametag, and I had no problem finding people to help me. Personally, my problem with it was the extremely long and detailed report. I believe I spent about three hours on it - plus the three hours in the store.

I am an extremely fast typist and an experienced shopper. I have NO problem with long narratives and detailed shops - but I expect to get a LOT more than $80 for six hours worth of work (and work that did not involve anything fun - and I don't mean "fun" I mean real fun - like a spa treatment or maybe a nice cocktail).

I'm with you, Mickey, except I am NOT a fast typist (that's why I bought MacSpeech Dictate. I am a FAST speaker.) :-) I know it would take 8 hours for me to complete, and that is far too long for the money. I could do a bunch of 10 minutes in store/10-20 minute to report shops, and earn far more, for less hassle and less time. I LOVE that store, and desperately wish they would open one here. But when they do, I will go enjoy it on my own time for my own purposes. That shop is not fun under the best of circumstances, and in the worst, it is very painful. I did a casual dining sit-down restaurant with a friend that had a problem-plagued evening not that long ago. Due to the odd requirements of the writing style of the MSC, it took 5 hours to write up, for $50 reimbursement. Due to lies on the part of the restarant personnel (to cover their mistakes), I ended up having to transcribe part of my dinner recording (and am prepared to use the entire recording imminently for court, as I have not been paid yet.) I had a bad meal, and poor service, and a waitress *who took food off my plate* instead of sending the plate back, and spent 5 hours writing it up, another 2 transcribing, and I just LOST on that one. I already know about the furniture store. We furnished our home in MD mainly from the store. Service can vary greatly, and name tags be non-existant. It requires far too much for far too little pay (even though, from the outside, it can look like a high-paying shop...till ya do it, or know someone personally who has.)

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That sounds like a fair enough assessment. I am
> constantly surprised by the variability of shops
> from market to market and from store to store.
> For example, one K-Mart in my area has reasonable
> staffing and a 5 associate shop is pretty simple
> while at another location you won't find 5 unless
> you hit a shift change. One Best Buy you will be
> assisted within 5-10 minutes without needing to
> send out a search party while in another, you
> could wait until closing time without assistance.


Ours do not vary as much as yours. The service in these stores is either excellent, or poor. It doesn't seem to vary by location as much as by employer. But standards very wildly, and I have had great service in low-end stores, poor service in higher-end ones, and all over the map in between. But not so much variance within brand as you see in FL.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2010 10:35AM by dee shops.

The above mentioned furniture store that Cirrus offers in California pays
,Get this " $55.00 to conduct the shop speaking English.
" $85.00 for Spanish speaking only."

I can understand that perhaps thats because they are paying
for the bilingual expertise of an English speaking person to
utilize their spanish to perform this shop.

But it does not say anthing about that, it strictly means that
the furniture store has employees that speak only spanish and
they want someone to do the shop as a spanish speaking mystery shopper.

And thats all I'm gonna say

Alternatively, it might mean they think they have lots of Spanish speaking customers in certain markets, like CA, and want to know how they are doing with those customers vs. their native english customers. Or a hundred other things in between. Unless they tell you, it is impossible to know what they are really trying to find out.

They have asked me why I haven't accepted their targeted apartment shops---for $20. I replied I won't do it for less than $40, which is what others have, and do, pay me.

They do pay! takes about two months as far as I remember. They did not pay me one time and I sent them email about it and was paid right away.

Run away from Cirrus fast as you can. Not only do not do their IKEA furniture
shops, dont do their apartment shops either. It took 65 days for them to finally pay me. They are super nit pickers, that will only accept billing on their
invoice forms. So you had better be able or have that particular program on your
puter. Which is crazy , as in the real world when someone presents you with a bill for services rendered, you do not insist they use the one you have. If you allow this company to neglect to pay you, trust this , they will. Nevermind the fact
they got paid right after you sent in the online report.
And so rightfully so I gave them a "flake" rating. Also ended my contract with them.

seibahbah Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Run away from Cirrus fast as you can. Not only do
> not do their IKEA furniture
> shops, dont do their apartment shops either. It
> took 65 days for them to finally pay me. They are
> super nit pickers, that will only accept billing
> on their
> invoice forms. So you had better be able or have
> that particular program on your
> puter. Which is crazy , as in the real world when
> someone presents you with a bill for services
> rendered, you do not insist they use the one you
> have. If you allow this company to neglect to pay
> you, trust this , they will. Nevermind the fact
> they got paid right after you sent in the online
> report.
> And so rightfully so I gave them a "flake" rating.
> Also ended my contract with them.

All of your posts today have been rants against companies. Seriously, if you find them all so distasteful, maybe you should consider finding a different field to work in?

Dear Dee
As I have just addressed one of your reruns about "rants against companies", in case you missed it, pay close attention and here is my response. "And you Dee seem to have something to say about everything that anyone else comments on". Seriously if you find all these comments so distasteful, maybe you should consider skipping over them, buy a newspaper and write the editor to the Editorial Speakout,maybe even apply for the position as "Dear Dee"? Or C mind your own affairs.
If you are working in the field's , well that explains it.

seibahbah Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dear Dee
> As I have just addressed one of your reruns about
> "rants against companies", in case you missed it,
> pay close attention and here is my response. "And
> you Dee seem to have something to say about
> everything that anyone else comments on".
> Seriously if you find all these comments so
> distasteful, maybe you should consider skipping
> over them, buy a newspaper and write the editor to
> the Editorial Speakout,maybe even apply for the
> position as "Dear Dee"? Or C mind your own
> affairs.
> If you are working in the field's , well that
> explains it.

Hahahaha.

Seriously I think I am losing my mind. The forum has "gone rogue" today. I can't stop giggling.

I've been reading Ms. Dee's comments. For some reason I have a mental picture of her being a Matriarch with not quiet big hair, but close, and always having something to say about just about anyone in town at her quilting bees. *duck*

Seriously though, the Swedish Shop was extreme. I did find it helpful to turn my Android Phone into a voice recorder. I made sure to state sales reps names when thanking them before moving onto another area. With the recording, the reports were still long but relatively easy to do. I'd say it took over 8 hrs of my time to do the whole thing properly.

Yes I make more in 4 hours of real work but it gave me a chance to get out of the house and browse a store I like. It forced me to actually talk to the sales people and become educated about the products they offer. And it gave me ideas for my own house.

Lastly, I find the "timeout" time will match up with how often I want to go visit the place anyway so if they still want to pay me for another shot in 120 days, I'll take it.

robfwtx Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've been reading Ms. Dee's comments. For some
> reason I have a mental picture of her being a
> Matriarch with not quiet big hair, but close, and
> always having something to say about just about
> anyone in town at her quilting bees. *duck*

I am not a matriarch, I don't have anything close to big hair, and I live a major city. If they have quilting bees here it would be of little interest to me, and I hardly know anyone in the city. But I guess I sure would venture to talk about you at the next bee I attend.

In fact, perhaps tomorrow, when my holiday fireworks for tonight are over, I will start a thread devoted to YOU.
>



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/2010 03:15AM by dee shops.

Blessed be the Dee. heheheheh