I used to like working with GFK very much and did many shops for them when I first started mystery shopping. Most of the schedulers were very responsive. But over the last several months, their shop instructions and questionnaires were a nightmare. Loaded with conflicting information, ambiguous wording, and questions that didn't match the guidelines. Not to mention full of grammar errors, which made it difficult to read some of the material. (I know other MSCs have poorly written materials, but GFK's were the worst.)
I did an appliance shop once, and the guidelines in one section were so ambiguous and confusing they were nearly incomprehensible! I contacted the scheduler for clarification well in advance of the shop, and she simply couldn't understand the problem. After several back-and-forth e-mails, she finally "got it" and she gave me an answer; as I found out while doing the report, my initial interpretation was correct and hers was wrong. But it shouldn't have taken getting to that point to figure out what the he!! they wanted!
Then there was that horrific cellphone shop. I cringe thinking about it. I'm not exaggerating when I say the guidelines and survey were the worst I've ever seen. They must have been in a hurry to get this shop out of the starting blocks and never looked at their materials with a critical eye.
I haven't done a phone shop for the new company yet. Yes, they're slow to respond and schedule. I have a tablet shop scheduled next week, and I'm crossing my fingers it'll be easier than the GFK phone shops. Their tablet shop was "easier," but but none of theirs are "easy and fun." LOL....
I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2016 01:28PM by BirdyC.