Does anyone find this company throws away their shoppers for no reason? My excellent reports (their words, not mine), dependability, and loyalty to this company means nothing. Just got banned from a FF client because I was honest with my reporting.

@suemaria wrote:

Does anyone find this company throws away their shoppers for no reason? My excellent reports (their words, not mine), dependability, and loyalty to this company means nothing. Just got banned from a FF client because I was honest with my reporting.

You are confusing me. You are an independent contractor and Market Force is your customer. You feel they are not loyal to you as an independent contractor because they no longer require your services for some of their fast food clients, although it appears that they have not deactivated you and they still allow you to shop for some of their clients.

Loyalty is a street that runs both ways. Your post here complaining about your customer, MF, on an internet forum might appear to Market Force as a lack of loyalty toward them. They have a lot of independent contractors and they are free to choose any of the independent contractors to do any of their jobs. There is no employment situation and no contract guaranteeing you the right to complete assignments for any or all of MF's clients.

I always find it amusing that the majority of MF complaints on this forum are from "brand new" members who just opened their forum account and within minutes, they are already bashing a MSC. Just sayin'.

@suemaria wrote:

Does anyone find this company throws away their shoppers for no reason? My excellent reports (their words, not mine), dependability, and loyalty to this company means nothing. Just got banned from a FF client because I was honest with my reporting.

"My excellent reports (their words, not mine),"

?? I have never gotten feedback from MF. If I had, I would also question being banned.

Suemaria, it sounds like the client threw you out, not MF. If you were only banned from one client that was the client. If MF threw you out, you wouldn't be able to shop for any of their clients.

I was once thrown out by a client who said I was "too harsh". That sort of thing happens to most of us sooner or later. It's not personal. Don't blame MF or yourself either for getting cross ways with the client over an unfavorable report. You can't control that sort of thing.

If it was just one FF client, that would likely be due to the client complaining

Don't mind MF's shiny happy people around here. Even by MSC standards MF is completely unloyal and will basically turf you out whenever they feel like it. I'm pretty sure they have a monthly quota of shoppers to can. There are much better companies to work for,

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2016 07:11AM by weatherman2111.

@Mert wrote:

@suemaria wrote:

Does anyone find this company throws away their shoppers for no reason? My excellent reports (their words, not mine), dependability, and loyalty to this company means nothing. Just got banned from a FF client because I was honest with my reporting.

"My excellent reports (their words, not mine),"

?? I have never gotten feedback from MF. If I had, I would also question being banned.

At times I get a 'feedback' from MFI about my reports when they offer a bonus on shops that had been sitting there for a while. Oh, on the only time they invalidated my shop, they wrote, "You asked no salt on the fries." That's it. Very self-explanatory.

@suemaria wrote:

Does anyone find this company throws away their shoppers for no reason? My excellent reports (their words, not mine), dependability, and loyalty to this company means nothing. Just got banned from a FF client because I was honest with my reporting.

It sounds like Market Force is very loyal to you. If they were not, why would they remove you from only ONE client? Apparently, your excellent reports and dependability were important to them because they have not banned you completely., You are still eligible to do shops for all their other clients except one, right?

I have been a MF shopper for eight (8) years and noticed that I haven't been getting any email notifications lately. So I inquired to which they replied that I had been terminated for reasons included in their Shopper Quality Standards, but for reasons they could not divulge. I have been in management positions of advertising and public relations for over 40 years, and when I left the business world, I began mystery shopping as a valuable service to the client companies and to offer my flexible time to do so. I have always been punctual and efficient with all my assignments. And in review of their Shopper Quality Standards, I meet or exceed each and every one of them. What really bothers me is that MF did not even notify me of their impending action which is stated as a course action in the independent contractor contract. Granted, this MSC does not compensate very much, many times which does not cover the cost of a meal much less the cost of gasoline to conduct the assignment. But that is not the topic at hand. I am confused and bewildered why MF would terminate a loyal shopper without notice.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/2016 08:17PM by Soonerbred.

@Soonerbred wrote:

I am confused and bewildered why MF would terminate a loyal shopper without notice.

Because they can. Because we are independent contractors, so they owe us no explanation. Because they have a huge volume of shoppers and individual shoppers have little value to them.

MF officials have more than once publicly responded to the question "What does a person need to be a mystery shopper for Market Force?" with "They just have to be breathing." Since MF reports are so easy, I think a 4th grader could do shops, so it takes no special skills or abilities, and MF does not value higher level skills and abilities. Reports are set up so that they don't need an experienced shopper, so they do not valuye experience. They have many shoppers, and new shoppers sign up daily. In most areas, there is a glut of shoppers, meaning they look for ways to weed out some shoppers. You got weeded out.

MF does not want loyalty from their shoppers. They want shoppers to do an assignment, do it correctly, and get paid for that assignment. If the shopper decides the pay or the shops suck (or that MF sucks, for that matter), the shopper never has to log in again. MF will pay any outstanding amounts owed and will not ask the shopper why he no longer wants to work for MF. If MF decides they are done with a shopper, no more shops will be available to him and usually no explanations will be given.

I'm surprised to be still shopping for them after 8 years. With more and more new shoppers coming every day, they can pick and choose. Their answer to you really means nothing, it was a non-answer. They might just have said "We don't owe you an explanation and we are not giving you one."

Thanks for your reply. I wasn't shopping for the money by any means. At the end of the day, I find it interesting after professionally working in major cities for many years that a company aspiring to have global impact (as they have European business as well) would be so unprofessional in their own Standard of Conduct. Yes, mystery shoppers come and go, but a strong reputation is hard to come by, and oftentimes, hard to regain.

Since you aren't in it for the money, you should be the type of shopper they love. They are not fans of professional shoppers or those who feel the work should be commensurate with the pay. Personally, I'm not so altruistic to even consider donating my time to two for profit companies, MF and the client.

@Soonerbred wrote:

Thanks for your reply. I wasn't shopping for the money by any means. At the end of the day, I find it interesting after professionally working in major cities for many years that a company aspiring to have global impact (as they have European business as well) would be so unprofessional in their own Standard of Conduct. Yes, mystery shoppers come and go, but a strong reputation is hard to come by, and oftentimes, hard to regain.

You worked with MF for 8 years. At what point did you decide that they were unprofessional? When they terminated your services?

The problem here is that to MF shoppers are a dime a dozen, and MF does not consider them professionals. If they lose their reputation with every ex-shopper who they terminate, that probably will have no impact on their reputation in the business world. They will continue to conduct business just as they always have.

Huge volumes of shoppers will continue to sign up to mystery shop with them. Because of all the reasons that you remained a MF shopper for 8 years, thousands of shoppers will continue to work for them for extended periods of time.

I stopped volunteering at the county hospital when they sold it to a for profit organization. Not to say it's not a fine organization, but hey, no ticket, no laundry.