Cancelled 3 shops...

I'm a relative newbie, compared to most on this forum, as I've been shopping less than a year. I do quite a few shops for MF, just because I can self-assign them, and I can easily group them with other shops that I've applied for and gotten (I can pick up a FF shop and a gas station or two while I'm out doing two other shops, so it makes the afternoon or morning worthwhile).
Anyway -- I've never cancelled a shop with MF before, although I've rescheduled a time or two. I just cancelled 3 all at once. I took them, just glancing at the guidelines and paperwork (my mistake!), and when I sat down to read them through thoroughly...OMG. No. Just no. Phone shop audit that will easily take an hour on site, and another hour or two to complete the report. For $26.
I can do two or three storage shops for another MSC and their reports in that time and make up the $$.

So what do you think...I have another dozen jobs lined up for MF in the next two weeks...are they going to give me the boot?

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More About Cancelling Assignments

Who knows. FYI, my first of those audits did take an hour, the report took 20 minutes. Part of the extra time was it being new to me, but a bigger reason was working with one wrist in a brace which slowed me down. My second audit was 30 and 20.

Edited because who knew I couldn't tell the difference between knew and new.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2016 05:55PM by LisaSTL.

When guidelines can not be accessed before a shop and it turns out the scope of the job is completely inappropriate for the pay (IMHO), I will cancel immediately. MF has gotten sneakier in that they don't reveal in the job information that they have new requirements that make a marginal-at-best shop completely slave labor. I now immediately look at the requirements when I take an assignment and if it is inappropriate, cancel immediately. There is a box to explain why you are cancelling and I politely but firmly indicate that the XYZ requirement I am unwilling to perform at the stated pay/reimbursement rate. I would never cancel without using that explanation box and will always relate the cancellation to some aspect of the current job.

I have shopped for MF for many years. I wouldn't cancel just because a shop became inconvenient. Thus far my cancellations appear to have done me no harm. Any new-to-me shop I would only take one, read through it and decide whether it was worthwhile. I would then either cancel it or give it a try before self assigning more.

Flash -- I definitely learned my lesson here! I have enjoyed all of the other shops I've done for them, and I've had no issues with the pay or requirements...I know that others on the forum rant about them, but if I take a job at x pay, I generally know why. In this case, I can freely admit, I screwed up.

About three decades ago a very good friend and mentor told me, "Life is a continuous learning curve. You need to always be learning and growing or you will be dying." Understanding goofs or how we could have done differently is definitely needful to keep that learning curve going.

Like any company, MF has some stinker jobs and the most remarkable thing is that it is not the same shop that is a stinker for all shoppers. And a shop you love today may get so fouled up with extra requirements or lower pay that it becomes one of your personal 'stinkers' while a 'stinker' shop at what seems to finally be the right price may turn out to have been worth the original stated pay. Each one of us is unique in our skills and preferences so it is definitely not a one-size-fits all shopping world out there.

The problem I see here is applying for three of the shops, then reading the full guidelines. Why didn't you apply for one shop then read the guidelines? That's the best practice.

My posts are solely based on my opinions and for my entertainment, contact a professional if you need real advice.

When you get in debt you become a slave. - Andrew Jackson

What reason did you go with?

Same thing happened to me with the sneaky audit for a gas station. My bad as I should never assume that they were the easy gas stations but there was no mention of the audit in the qualifying questions. When I went to pull up the paperwork I went into a depression - haha. I ruminated on those shops for a few days before cancelling. The reason that I used was the reimbursement was too low for the amount of work required. I am ready to take the hit from MF but so far I am still active.

Well, for the gas station shops on MF, they either say, "This is a Mystery Shop" or they say, "This is a Mystery Shop with Reveal" in the guidelines before you accept the shop. I avoid the reveal ones and stick with the mystery shop shops on those. You also have to fill in a different questionaire for the ones with the reveal. Just an FYI...

@guanadu wrote:

Well, for the gas station shops on MF, they either say, "This is a Mystery Shop" or they say, "This is a Mystery Shop with Reveal" in the guidelines before you accept the shop. I avoid the reveal ones and stick with the mystery shop shops on those. You also have to fill in a different questionaire for the ones with the reveal. Just an FYI...

That is how MF USUALLY does it. The problems reported here on the forum came in because MF briefly deviated from that practice when they posted shops not long ago. The audit shops were not identified as such and the qualification questionnaire did not identify that the shops were audits. Several shoppers accepted the shops that were identified as mystery shops and had the mystery shop qualification questionnaire only to discover that they were audits. Some forum members reported that they unhappily completed the audits and others reported that they cancelled and the shops went back on the board. MF seems to have fixed the problem as I saw both audits and mystery shops this time, both clearly identified.

I always ask for Guidelines if I am not familiar with a shop. So far I have received this information. I state that I will not do a shop that I don't know what the shop is about.

I think you risk being kicked out by MF....if you had a legit reason..a real emergency/unavoidable situation and they deactivated you, you might get them to reinstate you...but 'I don't want to do them' is not a legit reason to cancel.

There may be times in the future you will have legit reasons and even if they don't deactivate you for this, it is a strike against you and they might not want to hear your excuses next time.

When you screw up like this, you need to take professional responsibility, suck it up and get the job done.

Even though details are not available before signing up, you could have just taken 1, reviewed it and then decided if you want to do more..and then would have only been stuck with one...or at least cancelled immediately.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2016 09:22PM by jmitw.

Almost all of the MSCs that I am aware of will not let a shopper preview the report. I have emailed a few of them and they state that it jeopardizes confidentiality. I don't buy it. Is it because they know that very few people will want to take on these shops? I think so.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2016 10:16PM by indy101.

I often ask to preview the guidelines and/or report. They either send them or tell me they can't but if I want to assign the shop to take a look, they won't penalize me for cancelling right away.

@LisaSTL wrote:

I often ask to preview the guidelines and/or report. They either send them or tell me they can't but if I want to assign the shop to take a look, they won't penalize me for cancelling right away.

DITTO.

I mentioned that I was concerned about cancelling right away to a scheduler the other day. Her response was, don't apply then. Oh well.

You will find there are actually way more good schedulers than those practicing that kind of assholery.

I know...I hope that I will come across them in time.

I've cancelled several shops for marketforce and haven't had anything happen. Not three at once, but probably three since I've been shopping for them (not enough pay, snow, and a sick child were the reasons). I was wondering when they would do something since they don't have a visible point system.

@Brianneb1429 wrote:

I've cancelled several shops for marketforce and haven't had anything happen... I was wondering when they would do something since they don't have a visible point system.

Don't worry. Your time will come.

MF is actually quite good about illness and excellent when it comes to weather concerns. My advice would be to try to reschedule before cancelling outright. Times when a reschedule date was not available, I contacted the Help Desk before cancelling. I present the problem, my desire to reschedule if a later date is acceptable and conclude by leaving it up to them if they feel it would be better to cancel so another shopper might pick it up.

assholery. That's a great word for it, LOL.

***Adding assholery to my lexicon.****

Classic Lisa right there! LOL.

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Cancelled 3 shops...

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