MarketForce easing up on reporting deadline?

Got "the call" yesterday from MF to do a restaurant shop this evening (picked up the phone because I knew DH was craving the food). At the end they always give you the standard spiel about commitment, they're expecting you to do the job as promised, blah, blah, blah. But this time, the guy said ..."report the results within eight to 12 hours."

Are they giving some leeway now in the deadlines? I always do my reports as soon as I get home, and the deadline's always been eight hours since I started shopping for them. But I remember that it changed to eight from 12(?) at one point, and a lot of folks here posted about it. I think there were a lot of problems with that deadline change.

Are they now back to 12 maximum (with eight preferred)? I've always thought that eight was ridiculous, myself....

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

Create an Account or Log In

Membership is free. Simply choose your username, type in your email address, and choose a password. You immediately get full access to the forum.

More Discussions About Market Force (All Companies)

More About Reports

I've done it 12-14 hours past deadline and they accept my reports. I think they are just saying it to get most people to get it done on time.

I do some Marketforce shops in an area with no cell phone service, five hours from my home. There's no way at all to submit the report before I leave the area. By the time I get home, the first shop of the day is already past due.

Drives me batty.

I've noticed the shops are taking longer to go from QC to Approved which leads me to believe the editors are behind. Maybe there are fewer editors now that a certain client is gone and they are taking longer to get to each report. Maybe the large client that is gone was the main impetus behind the 8 hour reporting time frame in the first place?

Who really knows...

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."

I believe the time deadline was a reactionary move on their part. I have yet to suffer from it. My guess is the first people that will suffer form it already have a history of turning in late reports.

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

@DavePi wrote:

I've done it 12-14 hours past deadline and they accept my reports. I think they are just saying it to get most people to get it done on time.

This.

98% of the reports out there aren't needed by the "deadline" the MSCs just want you to think they are so you won't let it sit for 2 weeks.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

My MF reports have always had the 8 - 12 hour deadline. But I never do FF shops so maybe those reports have a tighter deadline.

I remember a MF phone call where the generous lady was telling me how much I would be paid...... and she said, "You have 12 hours to get your report in." I told her it was 8 hours. She seemed surprised. ....

Just remember: I always follow the CPI and guidelines on 8 hours until they give the go-ahead back to 12 hours. A scheduler's verbal statement of 8 hours vs. 12 hours is not good enough for me if my paperwork says 8 hours.

I seem to remember that shoppers were having shops removed if the report hadn't been submitted within 8 hours instead of 12.

In any event, I do my MF reports right away so I don't bump up against any stated, real, or imaginary deadlines!

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

Yes, even 12 hrs is pushing it. I did a mystery shop for new car sales & spent 13 hrs on their stupid paperwork for $17.

Verna B.

13 hours for one report? Are you serious?

Yes, as Sybil2 asked. 13 hours really? Just for a report?

Yes, it was BestMark new car sales. was so mad. One hour at the dealership .& 13 hrs. but I took 3 breaks at about 15 minutes each. I told them when I called them & the girl said maybe it wont take so long next time.

Verna B.

Well, Vernalea, you win! I thought when my Bestmark car sales report took 45 minutes that I would never do one again. For a 13 hour report, you should consider publishing it.

Yes, I really got burned on that one. The problem is you can't see how many pages that there are, or I would have quit in the beginning! Maybe since I am informing everyone, they cant burn anyone else! Not only that, they refused to pay another shop for me a few days before that. I spent 3 hrs on a telephone job for $4.00!

Verna B.

Three hours for a telephone job? I bet the lady I gave fare to outside the subway earned more than that in less than 30 minutes since I saw her in the same spot telling her sob story about lacking enough fare to go home.

@vernalea wrote:

Yes, I really got burned on that one. The problem is you can't see how many pages that there are, or I would have quit in the beginning! Maybe since I am informing everyone, they cant burn anyone else! Not only that, they refused to pay another shop for me a few days before that. I spent 3 hrs on a telephone job for $4.00!

How long have you been MS'ing? I have never heard of a phone shop taking three hours. And your car shop taking 13 hours to write? I am really trying to understand what is going on with your reporting times. Are you watching TV or talking on the phone while writing?

maybe those three 15 minute breaks were hours in duration

I felt like the 8 hour requirement was pushed by their no longer shopped major fast food client.

Marketforce has a new announcement regarding reporting times and deadlines, perhaps in response to this thread.

" it will be accepted even if it is beyond the 8-hour reporting time. "

p.s. I took that quote out of context.

@vernalea wrote:

Yes, it was BestMark new car sales. was so mad. One hour at the dealership .& 13 hrs. but I took 3 breaks at about 15 minutes each. I told them when I called them & the girl said maybe it wont take so long next time.

Another shopper posted today that her BestMark shop had 1100 questions. Is that the report you had?

1,100 questions? That's trickery and deceit then! Funny, that usually happens in merchandising and not so much on the mystery shopping side.

There are times that circumstances (before the app was available) where I wasn't able to get to computer by the 8 hour deadline. I was pretty new and I freaked out. I submitted it anyway and it was approved. To be honest, the monthly outages that they have for the reporting systems tells me that they're not that technically capable of automatically identifying deadline misses. I think it's really so that people get it in promptly. It most things in life, I strive to be on time. That said, I'm always surprised that some people think on time is a day or two after - in all walks of life not just shopping.

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login

MarketForce easing up on reporting deadline?

Create an Account or Log In

Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

Mystery Shopper Magazine