I would definitely get the merchandiser login sheet before writing. Let us know what happens.

it seems to me that all the big companies have a multitude of good and bad in them... good and bad schedulers... good and bad shops... kinda like humanity... aww...

but to put my own two cents in i have earned... let see 50 bucks from them so far... and 30 of that was two trailer checks... just the onesfor the first shows not the all day ones.. and they were easy... about 1 1/2 hours for 10 bucks an hour average... thats more than I make now...

two things i have noticed is they have dropped the price and have a shop scheduled early christmas day... who the heck is going to do that one???!!

They always have the Xmas day ones. Always. The scheduler for here always apologizes profusely when calling and asking me to do one. Lat year I said maybe, due to the timing of our Christmas dinner, and the fact that my cousins and I usually went to the movies on Christmas night after dinner when I was younger and we all lived in the same state...sort of a family tradition. But I didn't do the shop after all, as my family plans changed, so my maybe became a no, and she was still nice about it. It never was scheduled, so no ding to the record they are so brutal about.

They do have good and bad schedulers. They also make mistakes. On my last check, it was short 7 shops and they must have done this to everyone because there was a generic message saying they had messed up and not to email them with a pay inquiry as they would straighten it out. So they can be wrong but I can't is the message I a getting here.

That they can be wrong and you cannot has always been their take. Same with MFI.

Agreed. 100%.

I'm so in agreement with the 3 posters.....I made one mistake on a audit and I get a call about it...mind you I have about 200 shops that I've done since Aug '09 and when they sent out that silly oops we made a mistake don't contact us...I was like OMG don't call you or e-mail you when ur wrong, but blow my dang on phone up when I make one mistake on a price....

I did a LOT of work for Certified. Mostly merchandising. Their schedulers have loyalty to those who are out doing the field work, but those above don't. They also don't communicate changes in their system to their field reps. They moved and got a new phone system, which doesn't allow calls from a pay phone, and the only way to have e-mail communication with them is to manage to have 1 or 2 schedulers that you work with - and if they aren't available and someone is trying to contact you and you're in the field and can't call them - you're pretty much guaranteed a deactivation. And if they reinstate you, you have to double check to make sure that any special rates you were being paid for jobs is put back on - or they short your pay, and you can only contact they pay department through their website. It was very stressful doing jobs for them.

MFI is Certified's parent company. I had somewhere in the range of 500 jobs done for them when one of their big boys deactivated me. As I said above, the schedulers have loyalty, but above that forget it. What's sad is that they don't even know that calls from pay phones to their 800 # are not allowed until a rep informs them. I was told by this guy that I should have cancelled some jobs that I had to postpone because of 2 shorted checks - but my schedulers had always told me that if I cancelled jobs I would be deactivated. So . . . any way you go, you're deactivated. Like I said, very stressful.

They cannot accept calls from pay phones? How odd. Not that I have seen many pay phones in the last few years, but still, it is a working line...It's just weird. I think that they are one of those that have some offer to give people a discount on a cell they like with a carrier they like-maybe they are trying to force people to that?

When you set up a toll free number, you have the option to allow calls from pay phones, but it costs more for those calls.

Go figure...

Juat like MF they are quick on the deactivation, but short on the reason, even when its their fault.

I did recevie a mass email from them once too about visitng pharmacies and doing a count on a particular product. It reminded all of us shoppers that good hygiene is important, and that we should be showering and applying deoderant prior to going on these jobs so we can have a professional appearance. I don't remember lacking basic hygiene before I became a professional anything since age 11 or so! Gross, but I guess you get what you pay for.

Does anyone else ever experience this with Certified? They had a job on their board, but when I clicked to self assign, it said it did not have all the details yet. I've checked for three days and every time I get the same message. Today I checked, same message. But three minutes later it was taken by another shopper.

Well speaking of age, I am 68 and still do at least 100 shops per month. 4 years ago I lost my right leg but with a prosthetic and sheer will power I am still working and enjoying it

Enjoy your life, it is the last one you will have.

I have worked for CFA for about three years now. They are okay, but get their pay messed up some of the time. I love doing the trailer checks and get them in my area almost ever week. Do some merchandising also. I have been terminated twice for not being able to do a job assigned. If you call them they will reinstate you.

I hated working for them the all but two of the scedulers were very rude. You use more printer ink and gas that the pay.

I have gotten both bad and good schedulers. I am still trying to resolve my pay issue. Now the Pay Inquiry is not returning my emails. I will have to go higher somehow.

TeresaD Wrote:
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> I hated working for them the all but two of the
> scedulers were very rude. You use more printer
> ink and gas that the pay.


The gas is biggest reason I rarely work with them. Their jobs are all at least a half hour from me that I can not justify the trip for $6 or $8. Also they are usually on days that I do not have other shops scheduled so I can't make a route of it.

The pay can be low. I only take them if I can make a route or I will be in that area or it is an all day job.

Often I see that shopping companies don't have a clue...
CFA demands immediate phone call reports on trailer checks. All theater and every other public phone is 'pay'. I'm now on prepaid mobile @ .10 per minute; sometimes the Friday hold time, recalls and sometimes recalls for the report burns 1/2 the fee. How about online reporting within an hour?

I do the first show trailer checks for them also. At first I would call after the trailers and was put on hold forever and then it would go to voicemail. Now I wait until I get home and call them on my land line:-)

readytorock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Often I see that shopping companies don't have a
> clue...
> CFA demands immediate phone call reports on
> trailer checks. All theater and every other public
> phone is 'pay'. I'm now on prepaid mobile @ .10
> per minute; sometimes the Friday hold time,
> recalls and sometimes recalls for the report burns
> 1/2 the fee. How about online reporting within an
> hour?


You can call the 800 number for free from a pay phone. If the pay phone is out of order, ask the manager if you can use a phone t call in yor results. I've never haad a problem with that. Especially once they know it is a 800 number.

This post was in response to HReid's ridiculous sniper rant. He has been deactivated and had his posts removed. As such, I deleted it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2010 08:51AM by dee shops.

Is anyone else having a terrible time with their Certified assignments being cancelled or rescheduled?

Just since the beginning of the year, around 40% of the jobs I take with them end up being cancelled or rescheduled.

I did when I worked with them. I would set up assignments with some other shops then the items would not arrive or they would reschedule. I would lose money when this happened because I always had to go to another town to do them. Since I was obligated I would not cancell. I just stopped working for them.

I was the merchandiser who cound not get paid and I still have not. My last response from them was that they only charged Walmart for 15 minutes (yeah, right) and I screwed up the time and that is the end of the subject as far as they are concerned.

I cannot even get a movie or trailer check. I've tried many time to always be told not available. I even offered to do an movie evaluation out at stateline (332 miles away from me ), if they would pay for my gas and hotel stay. Of course they said "NO". This post had been on their board since Jan 31, 2010. This was last week, called in spoke with a scheduler who could not see it on her computer. She spoke with her supervisor, and she could not see it either. It was their as I was looking at it when I called. I check my messager on their website all the time and search for the movies & trailers. They just won't give me one. I've done jobs for CFA and no one has given me any negitive feed back on my work, so I'm wondering why thy won't give me the movies or trailer checks.

I don't know why they don't let you do them. I don't know were you live but I live in indiana and they are always calling me and begging to do them. I hate them as it ties up your whole day, I do not live anywhere near a movie theater.

benner2249 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't know why they don't let you do them. I
> don't know were you live but I live in indiana and
> they are always calling me and begging to do them.
> I hate them as it ties up your whole day, I do
> not live anywhere near a movie theater.


I live in Indiana also and I can never get one, I think I know why though. Last October I tried to sign up for two that were to take place that afternoon. When I clicked to accept them (they were self assign), the site said they were taken by another shopper. The next day I get a call from the scheduler asking for my results. I asked her what results she meant and she was talking about the two trailer checks. I explained what happened when I tried to accept them and she said that she's had that complaint from a lot of people. But she still hung up on me when I explained that I hadn't done the checks because they were not assigned to me.

Then a couple weeks ago I applied for a trailer check that was not self assign, it said wait and if they need you, they will call you. They did not call me, and I saw the job fall off the board so I knew someone else got it. On my log of apps it said the job was no longer available.

Then the morning of the check, the scheduler calls me wondering why I had yet to download my paperwork. Paperwork for what I ask. Well for the trailer check of course. It seems the day before the scheduled auditor cancelled and they gave it to me, without emailing me and letting me know of course. I explained to the scheduler that there was no way I could do the check that day as I had assignments in a city 50 miles away from the city with the check. He gets a bit snippy with me saying I should not apply if I am not able to do the job. I explain that at the time, I was able to do the job, but when it said it was no longer available, I took assignments in other cities.

Sorry this got so wordy, I'm just a little annoyed with their cancellations, reschedulings, and phantom scheduling with no notification.

There lack of handling this type of assignment is one of the other reasons I don't select them. They have no idea what is going on most of the time. But if you screw up, watch out!