I had a shop for A Closer Look for a dinner shift at a sandwich shop in New York City (5 to 8PM, according to the A Closer Look shop event details). I get to the shop location at 5:59PM (which is well within the 5PM to 8PM range) and the location closes at 6PM. I am their last customer and do the shop to the best of my ability, although I couldn't sit and eat because the chairs were already flipped up over the tables. So, today, I get back a few questions from the editor, including this snooty beauty: "Did you verify the times of operation online before completing your shop?"
Uhm, yes, and I had other shops that day so I went by the times you put in your website instead of reverifying them right before the shop. Maybe if you want your shoppers to go at least half an hour before they close, you should put time frames that correspond with that half an hour, which in this case would mean shop times between 5 and 5:30.

Emotional conclusion: I need to wind down my shopping with A Closer Look, 'cause they can't seem to get their act together. Scheduler admitted to me that she can't change the guidelines of a shop that "unofficially" requires the shopper to be 30 or older instead of 21 or older (which is what the guidelines say) for a local bar and sit-down restaurant.

The aforementioned location that I should have shopped between 5 and 5:30 was shopped before I did it, i.e. last month, and obviously they didn't change the guidelines after the last shopper presumably noticed the same hours. So, yeah, maybe I was a little negligent for forgetting I had do the shop during only the first half hour of the guidelines' time, but you were especially negligent for leaving a three hour time frame open for a shop that could only be done in the first half hour. So, do I get .5 of the blame to your 3.0 part of the blame? Of course not, because you get indemnify yourselves while I get to loose the money I spent!

Freaking hell!

"Did you verify the times of operation online before completing your shop?"

The editor was asking if you verified the hours of operation with the restaurant, not with the information on the ACL website. Even chain restaurants have different hours within the same city or region depending on the location.

@eodermatt wrote:

So, today, I get back a few questions from the editor, including this snooty beauty: "Did you verify the times of operation online before completing your shop?"
Uhm, yes, and I had other shops that day so I went by the times you put in your website instead of reverifying them right before the shop. Maybe if you want your shoppers to go at least half an hour before they close, you should put time frames that correspond with that half an hour, which in this case would mean shop times between 5 and 5:30.

Emotional conclusion: I need to wind down my shopping with A Closer Look,

Sorry to hear you are not getting paid. You should probably take a break from ACL. If I get annoyed, I put a MSC on the back burner for a while.

I do think you are overreacting to the question "Did you verify the times of operation online before completing your shop?" I don't think it's a snooty question. I think it's a very valid question. Maybe you find it snooty because your answer. reveals the problem. Does "Uhm, yes, and I had other shops that day so I went by the times you put in your website instead of reverifying them right before the shop" mean yes, you checked online and you knew they closed earlier but you just didn't make it there on time because of other shops or that you didn't check online and you just went by the times in the guidelines?

It sounds like you made a newbie mistake that I've made before also. I know how you feel, because after making that mistake I was pretty annoyed, too. The difference is that I was annoyed with myself.

I understand your annoyance with the time-frame in the guidelines but if they pay you, consider yourself lucky. Arriving one minute before a location's closing time isn't enough time to evaluate service. You could have emailed your scheduler to reschedule your shop.

I would not risk doing a shop like the one you described above that is likely to be unpaid unless you really like the food.

I say this not to be insulting but as a force of habit.

When the instructions say to verify the location hours and location I do it. Even though I know a certain burger place is in a mall, exactly where they are located and is going to be open, I still call the location and ask them where they are located and what their hours are. It takes 2 minutes to do this. I don't want to get in a situation where for some reason the store is having an employee appreciation event, for example, and they close the store earlier than what is said on the website. By doing this all the time, it's 2nd nature.

The reason you were asked if you had verified the hours is simple: Had you called the restaurant or looked at their website you would have either seen that they closed at 6:00 and, therefore, been able to arrive at an appropriate time OR you would have seen incorrect times in which case you could respond to the scheduler, "Yes, I verified on their website that they closed at 8:00 (here is a screenshot)." You would then have been paid.

Nearly every guideline asks that we verify the hours that the location is open before you arrive. This means that we check the store's website and/or call them directly. MSC's are frequently given incorrect times by the client and, as stated above, it is extremely common for different locations to have very different hours.

@eodermatt wrote:

So, yeah, maybe I was a little negligent for forgetting I had do the shop during only the first half hour of the guidelines' time, ..........because you get indemnify yourselves while I get to loose the money I spent!

Actually, you were a lot negligent. You won't be paid, so you lose the money you spent. And the MSC now has to reschedule, probably at the last minute, in order to get the location re-shopped correctly. This is an additional cost of scheduling and another report will need to be edited. The MSC may well have to pay a bonus because you goofed and they must now schedule at the last minute. So, yes, your negligence cost you money. It also cost the MSC money. Own up to your mistake and learn from it.

It is frustrating not to be paid. But pretty much every guideline has the disclaimer that I must verify, by phone usually, that the business is open before I go there Then they say how long before closing I am to be there. If I go and find a business closing earlier than I expected, that is on me for not checking.

@eodermatt wrote:

So, yeah, maybe I was a little negligent for forgetting I had do the shop during only the first half hour of the guidelines' time, but you were especially negligent for leaving a three hour time frame open for a shop that could only be done in the first half hour. So, do I get .5 of the blame to your 3.0 part of the blame? Of course not, because you get indemnify yourselves while I get to loose the money I spent!

I just re-read what the OP wrote. He actually DID check the hours according to the guidelines and he KNEW IN ADVANCE that he had only half an hour to perform the shop. He FORGOT. No wonder he thought it was snooty that the editor asked if he verified the time. He forgot but now it's all the company's fault that he forgot and did it wrong. Definitely attitude - the OP's attitude.

I had a shop once that said 7 AM - 6 PM. I called the location to verify, and they actually said they were open 24/7. I got there at 2 PM that same day, and they were closed! I asked a supervisor why that particular location was closed, and he said someone called in sick for the 3 oclock shift, and the girl who worked mornings went home sick and they didn't have a back up, so they just shut down.

That was a $75 shop, so I was lucky the scheduler let me reschedule and re-perform the shop the very next day.

Man, stuff just HAPPENS to us shoppers, doesn't it?

did u get sick after u did shop?

@eodermatt wrote:

I had a shop for A Closer Look for a dinner shift at a sandwich shop in New York City (5 to 8PM, according to the A Closer Look shop event details). I get to the shop location at 5:59PM (which is well within the 5PM to 8PM range) and the location closes at 6PM. I am their last customer and do the shop to the best of my ability, although I couldn't sit and eat because the chairs were already flipped up over the tables. So, today, I get back a few questions from the editor, including this snooty beauty: "Did you verify the times of operation online before completing your shop?"

what day of week was shop? many places close early on sundays. sandwich shop in nyc prob closes early on saturdays

@MSNinja wrote:

@eodermatt wrote:

I had a shop for A Closer Look for a dinner shift at a sandwich shop in New York City (5 to 8PM, according to the A Closer Look shop event details). I get to the shop location at 5:59PM (which is well within the 5PM to 8PM range) and the location closes at 6PM. I am their last customer and do the shop to the best of my ability, although I couldn't sit and eat because the chairs were already flipped up over the tables. So, today, I get back a few questions from the editor, including this snooty beauty: "Did you verify the times of operation online before completing your shop?"

what day of week was shop? many places close early on sundays. sandwich shop in nyc prob closes early on saturdays

It was a weekday -- Tuesday -- not a weekend.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2017 08:47PM by eodermatt.

@LisaSTL wrote:

"Did you verify the times of operation online before completing your shop?"

The editor was asking if you verified the hours of operation with the restaurant, not with the information on the ACL website. Even chain restaurants have different hours within the same city or region depending on the location.

The location guidelines specifically say DO NOT ask the restaurant about hours of operation. They said when you call and ask about hours of operation, it gives you away as a shopper. Fine. So I didn't. That's called following the guidelines.

To be clear, I'm not expecting to be paid. I'll take the taxes deduction, call it a learning curve, cry my tear and move on. I'm freaking mad as hell, though, that they had incorrect shop hours on the ACL assignment - more than two thirds of which were not applicable because the freakin' store wasn't open.

Why the HECK can't ACL put the right information on their shops (about age, about not having to do phone calls for food trucks WHICH HAVE NO PHONES, about store hours, about whatever the hell it is!) instead of having generic or WRONG information on the shops!? Is it so hard to click delete and type in the right information on their websites? What, did they code it in an alien keyboard instead of Java or HTML!?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2017 08:52PM by eodermatt.

@Jay C wrote:

@eodermatt wrote:

So, yeah, maybe I was a little negligent for forgetting I had do the shop during only the first half hour of the guidelines' time, ..........because you get indemnify yourselves while I get to loose the money I spent!

Actually, you were a lot negligent. You won't be paid, so you lose the money you spent. And the MSC now has to reschedule, probably at the last minute, in order to get the location re-shopped correctly. This is an additional cost of scheduling and another report will need to be edited. The MSC may well have to pay a bonus because you goofed and they must now schedule at the last minute. So, yes, your negligence cost you money. It also cost the MSC money. Own up to your mistake and learn from it.

If they have to pay a bonus to someone to (re-)do this shop last minute because they couldn't take five seconds to have correct location information, I'm not crying too hard for them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2017 08:53PM by eodermatt.

Where did I mention calling the restaurant? You could have verified the hours on the restaurant website. Truthfully, the way your posts read it is impossible to make heads or tails of what exactly happened and whether you knew in advance the place would close at 6 pm or not.

@LisaSTL wrote:

Where did I mention calling the restaurant? You could have verified the hours on the restaurant website. Truthfully, the way your posts read it is impossible to make heads or tails of what exactly happened and whether you knew in advance the place would close at 6 pm or not.

I didn't have to be clear because my point wasn't about whether I knew in advance or not or whether I get paid or not. Assume the worst for me, that I didn't do any client research. Then, there was one missed opportunity for me to fix the situation:
(i) check the client's website for hours of operation before going

If you wanna be extra harsh, there was a second missed opportunity for me to fix the situation:
(ii) show up at exactly the start time of the mystery shop, at 5'clock, instead of one hour into the three hour window that A Closer Look gave me

In comparison, there were at least three missed opportunities when ACL could have corrected the times on their assignment:
(i) when they designed that location's survey
(ii) when last month's shopper did the shop
(iii) when they wrote/republished that location's survey for this month

I'll bet you the penny out of the bottom of my wallet that whether I get paid or not or if they get another shopper or not, they will put this assignment up next month, and it will still say 5-8 instead of having 5-5:30 because they don't fix their website just like they didn't fix it for the age requirements on the bar/sit down restaurant and for other stuff. JUST FIX YOUR WEBSITE! It isn't that hard! REALLY HOW HARD IS IT TO FIX YOUR WEBSITE!

Gah!

Your point was and is, you don't care what anyone else thinks and wanted to gripe about the MSC. If you will reread my statement, it certainly could not be considered "harsh" to suggest what you called a "snooty" question was not out of line. You decided to post your complaint on a public forum. Other shoppers will inquire and will comment. There is no need to attack forum members because you are pissed off at ACL. If you have been shopping for long at all, you will know most MSCs do not provide specific hours of operation for each location being shopped. They normally provide the general hours across a chain.

@LisaSTL wrote:

Your point was and is, you don't care what anyone else thinks and wanted to gripe about the MSC. If you will reread my statement, it certainly could not be considered "harsh" to suggest what you called a "snooty" question was not out of line. You decided to post your complaint on a public forum. Other shoppers will inquire and will comment. There is no need to attack forum members because you are pissed off at ACL. If you have been shopping for long at all, you will know most MSCs do not provide specific hours of operation for each location being shopped. They normally provide the general hours across a chain.

That explains the hours. Then what about the age rule, which is at least a months-old problem? What's their excuse for that inability to update the website? I'm being immature, you're right, but I also think I'm vindicate-able as to the frequency with which they do(n't) update their shop's website.

The question was snooty because even if I checked "online" - on the ACL's location guidelines website, which are "online" on the shop's page - I still had a 2.5 hour out of 3 hour chance of going during a time I "shouldn't" have shopped at that site. Snooty (to me) is knowing both parties helped participate in the mistake but implicitly only pointing to one side's error. Just like its a "mistake" to keep guidelines saying that you can take a shop if you're 21 or older, when the client will only accept shops from, and therefore schedulers will only schedule, shoppers who are 30 years or older. FIX THE DARN WEBSITE. IT ISN'T THAT HARD. Go into edit mode, find the text that's wrong, delete it, and then add the right text in its place. To change 21 to 30 takes two clicks of the back-delete button, and two clicks on number keys. IT ISN'T THAT HARD.

We get your point. You're angry. You goofed and won't be paid. You say "maybe I was a little negligent for forgetting I had do the shop during only the first half hour of the guidelines' time...." so you knew you had a half hour but you apparently forgot. That's the problem. You can't accept that, so there are all kinds of additionial complaints you want to make. I think continuing further is pointless because it's only making you angrier and making you abusive to other forum members.

I don't even get all the griping about the age restrictions. You know what they are so really what is the BFD. At least we agree on one thing, you are being immature in the handling of the situation with both ACL and forum members. ACL is not your employer, they are your client. If you aren't satisfied they won't update the website for you, fire them as a client. If you don't like it when others don't agree with you, don't air your laundry in public.

to op, I had to jump in and say I share your frustration. I also feel we as shoppers are not being treated fairly by the MSC. It is even more surprising how other members put up with it..

@eodermatt wrote:

So, do I get .5 of the blame to your 3.0 part of the blame? Of course not, because you get indemnify yourselves while I get to loose the money I spent!

Freaking hell!

Why do people get confused with 'lose' and 'loose'?

eodermatt--ACL and other MSCs do not know the exact hours of operation. Working hours change with seasons, or for who knows? I've noticed many times, they want us to verify the hours of operation by looking up the individual business and checking if hours are posted at the exterior. MSCs pack as much as they can into those reports for their clients and for their for their own gain, as well.

I've worked as a shopper for years and years and still have to force myself to read instructions carefully word for word, even when I've done the shop a hundred times before. Somewhere in the instructions ACL must have said to verify the hours of operation on the company website. If not, it was their bad and you have a valid reason to complain.

I empathize, eodermatt. Anyone who's been shopping for a length of time has similar stories. I agree, it's best you take a break from ACL for a while.

You should email ACL your suggestions about the guidelines, website, etc. I know they will get heard if you're brief and tactful. ACL is a really good company, and they make improvements when needed.

Yes, you definitely learn as you go . After attempting two shops where they were closed despite the MSC's listed hours, I have learned to check beforehand. I could not do them at another time so my time was wasted. Two subsequent shops come to mind. One where they were holding a free Lollapalooza and another closed for unforeseen kitchen repairs. I notified the scheduler re: lalapalooza and waited. No thanks, just a terse email not to perform it until I heard back from her. Ok your majesty!. Lol.
The other MSC said sorry and I rescheduled.

Eodermatt, unlike others I partially agree with you that the issue seems to be partially the problem of how the job was stated. I live in a big city like you do and unlike smaller towns the vast majority of places open and close pretty much on time unless it is a mom and pop place and there is a death in the family or some very unusual circumstance. I do not call every place I have a mystery shop before I go to check to make sure they have not rented the place out for the night or something like that. I do not think in many cases if there is a private party that would even be on their website. In the case of food shops tho I always check out their menu online just to see what I can/should order or even if it makes sense to take the job with the reimbursement. I would see the hours when I checked the menu. But I do know that often a sandwich type shop is not open late so I may have checked on that. In addition I will often call and ask questions about hours but it is never near the day I do the shop. I call as soon as I book the shop and would not ask that question on the required call. So far I have never had an issue in all the many years I am mystery shopping so I guess if I ran into your situation I would have just gone home and not done the job and let them know. Perhaps they would have rescheduled it. But I do put some blame on the mystery shop company as it is very unusual for this company to have a shop where the time frame is so short. You evidently thought you had three hours but you did not. They may have messed up in that way...if it is a chain perhaps you should look online and see if they do in fact have locations that close at 8 PM and if all are only til 6 then perhaps this was a typo. They should take some blame for putting up wrong info if someone there made that mistake. The msc should try to have the best info. I often see jobs listed with the wrong city name attached, esp here where I live. I will see jobs listed with a city name that is actually the street name of the job and there is an actual city with that name many miles away. I have contacted mystery shop companies often about that but then continue to list the job in the wrong city for months and months. They should have corrected that or at least researched it.
So from my point of view, you should have not tried to do the shop when the chairs were up and they were closing in one minute! But they should be more careful about their instructions too.
I once did a shop when the chairs were up already but it was 45 minutes before closing when that started. They were putting up chairs as people left and even tho I entered a good hour before closing time by the time I left I was surrounded by tables with chairs up and sweeping going on all around me with still another 15 minutes to go before closing time. The kitchen was still open. It was a fairly pricey order at the counter place so I spent some time eating and did not enjoy my meal in that atmosphere. Some people who came in a good half hour before closing had to take their own chairs down to be seated....I thought it was a good idea to let the client know about this. Actually a few months later that location closed up for good and if that was how they treated their paying customers I could see why. The lesson was learned too late for them.

.2 cents....most of my shops SAY do not do the last hour before closing. Mistake happen, own up and learn from them. The MSC wants the job to be accepted and knowing the instructions helps that happen. Admitting, your post was so long, I didn't read it all, but got the jest...my question to newcomers is: why does a simple mistake
take chapters to tell?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2017 02:30PM by Irene_L.A..

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

.2 cents....most of my shops SAY do not do the last hour before closing. Mistake happen, own up and learn from them. The MSC wants the job to be accepted and knowing the instructions helps that happen. Admitting, your post was so long, I didn't read it all, but got the jest...my question to newcomers is: why does a simple mistake
take chapters to tell?

IT ISN'T THAT HARD for some (newcomers or not) to write chapters to excuse and justify one's poor judgment and mistakes. It is much more satisfying to throw a tantrum, mischaracterize the other party's actions and intentions, be defensive, and not learn from the experience. Protect the ego at all cost, no matter how immature and unprofessional it is.