Wow, Attitude Much?
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OP, do you feel better now that you have expressed your frustration about everyone's part of the situation and a little time has passed? I hope so, because there are many more shops that need you. 
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu
this op and wassim should go shopping together.
Yep, the whole situation would annoy me too. But, honestly, I just learned to check for hours of opearition before performing the shop; I've had few closed and few closed/under constraction locations
I went to do a shop that I had done several times before at that particular location. They had gone out of business. I snapped a photo of the location and contacted the scheduler. It stated in the guidelines that I was supposed to check to make sure that the location was an open and operating store and that there would be no pay for closed locations, but I had done the shop so many times I was very taken aback that they had gone under. The shop was removed from my shop log. Of course I didn't expect to get paid since the guidelines had stated the fact quite clearly.
Another shop for Grassroots just came to mind. They assigned me a newly opened restaurant. I called and the phone just rang and rang. I googled the location and yes, the grand opening was supposed to have occurred. Hmmmm....I then called a retail establishment nearby and asked for their help with verifying whether the restaurant was open or not. They confirmed it was NOT. So.....I emailed Grassroots and received a reply hours later. "OK." That was it. I saw it was still assigned to me later on so I emailed them again saying to un-assign me as it was not open. No response. I did not follow up and there were no ramifications thereafter. I had another fancy dinner shop where the location was closed due to a private event happening. I called the MSC and was able to reschedule.
JAS, I had a similar situation at my local mall. I had been passing by a cell phone kiosk in the center court of the mall forever, except when I had shop for it and it was suddenly gone.
Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
If they said though that the shop was from 5 - 8, it should really be the schedulers responsibility, if he/she is posting a timeframe, to make sure that that timeframe is accurate. Otherwise, they could post any timeframe they want. 24 hours if they want. If you were supposed to do a shop between 5 - 8 and you call at 7, they close at 6, no one answers, what are you supposed to do? The scheduler is going to think you are lying and trying to get money. I think they should know when the store is open before they post. I had a shop a few years ago-- the restaurant was closed-- out of business closed! So no one picked up! If no one picks up, should you not do the shop? I called the scheduler and told them the place was closed. Out of business. They told me that they just checked the website and it says they are still open. Girlfriend! They are CLOSED. There is nothing in there! It's dark! There is a sign! By the time a lot of these places become secret shopper clients, they are having issues. In any case, we have to support each other as shoppers. Otherwise, we will always have these problems.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2017 01:04AM by rothers27.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2017 01:04AM by rothers27.
I do want to be supportive of other mystery shoppers. I understand that when a client wants a mystery shop performed between certain hours, that does not mean that every location is open all of those hours. I am responsible for finding out the hours of my particular location. Most of my instructions state that.
Understanding that is part of the job will help new shoppers get on with their job.
Understanding that is part of the job will help new shoppers get on with their job.
@rothers27 wrote:
If they said though that the shop was from 5 - 8, it should really be the schedulers responsibility, if he/she is posting a timeframe, to make sure that that timeframe is accurate. Otherwise, they could post any timeframe they want. 24 hours if they want. If you were supposed to do a shop between 5 - 8 and you call at 7, they close at 6, no one answers, what are you supposed to do? The scheduler is going to think you are lying and trying to get money. I think they should know when the store is open before they post. I had a shop a few years ago-- the restaurant was closed-- out of business closed! So no one picked up! If no one picks up, should you not do the shop? I called the scheduler and told them the place was closed. Out of business. They told me that they just checked the website and it says they are still open. Girlfriend! They are CLOSED. There is nothing in there! It's dark! There is a sign! By the time a lot of these places become secret shopper clients, they are having issues. In any case, we have to support each other as shoppers. Otherwise, we will always have these problems.
guidelines say to call store for hours. noone answers phone but recording says to check website for hours. website has generic company hours & says to call store for their hours. just recordings at store no person. how r schedulers supposed to know hours when company biz doesnt even know hours.@prince wrote:
I do want to be supportive of other mystery shoppers. I understand that when a client wants a mystery shop performed between certain hours, that does not mean that every location is open all of those hours. I am responsible for finding out the hours of my particular location. Most of my instructions state that.
Understanding that is part of the job will help new shoppers get on with their job.
@rothers27 wrote:
ces s.
This is a tricky situation, because verifying hours doesn't always work. I had a shop once, where no one answered the phone. So I couldn't verify hours. I was really worried about this and went anyway. The place was closed. Like out of business closed. There was a sign that said, "We are closed for business. Please go to another location." So I contacted the scheduler and she tried to argue with me that the place was open. She's like, "Well, they have a website." Maybe they have a website, but the reality of it is that they closed their doors. The website has clearly not been updated yet. Perhaps the dysfunction of this company is why they are relying on secret shoppers to try to fix things. In any case, she still insisted I should do the shop, despite being completely closed for business. She just didn't get it at all. If the place is CLOSED for business, no one is going to answer the phone! She couldn't understand why I didn't verify hours--- no one answered! And then she didn't understand why I didn't do the shop since they had a website.
@rothers27 wrote:
I was really worried about this and went anyway. The place was closed. Like out of business closed. There was a sign that said, "We are closed for business. Please go to another location." So I contacted the scheduler and she tried to argue with me that the place was open.
Did you take a photo of the closed location? If you emailed a location photo with the sign that said "We are closed for business. Please go to another location" it would have been pretty clear. A picture is worth a thousand words, right?
Rather than rely on the kindness of strangers, i.e. the MSC, check the guidelines to see how they handle closed locations. If there is no provision to pay you for your time, don't go.
Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
Mod note: Post removed as it breached the Forum guideline which states, "Do not reveal the clients of mystery shopping companies". Additionally, it is usually an ICA violation to name both the MSC and client.
So what they were telling you is that you are supposed to contact the restaurant themselves and not go by what they posted. Its just a mistake. It happened to me one time for a breakfast and then I just learned after that, however the company did apologize and just reminded me to check. Its really not a snooty question but may have seemed like it to you at the time. I was aggrevated too when it happened to me but then got back on their website and saw where I should have done it. Just take some deep breaths and a break and apply for some other shops!
Several months ago, Trendsource (aka The Source) had one of those "meet here" Medicare shops at a local restaurant, where the presenter gives a talk to interested folks and everyone gets a few snacks. The instructions said to call ahead of time to be sure it was open. I called, and got one of those "fast" busy signals...not the regular kind. I did this three times. Finally I went online to local sites, such as local news sites, and typed in the name of the restaurant. I found several articles stating the restaurant had closed several months earlier. I called TS and explained this to them, and told them if they wanted me to go out there and take a picture of the closed restaurant, I would, for half fee (it was fairly close by). They said they would research it, and took it off my schedule. So due diligence is important!
@Shop-et-al wrote:
OP, do you feel better now that you have expressed your frustration about everyone's part of the situation and a little time has passed? I hope so, because there are many more shops that need you.
I was paid for the shop, so I guess so. I'm not really shopping the "other shops" for the moment because I have an outside-of-shopping project that's kinda big. I'll be sure to moderate my shops in the future.
#burntoutinthebigapple
@eodermatt wrote:
What, did they code it in an alien keyboard instead of Java or HTML!?
Actually Java and HTML alone are considered obsolete, or at least should be. Theoretically, it would be HTML + CSS, but I don't know enough about their backend and can't be bothered to go digging.
I'm pretty sure they just have some kind of a template that they have to follow when setting up new assignments. Could they probably customize it so that it was clearer for us? Probably, but you know what? They aren't paid big bucks either, and probably don't have the time to check the hours and clear up the confusion. That is up to us to sort out, then if we still have questions, we have the chance to ask. Not saying they are perfect, but you seem to think they owe you a lot more than they do.
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