You only have to get help from two people. The others you just see if they are in their areas and if they greet you. Besides the coffee part and the store pic it should not take more than 9-12 min!

I get one of the same four different people for nearly every call. They did recently start saying "but you took it for $x last time" and I have to explain to them that the shop was part of a route which made it workable for the amount.

@7star wrote:

Think of all the employees they have calling people to make offers. I think I had a different named person each call. If they would only look and see what prices shoppers did these things at and then offer them those prices, that may save them time/money.

Do MF schedulers have the same number or do two or three share the same number

I have 8 different MF numbers in my phone but they say like MF 1 MF 2

Some schedulers call from the office, and they all use the same phone number. Schedulers who do not call from the office have separate phone numbers.

@fuzzymo wrote:

I get one of the same four different people for nearly every call. They did recently start saying "but you took it for $x last time" and I have to explain to them that the shop was part of a route which made it workable for the amount.

Yea, they say "but you did this shop for $X last time" a lot. Gets annoying when you have to keep reminding them of that.

The website still shows 2 burger shops for the same location(Lunch and Dinner) from last week and still no one has taken them + the one for this week, so 3 in total for the same location. I made an offer a couple days ago for $85 and $100 for the other one, which sometimes they accept because the locations are pretty far away from me and I assume for most people.

I assume with the push back of high bonuses that they are going to struggle even more with filling locations that are far away from densely populated areas.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2017 06:59PM by DavePi.

A scheduler put one of those chicken leg Oops shops in my queue without calling me - for $8. I was doing those last summer for $20 and $25. I had to call and have it taken out. I've made offers on shops when I'm going to be in a small town and I ask for what they pay me every.time.I.do.the.shop... And they don't give it to me, they send me an email on the etiquette of the make an offer button, then call two weeks later, begging me to take the shop for the money I initially requested... Uhh, sorry, that's 200 miles away - near the farm where I was earlier in the month but not now...

I talked to one scheduler who said she was calling from her home in the Atlanta area. She was nice.

@msmsmshopper wrote:

I talked to one scheduler who said she was calling from her home in the Atlanta area. She was nice.

She's likely one of the Shop 'n Check holdovers...

How long ago did they acquire Shop N Check?

I got a call Friday about a jewelry shop that needed to be done over the weekend. I told the scheduler I wasn't available. She immediately doubled the fee. I thanked her, but said it wasn't about the money-my schedule was full. I think I really confused her.

The one that called me did not know that you have to take a pic of the jewelry you looked at and the many compliance questions, not just customer service questions. I think it's a $40 shop.

The one from Market Force didn't require a picture of the jewelry, only a storefront photo.

@spicy1 wrote:

The one that called me did not know that you have to take a pic of the jewelry you looked at and the many compliance questions, not just customer service questions. I think it's a $40 shop.

@guanadu wrote:

How long ago did they acquire Shop N Check?

February 28, 2006 according to this piece: [www.businesswire.com]

Are any Shop N Chek clients left besides the fuel company?

@fuzzymo wrote:

The one from Market Force didn't require a picture of the jewelry, only a storefront photo.

@spicy1 wrote:

The one that called me did not know that you have to take a pic of the jewelry you looked at and the many compliance questions, not just customer service questions. I think it's a $40 shop.

I did one for MF recently that did require a pic of the jewelry.

Wow! So they merged in 2006, about six years before I started mystery shopping. No wonder I can't relate to people missing Shop N Check schedulers, etc.

More personable, human and less data, data, data and less no, no, no, no, no

I waited and did one for $15 plus reimbursement. Gotta buy something as well which is not reimbursable, but can be returned.

@guanadu wrote:

chicken leg Oops

If that's a code I can't crack it.

I did a few shops for marketforce a couple weeks ago. One of the definitely had the wrong address so I called and talked to a scheduler. She got in touch with someone from the help desk and told me not to do the shop until she got back with me, which she did a couple hours later. I was 45 minutes away then, but I decided to complete the shop. A few days later I got an email stating I did the wrong shop, even though I went to the EXACT address. The person ultimately told me that I should have gone to the address next door, which was for sure the wrong address and that I shouldn't have listened to the scheduler or whoever she talked to. This company is losing a lot of trust with me and are about to get kicked to the curb.

I did one of my normal routes of fast food, home improvement, and wireless locations today. I have been receiving $80 for an extremely remote fast food location that is at the end of my route. This month they gave me all the other shops as normal, but refused to give me the $80. I chose not to offer less and left it off my route. Now, they will have an orphaned location way out in the middle of nowhere that is clearly difficult to find a contractor to evaluate it if they are regularly giving me 80 for it. They will probably call me with a few days left in the month and ask me if I can do it for my normal fee of 80. I will say no because it is too far away and there are no other shops to route it with. They may or may not offer me more.

This happened with a wireless location a few months ago. I had been receiving 100 to do it every month with a rotation waiver because it is impossible to find another contractor willing to drive out there. They came back with 75 and didn't budge. It didn't get filled, and it carried over to the next month. So, there was not only the carryover evaluation that had to be completed, but the new evaluation for the next month. I held out until the end of the next month and asked for 100 for the carry-over and 100 for the new evaluation. I was awarded the 100 for each, and I did the evaluations at the same location on back to back days, staying in a motel and doing some golfing while I was up there. Needless to say, the payment games Marketforce was playing with me completely threw their client under the bus; the two employees that are always at this small location know that I am a mystery shopper after all that nonsense.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2017 01:31AM by thunderdeacon.

If the location knows you are a mystery shopper, MFI does not generally allow one to do the shops at that location. Did they waive that requirement for you?

In any case, it's clearly not a mystery shop if they know you are the mystery shopper.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2017 09:18PM by gukka.

Marketforce doesn't know that they know. I go through the motions and the client goes through the motions during each visit. Market Force has to know, though, that if they schedule me to do the exact same evaluation at the exact same location on back-to-back days, that the client will then know that I am the shopper. Market Force screwed up by not giving me my normal rate, and they knew it. And they know that they are throwing the client under the bus by allowing me to do two in a row like that. But, because it's so hard to get this location filled, they continue to allow me to do it. It's all about the money and keeping the Clients corporate entity happy. It is also a very cushy setup for the staff at that location, so there are certainly not going to say anything as long as I continue to send In good reports.

You've got a good thing going, keep it up.

I've been outed a few times. I've done several hedge hog shops where the car hops aren't wearing skates. They see me and run inside and put the skates on. I report that they were wearing skates. One woman was at least 60 years old and her skates were those from the 60's that strap on to your shoes. And she could barely stay up on them...

I had this happen recently, where the employee put on skates after seeing me. She then awkwardly skated over with a courtesy tray and checked on me. She then awkwardly skated off and fell completely back on her hind in.

Some of them here don't wear stakes

You are (poorly) attempting to rationalize irrational and unprofessional behavior.

Thank goodness none of them here wear stakes. That would be scary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/21/2017 03:12PM by LisaSTL.