As I live in Utah there are numerous remote locations that pop up when Maritz has gas station projects that need to be completed. I sit back and wait for the bonuses to increase, and then I book loops that can be quite lucrative between the available bonuses and the mileage deductions.

Recently such loops have become even more lucrative, as the Green Gas brand has added POP Refresh assignments that allow for double projects at most locations. The pay and incentives are the same as the mystery shop assignments, but take less than 15 or 20 minutes to complete, including reporting time.

I took advantage of this and recently completed a couple of loops covering over 300 miles each. I happen to love driving, and these road trips allow me to crank up new tunes that I would not be sharing with my girlfriend (I’m a musician and a progressive rock/jazz fanatic, and my tastes are much broader than hers).

Lately it would seem with the extra income opportunities from Maritz come extra pains in the patootie.

For starters, I’ve run into Virtuoso dumping photos from my report submissions, something that has never happened before. I’ve had multiple reports returned that have been missing random photos, not including the "required" photos of things that don’t exist (another story for another time).

The POP Refresh projects require only 3 photos: a fuel dispenser with the updated pump topper, a store receipt (have to make a second purchase to prove being at the location despite having to submit other location photos but that is yet another story for another time), and an overall site photo. I recently had to repost 3 photos to a report that was returned for not having photos attached, despite my uploading the photos before completing the report. Only takes a few minutes to fix, but a bit aggravating nonetheless.

A little higher up on the aggravating scale involves our favorite peeve: MSC employees that do not demonstrate the same attention to detail expected of shoppers.

I had to reschedule my most recent loop due to inclement weather. It was no problem changing the date for the Green Gas locations, but the reschedule fell outside the available date range for 2 Red/Blue Gas locations I had taken. I called into Team 3 and requested an extension to perform the assignments on November 7. In the course of the conversation I indicated that I would need the 12-hour report window extended as the 2 locations would be at the end of a 14 hour day (including an hour’s drive home from the last stop) and that I would have a total of 17 reports to file after the time required to resize close to 600 photos so Virtuoso, which seems to be mired in the last century, could handle the uploads (also another story for another time… yeesh).

This would come back to haunt me while dealing with another attention to detail issue. After a 2-hour drive to get to a stop with both a Green Gas mystery shop/reveal audit and a POP refresh, I came to find that the POP refresh had already been done, apparently by a Sinclair are rep who had been at the location a couple of hours ahead of me. While I waited for over twenty minutes to receive clarification from Team 2 on how to to handle the situation, I received a call from a Team 3 rep.

“Hi, this is (employee name withheld to protect the guilty) with Maritz Team 3. I’m calling to confirm that your 2 assignments for Red/Blue Gas were completed yesterday and you will be filing your reports today.”

“Ummmm. No. Those assignments are scheduled for today and I will be filing my reports tomorrow, as previously, agreed.”

“Oh (teehee), I’m looking at the wrong calendar!” <massive eye roll that almost disconnected my optic nerve>

All the above pale in comparison to the most screwed up Maritz assignment to date. One of my Green Gas pairs of shop + refresh assignments was at a remote location in Utah, near a world-famous spot where cars and other motorized devices go really, really fast. The place was a mess, with all kinds of infractions including bird poop on pump toppers, graffiti on canopy posts, a “landscape” area (a raised cement feature filled with gravel) that contained at least 4 dozen cigarette butts, and a pair of filthy leather gloves laying on the floor in the middle of the convenience store.

I filed my report posting the pictures with the best examples of the infractions for each question (because Virtuoso only allows single files per question unless a report is returned). I received a phone call from a Team 2 member informing me that the client had issues with my report. We discussed the issues at hand, and she asked me to send all my photos from the location. As I was on the road at the time, I asked her to send me an email with the email address I was to use for sending the pictures.

What she went me was a website address link and not an email address. I copied what appeared to be an email address from the embedded link and forwarded all my photos from the location. I received a phone message a few days later from the team member, implying she had yet to receive the photos. Meanwhile, somebody must have received them, as an editor had changed out several pictures and returned the report, asking me to change a couple of answers to reflect the photos that had been swapped out. Then I received an email requesting that I send all photos again to the Team 2 mailbox. Only there was a problem… no email address for the Team 2 mailbox was included.

I sent another email requesting an address for posting the pictures. I received a reply indicating that I needed to go back into the report and post 2 pictures each for a list of questions. Only a couple of problems with this: one question was for the receipt from the in-store purchase (sorry I don’t do multiple scans of receipts) and, as previously mentioned, Virtuoso doesn’t allow multiple photos per questions when initially filling out an online report.

I replied back with questions addressing both these issues. After 2 days without a reply I called into Team 2 to try to figure out what was going on. It was explained that the team member with whom I had been communicating was out of the office for a week. This required a lengthy re-explanation of the situation, and all the effort I could muster not to go ballistic on the team member who happened to take the call. Despite the team member telling me that the assignment would be returned On Hold so I could upload additional pictures, when I logged into Virtuoso I discovered the assignment hand been reposted with ALL my photos deleted from the report. and no possibility for posting multiple photos per question.

I called back in to Team 2 and gave an earful to the team member answering the phone, stating that I was not going redo the entire report, and I requested that an editor contact me so I could arrange to send in all my photos (again) and have the editor sort it out as to which pictures went in the report. When I did not receive the expected call that day I called into Team 2 the following morning, only to get the “all representatives are busy” message requesting that I leave a voicemail message, which I did, outlining all outstanding issues with my Green Gas assignments.

After a couple of hours without hearing back, I called in again as I was schedule to leave town and wanted to get issues resolved once and for all. I reiterated my request to send the full set of photos from the location and have an editor sort things out. The team member gave me the correct email address for the Team 2 mailbox, and I sent the photos (again), thinking that would close things out once and for all.

Silly me. I received an email indicating that because the assignment had been reposted to Virtuoso, nobody at Maritz was able to access it. This required that I go back in and re-submit the assignment As Is without photos so that it was once again in the hands of the editors.

Not surprisingly, when I logged into Virtuoso this morning, the assignment was still showing as On Hold. Needless to say, I will not be holding my breath waiting to see when this one is finally put to bed. During this entire process I have been taking advantage of the Maritz Internal field in the reports to point out grammatical errors and typos in both the report form and the authorization letter for the POP Refreshes. To Maritz’ credit, they finally acknowledged one of the errors, and the online form has been updated to be grammatically correct. As I have just booked another route a week from tomorrow with doubled-up Green Gas projects, it will be interesting to see if they have fixed the typo in the authorization letter.

Thanks for the bandwidth to vent to a group that can appreciate the recent spate of frustrations. Not looking for sympathy (though if you wish to provide it I will accept it!), but it would be interesting to hear from other Maritz shoppers who have had similar issues with the company.

Holy TL/DR! This is why Twitter limits to 140 Characters!

Yeah, I've run into issues. I give them what they want and move on. Sometimes I'm not happy with the outcome, but I know the clunky system also results in good things that make up for it, such as the lucrative route of double shops with double incentives to which you refer. I have to take the bad with the good sometimes.

To submit multiple photos, just leave one of the photo fields empty (one that needs only one photo,) and click Submit. The screen will reappear saying you are missing a photo. You can then submit the missing photo, plus add a second photo to all the other fields. This works on the website. Don't know about the app.

@Hoju wrote:

Holy TL/DR! This is why Twitter limits to 140 Characters!

I don't Tweet but I believe it was just upped to 280 characters. However, point taken, I stopped reading after the 3rd paragraph..

But wait! There's more!

I received an automated email requesting pictures of the fuel and instore receipts, with the Visit ID indicated on the receipts.

I'm out of town, but can access all my shop photos via Dropbox.

I added the Visit ID to both receipt pictures using Graphic Convertor, and I attached the modified photos to my email reply.

Only one problem: the email address that I'm supposed to send to is invalid. Two attempts at submitting the photos, and both bounced.

I've done many shops for this MSC and one thing I've learned is that I have to put my opinion aside, judge the area objectively and report it clearly.
I've come across sites that were filthy, but then realized that it was not due to neglect, but more likely the amount of customers versus the employee's ability to keep the shop, restroom, etc clean.
Anyway, with regard to submitting multiple photos of stuff, I've discontinued it. I take enough photos of the infractions, submit a good one for each area being reported and keep the rest in a file for that specific site address. I realized that I was submitting multiple photos to show my opinion.
Now, I just add comments in the comment section about the site's appearance, careful to show objectivity, not my opinion. If they want more photos, they can ask.

@ wrote:

as previously mentioned, Virtuoso doesn’t allow multiple photos per questions when initially filling out an online report.

But the Virtuoso report DOES allow you to post multiple photos for questions on the initial report. After uploading the first one, you are returned to the question. Just click the camera icon again, and you're back at the upload page. Upload the 2nd photo. I've done at least 3 at one time for a forecourt full of rusty, dirty, graffitied pumps.

CoolMusic- I liked your post! Just remember that Maritz has a "short fuse" and they will 'block' you from certain assignments when you complain enough.....it has happened to me! Took me a year to get another assignment from them, after copious pleading and begging!

Run away!!

Can I ask - when something like an "overdue" shop comes up or they need clarification for something, do you guys get an email of any sort? I've accidentally forgotten the date of a shop and never got an overdue notice by email. And then they wanted clarification on one report and I didn't receive an email letting me know that I needed to do that. I didn't find about either of these until days later when logging in for something else. But I do get the "jobs available" emails and the ones letting me know which jobs have been given to me. They probably think I'm an awful shopper. If I'd gotten emails it would have been taken care of asap. Also I don't get replies to most of my messages sent to them.

I have come to really like working for MaritzCX......reliable pay.... good bonuses....nice folks....straight forward reports. They are a favorite!

I agree. One of my favorites as well.

@SadieBelle wrote:

Can I ask - when something like an "overdue" shop comes up or they need clarification for something, do you guys get an email of any sort?

It seems to me that if the shop and its "hold" status is critical to Maritz, I indeed, get an Email. But, OTOH, I check in to their website (and my other MSCs) on a daily basis. I do this for the reasons you mention, but also for my understanding as to how their system works - meaning, of course, that after being a Maritz shopper for a period of time, their system's beneficial aspects are realized.

As for axes to grind about this MSC, it seems to me that either one has to learn their system, be professional about it and be objective, not taking things personally.

@MFJohnston wrote:

I have come to really like working for MaritzCX......reliable pay.... good bonuses....nice folks....straight forward reports. They are a favorite!

I especially like it when I see people on this forum trashing them and vowing never to work for them again. It just makes my incentive amounts go up a little every time.

@Hoju wrote:

@MFJohnston wrote:

I have come to really like working for MaritzCX......reliable pay.... good bonuses....nice folks....straight forward reports. They are a favorite!

I especially like it when I see people on this forum trashing them and vowing never to work for them again. It just makes my incentive amounts go up a little every time.

I hadn't considered what you are saying and I would have to agree. Over the past few months, I have performed more shops for this MSC than usual that were highly bonused.

Recently, my partner and I were discussing this situation, remarking that perhaps the economy has gained strength such that more shoppers are returning to 9 to 5 jobs leaving the MS jobs open for substantial incentives. I'm OK with that and will work at night until the temps become too bitter and interfere with my work at home. During the winter months it is busier for me as the horses require more of my attention.

I like this logic, French Farmer.....
Maritz side note....I got an email from them yesterday asking/begging me to go to a remote location and pick up 3 shops by 11/30. Incentive wasn't worth the trouble/expense, so I asked for a bigger incentive....resulting in back and forth a couple of times with emails, and we settled on: Maritz would schedule me with the agreed upon incentive...since then there has been nothing....crickets!.Ah well.....

Have any of you ever had a shop with Maritz where they neither paid the shop, nor rejected the shop, just ignored it like it was never done at all? I have tried it all, but can't get an answer or call back.

"But the Virtuoso report DOES allow you to post multiple photos for questions on the initial report..."

Ah... I see what you mean.

But I don't work that way within Virtuoso. I work all the way through the online survey, then submit the form before posting all my photos.

This provides for a much smoother workflow compared to constantly bopping back and forth between photo uploads and checkboxes/comment fields.

As at least one other shopper has mentioned, it's not worth the time to upload multiple photos as they will accept reports with single photos per question/infraction as long as the photos are satisfactory.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2017 10:44PM by CoolMusic.

@SadieBelle wrote:

Can I ask - when something like an "overdue" shop comes up or they need clarification for something, do you guys get an email of any sort?

I tend to get too many notices from them for overdue or on hold. They will mark shops as overdue as soon as the window for the assignment is open.

And I get notices when assignments have gone on hold, asking for clarification.

While they are quick to send, they are not so quick to reply.

I recently got notice that they wanted more comments for a Yellow Gas shop. Only problem was that I could not access the report from either the link in the notice or from My Current Shops. I clicked on the email icon and explained as such, asking how they wished me to proceed. The shop went off hold and into No Action Necessary with a reply from MCX.