So, I'm driving the other day and get a call from what says "Mystery Shopper" with a NJ area code on my phone. I answer and identify myself. The person gives their name and company and says they have a new bank project to open a checking account and report on the service. I ask who the bank is and when am told say "No, sorry; they aren't anywhere close where I live and I already have two checking accounts". The scheduler says "Well we PAY you to open this one!". I said "I'm sorry, but no. I have two and I"m good with that and I'm quite busy with the holidays right now. Thank you for thinking of me though and calling". I hang up.

20 seconds later - he calls back. He starts again and I say "You just called me and I declined the job, again thank you for calling but I'm not interested". I hang up.

Another 20 seconds (and I'm starting to realize that my Christmas ringtone can be really annoying at this point) so I answer again. I don't even have "hello" out of my mouth and I am YELLED at for "not taking this job we are giving you. You don't need the money? We need someone to do it. Why won't you? Its your job! What reason do you have? You need to tell me why!". Now my mind is a scramble of four letter words, a remark about his sparkling personality and top notch Customer service skills as well as someone needs to find a new line of work. I told him I am not their employee and hung up.

He calls AGAIN. When I got to the light and it was red I blocked the number. I can understand a scheduler doing a little begging but to be told NO several times and then to call back and yell like that. Plus "I work for them". Yeah.

Oh...he said he was calling from Informa. And don't ask me what his name was because I couldn't make that out at all.

suzie, omg, I would have been PISSED! I'm so glad you blocked his number. He would have gotten all the four letter words and some new ones from me.

I would call or email Informa and report his behavior. In my experience they are not the sort of MSC to tolerate that sort of behavior. They have been expanding and adding schedulers, so they probably need some feedback.

You handled yourself well.

As a stylistic difference, however, I would have offered to do the shop for a VERY healthy bonus and found out just how badly the shop needed to be done..... If it were to be offered at $500, I might find myself suddenly less busy....

You should email Julius Wolf jwolf@informars.com and tell him about it. Give him the phone number this person used to contact you and they should be able to find out who it was.

I suspected as much. I didn't get his name as English was not his first language (worse than calls from Market Force) but I do still have the number.

It was a passing thought actually but I could only imagine doing one thing wrong with it and being out the aggravation and losing any sort of pay. In all seriousness though, I have two checking accounts; one for MS and one that my husband and I have. Same as credit cards. I don't need more. I don't want more. Even with my MS one I didn't even get checks for it; use debit only and get DD.

I am actually doing an account opening shop for them later this week. I have 2 checking accounts already but It pays too good for me to pass up. I'll close It later. It consists of 3 parts and pays $150. I had someone contact me about it after signing up for the first part through an Informa employee and found out the 2nd person was a 3rd party outside scheduler. He didn't call me or text me but contacted me via email (they don't have my cell number). You really should let Informs know what happened.

So I’ve just done two assignments very recently for Informa and found my scheduler to be in the top 5 of the sweetest schedulers I’ve dealt with in my decade of shopping. It’s only been through emails though. I’d go higher up. It sounds like they outsource their call center and the way you were yelled at is certainly out of line. I can’t imagine calling someone for any reason that many times in a row!!

I agree that you need to let Informa know. I am sure this is not how they expect their schedulers to behave. Frankly it borders on harassment.

I feel your pain.....I block so many spam callers that I can do the sequence of commands on my iPhone without even looking....it's a sorry world in telecommunications...everyone has forgotten their manners.

are you kidding me? report that SOB. he should be fired.

I have four personal accounts and I will still open accounts with other banks. I try to open only savings accounts unless I have to open a checking account. You don't have to get checks or sign up for On-line banking. I just state that this account is just for me, the banks can not control what you do or have with them.

suzieboz, please let us know what Informa had to say about it.

I am going to email them tonight. Odd though when I looked up info about Informa they are out of California and this guy called from NJ with that weird caller ID. I need to screen shot that from my phone to enclose in the email. The caller ID read "Mystery Shopper" on the app I use. thanks guys.

Also when looking at my past shops with them, I haven't done one since February 2013 either. Looks like I really don't work WITH them either, much less for them!

Yeah, like I said, they have been using third party schedulers (as I was informed by an employee of the company). While the 3rd party scheduler who contacted me did so via email and was polite, he was not an Informa employee. It's important that you follow up.

I could see calling you back once if he was unable to get anyone else and could increase the payment. Him calling back an hour later saying, "I am sorry to bother you again but I am able to offer you an extra $75 if you are able to find the time to get this done" would be understandable. Not three times in a row!

We need to write an article for the magazine on etiquette when scheduling with shopper 0_o



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2017 06:10PM by MountainCacher88.

I just got around to reading this thread, and am a bit shocked at this happening with Informa. I have worked on and off with them through the years, and my insight would be, this must be a new scheduler. They are one of the most professional MSC's. I would definitely report this person in no uncertain terms. They would not want this to happen again.
Edited to add...They are in in a high end area of Los Angeles, and I work with Cynthia. I thought because of holidays, they may have hired a temp., but they wouldn't hire such a crazy person....do let us know what happens.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2017 03:54AM by Irene_L.A..

My email was never responded to by them.

@suzieboz wrote:

My email was never responded to by them.

Call them and request to speak to a manager.

shoppers@informars.com

I found this to be the exact and proper email for this project. I don't know why Julius didn't respond or forward the email to the proper channel, but you should get results from this email, particularly from Ryan Cleek, field director for the project.

@shopper8 wrote:

I have four personal accounts and I will still open accounts with other banks. I try to open only savings accounts unless I have to open a checking account. You don't have to get checks or sign up for On-line banking. I just state that this account is just for me, the banks can not control what you do or have with them.

Savings account with Wells Fargo require $1500.00 .

Irene are you saying $1500 to open a savings at WF? Nope, here $100

Yep, I opened a checking, but was told about opening a savings and not getting charged fee's, and you have to keep a $1500.00 balance...however, the job requires opening checking only. The difference is odd between states.(countries).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/2018 04:15PM by Irene_L.A..

Very unfortunate but I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one experiencing an issue with them. The same NJ scheduler called me and instructed me to complete a shop asap. It was very bizarre.
On another note, I'm hoping someone can advise - I completed 12 shops in the summer and only received payment for five. I've emailed shopper@informars.com and left voicemails to no avail. Any other ideas on how I can reconcile these payments? Thanks!

I work with Cynthia and know they've been away over the holidays, but I just wrote an email an she answered, try again by email.