Ooo you guys told me. We're so tough online. The hubris and vitriol on this board is so silly for a forum about mystery shopping. This is grunt work. Some of you must think you are really special. It's so nice of you to let Merc "do business the way they want to" as if you have a say.
Merc does not offer pay for most of their restaurant and hotel shops, so not sure what makes that reasonable.
I have worked for a mystery shopping company. Some companies like to treat the shoppers almost as if they are the client. I guess some others don't.
"Why do you say their policies are arbitrary?" - I can't think of a reason to not allow a slight date change of a shop that had a large range, so I'm calling it arbitrary. Most MSC would much rather just change the date rather than find a new shopper.
Schedulers for many mystery shopping companies are not even doing it full time like some of the employees for Merc. They do it as independent contractors and respond quickly. The nature of scheduling is not all that busy. There's not an insane amount of shops. They also have many schedulers working. The other reasons I know they are not busy is that if one calls, they immediately answer the phone and are able to assist. If you really think anyone is so busy they can't respond to an email, it's probably because you have so many people telling you they're too busy to talk to you. You would think the priority for a scheduler would be scheduling. They can't get to an app for 2 weeks? If you actually think they are so busy they can't get to the app for 2 weeks, I can't help you. I don't think it's necessary to leave the apps as long as they do. What's the point of posting it so early if you're not going to assign it early? If they really think you're not good enough to do the job and you've got tons of applications, why not just reject the application? I've never had to play so many games with any other company to get a shop.
"Why do you say the schedulers are just not "that busy?" Did you ask the same question to the person that said they were busy? How do they know?
"This is the way Merc works" - Really? Didn't know.
"just because it's not to your liking doesn't mean it's wrong" - It doesn't mean it's right either.
"get used to it or leave" Leave what? LOL. Why? This board? The company? I've worked for many companies where I did not agree with everything they do.
Like I said before, the CEO is fantastic and always responds quickly. I think if he can do it, the schedulers can.
You're absolutely right that Merc can do what they want and treat people the way they want. I have the right to write about it on the board if I want to. Get over it.