If folks are mad about getting 30-40 emails per day from a scheduler, why not go into your shopper profile for that MSC and adjust the settings to not receive email offerings? Its quite easy to do, especially if on Sassie.

@Eric in Tampa wrote:

If folks are mad about getting 30-40 emails per day from a scheduler, why not go into your shopper profile for that MSC and adjust the settings to not receive email offerings? Its quite easy to do, especially if on Sassie.

99% of the time it's easy to do, The Source doesn't let you have that option, that's why all the complaints.

I just checked on the one I wanted, even though I assigned March 22d., it's still on the board and was due yesterday. This company is asleep at the wheel.

I applied for one of their inspections where you don't meet with the Client's Client. Just the pics and questions. I was finally driving to the area so I called and asked about it. The guy I spoke with said that the client had requested the "regular" inspector that, I suppose, was regularly doing their inspections, even though it was on the job board. I told him that I had no idea that this was a "thing". The "regular" inspector ended up not doing that assignment. When he called me I declined. They, like all companies, do have their favorites. If these assignments are not provided on a bid basis that makes the "inspector" more like an employee and not an independent contractor. Coming from a company that has such emphasis on that separation that they require you to get an EIN once you are hitting or have hit that $600 mark, I was surprised.

That does sound more like an employee/employer relationship sounds like the IRS needs to be investigating something like that. the visit should be up for rotation.

@spicy1 wrote:

I applied for one of their inspections where you don't meet with the Client's Client. Just the pics and questions. I was finally driving to the area so I called and asked about it. The guy I spoke with said that the client had requested the "regular" inspector that, I suppose, was regularly doing their inspections, even though it was on the job board. I told him that I had no idea that this was a "thing". The "regular" inspector ended up not doing that assignment. When he called me I declined. They, like all companies, do have their favorites. If these assignments are not provided on a bid basis that makes the "inspector" more like an employee and not an independent contractor. Coming from a company that has such emphasis on that separation that they require you to get an EIN once you are hitting or have hit that $600 mark, I was surprised.

@OldDog wrote:

I actually left Trendsource a few weeks ago, got fed up of low fees, long milage, and expecting a location by location quote instead of doing the smart thing and batching them!

When I want to batch visits, I call the MSC and speak to a scheduler. I'll offer to do more than one shop for $X amount of PAD, but only if I can do the visits on the same day. If they have to be done on different days, then I'll do Location 1 for $Y PAD and Location 2 for $Z PAD. Recently I was assigned two visits and the first appointment call went smooth as silk, but the second had a disconnected number for the contact. Because I still had my scribbled notes on my PAD offer, I was able to call shortly before my first visit when I still didn't have a working number for the second assignment. I talked to the same scheduler, who had no problem adjusting the PAD to the earlier agreed amount for a single visit during the trip.

I can never give a PAD offer without planning my own route using Google Maps. The mileage the MSC shows is a radius or "as the crow flies." Well, I'm not a crow, and I don't have a helicopter. I have to travel on the roads, and they don't generally go in a straight line from my home to the destination. Due to the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Sacramento River Delta, the roads can be winding mountain roads or can take me miles further because of waterways that don't have bridges across them. Plus, the roads with bridges in the Delta and the Bay Area often have bridge tolls. And, of course, the MSC schedulers don't know all of this. It's why this company allows you to request PAD, but they ask you to state the reason for it. If they don't get a better (lower) offer and the project really needs to get done, I've had my PAD offers accepted. If they do get a better offer, I'm the backup shopper.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2018 12:10PM by LizRich.

You can fix this by changing your profile. In Trendsource click on your name in the upper right corner, and the menu will show your profile selection. If you go into that you can select if you want to receive any emails. The emails are automatically sent, so don't blame the people at any companies for sending out emails, including ones that are a long distance. It would be too time consuming for the company to program the system to set limits on what distance they send to you. They don't know who might be willing to travel farther for any particular shop.

I wrote and told higher up my problems with their scheduling. Received a very nice return email asking me to call, gave me his extension, and he would assign me next round of jobs.....finally!! My guess is the new schedulers have been assigning to their people, putting an end to it if it kills me...

I got the first of new jobs in my town...so glad, owner looking into problems. I can't believe how nice he was looking up my record and apologized for the oversight. I haven't done anything for them in months.....but got one today at 4:00.

Oh, @Irene_L.A., that is such GREAT news!

Really made me happy...

@shopperbob wrote:

A few years back, I also experienced that problem, but with ICCDS. After receiving approx. 40 individual offers from a scheduler within an hour, I sent an E-letter requesting she package the shops in a single letter. The next day, as I recall, she only sent 30+; I firmly responded with a demand. When, on the third day, the 30+ was repeated. I phoned the MSC, but their position was that if I did not agree with the scheduler's manner of business, it was my prerogative to deactivate; I immediately took that action and have never regretted my decision.

But did you really need to deactivate? In my experience it is usually possible to opt out of the emails while keeping the account active. That way you get to check in with the MSC when you feel like it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2018 11:43AM by silver12.

You can just go in an opt out of emails when companies get an overzealous new scheduler. As opposed to having to send an "E-Letter" lol