MarketForce shows no mercy but am I wrong?

I did a car wash shop yesterday. I've done several before, no problem.

In the section about whether the vehicle was dry, I checked the response that the mirrors were not dry. This was because as I drove away and got up to speed, soap started foaming out from the bottom of the mirror. This could not be seen while the vehicle was sitting still at the car wash.

The shop was rejected because I was supposed to point out to the employee(s) that there was an issue, but I did not see the issue until I was back on the road. The forward motion forced the soap out of the mirror encasing.

I explained this but they still invalidated the shop.

I am left feeling like I should have lied. I do not like that feeling. If I had lied and said everything was peachy keen, I'd have my $30 reimbursement. I feel like my honesty cost me that shop. What could I have done differently, other than not mentioned the stupid foaming soap??

Just out shopping around...

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Did the guidelines and report ask for the condition of the car, while still on the lot? If so, you could have honestly answered Yes, the car was dry. If the questionnaire had a place to add comments regarding anything unusual, maybe you could have provided the after-the-fact observation in that box.

Sorry about the invalidation

Agree with Mert. When you left the car wash the vehicle was visibly dry. They want to know if the correctly dried the vehicle, they're not looking for technicalities.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

I will add that *most* other companies would let you change your answer to match what happened but I think their editors are overseas and speak English as a second language. They probably don't understand the nuances of the issue.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

I am not sure that the editors are overseas, though some of the schedulers are. I am curious why you think that the editors are overseas?

Just from communications. Maybe not all of them are?

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

Thanks Mert and bgriffin. True. The mirrors appeared dry on the lot, so I should've answered as such and put the foaming soap info in additional comments. I see that now.

I'm new and have done shops for.. circa... 25 MSC's. I've made a couple bloopers but MF is the only one that invalidated a shop without any opportunity for correction.

Lesson learned!

Just out shopping around...

The Only way around the invalidation of a shop is that you actually catch the problem yourself and send an email to helpdesk@marketforce.com What I have gotten in the habit of doing is saving the form after doing the review. That has saved my bacon several times. The last time was a week ago. I had swapped the times that I had done a couple of shops and they did not even come close to what the receipts said.

In my experiences, market force reporting does not care much about technicalities. You have to pick a side and stick with it. You'll get reimbursed on the 10th of the next month this way. Sounds like a learning experience -- we've all had them. Sounds like you should have reported the car as dry, sight on seen, on the lot. What happens when the front wheels hit the road are beyond the reporting.

Sometimes less is more. Make sure you tell the truth, but keep in mind if you over complicate the answer to their question, the reviewer may become displeased and make ur report invalid. is this fair? not really, considering the fat you're probably just trying to be as accurate and helpful as possible. but then again, life isn't fair. I've noticed that sometimes, with certain companies, its best to act as though you're in court, in front of a judge.... Answer the question, as is, nothing more and nothing less. So was your window dried? Yes. whatever happened later is irrelevant to some people. I've learned the hard way. I want to add that extra part in just so they know, and it makes me fee like i did a good job. But,....unfortunately that's just not what they're looking for sometimes. sorry but your shop. i work with them a lot and i've had a few issues, but i fought tooth and nail all three times and won my case and so iv learned to be very careful if i choose to work with them. i work with so many other shops that my options are not limited in the slightest so i just go where the money is.... best of luck to you

I had a shop that I had to stay 10 minutes after my meal and since the timings I reported were just short based on their calculations the shop was invalided. It was crap since I timed it after my meal cause I had places to go. Always round up your leaving time is the lesson I learned with this mistake since their system is automatically rounding down your time.

Yeah, I would just chalk that up to a learning experience with this MSC. Stuff happens

I now see the error of my ways, lol. Being a rookie is tough

At least my car was clean for almost two days. Thank you so much, mother nature, for dumping more snow and sleet on us so that my expensive learning experience was a really special and hard kick to the ... *insert bodypart here*

Sigh.

Just out shopping around...

Honestly I think you were fine. I can't think of any other MSC's that would drop your shop over this. They'd usually ask for a clarification from you. There's obviously a reason why most of us don't particularly like/can't stand MF retail.

A similar thing happened to me recently with another mystery shop company. In a retail store I was supposed to inquire only about an item they sell in the store with an open ended question. If they do not carry that item then I had to ask about another item they do have. I have in the past asked which colors they carry and it was fine if I did not like any of the colors. This time I asked which sizes and it turned out they did have the item I asked about but not the size I mentioned in a follow up question. They rejected my shop. The reject was about an objection I raised after they showed me the sizes they had. I could have just said thank you to the sales person after they showed me the wares and sizes and I would have been fine.
Lesson learned...stop when you have completed doing what they want and do (or report) no more or you will get into trouble on some shops.

Good ole Market Force. Are we expecting another 20th to 22nd payment date this month? I know they always pay late around tax time. Not sure if it's because the employees are busy last minute filing their own taxes, or answering phone calls from all of us with worries.

MegglesKat

I was paid April 11.

They paid on time this month already for me via dd.

Hmmmm maybe I should email. I haven't been paid.

MegglesKat

I did two shops for them back to back. I put in the wrong time on one of them so they overlapped. I got an e-mail that it was invalidated. I stated that I would fix the times. I was told they do not allow that. I lost the one shop. I guess their company their rules.

I had that happened a long time ago. The car clock and the watch clock had different times by a few minutes. I learned to always stick with the same timing device.

@MountainCacher88 wrote:

Hmmmm maybe I should email. I haven't been paid.

Wooooooowwww. Yes you need to CALL them. We got paid over a week ago.

@MountainCacher88 wrote:

Hmmmm maybe I should email. I haven't been paid.

I just got my check on the 21st.

Thanks Sassy. I was paid too. Usually, I get paid between the 10th and 15th. All good

MegglesKat

I did a shop because I was emailed that they needed a shop done urgent. I was able to fit it in my schedule and they rejected my shop because I shopped two restaurants with the same name during the same lunch time. They should have filters that dont send me eligible emails like that. The shop had one hour in between. I wasted family time to do this shop.

Sorry to hear about your shop being rejected. But did you read the shop instructions? It says at the top half that you cannot do two shops within the same meal period on the same day. Even though the msc may be in a rush to get the shops done, we still have to read the instructions. At least u got a meal out of it.

Sometimes they would call me offering a bonus to do a certain shop for a particular client for a particular date and time. I would have to inform them that I could not help them since I have already scheduled a shop for that client for that same date and time. So yes, they do not keep track of our scheduled shops for possible conflicts - it is on us to do so.

@miamishopper305 wrote:

I did a shop because I was emailed that they needed a shop done urgent. I was able to fit it in my schedule and they rejected my shop because I shopped two restaurants with the same name during the same lunch time. They should have filters that dont send me eligible emails like that. The shop had one hour in between. I wasted family time to do this shop.

I'm also sorry your shop was denied, but 7star is exactly right. The guidelines are very clear about not being able to do two of the same shops during the same time frame. In addition, when a shopper accepts the first shop of each type every month, the shopper must pass a test. One of the questions is: " I understand and agree that I may complete only one (1) XXXXX assignment during any meal period (i.e. I can only do one breakfast shop a day)." Unless the shopper selects "Yes, I understand," the shop is not assigned to him. So any shopper who has accepted a shop with the client should be aware that he cannot do another shop with the same client during the same meal period.

Emails go out from schedulers and they are cattle calls. The schedulers do not log into each individual shopper's account to see if he is eligible, if he has accepted other shops with the same client, when those shops might be scheduled, or other information. The emphasis is to kick out the information that there's a shop they want to fill and they send that to everybody and anybody. It's the shopper's responsibility to keep track of their own eligibility and schedule issues and potential conflicts.

Anytime a company gives me a bad time and I lose money, I generally do not work for them any more. We seem to count on every dollar in this industry, and mystery shop companies know this. We really make very little compared to a real job. Seems like your situation demanded a lot for the $30.00. If it were me I would have driven back to the car wash within five to ten minutes of leaving, and written them up in additional comments. Yes, you learned the lesson and lost $30.00. Think carefully, if you want to work with Market Force again. I worked for them for awhile. They lo-ball most of their shops, and do not care that they do this. Just think there are thousands of shoppers across the country that shop for them. You are not a name, or a face, just a number. They can get rid of you any time they want. Read more about them when they decide to kick shoppers to the curb after a shopper does so many shops. De-activation is a nasty word in this industry.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2018 06:46AM by gbarnes.

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