But still paying what they were before they disappeared a couple of years back. I used to like working for them, and I would again. But not for what they pay. Those appliance shops and their cellphone shops were way too much work for the compensation. And if they still can't reconcile their surveys with their shop instructions, and persist in ambiguity and contradictions, there's not enough $$ in the world for me to do those again. Too bad, because most of those locations are within a 10-minute drive from me.

Are you all seeing these shops come up again?

I saw them yesterday in my area.

Yup, in my area, too (Southeast).

I just did 5 quick cell phone shops today. Pay was $50 $65 $50 $50 $50. Oh yeah and a super quick one for $15. 3 different MSCs none of them GFK.
Don't work for GFK no more as there cheap and don't value their shoppers. $3 fee because it was a kiosk cell store in a mall. Well I still did the shop. $3 barley covers the gas to get there.

If the GFK shops are pretty much the same as they used to be, I won't do any until they double the pay... OTOH, if they're now as "easy" as they're making them out to be, I might try one at, say, $18 if I had to be in the store or near it anyway, and/or had another shop in the same plaza....

Up to a whopping $14 plus $2 reimbursement, and I'm going to be five minutes away from the location tomorrow evening. Not doing it, though. Tee-hee.

I saw those also and wanted to do them but then saw the pay. Those and The Source's $6 printers and $9 automobile audits, yuck

"Many of your comments are copied and pasted throughout the report. Please modify your comments so they are unique to each unit shown.", from GFK.

I did the appliance shop and have never put in so much time for $15! I ran out of new things to say in the many, many comment boxes. Then I had the shop returned for changes, and like a GOOD SHOPPER, I did make changes. Signed, Night Owl at 2:44 pm.

Lots of love to all hard-working Shoppers!

Hello everyone! I wrote the above in 2015. This was an appliance shop, and after this huge waste of time, I have not worked for GFK since. I try not to burn my bridges, but I will not even consider a GFK shop. Love to all, Night Owl at 2:36 am

The last shop I did for them was a cellphone shop. It was bonused to $20, which isn't bad for a "normal" cellphone shop. OMFG. I spent hours and hours on that report because the survey didn't match the instructions, so some questions I'd prepared for weren't on it, but there were others that weren't in the guidelines but were on the survey. Then there were multiple-choice questions that didn't have a viable option, with no "other" choice. There were contradictory instructions and questions, places where the questions that popped up didn't match the response you'd given. So I had to go back and change my original answer to match what they were prompting for. And on and on. It was a nightmare. After I submitted my shop, which was accepted, the bonus disappeared from my shop log! I had to fight them for that, and it was a good thing I had the original e-mail confirming the bonus. They tried to tell me that shop had never had a bonus attached.

I ended up "making" about $5/hour on that shop, and I swore that I, too, would never work for them again. I'd give it another shot, but not at what they're paying. I know all too well how much work their shops can be..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2018 11:59AM by BirdyC.

Yikes.

I've since met one of the store auditors. They said this. On the guidelines it shows a display that looks "like this". Although many stores have displays that look differently (exceptions). If you are new and the only display in the store (they are not THAT big) that looks "like this" is the one you report on and take the photo of, they will kick the report back for clarification. There are many "if this, these are the exceptions #1, #2, #3 and if #1 is this then the exceptions are #1, #2 #3" etc. ad nauseum!

However, by the end of the day, or the end of your time there, be it 5 hours like the magicians or the 13 hours like the average person, you will have reported on and taken a photo of all of those types of displays. If you are new, they will kick them back with further clarifications. If you are a fav, they will fix it for you and you can move on.

Removed.

@lazymerch Yes. The guidelines state: "If the sales associate does not mention anything about after-sales support, ask about it."

Is this the brand name of the appliance? If so, you may have inadvertently named the client and the MSC is already named.

@lazymerch wrote:

Were there any instructions where we had to ask about the XXX After-sales support?

To quote a well-known golfer who made a well-known gaffe a few years ago: "I am such an idiot."

I took one of the appliance shops because I asked for, and received, a bonus that I *thought* would make it worthwhile. Sadly, GFK still can't seem to get its act together on the guidelines and surveys. Just a few of the issues I've encountered while reading through the materials:

The guidelines say you must find out about features 1, 2, or 3. The survey indicates you must find out about sets 1, 2, and 3. Later on in the guidelines, there is a list of four feature sets you must ask about if not mentioned by the sales associate. So, is it one of three, three of three, or four of four?

The survey also asks about items not covered in the guidelines. While I always read through the survey as well as the guidelines, there are 20 pages of questions (not all applicable to all scenarios, of course), and it would have been easy to miss this observation.

I swore I'd never do another shop for them, but thought that after all these years, they would have figured out why so many shoppers got so frustrated with them. I guess not.

Seriously, does anyone know if their shop materials are written by people for whom English is not a first language?

I suggested to somebody there once that they have shopper focus groups review their guidelines and questionnaires so that confusing, contradictory, or ambiguous instructions and questions could be addressed. But they truly must believe their materials are clear and straightforward.

I'll do this shop, but I think I'd better really swear off these for good. They're not good for my blood pressure.

And their audits are exactly the same, only hundreds of pages and at least 35 addendums, plus the little things they let you know about at the last minute and sometimes when you are out of he store already. ick.

Can't you just cancel the shop instead of getting tortured?

Better to just look at the report and never mind the guidelines with the appliance one and not cancel but maybe reconsider taking another one in 2021. lol.

I e-mailed the scheduler with my questions, and -- lo and behold -- she actually understood what I was asking and answered the questions I asked, and answered them thoroughly! She was great. In the past, when I would e-mail schedulers with questions about the contradictory, confusing guidelines, or questions so poorly worded I couldn't figure out how to answer them (they asked for "no" when they meant "yes," etc.), half the time they didn't understand the question or couldn't see the problem, and their answers didn't address the issue.

I'll see how it goes, but I'm more hopeful than I was yesterday....

Let us know how it goes.

Well, if the salesperson had done anything she was supposed to, this shop would have gone much better than I'd expected. Because the scheduler answered my questions so well, I was clear on what I needed to do, The report wouldn't have been too bad if the salesperson had performed. Alas, I got stuck with a really bad salesperson. Because of that, there were questions I simply couldn't answer accurately. For example, this salesperson refused to make any brand recommendation(s), regardless of how I approached it. While that option (no recommendation made) appeared in some questions, there were others for which there was no option of "did not recommend a brand" or "other; explain below." So, there's still an issue, imo, with the report. If "did not recommend a brand" is selected for earlier questions, it should automatically be an option for the later questions about the salesperson's enthusiasm about the recommended brand(s) or other comments made about it/them. Or there should be an open-ended comment box so you can explain.

Anyway, I did the best I could and made several notes in the comment section at the end. I'm expecting questions from the editor, and I'm not sure my report will fly. I did everything I was supposed to do, but I can't control what the salesperson does or the questions on the report.... We'll see. I do take away from this, though, that GFK still has issues with its guidelines and surveys, but not nearly as many as before. If you can clear up the contradictions or ambiguity ahead of time, the report should be pretty straightforward. But if the shop doesn't take place the way it "should," you still might have problems with the report.

I find that some msc shop reports don't have a good flow. Like u said, if you answered a question one way, then the following questions should be based off that. But sometimes they ignore your answer and waht information that doesn't apply.

I think the msc and client should do the shops themselves with as many possible differentiation of outcomes and then design a survey that makes sense all around.

With that said, it sounds like u followed the instructions as well as any one could so your report should be approved.

Happy to report that my shop was accepted. I would probably do this one again, now that I've gotten the ambiguities in the shop materials cleared up. But I would only do it again if bonused; still too much work for base price.

Nice to hear !