The irony just occurred to me about that, LOL, considering your screen name.

@The Greatest wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I just won't do it for $17.

Wow, aren't you just the special one?

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I just won't do it for $17.

At $17, I might do one if I had another shop in the same building. But, its not worth my time to cross the street for $17.

You really must consider a few things about this particular shop: unlike some bank shops where you can leave after 20-30 minutes if you don't receive assistance and you will still get paid, this one requires to you either wait for assistance or make an appointment to return the next day. If the bank is busy with several customers waiting ahead of you, it could take an hour or more to see a banker, and then you will spend an additional 10-15 minutes with the banker, depending on the scenario. I don't think $17 is enough of a fee to compensate for this possibility. If you don't want to wait, that's a dry run, especially if you picked up the shop because you have 5-10 other shops to do within a few miles of the branch and aren't planning on going back to that area anytime again in the following week. Also getting slowed down by a 1.5 hour shop throws everything else on my schedule for the day off track. I tend to bundle short routes of shops with various MSCs to optimize my time.

One time (with a shop for the previous MSC) I arrived at 2 PM, and after already waiting for 30 minutes, I was told that the banker had appointments for the rest of the afternoon and another banker had gone home sick, so I would not be able to speak with anyone that day (the branch closed at 5). I had to cancel the shop, even though the MSC had already increased the fee to $24 for me, because I wasn't going back to that area again within the next week. I have a good track record of not canceling shops so I really hated doing that.

Also, make sure you don't pick the first or the fifteenth as your shop days.

Everyone gets their government checks on those days. I arrived at one bank to find nine retirees waiting to cash their government checks or withdraw their rent money from their accounts to pay rent.

The ATM maxed out at $200 so they had to see the banker. Now granted, this was in a neighborhood where people didn't use checks (think money orders and cash transactions).

That's excellent info, wrosie, thank you!

I've done these banking shops SO many times with the other MSC. I've taken the test many times as well and always passed them. With IPSOS, I guess I won't be doing them because I've tried two of the tests once each and failed them. The tests are not popping up to re-do them. Yeah, these tests are tricky.

FYI, you don't need an exterior photo but you DO need a business card...if that helps.

If you want help passing the test, email sanaz.lee@ipsos.com. I took the test, failed it once, and emailed Sanaz for help, and she/he helped me out (sorry people named Sanaz, I didn't know if it was feminine or masculine). Anyway, I decided to get certified in the event that they go up to $24 or more, as there are a few of these banks that are close to home that are never very busy that I might do if I don't have a lot of other shops for those days.

Thanks for the info JASFLALMT and MsJudi. MsJudi, that might be what I am missing. I tried clicking on both the exterior and business card but, it wouldn't let me so, I went for all three. We didn't have to have an exterior picture with the last MSC. All we needed was the business card. So, I wasn't sure which one they were asking for on IPSOS test.

I think you only need the exterior photo if the location is closed.

JASFLALMT, see, that might be why I failed it. I need to read the instructions better.

You know, I am not sure that the other MSC has lost this client entirely. There have been times in the past where a client has used two or more MSCs to do their shops at the same time. I wonder if the clients think they can get a fresh pool of shoppers that way? They might not realize how many shoppers do shops for multiple MSCs. They might get a few who are only signed up with a handful of companies and not with both MSCs handling their shops, I guess.

You could be right. I was wondering that, too. I do know that not all the locations I did with the first MSC are showing up on the second MSC (not yet, anyways). There is just a handful of them showing on the second MSC. I am not seeing any from the first MSC at all for this month yet.

I was thinking the same thing....they're going to get the same shoppers with a new company...probably not a whole new pool of shoppers...same ole, same ole..I'll do them all day for $17.00. I just wished I would feel well enough to get moving at my usual rate of speed.

MsJudi, I am wishing you a fast recovery. I hate you are feeling under the weather.

Ms. Judi, love your tag line. I hope you're feeling better soon.

Get well!

The guidelines were as clear as muddy water, LOL. They didn't match the quiz completely.

@ArkLaMissshopping wrote:

JASFLALMT, see, that might be why I failed it. I need to read the instructions better.

I was told in an e-mail today that they lowered the passing grade, you no longer have to get 100%. I'm guessing that too many people were failing to qualify.

They had one thing in the guidelines that struck me as odd and completely did not make sense:

"If the packet is printed on both sides of the paper, you must fold down the page of the blank side onto the page that is printed, as show in the image below."

My question is: why would the other side be blank if the packet is printed on both sides of the paper? If the packet is printed on both sides of the paper, the reverse side will not be blank. I emailed them and let them know. LOL!

If there is an odd number of pages the last sheet of paper will only be printed on one side. I don't think this is what they meant in their instructions though.

There's no bank shops in my area. I was wondering what bank y'all were talking about, then I saw a post in the Job Board section and think I figured it out.

I just completed my report for overdraft. I found this odd.

The instructions state:

"Did the banker give you ALL PAGES (15 total) of the current Helpful Information For You Packet? See example image below. If you receive this, be sure to write the shop date clearly and as large as possible on the cover page prior to uploading. Use format (mm/dd/yy)."

HOWEVER, there is no place in the report to upload a picture of the page you are told to write the date on. I know with the old MSC you had to upload a picture.

I would upload it somewhere else where photos are allowed. Apparently they have a LOT of glitches and errors to overcome.

I was reminded today why $17 isn't nearly enough. I picked two jobs up because they were close to each other and I had a light workload. It took 45 min. to finally see a banker at the first location even though they had 6 working. They kept saying that someone was going to be out any moment to help me. Then the banker took 20 minutes talking to me about credit cards along with everything else they rambled on about. $17 was not nearly enough money.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2018 04:09AM by wwin.

Hmmm. Now Ipsos has posted gas stations Maritz also has. Is it possible Maritz is just so overwhelmed that they have subcontracted out some clients?

Eta: also not self assign now, again making route planning difficult.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/21/2018 01:43PM by sestrahelena.

Are you referring to the "Brand Assessment" new shops? If so, they are not anything like the Maritz gas stations. I've done them for Service Sleuth years ago. They are completely different. Some may be at the same locations as the gas station audits, but not measuring same thing at all.
It seems like IPSOS is THE COMPANY lately.

So, them lowering the passing grade explains why I can't take the test the second time. I missed one question, was told I failed and I had to retake the test but, it wouldn't let me retake it. Thanks for the info! I understand now.

Ark, email Sanaz for help. She/he can fix it for you.

You know, a long time ago IPSOS subbed out a contract for a very well known client to Maritz, then the shop went to Bare, and now the client is back with IPSOS again (those of you who have been shopping for 10-15 years or more know which client I am referring to). I think these MSCs are very chummy with each other.

I can't pass the shop where you have to mail something through a carrier. I keep scoring 78 but you need 80 to pass. I've read the guidelines. I know the questions I'm getting wrong, just don't know the correct answer as I didn't see it address in the guidelines.