I did a shop last month which required me to be a current customer of a large cable provider. Among the acceptable introductions was "I have a question about my account."
I have two services from this company: internet including home phone; and mobile phone. Nowhere in the instructions did it specify which account to inquire about.
I actually did have a question about my mobile phone bill, so that's what I asked. (Turns out the physical stores don't have access to the mobile phone bills, which was a surprise since that's where I subscribed to the service but that's not why I'm not getting paid.} North Fork is refusing to pay because I led the association into a discussion of mobile service, and they can't use my evaluation.
I feel like I did the work I was told to do and I should get paid regardless of whether they can send the evaluation to the client, because they didn't specify what accounts to ask about...the guidelines were defective, not my shop.
Am I missing something?
Do I have any recourse to get my money? Any contact info for supervisor or higher-up at NorthFork?
TIA.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2018 12:20AM by djd1950.

@djd1950..northfork is pretty strict on their guidelines...you might want to see if they would be willing to let you reshop it...

I had one small thing that didn't adhere to the guidelines once and they let me reshop it..it is a pain in the butt but it was worth it for me..the second shop was accepted and have had multiple shops with them since...

Also I do find it somewhat odd that it took them a month to catch this

I did a shop recently that got rejected because I "didn't follow the guidelines" (one of several reasons). The guidelines said to use a scenario and gave 3 examples as "suggestions." Apparently they weren't "suggestions" at all.

I think they have some new editors/schedulers. I've had some wonky problems with my reports lately and have had to go back and forth with them. They also temporarily deactivated my account.

I had one for a grocery store and I was supposed to evaluate the bakery among other areas. I was told since the store didn't have a bakery, I should have taken a picture of the baked goods on a table or shelf. This wasn't in the guidelines UNTIL the next month. They updated the guidelines.

Wonky editors seems possible. For my shop I had to take a photo of the storefront. The store had trees directly across the sidewalk. So to get a good shot of the storefront one would have to stand directly outside their door, back up off the sidewalk against the brush, and take the photo, all while being in plain view of anyone in the store. I uploaded the photo and emailed the scheduler telling her it was the best photo I could get (it was BAD). She approved it. Next day I get an email from an editor asking for a new photo, asking which "scenario" I chose, asking clarification on 1 question, and asking me to add narrative for all of the "no' answers.

I made the requested updates (1 question I had wrong, 2 no's I forgot to mention in the narratives) and resubmitted the shop. I then emailed the editor with the updates and told her the scheduler had already approved the photo. I did not mention the scenario because what I asked for was very clearly in the narrative.

The next day I get another email asking for.....the EXACT same things.

I resubmitted the shop and emailed AGAIN stating I had already made the exact changes and again stating the scheduler had approved the photo.

The editor sent it back yet again and again asked for the same edits and said the photo would be ok if the scheduler had approved it. I'm like seriously? So I resubmitted it again and emailed the scheduler basically telling her to get it approved or cancel it. I was past frustrated.

The next day I get an email from the person in charge of the schedulers explaining why they had to cancel my shop. I'm like ok great that's what I asked you to do. We actually had a nice email exchange and she said she would forward my complaints to the appropriate people. Come to find out my edits didn't submit. Certainly my fault for not checking (I've never had that happen). Just as much when someone tells you they did something 4 times instead of just sending it back to them perhaps they should have said "oh I don't see any changes." On top of that my first email to the editor stated EXACTLY WHAT I CHANGED. They simply could have cut and paste. It's fine, I don't need the stress of shops like that, although as far as I know they did not deactivate me. The shop had a nice reimbursement attached which sucked but it was filler shop so not a big deal in the greater scheme of things.

Yes, I had to explain all my no answers too! Some things I think are self explanatory something like, "Was there a bakery" answer NO. Narrative - There was no bakery.

Seems stupid to me.

I also had this happen to me after I made the corrections requested, perhaps there is a problem with their system?

The next day I get another email asking for.....the EXACT same things.

But when I went back in, my corrections were in the correct locations, just like I had updated the day before.

@dawnhu wrote:

@djd1950..northfork is pretty strict on their guidelines...you might want to see if they would be willing to let you reshop it...

I had one small thing that didn't adhere to the guidelines once and they let me reshop it..it is a pain in the butt but it was worth it for me..the second shop was accepted and have had multiple shops with them since...

Also I do find it somewhat odd that it took them a month to catch this

Hi, the reviewer told me right away that I wasn’t going to get paid. I wrote a few emails asking which guideline I had ignored, and got no answer. I was given the chance to reshop but I wasn’t interested. I want to get paid for the work I did. I followed the guidelines which were available; I didn’t follow the imaginary guidelines which they should have written.
If I make a mistake I immediately take responsibility, including a reshop. I did what my independent contract required but they aren’t fulfilling their side of the contract.
Hope somebody can help me with a way to elevate this. Are we really SOL if an MSC decides not to pay?

Yeah, pretty much.

Dang, you guys, all that gave me a headache just reading it and if it were me, I would have probably said some stuff to some editors that would have gotten me deactivated, LOL.

I just found the e-mail contacts for their managers so am going to try that next.

I haven't done a shop for them in awhile but when I did, I consistently had issues. I always managed to make them right and reshopped a time or two but it seems odd that I don't have those issues with any other company. They are reputable and have always paid with no problems though. I am wary of them because I feel like I'm not a good fit for them, (or they are not a good fit for me.)

Happy to report that Dinah at NorthFork responded, saying that the client says my report can be used and that I will be paid. Of course I think I should be paid regardless of the client but that’s now moot. She apologized for the situation.

Wow, that's great! Diligence pays off. Hopefully now they will fix their guidelines.

Congrats -- and thank you for using "moot" correctly!!!!!

I used to do convenience store shops for them on a regular basis and once had a lengthy back and forth regarding the sandwich I ordered. The editor was giving me a very difficult time, claiming I couldn't possibly bave ordered the right item because the price was too high. I had to tell them that I am a very frequent customer of this chain and know what I'm doing, and have them escalate it to a manager, in order for them to believe me. It's not my fault a regular turkey and cheese sub, when ordered that way and not as a turkey and ham sub, costs more than $3!

Hey djd1950, it occurred to me that you should change the subject line to read "resolved" since they are going to pay you.

Very good suggestion...I will try to figure out how to do that. Thanks!

The edit link on the lower right hand corner of your post should allow you to make changes to the subject line. Notice I said "should."

It worked! Thanks so much.

@wrosie wrote:

I had one for a grocery store and I was supposed to evaluate the bakery among other areas. I was told since the store didn't have a bakery, I should have taken a picture of the baked goods on a table or shelf. This wasn't in the guidelines UNTIL the next month. They updated the guidelines.

Do they have more than one grocery client? I have done grocery stores for this company for the last 18 months and the requirement above has ALWAYS been in my guidelines, Good thing because of the 4 locations I shop, only one has a bakery.

deleted

Hi - The forum's guidelines say "Do not reveal the clients of mystery shopping companies." It's ok to mention the client OR the MSC but not both.
Not sure why you think clothing includes shoes....if they wanted shoes, they probably would have said so, or said "clothing or shoes."
I can understand that you are unhappy, but I don't think this one is on them. Maybe others will weigh in with a different view.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2018 06:29AM by djd1950.

Shoes are accessories not an article of clothing. It sounds like Claudia is not the one who doesn’t speak English.

How many languages do you speak fluently Gitarshop?

Gitarshop might want to brush up on their grammar before they go around attacking the English skills of others.

Yup. Same here. Take a picture of baked goods even if there is no bakery. With all of the those pictures required I wait until they are bonused. I think it's a lot of work and evaluations for the base price.

@kryswyn916 wrote:

@wrosie wrote:

I had one for a grocery store and I was supposed to evaluate the bakery among other areas. I was told since the store didn't have a bakery, I should have taken a picture of the baked goods on a table or shelf. This wasn't in the guidelines UNTIL the next month. They updated the guidelines.

Do they have more than one grocery client? I have done grocery stores for this company for the last 18 months and the requirement above has ALWAYS been in my guidelines, Good thing because of the 4 locations I shop, only one has a bakery.