I've been doing shops for 30 years and received my first citation. I had 2 phone shops due on a Friday, when I got home I found out the Sprint towers were going to be down for the entire late afternoon. In this companies shop log, there is a button to push if you are having problems with a shop. To make sure I didn't get a citation, I sent 2 messages, the first one said the towers were down and the second, I informed them the towers were up but it was too late for the shops.
I wake up this morning and I had an email saying I got a citation for not informing the person that wrote the email. I had no idea who she even was, I did what I should've done sending an email through the help section.
I had a communication problem a few years ago with an MSC and got an app that records my screen so I can show exactly who it was sent to and what time.
So, here's my question. Has anyone ever got a citation removed after receiving it? I know there are many more MSC out there to work for, but I'm really upset about getting a citation for what I think is an incorrect reason.
What would you do?
Swallow your pride and take the citation or attempt to fight it?
Thanks

I don't know about the citation, but I'd consider changing cell phone carriers. I have Verizon and I've never experienced them having towers down. I live in a large metropolitan area so that might be different than where you're at.

I have sprint, they were updating towers. I live in the country and if even one tower goes down there isnt another to connect to.

You can try an email back but typically only one citation is not going to hurt anything.

i had a citation for something that was out of my hands, and I contacted that scheduler. The person had left the company so it went unanswered, and when I was finally able to get a hold of the owner, she removed it. Try and ask if you have time and the inclination, while one won't hurt in theory, you never know. Good luck, and don't worry too much about it, you did the right thing and can't beat yourself up about it.

I have one from Bare and one from Intellishop I think? I've done way over 2000 shops for Bare, Microsoft diverted my emails to a dead account for two weeks. The scheduler did not care. So, oh well. She's no longer working there.

I would not worry about it at all.

If you can find a phone number to call someone if that happens that might help, but good luck finding contact numbers. That seems to be another problem with some MSCs. I just took a screen shot of a message to a scheduler last week because they were not responding to my emails. However, that was using my computer. If your shop grades are high, I would not worry about the citation.

I have had several citations removed when the fault was not my own. This was completely out of your hands and you followed the proper procedure. My guess is they will remove the citation if you explain the situation again.

Why am I under the impression that citations are a good thing?

No, citations are definitely NOT a good thing. It's a permanent record (unless removed) that the shopper failed to meet his/her commitment.

I once had a shop commitment, and when it was time to leave for the 100 mile drive, we were in white-out blizzard conditions. Couldn't see the road, the yellow line, the white line -- nothing. I turned around and came back home.

I immediately notified the company; I called the place where I was supposed to shop, explained that I had an appointment that morning and couldn't make it, and they said no one else could make it in that day, either.

The scheduler gave me 10 flake citations for that one shop. Weighted 10. It dropped my overall grade with that company from a 10 to a 1.

@ceasesmith wrote:

No, citations are definitely NOT a good thing. It's a permanent record (unless removed) that the shopper failed to meet his/her commitment.

I once had a shop commitment, and when it was time to leave for the 100 mile drive, we were in white-out blizzard conditions. Couldn't see the road, the yellow line, the white line -- nothing. I turned around and came back home.

I immediately notified the company; I called the place where I was supposed to shop, explained that I had an appointment that morning and couldn't make it, and they said no one else could make it in that day, either.

The scheduler gave me 10 flake citations for that one shop. Weighted 10. It dropped my overall grade with that company from a 10 to a 1.

OMG Thats pathetic

@ceasesmith wrote:

No, citations are definitely NOT a good thing. It's a permanent record (unless removed) that the shopper failed to meet his/her commitment.

I once had a shop commitment, and when it was time to leave for the 100 mile drive, we were in white-out blizzard conditions. Couldn't see the road, the yellow line, the white line -- nothing. I turned around and came back home.

I immediately notified the company; I called the place where I was supposed to shop, explained that I had an appointment that morning and couldn't make it, and they said no one else could make it in that day, either.

The scheduler gave me 10 flake citations for that one shop. Weighted 10. It dropped my overall grade with that company from a 10 to a 1.

Since the client was not named, would you share with us which scheduler and MSC this was? Thank you.

@Rho* wrote:

Why am I under the impression that citations are a good thing?

Some citations can be good. I've gotten a few "Hero" citations for picking up last minute or difficult to schedule shops. It gives you a boosted rating.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2019 10:23PM by MSMaven.

To clarify: in the SASSIE system, any note made by the MSC or by SurfMerchants (the company that runs SASSIE) to the shopper's account is called a "citation". When creating a citation, we can chose a type/class froma drop-down menu (e.g., flake, hero, history, needed extension, cancel, other). Whether or not it impacts your shopper grade depends on whether or not a rating and weight is attached to it. Each company uses the tools available to them differently, but generally, flakes are associated with low ratings (which would lower your shopper grade), and hero citations are associated with high ratings (which would increase your shopper grade).

Citation is probably not the ideal word to use for these record keeping notes. The word carries a negative connotation. For example, when the new privacy laws were enacted, and SurfMerchants put out a new privacy agreement in the spring of 2018, we received a few emails from shoppers who were upset and confused at receiving a "citation." The citation was just a note from SurfMerchants that the shopper had agreed to the privacy agreement, which had no rating and did not affect shopper grades.

To the OP's question: I have removed negative citations that were issued in error or due to a misunderstanding/miscommunication before. A polite email explaining the situation is not unreasonable.

It's snowing here and we are supposed to get 8 inches and I told the scheduler I'm not doing my shop if it is bad out and its not worth the risk to me...

I'm sorry, it was several years ago, and I don't recall the company. It was one of those "testing center" shops; I believe the MSC has changed since then. I didn't think I would EVER forget the name of the company that did that, but the fact is I haven't done another shop for them. And I just forgot which company it was.