@Whatfun14LF wrote:
How do these scammers know our information or who we are signed up with? Scary!
@Whatfun14LF wrote:
How do these scammers know our information or who we are signed up with? Scary!
@KSSPete wrote:
One huge tell that a mystery shop is a scam is if it pays $300 for something as simple as cashing a check and buying gift cards to mail out. Mystery shopping is work, and many do not pay even close to $300. The highest paying ones I have ever scheduled through KSS personally, were hotel and senior living shops which paid $100 (the hotel reimbursed the room and purchases as well), and those take at least a few hours to complete with the visit and report. If someone is telling you that they will pay $300 for something that won't even take an hour, it's most likely a scam.
@Eric in Tampa wrote:
@KSSPete wrote:
One huge tell that a mystery shop is a scam is if it pays $300 for something as simple as cashing a check and buying gift cards to mail out. Mystery shopping is work, and many do not pay even close to $300. The highest paying ones I have ever scheduled through KSS personally, were hotel and senior living shops which paid $100 (the hotel reimbursed the room and purchases as well), and those take at least a few hours to complete with the visit and report. If someone is telling you that they will pay $300 for something that won't even take an hour, it's most likely a scam.
KSSPet, that's sort of an inaccurate & misleading statement that you made in your last sentence. I did a $300 job just yesterday that took 18 minutes due to the MSC paying for the entire shop fee with last minute end of month urgency. No scam with that one whatsoever.
@KSSPete wrote:
I can clarify on that last sentence...
It is extremely rare that a legit MSC is going to pay you $300 for something that takes less than an hour to complete. I would definitely want to have a working relationship already in place with any company offering that. If it is normal for that type of pay, I'm on the wrong end of this LOL!
@walesmaven wrote:
Just wow! Although I do not recall being scheduled for anything by Pete, he seems to be taking a lot of flack just because this place happens to have quite a number of shoppers who have done and/or can easily do a $300 shop in less than an hour.
@walesmaven wrote:
Just wow! Although I do not recall being scheduled for anything by Pete, he seems to be taking a lot of flack just because this place happens to have quite a number of shoppers who have done and/or can easily do a $300 shop in less than an hour.
Aside from that, I work with about 6 KSS schedulers on a regular basis and am quite accustomed to VERY prompt replies, excellent support and cheerful help when I need to reschedule. And, I probably average 5 to 8 KSS scheduled shops per month over the last 18 months.
As for the oil change shop, since increasing the reimbursement was most likely a decision that only the MSC could make, I would have done the oil change, filed a complete report, added a note to the editor (probably the first person to see the report) and THEN tried contacting others at the MSC with cc to the scheduler. to my mind, that would be the most likely road to full reimbursement. I have done 4 oil changes a year since September 2005, with several MSCs, often been charged more than the stated reimbursement and never denied full reimbursement. (I do not need synthetic oil or an expensive/ exotic oil filter, of course.) YMMV
@KSSPete wrote:
And thank you to everyone with the kind words. I won't let it get to my head LOL!
@ceasesmith wrote:
Until recently, all my interactions with KSS were positive (thank you, Pete!). But now I have a new scheduler for the jobs I like to take. His reply to every e-mail I send is "apply on-line". Even when I printed out the guidelines, and had a question, sent him an e-mail for clarification, no reply. Even when he says "go ahead and apply on-line and when the job gets assigned to you, I'll adjust the pay to include the bonus". Doesn't happen. Even when he says "I'll make sure this shop gets assigned to you within 24 hours", doesn't happen.
I'm thinking the other schedulers had just spoiled me....by being responsive, by immediately scheduling my requested shops, etc., etc., etc.
So I basically quit requesting shops. But not until after I had cancelled some, due to no response from the scheduler.
Makes me very sad, as I shop routes, and depended on these shops.
@Eric in Tampa wrote:
@KSSPete You are certainly entitled to your own opinion as well, but not your own facts with regard to prior communication between me, yourself, and Lorri.
Have a good Tuesday.
@Eric in Tampa wrote:
@walesmaven @SoCalMama I wouldn't say that I've given KSS schedulers like Pet any flack. More like the other way around, especially when they were wrong in principal. While Pete has never scheduled a shop for me, I've accepted work from Sally, Lorri, and Kim. I found Sally to be quite rude, and with a bad attitude whenever I wouldn't accept offers to do her monthly parking valet jobs at multiple locations. She would call me on my cell phone more often than emailing me. While Lorri has asked me via email to do the same monthly parking valet jobs for something like $10 a location, her responses to emails were borderline condescending. I found this to be surprising, given that she's been a business owner within this industry for quite some time. To put it more candidly, her communication absolutely sucks. I used to give Lorri Kern the pass due to her demonstrating that certain "Boston hospitality." It was only after I started working in Boston at least 2-3 times a year over the last 6 years that I realized that the folks in New England aren't so bad, and that like anywhere else in the US, that certain hospitality is not necessarily true for this region. While I have no doubt that she is probably a good MSC scheduling owner where the company loyalty is obviously demonstrated by schedulers like Peter, my biggest hope with her is for improved communications with shoppers. But that is all that this is- hope. I won't hold my breath.
The only one that I found to be respectful (as well as prompt in replies) has been Kim. I've had no issues, and I found her to be reasonable and understanding.