I was contacted by a scheduler begging me to do a restaurant because I was the only one located in the area. I am not a fan of the long narrative shops and I have a very busy work schedule so I am not able to spend hours on the reports. I made it clear to the scheduler that I was leaving the country for work a few days after the shop was due so please review promptly. I was offered a hefty bonus so I agreed. I spent three hours on the report. Lengthy narratives etc and submitted the day after the shop. 5 days later I am in India and I get a very long list of questions . The thing is ALL the answers were on the report. Here is an example. "My husband and I walked into the the restaurant at 6:15 PM and were immediately greeted by a hostess with a name tag of Sarah" Follow up question " EXACTLY what time were you greeted by the host? " The entire follow up with this sort of question. "There was no wait for a table so the host seated us right away. There was a already a server standing at our assigned table waiting for us. He greeted us with a smile and a Good Evening !" Follow up question. "EXACTLY what time were you greeted by the server? Um ....6:15 and 30 seconds? The entire follow up was this back and forth of times. The report also had a section to put the times in for everything. When greeted, when water was filled, when food came etc which was filled out . It was ridiculous and repetitive. I wasn't paid because I did not follow up in the time frame for the scheduler.

Never again Coyle, never again!

Removed.

Oi, that sounds patently unpleasant.

That actually sounds very accurate for what to expect from them. They are not for everyone...

They will ask questions as long as 11 days later. Once you do a few reports for them, you can get to the point where they will not ask you any questions. I spend five hours for a restaurant plus bar shop. Three hours is pretty good. They also don't seem like the type of company that will honor "I'm going away" type requests.

Yeah, it can be redundant and the questions sometimes read as condescending. It’s really just factual as far as I can tell.

It’s easy enough to say you entered at 6:15, were greeted at 6:15, and the server greeted you at 6:15. Your given narrative gives context to show that this makes sense.

I have only recently gotten used to Coyle’s questions. They really don’t compensate for the level of detail. I assume their editors get similar treatment.

At least in my case, kicking back with so many questions has gotten me to include those details. I don’t like it. It has left Coyle as one of my least preferred companies. I teeter toward never again but then still do eventually.

Thanks for posting this twice!

@oteixeira wrote:

That actually sounds very accurate for what to expect from them. They are not for everyone...

They are not for ANYONE. I had a similar issue with them. Just not worth the effort.

Enough people seem to do their shops for them to have existed for twenty years.

I have only worked for Coyle once, and it was years ago for a shop that was apparently unusually easy for them. But it does sound like they are probably not for you based on what you described with having a rigid schedule and not a lot of patience for certain editing questions. I don't know how Coyle is structured, but in many companies, the scheduler has absolutely no control over when reports are assigned to editors or how quickly the editor starts looking at your report once they receive it. With the editor's questions, it can be frustrating if you feel like they're asking seemingly repetitive questions because they didn't read the report carefully or something, but in reality, they are probably just following the client's wishes. Some clients need very specific timings or other very specific details. Some might have had issues with certain questions/sections being marked incorrectly by shoppers a lot in the past, so they might require the editor to confirm/double-check those responses with you, although the info has already been stated once. It's always easiest to just answer the questions and move on without getting worked up over why they're asking. They will need the info either way. They also can't assume or create details, even on things that may seem obvious to you, as they were not there. Their job is to present a report that is acceptable to the client, and they have more insight into what that includes than the shopper does.

Again it's great that we as shoppers are contractors. If you don't have time to reply to follow-up questions within the MSC's required time frame, you don't have time for the shop. It should go into the process of deciding whether or not a shop is worth it to you, just like distance, report length, number of photos, etc. I know there's one MSC I do hotel/resort shops for that often has multiple rounds of editing questions, sometimes minutes apart, sometimes a couple days apart, always needing a quick response, so I make sure not to schedule their shops for days/weeks when I won't be able to check my email extra-frequently until they give me the all-clear. If it's your first shop for the MSC, of course you don't know what to expect, but in your case, now you know what to expect for Coyle and can move on to companies/shops that are better suited for you, your schedule, and your preferences!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2019 01:13AM by RedRose22.

I have to be honest I’ve never worked for them but I signed up with them a few years ago when I first started shopping. To me it seems the work involved is not worth the pay or reimbursement. I have a stressful full time day job so I really enjoy the quicker, easier shops so that I can enjoy the time I’m not at work. I would rather just pay for an occasional nice night out and not have to do a long report. It’s great their shops work for some people but to me I just look at the shops in my area and never pick them up because the reports are too time consuming.

I'm the same. I've done a few of their assignments and found the time not worth the effort involved. It took me all day to complete the report for a burger joint...a REALLY good burger joint, but still. They may have some really nice properties, but I just can't justify the time..at least now. However, I've done some airport shops that were much easier to me than the ones for CSE. When I first started mystery shopping, I applied everywhere for everything. I used to do their cafeteria shops, but they were on the Prophet site before they moved everything to Prophet and I never really considered them "Coyle" shops. They were quite involved, but not as ridiculous as the true "Coyle" shops that were on the other site. It's great that some of you all like to do their shops and get great travel perks. Maybe someday..but I doubt it. As I age, I'm finding I like quickie..in and outs with reports I'm familiar with. Guess I'm getting in a rut..UGH

The good thing about Coyle shops is that once you get to the point of doing good reports for them, it improved my reporting for other companies. It made me get more to the point, provide relevant details and sharpened my observations.

Ah yes, I think by starting with shops like I did for Coyle and some very involved casino shops for another company, I jumped right into the fire of narrative writing. I learned real fast and do believe those type of shops helped me become a better shopper in the long run.

They are not for me either

@Niner wrote:

Enough people seem to do their shops for them to have existed for twenty years.

They used to be different.

@iShop123 wrote:

@Niner wrote:

Enough people seem to do their shops for them to have existed for twenty years.

They used to be different.

How? I have only been shopping for them for a few months.

They used to be very generous with travel pay, used to have more consistent editing and scoring, and used to have a more personal relationship with schedulers/shoppers. Just my take. I'm sure many feel differently.

I find it easy just to attach to my report a chart with second-by-second entries with the following data:

1. Event time
2. Elapsed time since arrival
3. Time since last event
4. Staff person involved
5. Event description

Of course, I include the data in my narratives as appropriate, but I find providing a chart heads off many editor questions.

I just did my first shop for them last night. I'm afraid to find out what I have to look forward to. It's for a small local chain I had shopped for someone else before they switched. There were a couple of specific pictures I had to take but there was nowhere on the form that said to attach them. I just added them on the bottom but it seemed odd that they would make a big deal about needing them and then not having a question where they got attached. Also, the section that their writing guidelines say to add a full description of your meal wasn't on the form. I would have expected a better organized form given their reputation.

I do hope I don't regret doing the shop since I had put off taking it for the longest time due to my concerns about their no doggie bag policy, plus the ordering requirements for the shop (one of which doesn't make a lot of sense for this particular restaurant).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2019 09:53PM by MisterBill.

I made it very clear that I was ;leaving the country and they asked me to do it anyways.

Well, I survived my first shop with Coyle. I got two emails asking me for more details since I had not written the narrative the way they wanted. Did not get feedback from the second one but I see the shop is now marked OK to Pay, so I guess I'm good.

I would probably do this shop again since the form isn't that bad (although I really did not like the no doggy bags rule). There is a very high end restaurant near me that they do with 200+ questions but the reimbursement is around $200. I'll have to think about that one. I have to make more notes of people I deal with during the shop than I normally would do for other shops.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2019 06:46AM by MisterBill.

Coyle level of specificity and time requirement to complete surveys are a major deterrent.

Which MSC's also focus on 'fine dining' segment (bonus: in Florida).

@non sequitur wrote:

Coyle level of specificity and time requirement to complete surveys are a major deterrent.

Which MSC's also focus on 'fine dining' segment (bonus: in Florida).

Are you shopping for A Closer Look?

No - I've never heard of them - I'll check it out right now!
Thanks!

I told Coyle to take me out of their database because I became so frustrated with them.

@alannajm wrote:

I told Coyle to take me out of their database because I became so frustrated with them.

As did I. The only company I have ever done that for. Their speedy reply told me they had long ago decided I was not getting any of their shops.

bgriffin:
I got disgusted with them because of the way they hold shoppers to such a high standard, but they seem not to hold their own company to similar high standards. Yes, I did make mistakes or do something wrong on some of the shops. I am not perfect, but I became frustrated with them for various reasons. For example, when I was working for them they did not have all of the instructions for a particular shop in one place. Some would be on the website. Some would be in an email. And some would be available to me from someone that I was supposed to email which would have been ok if the guy had consistently cleaned out his email box. Instead, I would email him, and my email would come bouncing back with a message that said his box was full. It was annoying,time consuming things like this that made me stop working for them.

I do like earning a little extra money as a mystery shopper, but for me at least, mystery shopping is supposed to be fun. Instead I found myself getting stressed out when working for Coyle.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2019 09:35PM by alannajm.

I don't know. I've shopped for Coyle a few times (four, to be exact) and had no real problems. The report for a lunch or dinner shop takes between one and two hours to write. I take pretty good notes while dining, so I find they are not too hard. Coyle definitely wants exact timings and objective reporting. I got 100% grade on one report and 82% on another, being downgraded because it had a few questions from the editor to answer. Each shop reimbursed me fully for a pretty expensive dinner, and paid a little in fees, so I'm satisfied. I'd work for them again.