My only issue with them is that they take sooooo long to assign a shop. They'll let your application sit for weeks until the shopper *they want* applies for it. Why not just reach out to them directly and offer self assigning?

Le sigh.

@eyelove2shop wrote:

My only issue with them is that they take sooooo long to assign a shop. They'll let your application sit for weeks until the shopper *they want* applies for it. Why not just reach out to them directly and offer self assigning?

Le sigh.

But, I have noticed that shops will drop off and not get assigned to anyone!

I haven't done anything for them for years, but I used to love doing Coyle shops. If I still lived in a Metro area, I'd probably still do them. I first did a few fine dining shops, then two hotels and was shocked when I actually got assigned one of their cruise shops. It was a lot of work, but it was so worth it and I learned so much from that shop (like don't take your boyfriend, take your mother, she'll have all the timings, the descriptions of each and every server, the temperature of the prime rib all in her head ready for your questions..boy do I miss that woman). The worst part was the outlay of money in the beginning (over $5,000) and not knowing that it was a competitor shop , so money went back onto CC instead of reversal of charges a few days later. There hasn't been anything really near me, so I don't know how they would do this now or how the surveys differ from when I was doing stuff for them.

So I've only done one shop for them and am considering taking another, a higher end dining location. One problem I've noticed is that their guidelines are unclear and when you question them about it, they say "you have to follow the guidelines". For the restaurant I did for them it said to order sides if none come with the meal. But this restaurant doesn't have sides (I ended up ordering a grilled vegetable and it came out with my appetizer, since that is what they do). On this new one they say to order brunch items. But the specific brunch section of the menu is only 5 items and reimbursement is over $100, so clearly you cannot JUST order from that section of the menu. For a company so focused on detail it would be nice if they did a better job on their end.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2019 03:30PM by MisterBill.

Sometimes the Coyle surveys ask questions that conflict with the guidelines. For example, the survey asks "were wine glasses kept topped up" while the guidelines specifically say not to order a bottle of wine (in fact, they say you can only order a single glass of wine, which is pretty hard to have topped up, unless by magic).

I find this annoying, so in the comments to a 'no' response, I specify that the 'no' is due to the guidelines, not any failure by the Server. And yet I was apparently faulted for citing the guidelines on a recent grading. So it's discouraging that Coyle graders relish pointing out YOUR faults, but are very defensive of Coyle's OWN faults in constructing a survey which penalizes Servers due to bad question design/conflicting design.

But for all their faults, Coyle seems to have the only decent fine dining shops in South Florida - I joined, then quit several of the 'top 15' because they had none, though there MUST be others.

I think this will become more natural with time... but for that question, I would have marked "NA."

@LindaM wrote:

I think this will become more natural with time... but for that question, I would have marked "NA."

That is likely the correct answer, although the question probably should have said "if you ordered a bottle of wine...".

Does Coyle give you a template for required info like some companies? I signed up, but never took a job because I don’t see the questionnaires first and want to make sure It’s worth the time.

They give you samples, and you can see the questionairre.

I did the same thing. I told them I would pay for the shop out of my pocket and to remove me from their database. Only company I've ever done that for. Their shops are at good locations, but their reports are boring and redundant. After 5 hours they have the nerve to email me with 20 additional questions. All this 5 days after I turmed it in. Questions that I already answered in my report. They said their clients expect a lot of detail. To this I would like to say, I like to observe what is going on not stick my face in my phone for the entire meal documenting every second of every transaction, every name and full description of every person I interact with, down to the second Winnie plate is removed or water glass refilled. I spent the entire night looking at my phone typing in every second of the evening. It was the worst. I told him use my report or don't, I don't care. I'm not going back in to redo everything. This is the only company that I have had to do this with. hopefully they read this form because obviously except for a few Shoppers, everyone is saying the same thing. Not worth the time and reimbursement. PS I have an HR person that works for a hotel. They use Coyle for the reports. She said she hates reading the reports because they are it's thick as a phone book and nobody needs that much detail.

I'm not in love with Coyle, but the ubiquity of smart phones is our friend. I rarely take typed notes anymore. I just take pictures of everything. They're all time-stamped. The food arrives? Take a picture. Water refilled? Take a picture. Plates cleared? Take a picture of the empty table. If I can't get a shot of the waiter/busser/host, that's when I send myself a text (also for any important dialogue). It doesn't have to be that hard.

I've done my share of Coyle shops, and although I agree there are some quirks, I don't agree with your assessment that because the reimbursement is over $100, ordering from the brunch menu only cannot be correct.
The reimbursement is not necessarily strongly correlated to the expected bill; Coyle simply agrees on a reimbursement with the client - I've done a shop for a small chain with a $120 reimbursement but my bill would be just over half that.

@MisterBill wrote:

So I've only done one shop for them and am considering taking another, a higher end dining location. One problem I've noticed is that their guidelines are unclear and when you question them about it, they say "you have to follow the guidelines". For the restaurant I did for them it said to order sides if none come with the meal. But this restaurant doesn't have sides (I ended up ordering a grilled vegetable and it came out with my appetizer, since that is what they do). On this new one they say to order brunch items. But the specific brunch section of the menu is only 5 items and reimbursement is over $100, so clearly you cannot JUST order from that section of the menu. For a company so focused on detail it would be nice if they did a better job on their end.