I see some jobs listed with various companies that are in the same location for the same job. For instance, I see a chicken shop from one MSC and a chicken shop for another MSC at the same location and in the same time frame. Is there any reason a person couldn't do them both while being there?

I double and Tripple dip why not helps the money add up faster.. i often do an Electronics shop, a mobee shop and a FA shop. I can go from 20 or 30 bucks to about 50 to 60 bucks per location. What the left hands do the right dont need to know

This has been discussed before. If there is a reimbursement involved, it’s safest to make two separate transactions so you have two different receipts to submit. It would not be “legal” to be reimbursed twice for the same purchase. I believe it would also be wise to not have overlapping times. Complete one shop and then return for the second. I realize that sometimes the same location may have more than one client but it’s best to treat them as two or more distinct shops for reporting purposes.

Did you sign a contract with each MSC promising that you keep results of your shop confidential? So now you tell me if it’s okay... to share the same info to each MSC.

Are you referring to shopping once and doing multiple reports, or completing shops consecutively?

Either way, the best practice would be to get consent, in writing, from the schedulers of BOTH MSCs. You do not, have to, and should not tell, each MSC who the other MSC is. (ICA rules, again.)

I wasn't looking to do anything unethical which is why I asked. Good point on not sharing one shop result with both companies and it sounds as if I can do two of the same shops at the same place as long as I treat them separately for each company.
Thank you.

I would do the same shop, at the same time for both companies. You're an Independent Contractor, not an employee. What you do for one company is not the business of any other company. You just don't share information between them.

If the client sees the same report and/or receipt they will drop the shopper and inform other MSCs. I know, because I have commiserated with shoppers who have had this happen. Get written permission from both schedulers because not to do so may otherwise well violate several clauses in their ICAs. MSC managers ans schedulers have also reported at conferences, concerning repercussions to doubling up reports without express permission to even do both shops with different reports.

Where 'double dips' work best are places such as Walmart or Costco where there are multiple vendors housed within the same store and different proofs of visit are required (photos of special events, business card of cell phone kiosk, purchase receipt for base store function, etc.). Kind of a rule of thumb is to not use the same proof of visit twice.

Exactly the response I would expect from JohnB.

@walesmaven wrote:

If the client sees the same report and/or receipt they will drop the shopper and inform other MSCs. I know, because I have commiserated with shoppers who have had this happen. Get written permission from both schedulers because not to do so may otherwise well violate several clauses in their ICAs. MSC managers ans schedulers have also reported at conferences, concerning repercussions to doubling up reports without express permission to even do both shops with different reports.

So how is a client suppose to get information from any other shops you've done? If they get it from a store manager it's not your problem. As long as the information does not come from YOU, it's not a problem.

@titus25.5 wrote:

I wasn't looking to do anything unethical which is why I asked. Good point on not sharing one shop result with both companies and it sounds as if I can do two of the same shops at the same place as long as I treat them separately for each company.
Thank you.

Too much fear mongering is done on here. You work as an Independent Contractor, not an employee.

I'm not sure how one MSC would see the report from a completely different MSC? Maybe I didn't explain it very well, sorry.

The same client/and or location manager is likely to have ordered the shops and will see both reports. They will raise hell with both MSCs. Result = mucho problemos for the shopper.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2019 05:14PM by walesmaven.

Oh I think I see what you're saying. Even if I did 2 reports off one visit, but didn't copy one to the next and something unique happened it would show up on both through one shopper.

Edited to add: so it doesn't seem possible to do 2 shops back to back without causing suspicion.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2019 05:22PM by titus25.5.

I have never had an issue with doing 2 shops for different companies at the same time. I've done this several times. I actually told one company I was doing the same shop for another company. They told me they didn't care as long as they got their report. Some people on here are really stretching's the "what if's"

I think often times clients think that if they go with two different MSC's, they will get two different sets of shoppers. They are unaware of how much overlap there is. If I was a store manager and I received exactly the same report from two different MSC's containing exactly the same information, first I would wonder what kind of funny business was going on. Second, I would not authorize my company to pay for both reports, and possibly not even one! I am hoping for two different perspectives and getting one. Now if one shop has me evaluate the TV salesman and the other shop has me evaluating the rug department.....different story, but I would still use two different proof of visit receipts, and two different time frames.....this I have done many times with no issue..

Thanks for all the info I appreciate it. This is the first time I've seen 2 shops for the exact same thing at the same place so it might not happen very often. The pay isn't much on one them so might not be worth the risk. Looks to be a situation where each person can decide what they would do in a situation but I might just skip on this one. Thanks all.

None of these shops have the same reports. I can have 2 MSC's sending me to the same shop, talk to the same person, but ask different questions. I have no problem with that.

@walesmaven wrote:

Either way, the best practice would be to get consent, in writing, from the schedulers of BOTH MSCs. You do not, have to, and should not tell, each MSC who the other MSC is. (ICA rules, again.)

One thing we HIGHLY disagree on. I believe even letting another MSC know their client is being shopped by someone else is a breach of your ICA.

This question comes up a couple of times a year and most people either say yes or no. In reality to me it's much more complicated than that. I'll give you a few real world examples:

I used to do a route of Citgo audits. I had half a dozen locations that were Circle K. In those areas the shops were with 2 different companies. In that particular case I was well aware that both companies, the end clients, and the location were aware of the other shops. I did not feel like it was a breach of my ICA to discuss it with them. Both MSC's were fine with me doing both shops as long as I did one then the other. Why I don't know as they were interested in 2 entirely different sets of information. But I digress. I wasn't able to do both shops the first time when I asked and for some reason one of the companies changed their mind and wanted them done on different days the next round, which didn't work for me.

At one point it was possible to book a Pilot truck stop shop, a Cinnabon shop, and a fast food shop, all in the same Pilot gas station. All were done by different MSCs. As the requirements were significantly different for each shop, as well as the purchase requirements, I had no problem doing all 3 shops for 3 different MSCs at the same time without discussing it with them.

At one time Regions bank was shopped by 1 MSC for Regions and another MSC as a competitor shop. The reports were going to different locations, the end clients were not aware of the other shop, and it would have been a HUGE breach of my ICA to let the MSC that shops Regions know their client was being competitor shopped by another MSC. In addition the shops were not asking the same questions. I was never able to get a shop for each at the same location, but I would have done it with no problem whatsoever without discussing it with the other. I absolutely would not have written the same report and would have left out any information asked by one MSC but not the other. IE if one MSC wanted to know if they asked about your direct deposit and the other did not, I would not give that information to the second one.

Now, there are clients who hire multiple MSCs to shop their locations in order to get a second set of "eyes" so to speak. I would never even consider doing both of those shops, even with asking. A, I feel like that again would be a huge breach of my ICA to let one MSC know the end client had also hired another company and B, it would eliminate the end client's reason for hiring 2 companies. However, this situation is much rarer in my experience than the others.

So basically, in order to know the answer to your question, you need to know the source of each shop, what they're looking for, why they're looking for it, and then use some common sense on if it's ok or not.

But that's just my opinion.

This subject is particularly interesting to me. MSC 123 and MSC XYZ have at least one client that is the same. MSC 123 had strict shop times 7AM-10AM and paid a fee. The MSC XYZ shop was any business hours. They both required a purchased, where MSC 123 had a specific order requirements the other shop didn't. Afraid of submitting a receipt and interaction time with the same associate, I cancelled one shop and did the one that offered a higher payment and reimbursement.

Similarly, Airline NorthEast is shopped by two different MSC that are looking for different things. One report ask questions about the flight crew whereas the other report ask questions regarding the in-flight credit card offer. Theoretically, one could do both shops.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2019 12:23AM by eyelove2shop.

I go with the guidelines.

Reports for competitor shops almost certainly won't be seen by the MSC who has the account. I don't have a problem with getting reimbursed twice. However, I list one of the reimbursements as income on my spreadsheet, and add an explanation in the note field, to jog my memory, just in case there's a question. Of course, I claim mileage for only one of the locations.

John -

I would suggest that you can get burned by doing this. If your required questions for one of the shops leads the target in any way to answer differently to questions with the other shop, the shop is invalid. The questions do not have to be the same. It's the fact that you are having additional interactions beyond the scope of the shops that can get you into trouble. Just because you haven't been caught *yet* doesn't mean that it's okay.

@walesmaven has been doing this for a very long time. You've been on this board many times complaining about how different MSC's have rejected your shops.

@johnb974 wrote:

None of these shops have the same reports. I can have 2 MSC's sending me to the same shop, talk to the same person, but ask different questions. I have no problem with that.

OP:
Doing two shops in the same location at (basically) the same time can be done. However, you have to be very careful.

* If there is any doubt, ask.
* The two shops must be performed completely independently of one-another. If one shop affects the other at all (i.e. timings), it's not okay.
* If the shops have rotation requirements, you might be out-of-luck.
* If there are required receipts, you want two different receipts.If the client notices that the same receipt is submitted for two different shops, there could be an issue.
* If similar photos are required, use different pictures.

The most likely places for this to work out are large stores with multiple departments where you can shop different folks in different areas of the store.

Thank you all for the insight! I want to make sure I do my best as I don't look at this as just making money. I did email the scheduler of one MSC that I normally do these for and he said to do separate transactions on separate times. I appreciate all your responses because it's shown me many aspects on how these reports are viewed from the other side.

To add to the fun, I can think of one MSC that has shops for various departments at the same store, but each department is a separate shop. In discussion with the scheduler, they are comfortable with a shopper doing multiple departments but they want each done as a separate shop, set of timings and purchase receipt. Thus you do department A, check out, leave the building, re-enter and start department B. Their specific request was that you attempt to use a different sales person and cashier for each shop.

I would highly suggest against this! A lot of times, one of the shop will be for a franchise and the other shop for Corporate. I know for our assignments, Corporate have the results sent to each individual location. You are taking a big risk in completing two shops at the same location at the same time for different MSPs.

Yes I would agree, the scheduler I spoke to said to make sure they are done on separate times which I took to mean different days.

Some MSCs even go so far as to state in the job description that if you have shopped the same business in (some length of time) for ANY MSC for ANY purpose, you are not qualified to complete this assignment.

I, for one, would interpret that to mean they would not like it if I shopped for 2 separate MSCs at the same location that very day.